TONIGHT! - Buffalo Niagara 360 (BN360), the Buffalo Niagara Partnership's young professionals program, will launch a new year of programming with its annual Kickoff Celebration at Pearl @ The Lafayette.
The Kickoff Celebration will feature the naming of ten Spotlight Professionals, a hand-selected group of young leaders who are anticipated to positively impact the community in the coming year and have been chosen as the "ones to watch." 
This year's Spotlight Professionals have all relocated to Buffalo Niagara to further their careers.

The historic images presented here, courtesy of a Facebook friend, show the east side of the block of Main Street between Genesee Street and Chippewa.  All of these buildings but one have been demolished.  The one remaining building, of course, is the former Buffalo Savings bank with its glorious classical style granite clad walls topped by a magnificent gold dome.  
During the early 80's the

Should the Buffalo Sabres get an opportunity to flip on the switches at the First Niagara Center this season, New Wave Energy Corporation will be the company supplying the power.

The Sabres announced a partnership with the local natural gas and electricity supplier that is headquartered at 434 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY, Tuesday.

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Tomorrow, Buffalo Niagara 360 (BN360), the Buffalo Niagara Partnership's young professionals program (learn more), will launch a new year of programming with its annual Kickoff Celebration at Pearl @ The Lafayette.
The Kickoff Celebration will feature the naming of ten Spotlight Professionals, a hand-selected group of young leaders who are anticipated to positively impact the community in the coming year and have been chosen as the "ones to

Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo is getting a new name.  Kaleida Health announced this morning that the John R. Oishei Foundation is donating $10 million towards the new hospital planned for the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.  The facility will be named the John R. Oishei Children's Hospital. 

The 12-story, approximately 400,000 square foot hospital will be built at the corner of Ellicott and High Streets, across from the Buffalo General Hospital and across the street from the planned University at Buffalo Medical School. 

He spotted her one day on the Louisiana Street bridge -- an elderly woman on the sidewalk slowly walking across, so he stopped to offer her a ride.  It turned out that she was making her way to the casino.  She had scraped together $500 toward her water bill, which she had just paid at the water authority, and all the money she had left was $50.  Her grown children weren't helping her with her expenses, she complained, but the week before she had won some money at the casino.  So she was on her way back to try to win some more.

It pained John McKendry to hear that,

The White Brother's Livery on Jersey Street is coming back to life as Savarino Companies continues work to build on the remnants the iconic West Side landmark. It suffered a substantial collapse in 2008 as a result of the previous neglectful and irresponsible property owner. Shortly before the collapse I actually called the owner who informed me of his ridiculous, $450,000 asking price.

Thankfully, the neighbors were

There's another fashion truck on the road, and this time it's pink, it's loaded with the latest fashionable finds and it's called Ooo la la. 21 year old entrepreneur Crista Botticello made her first fashion appearances with the truck last week at the Mercedes Benz of Buffalo Fashion Week photo shoot at Niagara Square, and also at LUX Nightclub on Chippewa for the swimwear fashion show. That's the beauty of the fashion truck - Crista can hit up the fashion hotspots or take the show on the road in search of fashionistas who don't have time for regular shopping sprees. 
Crista

Congressman Brian Higgins is again asking the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to put the brakes on long-term maintenance of the Buffalo Skyway while alternatives are reviewed. Specifically, Higgins is requesting the DOT refrain from including expensive Skyway rehab on the State's Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) projects list.  
Spending more than $100 million to rebuild the Buffalo Skyway over the next twenty years would be a transportation and

By Steven Bales:
Mercedes-Benz of Buffalo Fashion Week (MBBFW) started off in a big way down on Chippewa this past Saturday, September 20th 2012.  
The first sign of this big event was Ooo La La Boutique's new pink mobile store, bringing with it all of the delights of fall fashion. This was probably the first time I watched a complete MBBFW fashion show without being apart of the back stage excitement, which gave me

The Transplant Miracles Foundation is inviting the community to attend their Evening on the Canal, in support of organ and tissue donations. This year's event will take place September 27th from 5:30pm- 8pm at West Side Rowing Club and Frank Lloyd Wright Boathouse.
Tickets are $35 per person or $60 per family and include food, drinks, raffles, games, music and fun for the whole family. Proceeds from the event support organ transplant and surgical research, the treatment and care of transplant recipients and to promote organ donation. 
Now

Meet Charley Bailey from Buffalo's Golden Age of Radio. In the 1930's and 1940's he was considered Buffalo's "Man About Town". And he graces the cover of last week's 16th annual Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame Awards Celebration. Please note Charles Bailey's microphone has the initials BBC. The initials don't mean the British Broadcasting Corporation. In this picture from the 1930's they stand for the Buffalo Broadcasting Corporation! The Buffalo Broadcasters are always looking for pictures like this for their archives.  Posthumously Traffic Reporter

I just received word that the Urban Land Institute is heading to Niagara Falls to begin a study of reuse for the balance of Rainbow Centre Mall. When they're done with the study, can they come to Buffalo and study the Main Place Mall... please? To me, having the outdated and ugly facade stretching its way down Main Street is a real deterrent to downtown progress. Even the back side of the mall is brutal. It's not friendly. It's dark and uninviting. It's boring. It's depressing. 
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Today is the last day to register for Preservation Plus! Online registration for the weeklong conference ends today at 1pm. You can also registration tonight at the conference's Opening Session at the Allendale Theatre (203 Allen Street, Buffalo) between 5:30pm - 6:30pm. Click

As much as we have made great strides in recent years when it comes to our architectural heritage, we still have a long way to go when it comes to preserving our past. We are fortunate to have architectural greats in our midst, yet at the same time I cringe to think of what was lost. Thankfully other cities, such as Vancouver, are just now beginning to realize what a day trip has in store for its citizens when it come to Buffalo's architectural wonders (see 24 Hours Vancouver). 
"For

After a string of disappointing games the last half of a decade, the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns actually put together a pretty solid game on Sunday.
Though most will probably only hear that the NFL's leading rusher, CJ Spiller, was temporary lost to a shoulder injury early in the game, there were several points of interest throughout. For two teams who have spent recent memory as ignored losers in the NFL (both Buffalo and Cleveland have each had only two winning seasons since 1999), this one turned out to be worthy of little more attention than normal.
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This weekend I was alerted by Joel Rose, Chair of Citizens Against Casino Gambling in Erie County (CACGEC), to a resolution that will be submitted this week to the Community Development Committee of the Buffalo Common Council.  The resolution will be submitted by Delaware District Councilman Michael LoCurto, a member of the committee.

The resolution was drafted with the help of Sam Magavern, Co-Director of the Partnership for the Public Good, a Buffalo progressive public-policy organization.  The Partnership for the Public Good has been conducting research on the effects of

We know that there are some serious skateboarders in town. We also know that there's a lot of interest in seeing the best skate plaza design possible once the LaSalle Skate Plaza is up and running. That's why it's so important that local skaters attend a Skatepark Design Workshop that is scheduled to take place September 26, 2012 from 6pm-8pm at The Belle Center (104 Maryland Street - Buffalo, NY 14201). Learn more about the Skate Plaza.
This is the opportunity that many skaters

If you're into comics, then we've got a great event for you. Comics Fest is held each year at the Central Library in Downtown Buffalo, and it's the best place to be for aspiring comic artists to show off their goods. It's also a great place to be for anyone who's really into the local and national comic scene. Each year Comics Fest attracts all sort of comic fans, including many who appear in costume. While some may take comics lightly, there are those who are extremely serious about the business. This year there will be plenty of talented comic illustrators on-hand, including Graham

Yesterday's clean up at Gala Waters (Hoyt Lake) brought some unexpected surprises to the surface of the calm waters. Whereas most years the murky water prevents volunteers from navigating the bottom of the lake (along the shores), this year the lake level was way down due to measures being taken to improve water quality. It may have been pure coincidence, but the timing couldn't have been better. Some of the 'finds' that were pulled out of the water included fishing poles, a bowling ball (photo below), Frisbees, a skateboard, a kid's scooter, small tires, countless cans and bottles, golfballs,