Author: Annie Schentag

The latest art exhibition at ArtSpace, “Complex Compost,” reflects and encourages a growing local interest in reuse and renewal. From the abstract to the absurd, there is something for everyone at this show. “Complex Compost” features the artworks of four emerging local artists, each using found objects as a medium to translate the material language of our surroundings. By placing discarded objects into innovative, unfamiliar contexts, each artist interprets the boundary between trash and treasure and its place in our daily environment. The strength of the exhibition lies in the diversity of materials and mediums used to comment on a…

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Arcadia Publishing has returned to Western New York with its latest book, Buffalo’s Historic Streetcars and Buses. Much like the other titles in the series, Buffalo’s Historic Streetcars and Buses is primarily a collection of images topically and chronologically arranged with introductory material at the beginning of each chapter. Just as the title promises, the book is nonstop collection of images of public transportation in and around Buffalo. Included are a few surprises like Buffalo’s double-decker buses that ran down Delaware Avenue, or the streetcar hearses that literally took you to the end of the line. Buffalo’s Historic Streetcars and…

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Buffalo continues to surprise me. Tucked away in hidden corners, it seems there is always something left to do, yet to be discovered. This week, I went to the British side of Buffalo, by enjoying High Tea at Tru-Teas on Elmwood. I was greeted at the doorway by Trudy, the owner, who escorted me to a table set with embroidered white linens, sterling silver flatware, and iridescently colored teacups. Wearing my pearls with irony, I sat down and settled into the cozy environment while Trudy briefly described the High Tea process and values. She encouraged me to take as long…

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Economy Shift, Population Decline, Aging and the Housing Stock That’s Left Behind We began dialogue with Michael Clarke and Anthony Armstrong of LISC concerning abandoned houses on the East Side of Buffalo this past May. Yesterday, Clarke sent us this NPR story about the land bank in Flint Michigan. According to Clarke, Dan Kildee’s landbank is the best example out there. “We hope to bring Dan here early next year as part as a 1-2 day session on vacant land reclamation. If we’re lucky we’d also get the mayor of Youngstown, Ohio,” Clarke said. Youngstown went through a similar land…

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Tony Maggiotto thinks he’s got a pretty good handle on the T-shirt industry, hawking T’s from his fledgling company on the internet and in local shops, while using his Elmwood Avenue apartment as his base of operations. It’s something he’s driven to do while getting his urban planning degree and dreaming about his eventual run for mayor of Buffalo. “I love this town,” Maggiotto said. Hence the name of his company, CityLove, that he started with his friend Michael Clyde of Buffalo Promotions. The company, whose mission it is to spread a positive image of Buffalo, borrows from many of…

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Marilyn Rodgers was awarded a Certificate of Excellence recently by the Community Action Organization (CAO) of Erie County for her work with the West Village Renaissance Group. This is the second year in a row Rodgers has won this award for the neighborhood group she founded. Rodgers, who eschews the label activist, remembers the unpleasant set of events that led up to her birth as a community advocate. It was August 9, 2002, and Rodgers was enjoying a pleasant day with her neighbors on Johnson Park. There was a performance at the quaint New Phoenix Theater at the end curve…

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It seems that meeting people in this “City of Good Neighbors” is as easy as pie. I’ve never been a very domestic person, which is perhaps both a blessing and a curse. However, I’m not one to turn down a challenge, so when someone dared me to bake a pie from scratch, I covered my kitchen with flour. Baking pies has always had a vintage appeal to me. This might be because, until recently, I didn’t realize that people have actually made them since the 1950’s. With all the technoogical advances made since that decade, I thought they appeared out…

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Editor’s note: The following begins Marilyn Rodgers’ series of community advocate/heroes. Due to fear of retribution, the first installment of celebrating our neighborhood heroes must be written as an anonymous person, so we will call her Miss M. In her late 60’s, Miss M has been an underground force for the East Side of Buffalo. Plagued with cancer and a heart condition, this woman still goes out in her vehicle to inspect adjoining streets and write down descriptions of illegal activity and drug dealers. There have been attempts to form a block club in her area, but to no avail…

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Editor’s Note: I contacted Marilyn Rodgers last week to ask if she would consider writing a series for us profiling community advocates, those people in our community who have a positive impact in their neighborhoods and the lives of others. Marilyn is certainly at the top of that list, so it’s only fitting that we would start with her. Read on to see what brought her there. ECB The Sixth Anniversary of that fateful day in American, and World, History, September 11, 2001 is upon us. I know that much has been made of this day, but I feel the…

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In this city of light, we are haunted by a few shadows. Remnants of our monumental past stand forgotten in the corners of the city, ignored for various financial or historical reasons. However, the community’s continual interest in reviving and reinterpreting the abandoned beauty we are blessed with is what makes Buffalo a great place to be. David Torke, of fixBuffalo, has been directing his attention and efforts towards the First Ward. In conjunction with the Landmark Society, McCarthy’s, RiverWright and the First Ward Community Association, he aims to project a film onto the grain elevator, hosting an event that…

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