Note: This post is not an endorsement of any candidate. If you haven’t been following the fall elections, feel free to stop reading and doze back off. For everyone else, you’ve probably heard of “Bagelgate” — even though it may have seemed most relevant to Gotham residents, as it involved a staple of New York City cuisine: the bagel. You could say bagels are to NYC as wings are here — everyone has their favorite joint and favorite kind, and there are ways of eating and not eating them that are almost articles of religious faith. In that sense, “Bagelgate,”…
Author: RaChaCha
Buffalo-Niagara Waterkeeper closed out the summer with a bang last week. At its major summer fundraising event, the organization, until last year known as Buffalo-Niagara Riverkeeper, announced it is taking the next step in the process of creating a regional waterways center. At the event, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper Executive Director Jill Jedlicka shared this vision: “The Waterways Center will be the physical representation of 30 years of collaborative work on regional waters and ecosystems, and provide a platform for Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper’s mission and vision going forward. The Center will help create a new legacy for the Buffalo waterfront, through…
This week Buffalo got a look at the results of the transit-oriented development (TOD) study that the NFTA and GBNRTC have been conducting for over a year, along with lead consultant WSP (formerly Parsons). This was the first public engagement since the workshops held last year. Since then, clearly a lot of work has gone into the conceptual development suggestions shown for several of the station sites. If you missed the presentation, not to worry – the presentation and display boards can be found here. This was also the final presentation of the TOD study, a federally funded study to…
As a kid, when my family visited the Corning Museum of Glass I’d be endlessly fascinated by the glassblowing exhibit. Since it’s been a long time since I was a kid and since I visited the museum, I was delighted this weekend that the museum came to me — by barge. The Glass Barge is the coolest thing I’ve seen on the waterfront this year, and a perfect fit with all the other summertime activity at Canalside. You can watch the glass-blowing demonstrations from the shore, but your best bet is to get a free ticket that gets you a seat in…
Before cities had fire codes and professional firefighters, fighting fires was everyone’s job, and an “alarmingly” common occurrence. When the alarms went up, volunteers would rush to the scene to do the best they could. Often, by the time people could mobilize, there wasn’t much that could be done except keep the fire from spreading. Thankfully, those days are behind us – in actuality. But metaphorically, they are still very much with us, with development issues flaring up frequently around the city, often in neighborhoods unprepared for them and ill-equipped to respond. In a city with no design or architectural…
The Parkside Movies in the Meadow are a reliable summer favorite in Buffalo, a perfect mix of excellent setting (on the lawn behind Parkside Lodge) and excellent curation. The 2018 season, with films screened every Friday at dusk for the rest of the summer, kicked off Friday with The Lost Boys of Sudan, a particularly poignantly made documentary, poignantly introduced (separate article to come). Movies in the Meadow is a production of the Parkside Community Association in cooperation with the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy and in conjunction with Olmsted, Vaux, and Co., Landscape Architects (no website available). Movies in the Meadow selections are regularly…
Not long after the Buffalo Mass Mob began, an official of the Diocese of Buffalo, who later said he had been quoted out of context, questioned whether the Mass Mob was a “tourist’s contribution for a pretty church.” Yet priests and parishioners from “mobbed” churches quoted in the article found the Mass Mob to be much more than that. Other priests and parishioners clearly agreed, as the Mass Mob has now been invited to over twenty-five churches and shrines in the Diocese of Buffalo — and to hundreds of others in cities that have adopted the idea. Now, the Buffalo Mass Mob will be…
Thursday morning I ran into Chris Van Veghton near the Vermont Triangle Community Garden, at Vermont and 17th Streets. Chris is one of a stalwart crew of neighborhood volunteers, and an important force binding the Vermont Triangle Block Club together. Folks like this, in neighborhoods all over the city, are the often unsung heroes who try to keep city life livable in spite of an under-resourced City Hall that struggles to keep up with basic, bare-bones services. A broom and dustpan in hand, Chris was making sure that the streets surrounding the community garden were presentable for this weekend’s Garden Walk. We…
With a little help from Albany, Buffalo has a new weapon in the fight against neglected properties. Long-sought by Buffalo legislators and councilmembers, a state law signed last week will give the City the ability to add property fines levied in housing court to property tax bills. In addition, if those fines go chronically unpaid, the City can foreclose on those properties the way it currently can over unpaid property taxes and some fees. In a statement, South District Councilman Chris Scanlon said, In 2014, Councilman Fontana and I co-sponsored a resolution calling for any unpaid fees, fines, or penalties…
Note: Tonight’s Book Talk is part of M&T Second Friday at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center This spring marks the launch of a new book and a new press in Buffalo. The Public Books, an imprint of Foundlings Press, debuts with a book of writing about our city and region by SUNY Buffalo State College Professor Bruce Fisher. The book comprises a collection of updated essays originally published over the last decade in several local publications including, notably, The Public, whose media family The Public Books now joins. Launch of The Public Books is symbiotic for The Public and Foundlings Press,…