Author: Great Lakes United

This weekend marks a big pre-spring college and university cleanup at the Central Terminal. This is the second year that local students have volunteered their time to help get the terminal ready for activities. I called Bernadette Majewski (Central Terminal Restoration Corporation) for the terminal and asked her what the response has been like this year… it is Saturday morning after-all: “I contacted all of the colleges and universities, but unfortunately UB is out on break. We’re getting a great response from the Canisius kids though. The general cleanup is in May but we wanted the terminal clean for Dyngus…

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A group of 50 urban explorers will gather together at the site of the demoed McBride’s tomorrow to toast to the unfortunate fate of the building. Normally these urban explorers are known for climbing through buildings that are in jeopardy of being demolished… this is the first time that I have heard of a group gathering to toast to the rubble left behind. Then again, in a city like Buffalo, there can often times be no warning before the wrecking crews descend upon a structure… leaving no time to organize a farewell toast while it still stands. The group Forgotten…

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After the opening of the Jenny Shop, it didn’t take long before we heard of another downtown clothing shop entering the scene. And guess what? It’s opening in the Ellicott Square building, just across the street from Chop Chop and Globe Market. The gentlemen’s clothing shop, called Marcell by Chayban, will be visible and accessible from Main Street, giving the corridor its second men’s clothing shop to open in recent years. Get Dressed Downtown was the first clothing shop to enter the downtown retail market (in recent years), then the Jenny Shop opened its doors, and now shop owner Charles…

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After attending the opening of The Jenny Shop a couple of us swung up Elmwood and stopped into The Elmwood Market. Not only did an attractive new sign catch our eye, we couldn’t help but notice that the place was looking pretty well stocked. Once we stepped inside we were immediately taken with the numerous old photos of built Buffalo from days gone by. I was especially impressed with a large print of the Guaranty Building that wrapped the back doorway. Above the rows of product we saw images of Shelton Square, old Buffalo bridges, locally manufactured products, boats on…

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Today marked the grand opening of one of downtown’s newest clothing shops (more to come). The Jenny Shop opted for a soft opening in order to work out some of the unexpected kinks that any fledgling business runs across. Despite the soft opening, owner Jen Hemmingway reported that she was pleasantly surprised at the day’s end numbers. She told me that she had a number of well-wishers stop by to wish her luck, and some of those people picked up an item before heading back out. She also said that the recently uncovered windows attracted a good amount of people…

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During a recent visit to Canada I took the time to walk along the edge of the Niagara River near the Peace Bridge. Of course many of us are familiar with the Niagara Parkway trail that runs all the way to Niagara Falls… and others might recall the barrier to that trail that comes in the form of Chinese Restaurant parking lots. What might not be known is that there has been a concerted effort to remove the commercial parking lots along the Niagara River in order to give people additional access to the land. In turn, that land has…

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Just as the Cobblestone District and the CanalSide are picking up speed, a historic brick structure just down the street from both came down today. McBride’s Tavern’s (c.1850’s) ultimate demise was not the wind or the snow… it was demolished by a machine. Not to say that the weather wouldn’t have eventually brought the structure down… regardless, Buffalo has lost one more piece of its history. Very sad. I spoke to Harvey Garrett about what this scenario and what this means to the city as a whole. “It’s a shame,” he said. “But if there is no plan then there…

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When I think of sunflowers, several things come to mind. Towering flowers and seeds are the first. Now, that list includes removing lead from contaminated soils. Sunflowers are one of a number of plants that can be involved in phytoremediation, or cleaning contaminated soils, water, or air with plants. Phytoremediation is a practice recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and many groups across the country as a way of cleaning up low levels of contamination at the surface of the soil, or however deep the plant’s roots grow. Common Ground Relief, for example, is an organization dedicated to…

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Recent posts on Buffalo Rising have dealt with the issue of brownfields in our community and throughout the Great Lakes. These large, former industrial sites pose great challenges and amazing opportunities for our communities. Land contamination, however, does not stop when a property has a different zoning class code. Commercial and residential sites throughout many neighborhoods come into contact with chemical substances daily. While the many highly contaminated sites in Western New York obviously require extensive clean-up and reclamation, is there anything the average western New Yorker can do about reducing low levels of chemicals in their yards? Land contamination…

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Tifft Nature preserve (photo) was a landfill. Times Beach was another disposal site. Steel Winds has been constructed on land that was once part of a massive steel facility. Buffalo appears to have a growing tradition of ‘greening’ former industrial sites, especially along its waterfront. Is this the best use for these lands? With the emphasis on the waterfront, does this help create an attractive and sustainable community? An ongoing example of a ‘brownshore’ redevelopment project is the former Union Ship Canal, now the center of the Lakeside Commerce Park. Located on the Buffalo-Lackawanna border it is described as a…

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