This is the first year that the recreational sport of broomball has been introduced to Olmsted Park's Flurrious! winter festival. The festival is set to take place on Saturday January 26, 2013, with a ton of fanfare due to a stepped up set of outdoor activities, some of which are predetermined tournaments and others that are meant for pick-up. Broomball will be a combination of both - a number of the teams have signed up, but organizers are also expecting to accommodate anyone who wants to play, but can't field an entire team. We have a bunch of players who are looking for others to play with. 
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If you haven't had a chance to brush up on the Buffalo Green Code, here is a link to a PDF, which will hopefully catch you up with some of the issues that are scheduled to be discussed at the next public meeting regarding Buffalo's New Zoning Ordinance. The meeting, to be held on January 26 from 10am to 11:30am at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, is sponsored by the Elmwood Village Association, and should help to make clear the City of Buffalo's new zoning ordinance, while addressing

After first opening on Elmwood two years ago, and then seconding that motion by opening a second location in Downtown Buffalo this past December, Vasilis Express is moving forward with a third location. This time it's the former Grumpy's location on Hertel Avenue. Let's hope that the recipe for success continues, as the newest location could be a smashing success if all goes according to plan. After all, this location exudes so much potential

This Saturday, January 26, 2013, runners will be gathering at the Flurrious! winter festival to partake in the Ice Man 2-Miler. This year the festival will be taking on a bunch of fun-filled twists and turns, with the introduction of a number of new events and activities. The popularity of the festival's running race has also grown, and this year brandishes the name Ice Man. How appropriate that Buffalo's only winter festival this year will feature a bigger and better, fresh, snow-covered run around Delaware Park's Ring Road. 
From race organizer Mark

While on a recent trip to Rochester for some work projects, I had some time to kill between meetings and took a stroll down a few blocks of Monroe Avenue. The street reminded me of a mash up between Hertel Avenue and the possible future of Grant Street. There's a nice array of different architectural styles, it's relatively walkable, and a lot of the newer infill is urban-friendly. That means it's "built to the curb", has parking to the side or the rear, and prioritizes the pedestrian over the automobile.

If you've been looking at the Central Terminal, hoping that one day the building will once again be fully operational, then there are other cities to look to for guidance. Cities such as St. Paul where work was recently completed on a $243 million project that has brought a building complex similar to the Central Terminal back to life. Saint Paul's Union Hub is open once again and will soon be functioning as a multi-purpose transit hub, after being neglected and downtrodden for two generations. Once more, the Union Hub is gearing up to service taxis, light rail, buses, bicycles and passenger trains. 
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The National Garden Festival might be a long way off, but in the meantime there's an important event coming up that festival supporters should consider attending. In order to make the festival as strong as possible, operational money needs to be raised, which means that fundraising initiatives are imperative. 
On Thursday, February 14 from 6pm-9pm, at Delaware Park's Marcy Casino, supporters of the National Garden Festival will come together at an event called Hearts in the Gardens. Not only is the effort a great one for the city, guests will also have a chance to mingle

Deep Thinka Records is keeping the positive momentum rolling with its BEING charity fundraiser series, with a third event lined up for February 8 at Duke's Bohemian Grove Bar. After raising a mic to the legacies of the Notorious B.I.G. and the Beastie Boys' Adam "MCA" Yauch, the local producers have decided to pay homage to the late J Dilla in the next installation.
The Being Beastie event held in early September pulled in close to $4,500 in donations to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America. The cause was one

By Ann Marie Trietley:
We are all eager to place things into categories. I mean, is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable, anyway? When it comes to music, the question "What genre do you like?" is asked somewhere every second.  A typical answer could be, "Oh, some drum n bass, house, maybe some jazz." But what if a band was able to blend many genres seamlessly into one? I mean, is Pluto a planet or just a rock? 
Speaking of which, Space Junk, a Buffalo-based band which has been going strong for the past four years, doesn't

By Amanda McLaughlin:
But What About the Soul that Grows in Darkness:*  An Introduction to Gerry Trentham's Apology -from Frank O'Hara's Ave Maria
Apology:  the word itself reads like a melancholic sigh, the long vowels carrying the ghosts of regret, sadness, shame, and, perhaps, tenuous hope for acceptance and forgiveness.  And while apologies may, indeed, be necessary--the sorrowful husband with roses and tears after forgetting the anniversary, to use, perhaps, a trite

Residents of the Fruitbelt's McCarley Gardens development aren't happy with the planning effort underway that would see their neighborhood displaced to make room for the University at Buffalo.  The following letter was sent to the Chair of the University of Buffalo Foundation, Francis Letro, and copied to local media.

January 15, 2013

Dear Mr. Letro,

This is a follow up to our request made during the University at Buffalo/ St. John Baptist Church conversation with the Fruit Belt/McCarley Gardens Community on Economic Opportunity held on December 13, 2012.

Businesses are always trying to come up with new and unique ways to market to new customers, especially since the advent of social media. It's not that often that you find a successful marketing effort that works for all of the right reasons, especially a subtle one such as the one that I came across while having lunch at Coco by Le Metro yesterday. On the way out of the restaurant I found myself leafing through a number of postcards in a rack by the front door. 
My initial reaction, after seeing the rack of postcards, was one of nostalgia. When I was young,

By Jessica Edwards:
Calling all little artistes! The 4th annual "Kids Art Show" at College Street Gallery will be held on Saturday, January 24th from 2:00pm- 4:00pm.
There is no entrance free, and each child can submit up to three pieces.  You can drop off the artwork from 5:00pm- 8:00pm on Wednesday, January 23rd & Thursday January 24th. For any artist (especially a child), having a work displayed in an art gallery is a pretty proud moment. It gives a wonderful sense of accomplishment, and encouragement to continue creating.
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After years of waiting and wondering if the vacant Ya Ya Brewhouse space would ever land a new owner and concept, it was announced back in July that restaurateur Jay Haynes would be opening Perfetto. Thankfully, the time has finally come to check out the newly remodeled 8,300 square foot space. A few of us stopped in for lunch a couple days back after hearing from friends that the food was great, as was the atmosphere. 
Thinking back to the days of Ya Ya, I clearly recall that

I stumbled across these images on FaceBook of St. John's Church in Buffalo's Black Rock neighborhood at 85 Amherst Street.  Two of the images show cornerstones depicting the date of the church congregation's founding and of the date the church building was constructed.  I wrote a few days ago here about a fundraiser for the church to be held today starting at 6:30pm.  I encourage you to attend this event and spend freely with these stones in mind.  These stones say everything about

I must admit that I don't get to the Botanical Gardens nearly as much as I should. To me, this is one of the greatest places to visit in the middle of winter, especially when the Night Lights event is underway. This is the third year that The Gardens has hosted the impressive show, which runs in early February. Each year more effects are added, enhancing the experience of the visit. It's an awesome way to see the conservatory and horticulture collection in a different, and spectacular light. 
After checking out

To answer BRO commentor elmdog's question, "When is Allen Street going to get an aesthetic makeover?", I have a few updates to share. In two or three years from now Allen Street will hopefully have an entirely new look and feel. In fact, the infrastructure improvements to the street could possibly be some of the most progressive that Buffalo has seen to date. 
There have been a number of issues holding the streetscape improvements back, and those include outdated utilities that need to be replaced under Allen Street, including water mains and mechanicals. That alone is

Recently posted in The Atlantic Cities, is a feature outlining a number of hockey towns that got busy announcing development projects, despite the fact that there has been no hockey season until now. The article leads off with a look at Buffalo's Harbor Center, showcasing a rendering of the Webster Block, and then touches on the addition of streetscape improvements

New York State Assemblyman Sean Ryan is hosting a community meeting tomorrow to discuss the future of the current Women and Children's Hospital campus on Bryant Street.  Women and Children's Hospital will move to a new location at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus by December of 2015 and will be renamed the John R. Oshei Children's Hospital. The meeting will focus on community ideas for what should be done with the current Women and Children's Hospital campus when it becomes vacant. 
The meeting will feature presentations by the Elmwood Village Association,

It was almost a year ago to this date that a dumpy-looking liquor store on Elmwood Avenue got a fresh makeover (see here). Since that time building owner Noel Sutton has spent his time formulating a business plan that would see a restaurant of equal value occupy the space. "I decided that the only way to do that was to open the restaurant myself," Noel told me. "We have transformed the interior and the exterior with utmost care. The more that I worked on it, the more that I felt that the space deserved something