There has been significant progress in establishing the Urban Habitat Project (UHP) on the grounds of the Buffalo Central Terminal.  Project lead Dave Majewski has confirmation from Paul Hogan of the Oishei Foundation that their board has approved a $15,000 grant for the UHP.  The project also is receiving $10,000 from the Buffalo Green Fund and another $10,000 in in-kind services from Dore Landscaping

[ I wrote this for a newspaper in Indianapolis, but it's applicable everywhere. - Aaron]

Much of the anxiety around human capital in places like Indiana revolves around the so-called "brain drain," or loss of educated young people after they leave school. But while many would-be brain drain plugs are without question valuable, especially those focused on boosting education, the problem is actually much more complex than that simple idea suggests.

Firstly, a lot of the regions and states that have bled population don't have especially high out-migration rates. My research

The 2010 Census numbers are out and they aren't pretty for the City of Buffalo.  The city's population is down 31,338 since 2000 to 261,310 as of April 1 2010.  Since 1950, the city's population has plummeted 54.9 percent from 580,132.  Erie County also lost population in the last decade.  The county's population is down 3.2 percent or 31,225 people.  By comparison, Niagara County's was down 1.53.  Statewide, the population grew 2.1 percent to 19,378,102.

It's no surprise to City Hall.  The City's

The Verizon press releases are flying today.  Seneca Nation of Indians President Robert Odawi Porter wrote a letter to the chairman of Verizon urging him to consider the many advantages of Seneca Nation land for future Verizon development.

Porter wrote to Ivan G. Seidenberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon, about the company's decision to forego building a $4 billion data center in Somerset, Niagara County:

"The Seneca Nation has followed Verizon's plans to invest in Niagara County with great interest.  As a significant economic contributor to the Western

Visionary artist Charles Burchfield once said, "I hereby dedicate my life and soul to the study and love of nature, with the purpose to bring it before the mass of uninterested public, that they may see and become familiar with the endless number of nature's beauties, wherein lies my greatest happiness. If I can bring only a few serious-minded people to see how vital nature is, besides being beautiful, I shall be content."

In hopes of promoting Burchfield's vision and continuing his legacy of appreciation for the natural world, the Western New

Press release from the office of Arthur J. Giacalone, responding to Senator Maziarz's "attack" on the lawsuit filed by property owner Mary Ann Rizzo that apparently chased Verizon out of Niagara County:

State Senator George Maziarz's decision to angrily grandstand, rather than reflect intelligently, on Verizon's decision to not proceed with its proposed data center in the Town of Somerset, is not surprising.  But it certainly is disappointing.

From the day

Rarely, very rarely does an opportunity for new permanent jobs, new construction jobs and new business for vendors and a new source of property taxes come along in the region. And when such a rare opportunity arises, what happens?  A NIMBY lawsuit pops up and Verizon says "No Thanks" and decides to head to Wyoming. To be fair, the owners of the land in Somerset in Niagara County where Verizon wanted to build its $4

Re-Tree WNY, an organization formed after the "October Storm" of 2006, is postponing plans for it's ninth seasonal planting event to just one fall planting on the storm's fifth anniversary later this year.   A better survival rate for trees planted in the fall as well a shortage of funding are among the reasons for the change. "We are confident that this is a positive move on many counts," stated Paul D. Maurer, Chairman of Re-Tree, who authored the e-mail message.  "We've been monitoring each of our plantings and the results show that spring plantings have

Great news from George Grasser and the Partners for a Liveable Western New York: Congress for the New Urbanism will be holding its 2014 annual conference, or "congress," right here in Buffalo.  Planned for June, 2014 (date not yet selected), the conference will bring advocates for "New Urbanism" and sustainable development from all over the world.   Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) was founded by Andres

Rick Martin, one third of the Sabres famed French Connection, died earlier today as a result of a heart attack.  According to the News report, Martin had a heart attack while driving in Clarence. He was 59. 
The French Connection was just reunited for the first game of the Terry Pegula era and received a standing ovation. The event was extra special as it represented the Sabres welcoming Rene Robert back to the organization after

County Executive Chris Collins and Erie Community College (ECC) President Jack Quinn are moving forward to build a new Center of Excellence on the ECC north campus.  The campus was built in 1960, and this will be the first major expansion it has seen since then, with the exception of a child care center.

Ten years ago, north campus had 4,884 students.  Today, there are nearly 2,000 more students with no new building space.  This new Center of Excellence at north campus made it onto the Buffalo Niagara Partnership's 2011 Regional Agenda.

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In the wake of renewed calls to merge the bridge authorities on the Niagara Frontier, I talked with the State Senate's sponsor of the pending merger legislation, Senator George Maziarz.  While we're all familiar with the

The Darwin Martin House sidelight window that was auctioned by Sotheby's this week sold at the high-end of the projected sales price.  An unknown buyer paid $8,125 for the window which included the buyer's premium.  Which begs the question, Does the Martin House Restoration Corporation chase these windows down when they hit the resale market? 

"We tend toward strategic acquisitions," says Mary Roberts, Executive Director of the Martin House Restoration

It hasn't even been a month yet and Terry Pegula has dramatically changed the culture of the Sabres organization. On his first night as owner, Pegula welcomed Rene Robert back to the Sabres family after a falling out with the previous ownership group. 
The team has generated points in 7 out of 8 games since Pegula entered and Golisano exited. The Sabres

The 27 metro cars in NFTA's fleet will be getting some much-needed upgrades in the coming months.
 
In early February, NFTA received its first newly refurbished car from AnsaldoBreda, Inc. in Hornell, NY.  The car was shipped 100 miles to get its $1.5 million makeover, and now a second car is being worked on and is projected to arrive back in Buffalo later this month.
 
"We are definitely very pleased that the first car has arrived," said Eunice A. Lewin, Chairwoman of the NFTA's Surface Transportation Committee. "While it has been a longer than expected journey

The Good Neighborhood Blog has debuted a short film entitled The Niagara Habitat. The film is produced by the Learning Sustainability Campaign, led by Jay Burney, and outlines the enormous significance of the Niagara River habitat to certain migrating bird populations as well as the freshwater resource that it provides. The video is narrated by Madelyn Burgess and produced by Jay Burney and Jim Grimaldi. The film's creators intend for it to be used

St. Barbara's in Lackawanna, just blocks away from the Basilica, is in the process of coming down, and fast. These photos were taken less than 24 hours ago by David Torke of Fix Buffalo. Reportedly there have been structural problems almost since the church was constructed, specifically with the tower.  Besides being struck by lightning multiple times, nearly half of the 154 foot tower has been deemed structurally unsound by engineers. Whether or not these claims are totally true remains unknown.

Did you see Lady Gaga at Ted's?  Or maybe you saw her at the Polish Villa? Well, Lady Gaga is performing at the HSBC Arena tonight and she's been spotted all over WNY today. Just like when Barack Obama was at Duff's except no one can produce video of Lady Gaga's alleged appearances around WNY.  

As a result, the local Twitter scene has erupted with a #fakegagasightingsBUF hashtag. If you're not on Twitter, you should

A Boise, Idaho-based developer is hoping to bring a European-style market to downtown Niagara Falls, New York, at least for the holiday season. 

'Niagara Holiday Market' will be a European-style, outdoor/indoor holiday themed market featuring world-class offerings of regional, national and international goods, foods and entertainment.  The Market would be located along historic Falls Street, running from 3rd Street to Niagara Falls State Park in a mix of indoor and outdoor venues.  It would debut November 26 and run through January 1, 2012. 

This won't be

For those who can afford it, the "other" Martin House by Frank Lloyd Wright is up for sale in Oak Park, outside of Chicago for a cool $1.38 million.  The price for 636 N. East Avenue has dropped from the original $1.57 million after being on the market about a year.  Considering the over $50 million being spent on the Martin house here in Buffalo, the price comparatively almost seems like a steal.   William E. Martin was the brother of Darwin Martin. William actually gave Darwin the idea of using Wright for his new