Update: According to Feroleto, it’s not at all in a vacuum. The meeting, he says, is one that he was invited to attend by a neighborhood block club (Claremont Ashland and Bird Block Club), and has nothing to do with the Chason Affinity project. Instead, it’s about a proposed turning lane, that the block club proposed over a year ago. The turning lane issue is a function of the Department of Public Works. Feroleto is simply attending the meeting at the request of the block club, so that he can answer any questions that people might have. Update: According to Courtney…
Author: RaChaCha
On a block that has provided a home to some of Buffalo’s finest churches stands one that may have escaped your notice. This Sunday’s Buffalo Mass Mob XXXI wants to change that. Set back hundreds of feet from Delaware Avenue, Blessed Sacrament Church is part of an ecclesiastical complex including West Buffalo Catholic, a grade school serving all the Catholic parishes between downtown and North Buffalo. The complex includes Timon Tower. Until recently it also included the Sheehan residence, which was recently sold to be converted to housing. Other nearby churches include the Greek Orthodox Church, the former North Presbyterian. Although…
Note: this is the third in a series In describing the recent Statler City convention center proposal as a “square peg in a round hole kinda thing,” commenter “Flyguy2pt0” perhaps put it most succinctly. But given the layout of the streets at that location, it may be more like a square peg in a triangular hole. As discussed below, the Statler City proposal is a scaled-up version of the one they showed back in 2010, but on steroids so powerful they might expect an eastern European Olympic committee to come calling, seeking the formula. That’s not to say it’s not…
One and a half score of Mass Mobs and five years ago, the Buffalo Mass Mob co-founders brought forth in this diocese a new initiative, conceived by the laity and dedicated to the proposition that no church should be forgotten. Now we are reaching a great anniversary, celebrating that an initiative so conceived and so dedicated has so long endured. All oration aside, it seems incredible that the Mass Mob is now five years old. And it seems fitting that, in a kind of coming full circle, on its fifth anniversary the thirtieth Mass Mob will be held at the…
Several years ago, a priest at one of the Buffalo Mass Mob churches exchanged views with me about the administration of the Diocese of Buffalo. “Corporate Jesus,” he called it. He didn’t have to explain – I got it right away. And I never forgot it. When I’ve told the story to fellow Catholics, they nod in agreement. In too many ways, it seems, our faith leaders act as if they are running a corporation, not a church. This is what came to mind seeing Sunday’s report on 60 Minutes. The report builds on months of outstanding local journalism, and…
Note: This is the second in a series. Don’t you just hate no-win situations? One minute you’re out enjoying a routine training cruise in the Gamma Hydra Sector (which is just beautiful this time of year), and the next you get a distress-call-you-can’t-refuse from the U.S.S. Kobayashi Maru, inconveniently calling from the Neutral Zone. But before you can get to it, you’re confronted by three battle cruisers loaded for bear. You can either leave people to face a horrible death, or risk starting an interstellar incident – and probably become space toast in the process. Neither option is acceptable, but…
Six years ago, Buffalo’s urban renaissance hopes got a splash of cold water. Abuzz with excitement over the recently announced Buffalo Billion, and still basking in the glow from hosting the prior year’s national preservation conference, we got a stony cold rejection letter from the National Association of Sports Commissions. They weren’t interested in holding their conference here, and didn’t mind telling us why, including this: Your Convention Center did not meet the expectations of the site selection committee and did not measure up to the level of convention centers visited in the other cities. There was also concern from…
Facet by facet and hand in hand with friends and funders, the Olmsted Parks Conservancy has been polishing the jewel of Buffalo’s public infrastructure: the park-and-parkway system designed by Olmsted and Vaux – beginning 150 years ago this fall. With all the neglect and depredation the system suffered in the 20th century, they have had their work cut our for them, and will be at the job for years to come. It is worth celebrating every step along the way, no matter how small. Renovating a comfort station may seem like a small step, but in the case of the…
Despite the astonishing malfeasance of many of her leaders, resulting in a relentless drip, drip, drip of scandal, the Catholic Church in Buffalo is still showing plenty of signs of life. That was never more clear to me than in my recent visit to Saint Rose of Lima Church in North Buffalo, site of this Sunday’s Buffalo Mass Mob XXIX. At the parish, linked with St. Mark’s, 450 families are still keeping the faith, with the help of their energetic and dynamic priest, Father Joseph Rogliano. At age 62, I found Father Joe displayed more energy than priests I’ve interviewed…
After a year-long hiatus from exhibits, the ¡Buen Vivir! gallery in Allentown is back with special events this weekend. The series kicked off last evening, with the opening of One World: Issues Across and Through Skins, a solo exhibit by Johanna C. Dominguez. The events continue Saturday evening, with the screening of the documentary, The Story of a Forest. The documentary’s co-producer, Ruddy Turnstone of the Global Justice Ecology Project, will be present to talk about the film. Located in the former B-West space at 148 Elmwood, ¡Buen Vivir! is the gallery arm of the Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP), formed fifteen years ago by wife-and-husband artists…