Tree in Delaware Park

In the aftermath of our October 12th lake effect snow storm, which has devastated our urban forest, additional resources are now considered crucial for the City’s trees. Keep Western New York Beautiful is putting together an application to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Urban and Community Forestry Program for their 2006 Tree Planting Cost Share Grant that will go towards neighborhood tree planting efforts. Your support is needed for this application.

We ask that you write a letter of support on behalf of Keep Western New York Beautiful to enhance their application for future tree planting. Please show your support.

Our grant application is due next week October 31st please send all letters to:

Frank Dunstan
Division of Lands & Forests
NYSDEC
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4253

And please copy:
Jim Pavel
Keep Western New York Beautiful
City Hall, Room 1808
Buffalo, NY 14202

Thank you,
Justin S. Booth MS
The Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo
65 Niagara Square Rm. 607
Buffalo, NY 14202
(716)851-4052
Fax:(716)851-4309

So…I have enjoyed the past two weeks of the Citizen’s Participation Academy immensely.  Last week, we learned all about economic development from Commissioner Tobe, got to have our own mock Citistat session and heard about both Citistat, BURA and the Office of Strategic Planning from Timothy Wanamaker.

The Citistat session was pretty cool.  They’d asked one of the department heads to stay and answer questions the way he would in front of the Mayor and his staff.  Five of us (yes, I was one of the five) got to sit in the seats and ask questions of the department head about boarding up houses.

Commissioner Tobe then spoke about all the projects that are in development or have been completed…Asteria Hanover listed them a few weeks ago on this site…it’s an impressive list!

Then Director Wanamaker walked us through the OSP and told us all about Citistat for which he’s taken some heat recently.  (I think that session will be aired tonight on the Government Channel 22.)

Last night, we met at the Buffalo Employment Training Center (BETC) to learn about what they do as well as learn about the Department of Community Relations and Recreational Services.  Commissioner Tanya Perin-Johnson walked us through her department, and it’s amazing all the things that they are doing and the services that are provided.

We had a tour of BETC and a quick presentation on how to access the services.

Then Rita Hubbard-Robinson, Executive Director of the Department of Citizen’s Rights and Human Rights (not exactly the right title), explained what her department does.

It was a great two weeks.  I’m learning so much and I look forward to next week…

I didn’t grow up in Western New York, so usually when I discover something cool, I also discover everyone else has known about it for years, if not decades. You know, like Hertel Avenue. But Friday night I discovered a gem that seems to be flying under the radar… the Screening Room on Sheridan Drive. I saw an amazing double feature for $5.50, and my Diet Pepsi (ice on the side) brought the total up to $7.00. Try getting through a trip to the Regal for that kind of money.

The double feature was All About Eve followed by one of my creepy all-time favorites, Carnival of Souls. I arrived early, expecting a crowd, but attendance was surprisingly sparse. There were about ten people there for All About Eve, and only three of us stayed for Carnival of Souls.

The Screening Room has a lot going for it. There’s a casual “hang out” atmosphere, the already-mentioned low admission price, and the movie line up is interesting and varied. If you’re not up for a double feature you can see one or the other of the two movies for a reduced admission price. But there are a few problems, as well. First off, it’s a tough place to find, tucked away on the side of a generic Sheridan Drive strip mall. And the seats… well, let’s just say nobody would ever describe them as comfortable. Next time I’m bringing a pillow!

Still, if you love movies and can tough it out for a few hours on a crappy chair, give the Screening Room a try.

Some of you may have heard about the new initiative that the City of Buffalo is currently doing, called the Citizen’s Participation Academy. There was an e-mail going around about it as well as being listed in the paper.So, I decided to apply for the academy…thinking that it would be a good way for me to learn more about the city. Yes, I do know a great deal of people at the city, but I thought it would be interesting to learn just how the city works.

I was accepted (1 of 30 out of 150 who applied) and this past Tuesday, we had the ‘inaugural’ orientation for the City’s first CPA. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was excited about the opportunity to broaden my knowledge base.

It was a very diverse group of citizens. Different race. Different socio-economic backgrounds. Different ages. Good mix of men and women. Some existing community leaders. Some people who just wanted to learn more about their city.

The orientation night was great. The entire academy is run by Oswaldo Maestre, who is the Director of Citizen Services for the city. Mayor Brown was there to welcome us as well as give us a tour of his office. They served us a light dinner - wings, what else! And then we heard about the different boards that the city appoints people to and filing for a special event. (I had some experience with that during BOHW.)

The evening was capped off by a tour of City Hall from David Granville. It was a great tour (I’ve been on the tour and given the tour), especially for people who have never been on it…a great chance to see the beautiful Common Council Chambers.

So, the goal of this academy?
-To learn how the City of Buffalo is designed and supported
-The City’s relationship to Erie County
-The Buffalo Public School System and various other public agencies
-How to access needed services and vital resources.

All participants are required to do at least 3 of the following:
-Perform a police ride along or visit a police precinct
-Take a complaint in the Mayor’s Call and Resolution Center
-Attend a Common Counil Meeting or Attend a Citi-Stat session
-Visit the Water Sewer Treatment Facility
-Conduct a Community Satisfaction Survey
-Volunteer at a community center

I’m excited about being part of this new initiative and look forward to learning more about the city. I’ll post weekly about the academy and what we’re learning…

Kudos to the crew at the Central Terminal for the article in today’s Buffalo News.

The entire gang works tirelessly to maintain the Terminal. And they put on events like last night’s Oktoberfest, which was a good time. A bunch of folks from the Buffalo blogosphere gathered and it’s always good to meet new folks that come onto the scene…with about half the people of last weekend’s Beerfest.

Congrats to Russ, Mike, Derek, Amanda, Erwin, and the entire crew at the Terminal and thanks for all you do!

Tomorrow, Oktoberfest is being held at the Central Terminal.  If you have never been there, it’s worth it just to see this historic Buffalo building.  It starts at 6 PM.  Now, the crowds last week for Beerfest were amazing and I didn’t get in because tix were sold out.  So, I plan to get there early this weekend…they are expecting about 2,000 people…beer and bratwurst…

Sand Display -look close

Originally uploaded by buffalo_amy.

So, this was one of the beautiful sand displays from the Dalai Lama’s visit to UB. And if you look close, you will see something familiar…

Not sure how they did it because the monks did the actual displays, but it was pretty comical to see that on Tuesday.

If you are driving around Amherst today and are having some traffic difficulties, it’s because the Dalai Lama is in town, and about to speak to 30,000 at the University at Buffalo stadium at 3:00pm.

Yesterday, his Holiness and members of other local religious orders gathered for an Interfaith Service in Alumni Arena, to a sold out crowd of 6,000.

Luckily, I was able to get student tickets on the floor, in section 5, right where the processional walked in. This was a moving and wonderful ceremony. Native American peoples, who were the frst to settle in the region, opened the service with a short performance and then we heard readings from various religions, including Jewish, Catholic, and Buddhist. Department of Theatre and Dance students interpreted readings of faith and danced on the track, like “angels”, his Holiness called them. There were three minutes of silence so deep, I don’t think Alumni Arena has ever been that quiet. I even spotted Mike, the local NY Times photographer. Maybe Buffalo will hit the tri-fecta this week.

Upon his entrance, address and exit, the crown gave the Dalai Lama three standing ovations. He spoke of mutual understanding and respect and cracked jokes about how precisely organized the event was. The responsorial readings called us to recite: “We are peace, we make peace.” Right before the closing, we were also instructed to tie strings of faith on each other’s wrists, as a symbol of unity and peace and heard a gospel choir close with a song that quotes “You are important to me, I need you to survive…”

In case you missed it, this is the second article about our fair city in a month.

The New York Times

September 18, 2006
After a Half-Century of Decline, Signs of Better Times for Buffalo
By LISA W. FODERARO

BUFFALO - For years Buffalo’s psyche has borne the scars of a once-mighty city reduced to a shadow of its former self.

First the Erie Canal, which helped propel Buffalo to greatness in the 19th century, was made obsolete by railroads and highways. Then the heavy industry that had sprung up with the canal traffic collapsed: dozens of factories in the region, mainly steel and grain operations, closed in the mid-1970’s alone. The economic decline was so severe that half the people left - the population sliding from 580,000 in the mid-20th century to about 290,000 today.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment in recent years has been the waterfront. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and other faded industrial cities have pumped millions into redeveloping land along the piers that had made them thriving hubs during a bygone era. Buffalo has lagged, and its expansive Lake Erie shoreline feels abandoned.

But now, there is a sense that just maybe Buffalo’s losing streak is coming to an end. There is tangible movement on long-awaited plans to reclaim the waterfront, along with dozens of private and public
real-estate projects downtown under construction or in the works.

Restoration work on the historic inner harbor, the point where the Erie Canal met the Great Lakes, is well under way. In the downtown area a few blocks away, two developers - one from Long Island, another from England - have each bought historic buildings that were empty or underused, with plans for major mixed-use projects. And a new office building, with almost a half million square feet, is going up, the largest to rise downtown in at least 20 years.

That office building is just one of more than a dozen that helped make the Buffalo region one of the top areas for office construction in the final quarter of last year.

“I’m not going to say that this whole thing is going to take off in 18 months and that we’re going to look like Toronto,” said Charles F. Rosenow, president of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, a new state agency charged with developing the city’s inner harbor.

“But the pieces are beginning to fall in place, and we’re working diligently.”

Not everyone is so optimistic. Even Mr. Rosenow jokes that you could fill a library with the dozens of waterfront plans that have gone nowhere for lack of money. Skeptics particularly recall the promise of another grand waterfront project - an office and retail complex to be anchored by Adelphia Communications. That deal collapsed when Adelphia officials were indicted on conspiracy and fraud charges in 2002.

“For a community that thinks they’ve been waiting for a half-century for something to happen, it’s not fast enough,” said Thomas A. Kucharski, the president and chief executive of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, a nonprofit economic development organization.

Still, many people think this time might be the real thing. Buffalo has a new mayor, Byron W. Brown, who has aggressively pitched the city’s potential from California to Massachusetts. There is financial
support from the state and federal governments, spurring highway projects and cleanups of polluted former industrial sites.

And there is more diverse private investment from developers attracted to the city’s inexpensive real estate and the panoply of architectural riches and elegant parks built in the city’s heyday.

At the foot of Main Street, for instance, cobblestone streets and the original commercial slip at the terminus of the Erie Canal are being restored. A new building for an existing naval history museum is under construction, and a new promenade meanders along the shoreline where three Navy ships are anchored. Also planned is a market modeled after Faneuil Hall in Boston, and a museum devoted to the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes.

An important development was the creation of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the state’s economic development agency. The new corporation has the power to issue
bonds and should keep momentum going to develop the harbor.

The corporation made a splash this spring with the hiring of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects of Manhattan, which worked on both the Baltimore Inner Harbor project and Battery Park City, projects that Buffalo is eager to emulate.

Perhaps the biggest boost came in June, with the approval of a settlement brokered by United States Representative Brian Higgins between the New York State Power Authority and the Erie Canal Harbor
Development Corporation. As part of its relicensing application, the Power Authority, which has a hydroelectric plant near Niagara Falls, agreed to pay $279 million over 50 years to address concerns about the environmental impact of its operations.

The settlement money, which has already started flowing, is dedicated to the waterfront improvements. Officials plan to get a large chunk of the money up front by selling bonds.

In recent years, across Buffalo’s miles of waterfront, the city and the state have created parks and installed bike and walking trails. Construction is set to begin in early October on a 100-foot-wide greenbelt around the entire outer harbor site.

One of the more distinctive plans for the waterfront involves a new Frank Lloyd Wright building. In 2000, a local group bought the rights to a 1905 design for a boathouse that was never built.

In a city with six other Wright buildings, the boathouse, which will serve the West Side Rowing Club, could become a tourist attraction, city officials say. The group has raised almost $5 million; construction began this month.

“It’s finally moving along,” said Gretchan F. Grobe, a Buffalo native and the senior visitor services representative for the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, a city museum featuring works by Impressionist and
contemporary masters. “People are very excited. Developing the waterfront will bring people back to the city.”

Not all is going well along the waterfront, however. The state has yet to complete a deal that would bring Bass Pro Shops, an outdoor sporting goods chain known for its flashy interiors, complete with
waterfalls and shooting ranges, to the long-vacant War Memorial Auditorium. Officials are counting on Bass Pro - whose 300,000-square- foot flagship store in Springfield, Mo., draws four million visitors a year - to anchor the inner harbor.

Despite an announcement two years ago that Bass Pro had signed a memorandum of understanding, the company has yet to sign a contract. Still, both sides say the negotiations are continuing.

Plans for the outer harbor, a forlorn rectangle of landfill jutting into Lake Erie (and once a bustling transit point for bulk cargo), are also not firm. A prime 120-acre portion of the outer harbor land is owned by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, a state agency that operates the city’s buses, subways and airports. The agency is negotiating with a private developer on a mixed-use project, but talks have bogged down over environmental issues.

To signal his commitment to the waterfront, Mayor Brown toured the inner harbor on his first day in office in January. “It’s important to the public’s confidence that we can demonstrate that we can get something done on the water,” he said in a recent interview.

David A. Stebbins, the waterfront projects coordinator for the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation, said that opening up the waterfront was critical for stemming the population decline.

“It’s about tourism, but it’s also about quality of life,” he said. “There are a dozen colleges and universities in the area, with 100,000 college students. But they don’t stay. If you were to keep all that brainpower, then you’d have an economy.”

As Buffalo awaits more investment in its waterfront, a number of developers are remaking downtown. In the past two years, vacant and underused buildings have been renovated for residential use, adding about 1,000 apartments.

On the commercial side, Duke Realty Corporation of Indianapolis is putting up a $100 million headquarters for BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York. The 469,000-square- foot structure is on a
former brownfield site.

Also downtown, a Long Island developer just bought the old A.M. & A. department store, which has sat vacant for years. Plans call for a mix of retail space, offices and apartments.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the sudden interest of a young British developer, Bashar Issa, 28, who has worked in Manchester, England, as well as in Dubai and China.

He recently bought the Statler Building, a once-elegant 1,100-room hotel that is now a half-empty office tower. Mr. Issa says he plans to pour $80 million into the building to create condominiums, apartments, stores, office space and hotel rooms.

“We were trying to penetrate the United States market, and we spoke to a lot of brokers around the country,” he said in a phone interview. “I’m so shocked and surprised that Buffalo has been left
behind to a certain extent. It’s the second-largest city in New York State. I really feel I have a second home now.”

http://www.nytimes. com/2006/ 09/18/nyregion/ 18buffalo. html

Compliments of City Hall, here is a list of development projects that are Revitalizing Buffalo. Some are already finished, some only planned, yet each lend proof that the city is continuing to improve the quality of life for area citizens via reconstruction, improvements and new developments.

Completed | 6

IS Lofts Downtown Housing | 362 Oak Street, 24 units, reconstruction | $5,000,000
First Niagara Bank buildout | 726 Exchange | $578,430
599 Delaware Avenue (FDA Building), renovation | R&D Facility | $2,500,000
UB Center of Excellence | $61,000,000
Roswell Park Research Facility | $61,000,000
Cornerstone Manor | 150 E. North at Michigan, 122 units, new construction | $10,688,133
Joint Schools Construction, Phase II (13 schools) | $327,000,000
Grand Total | $467,766,563.00

Substantially Completed | 2

Granite Works | 844-864 Main Street, mixed-use project, reconstruction | $8,000,000
Old Metroplex Renovation | 723 Main Street | $1,500,000
Grand Total | $9,500,000.00

Approved, funded and in final design and engineering | 3

Waterfront Village Housing Project; new construction | $12,500,000
Union Hall, CWA Local 1133, 821 Elk Street | $700,000
Southtown Connector-Fuhrmann Blvd. Reconstruction | $32,000,000
Grand Total | 45,200,000

Applied for Building permits/ under construction or will start soon | 34

Cobblestone | 26 Mississippi Street-Mixed-Use: 36 residential units, office retail | $5,000,000
New Era Headquarters | Delaware Ave | $10,000,000
285 Delaware Avenue | Uniland Development-New Office building | $12,000,000
Cobey Inc., new manufacturing facility | Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park | $10,000,000
HealthNow Headquarters | $110,000,000
Artspace | 1219 Main Street, reconstruction, 60 apts. | $17,500,000
Pierce Building | 653 Main Street; reconstruction | $500,000
Hydro-Air Company, proposed new manufacturing facility | $7,500,000
Delaware & Linden Retail Plaza | Tim Horton’s; 2240-2300 Delaware | $5,000,000
506 Elmwood Avenue in-fill mixed-use project | $3,000,000
Guaranty Bldg | 30 Church Street | $12,000,000
Desiderios Food Warehouse | 530 Bailey Ave. | $2,100,000
Plaza Expansion | 2635 Delaware Ave (Plaza Group) | $750,000
Tops renovation | 2101 Elmwood Ave. | $650,000
Medical Bldg, Building C | 100 High Street | $980,000
Medical Office, WNY MRI | 700 Michigan Ave. | $1,200,000
Tenant Build Out | 20 East Huron Street | $800,000
499 Washington, Reconstruction, 82 units | $2,500,000
937 Broadway, Reconstruction, 43 units | $2,250,000
100 Seneca Street, renovation for NYSDOT | $2,489,000
St. John Phase I (Fruitbelt), 10 units new housing construction | $1,506,880
Bethel Phases I-II; 18 new housing construction (Ada & Elsie Streets) | $2,525,000
HoZo-New Opportunities; 19 new housing construction | Kang, Kemp & Davis Streets | $3,050,000
East Side Opportunities; 30 units new housing construction (Dodge Street) | $6,000,000
The Packard Building | Main & Riley | $8,932,000
Electric Tower | 535 Washington Street, office; renovation | $11,300,000
Phoenix House | 564 Delaware Avenue (Moscati) renovation | $1,040,000
Greystone Apartments | 24 Johnson Park | $5,000,000
Erie Canal Harbor Project and new Naval Museum | $50,000,000
Darwin Martin House and associated projects; renovation and new construction | $35,000,000
Joint Schools Construction, Phase I (9 schools) | $173,500,000
BMHA Lakeview 3A2; 6 housing units for rent; new construction | $1,159,304
Mount Mercy Academy Renovations | $400,000
Sisters’ Hospital | 2157 Main Street, renovations | $2,138,000
Grand Total | $517,770,184.00

Planned, project announced and likely to move forward | 27

50 Court Street | new office building | $40,000,000
Bass Pro Outdoor World Store | $ 60,000,000
Lenox Hotel Renovation; reconstruction | $5,000,000
Sodexho Laundry (Curtiss Wright) | $22,000,000
New Office Building | 227 Niagara Street | $550,000
Senior Apt with parking | 257 Virginia Street | $2,000,000
Apt Bldg conversion with Day Care | 92 Pearl Street | $9,200,000
Human Service Facility | 1924 Bailey Ave | $1,500,000
Paper Recycling Bldg | 12 Metcalf | $570,000
Loft Conversion | 686 Main Street | $1,500,000
Masonry Addition | 1 Bud Mil | $750,000
St. John Phase II (Fruitbelt), 10 new housing construction | $2,200,000
Sycamore Village; 48 units, new housing construction | Kang, Kemp & Davis Streets | $7,200,000
Shoreline Apartments, housing renovation | $10,700,000
Federal Courthouse | $120,000,000
Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino and parking- est. | $70,000,000
BNMC-Medical Campus Infrastructure improvements & Allen Street extension | $11,400,000
UB Education Opportunity Center (EOC) | $25,000,000
St. John Baptist Hospice House | $2,600,000
Living Opportunities of DePaul Group Home, 75 units; new construction | Seneca & Elk | $805,014
AD Price, new construction of 48 rental housing units | Jefferson near William) | $25,900,000
Burchfield Penny Art Museum | $22,000,000
Shea’s Theater Renovations | $700,000
Cars Sharing Main Street | Federal & State | $14,000,000
Buffalo State College Technology Center | $40,000,000
Canisius College Interdisciplinary Science Center | $45,000,000
Grand Total | $540,575,014.00

Proposed, project announced but contingent on external factors | 19

Elmwood Avenue Hotel
Glenny Drive/Kensington Heights Retirement Community | $80,000,000
AIDS Community Services, Elmwood Avenue project | $7,000,000
504 Washington Street $1,000,000
St. John Townhomes, 28 units, new construction | $6,000,000
Statler Building Renovation, mixed-use: hotel, office, housing | $80,000,000
Seneca Paper, 210 Elicott Street, renovation/conversion, housing $6,800,000
RiverWright Ethanol Plant $80,000,000
AM&A’s Redevelopment, renovation, mixed-use
Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino Hotel
Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino Office Tower
Erie Community College-Downtown | $90,000,000
Frank Lloyd Wright Boat House | $5,000,000
Frank Lloyd Wright Gas Station & Pierce-Arrow Transportation Museum | $3,000,000
Michigan St Church/Nash H/ Colored Musicians total | $1,000,000
Joint Schools Construction, Phase III (9 schools) | $375,000,000
H.H. Richardson Complex | $54,000,000
Richardson Architecture Museum | $24,000,000
Buffalo Lakefront Development (Outer Harbor) | $700,000,000
Grand Total | $1,512,800,000.00

Over all total = three billion, ninety three million, six hundred eleven thousand, seven hundred and sixty one dollars…My calculator doesn’t have any more spaces!