$5 for a leaf may seem a little stiff, unless each one gets pinned on a likeness of a bare tree, hung in most Buffalo Public Schools as a fundraiser for Re-Tree WNY.

That's just what's taking place in South Park and McKinley High Schools as students compete for a $500 prize offered-up by a retired teacher.  Mr. Juris Smiltins, who taught at Buffalo Public School Erie County Health Care Center for Children #84, has issued the challenge via Re-Tree WNY to coincide with the current fundraising the charity is doing to help meet their five-year

Empire State Development (ESD), USA Niagara Development Corporation (USAN) and the City of Niagara Falls today announced that The Hamister Group, Inc. was selected as the preferred developer in response to the request for proposals (RFP) for development of a key City-owned site located at 310 Rainbow Boulevard in downtown Niagara Falls.  Hamister is planning a mix of retail, hotel and residential space.

The site is located at the northwest corner of Rainbow Boulevard and Old Falls Street,

You live in Buffalo. So it's almost a given that you live in a neighborhood that was built almost entirely before the Great Depression.  The age of your home may be in three digits.  It may even include beautiful, intricately carved woodwork -- both inside and out.

These are the charms of living in an older city.  But they also put us Buffalonians at "ground zero" for a largely invisible problem that all of us would do well to have a better understanding of -- especially those of us with children in and around the house: lead poisoning.

As I've quoted lead-poisoning-activist

By Rebekah Williams

We need your help getting Buffalo to recycle because our region needs the cash.

According to a policy brief by Partnership for the Public Good (PPG), the City of Buffalo pays every time people throw their garbage in a trash can.  That means that when we toss stuff in the garbage, there is a cost to our community.

The problem: Buffalo residents recycle only 8% of curbside waste each year.  Compare that to the national average of 27%, or compare that to other local municipalities that report a

Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN) host of the 2011 National Trust Conference announces that current executive director, Henry McCartney, will be stepping down effective March 1st.  Tom Yots will become the new Executive Director effective March 1st.  Henry will continue his service to PBN with select projects. 

Helping PBN with the initial stages of organizational development, McCartney began as executive director in October, 2008, immediately hiring staff, securing grants, managing day-to-day details, building an

By Nicholas Miller

Last week I wrote about simple solutions that could improve Buffalo's public transit system.  This week, I would like to present a bold idea.

In my opinion, Buffalo's Metro Rail is a mass transit success story.  It has the NFTA's highest ridership and represents a fifth of the NFTA's total daily ridership.  It is also fast and follows a direct route between several of the city's major destinations. It is also the least subsidized and most cost-effect component of NFTA's transit system and attracts a substantial share of discretionary riders

I have long touted the sports strategy that Indianapolis used to revitalize its downtown as a model for cities to follow in terms of strategy led economic and community development. I really think it sets the benchmark in terms of how to do it, and it has been very successful.

Indy is hosting the Super Bowl on Sunday, something that is locally seen as a sort of crowning achievement of the 40 year sports journey. As part of that, the Indianapolis Star and public TV station WFYI produced an hour long documentary on the journey called "Naptown to Super City." I think it's a must watch for

By Nicholas Miller

I'd like to start out this post by saying that I've had very good experiences on the NFTA.  The buses were timely. I can check the schedule through Google Maps on my smartphone. The MetroRail is fast and actually goes to quite a few of the destinations I care about - UB South, the Darwin Martin House, Downtown, Allentown, and it's not too far of walk from much of Elmwood, if you're not in a rush.  There's also decent airport bus service.  However, there are some very simple things that the NFTA could do to improve their service.  Here are

After visiting cities and doing some research on them, I like to come back and write a "master narrative" survey of my impressions of a place. I've been able to do this fairly successfully - at least natives have viewed my take as basically fair - and pretty easily for Midwest cities.

I've spent some time in Providence, Rhode Island recently, a small city reasonably comparable to the ones I focus on in the Midwest, and was hoping to do something similar there. But I've found it difficult. New England culture is something I just don't grok, so

By Dave Majewski

Buffalo and WNY are witnessing perhaps unprecedented development projects that are in progress and certainly much more in the planning phases. We truly have the chance of a lifetime. The chance to show the region, nation and world how it can and should be done the right way.   That way is through smarter design and focusing on the Economic of the Environment, or E2.

We build big awe inspiring modern buildings and give them big flat rubber lined black heat absorbing EPDM roofs that collectively generate more urban heat for us - so all city dwellers

By Dave Majewski

In Western New York we are undergoing an amazing transformation this very day. Canalside, Lafayette Hotel, Buffalo Public Schools renovations, Statler City, Medical Campus, Central Terminal, Fuhrman Blvd and the Outer Harbor, various infrastructure improvements, and many other "development" projects too numerous to list.

Are these good? Of course they are. They create pride, jobs, tax rolls, community enhancement, tourism, enjoyment, and so on. Perhaps even more potentially exciting is the recent notice from Albany regarding $1 billion in incentives should

Young Citizens for ECC delivered a message today to Gov. Andrew Cuomo: "The ECC North Campus expansion happens over our dead bodies!"

The group is protesting Governor's proposed $15 million budget allocation to help build a Health Sciences Center for Excellence at ECC's North Campus, rather than the City Campus where it can tap into

Buffalo General Hospital's Behavioral Health Department has opened its new "Patrick P. Lee Foundation After Hours Clinic."  The clinic, made possible by a $363,746 grant from the Patrick P. Lee Foundation, is an alternative for those struggling with mental or behavioral health issues.  Previously, people had to wait for an appointment with their physician or endure long waits at an emergency room for intervention.  It is designed to divert individuals from seeking urgent behavioral health services from a hospital emergency

The Las Vegas Hilton has just released 2013 Super Bowl future odds, for all NFL teams including the Buffalo Bills. According to oddsmakers, the Bills are 50-1 to win the Super Bowl next year. Frankly, that seems rather generous to the Bills after a remarkable collapse to end of the 2011-12 season. 
Not surprisingly, the most heavily favored teams include the Green Bay Packers (5/1), New Orleans Saints (6/1) and New England Patriots (8/1). 
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Three community organizations have joined to support Re-Tree WNY's five-year effort to plant trees throughout the Buffalo area.  On Sunday, Re-Tree WNY launched the "Green Goal" campaign to raise funds for the purchase of trees to be planted along the streets and in parks of Buffalo and surrounding communities.

The Buffalo Sabres Foundation, The Buffalo News, and Entercom Radio have announced their commitment to support the effort.

"We have a sustainable community program, 'The Sabres Green Team', that adopts a project each season

Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address brought big news for not only New York State, but for Buffalo as well. Governor Cuomo announced a $1 Billion economic development package for the city to promote large investments in growth industries to locate or relocate to Buffalo.

"New York State is on the way to coming back stronger than ever before. By working together in a bipartisan manner and putting the people first, we have established the credibility to govern and to lead. Now we must build on what we have already accomplished to begin to

Adapted from a press release

Mark C. Poloncarz signed five Executive Orders as his first order of business since being sworn in as Erie County's eighth County Executive.  The orders concerned a number of issues including: the Buffalo Bills Stadium Lease, the creation of a Medicaid Anti-Fraud Task Force, the County's electronic time keeping "swipe card" system, updating Equal Employment Opportunity ("EEO") guidelines and the County Attorney's use of outside counsel.

"As

We wanted to make someone's Christmas a little brighter. So we had a Twitter contest.  
We called it our Christmas Do-Over Contest and we asked our 7,500+ followers to share with us their worst Christmas present and we'd give the poor soul with the absolute worst gift a $100 gift certificate to Trattoria Aroma. 
Well, we received plenty of candidates for worst Christmas gift of 2011. One woman received a tooth brush. Not even a Colgate or Oral B toothbrush but a generic toothbrush. One woman

The Ice Ball promises to be one of the year's signature events.  It will also allow thousands to see the work that Mark Croce has completed since buying the shuttered landmark just nine months ago.  New Year's Eve revelers will have access to nine different venues in the Statler that will feature five different bands, two DJs, a five hour long buffet by Buffalo Chophouse and five hours of premium open bar starting at 9 PM.  Over 3,000 guests are expected.

For months, work crews have been focusing on the Statler's public areas and banquet rooms to allow weddings, meetings

This week the Erie County Industrial Development Agency (ECIDA) approved over $1.2 million in various tax abatements for several different projects throughout the region. The aid is expected to create over $12 million in private investment while also creating 150 new local jobs.

The ECIDA signed-off on a $300,000 brownfield redevelopment program grant from National Grid for the Bethlehem Steel Rail Improvement Project. The ECIDA, Erie County, Tecumseh Redevelopment, Inc., South Buffalo Railway, and National