It’s always nice to see local athletes give back to the area. It’s no surprise that J.P. Losman is among them. J.P. started Buffalo Lives, a local non-for-profit organization founded to encourage and unite residents to come out and help beautify the city’s neighborhoods. This event was made possible through the partnership between the City of Buffalo, Buffalo Lives, Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, and Keep Western New York Beautiful.

All are invited to join Mayor Byron W. Brown and J. P. Losman of the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, September 1st, 2007 for the Buffalo Lives clean-up event. Saturdays’ event will focus on 4 main strips within the City: Niagara Square down Niagara Street to Porter Avenue, West Ferry Street from Niagara to Richmond Avenue, Main Street and West Ferry, and Best Street from Main Street to the 33. Participants are asked to meet at the front of City Hall at 9 a.m. for T-Shirts, supplies and assignments. The groups will work to remove trash and graffiti, while planting trees and plants at the different sites. At 12 noon, all volunteers will reconvene for lunch and live music!

Please come and support this community effort to beautify and uplift our city.

Sometimes you have to go to a restaurant twice in order to appreciate it. That’s what happened to me with the Viking Lobster Co. Nestled on Tonawanda Street, my first experience after it re-opened was not a great one. The service was extraordinarily slow and the food was not up to par. You should never have to cut lobster with a knife…but we did.

Yesterday, I was making plans with friends about where to go for dinner tonight. When one of my friends suggested Viking Lobster, I cringed. He knew I’d had a bad experience, but assured me that this time would be better. He happened to be there the night of said experience and has eaten there regularly ever since.

So, we went. We started with a round of appetizers. Lots of good food. Clams casino. Steamers. Ribs. Then we shared salad and soup. For dinner, we ordered a huge lobster and then a Viking Seafood Plate Special. Everything was great! The service was still a little on the slow side, but if you go into a place knowing what to expect, it makes things a lot easier.

During the summer, there is always so much to do. Festivals. Concerts. Food events. My favorite festival of the year is always the Elmwood Festival of the Arts. Held during the last weekend in August, this festival runs on Elmwood between Lafayette and West Ferry.

It’s the smallest of the arts festival, which also makes it the most appealing. There is a whole Kids’ Tent in the parking lot at the Lexington Co-op, 3 music stages with live music both days, and tons of food.

With 70% of the artists hailing from WNY, it’s a great way to celebrate the nearing of end of the summer!

A note from Michael Gainer:

First of all, to those that have already spent time on a job site, developing some aspect of our program, or planning an event…a heartfelt thank you! To those eager to get involved in building our organization for the future, we welcome your skills, talents, commitment, and passion.

It was our vision in creating Buffalo ReUse, that we would divert money currently spent on demolition into job creation and ultimately job training for youth ages 18 -24. This we will accomplish and our trained staff will be significant in meeting the terms of our research and development grant and provide a skilled workforce that can take on the task of deconstruction full-time. That being said, the scope of our work is wide and far reaching and with each passing day we learn of new areas in which our organization can be of service to the community. This is where your contributions, time, and energy come into play! For Buffalo ReUse is far more than just deconstruction, as our Program Manager Kevin Hayes says, “we’re about people.” He’s right and it is people like you that will help us to serve more needs here in the City of Buffalo, from developing a retail store to revitalizing communities through grassroots projects and organizing.

So here’s the big question, HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED? What’s great is that there are needs in the organization for varying skills and abilities. We’re building an organization from scratch, so as you can imagine there is a lot of work to do. Here’s a list of a few opportunities for which you can be involved.

MARKETING COMMITTEE. Wow! This is a biggie! It’s critical that we get the word out to the Buffalo community and surrounding areas so folks know that they can access our services. Caesandra will be providing leadership for this committee and has already started the ball rolling on blogs, myspace pages, and youtube videos…there’s an immense potential here, not to mention improving and expanding our website capacity. Are you a WRITER or DESIGNER? We’re developing promotional literature to spread the word of our work to contractors and homeowners. Maybe you’ve seen our recent articles in the Buffalo News or ArtVoice. We’d like to cast the net further and get more stories written in more papers…letters to the editor, press releases, or feature stories, are all ways to get free publicity in papers. If video production, editing, design, writing, radio, etc. is your interest… send an email to Caesandra at marketing@buffaloreuse.org . I know she’s wanting to convene a meeting soon, so send her a line ASAP.

FIELD SERVICES. Strong back? Like getting dirty? Skilled or unskilled, we’ll prepare you for the job. We have tools, hardhats, gloves, and masks to get you going. It’s great if you have workboots, because sometimes the working conditions are extreme. Right now we have a lot of projects in the works and often get calls for salvage and pickups. The volume isn’t heavy right now, but I anticipate it will be picking up soon. Send an email to field@buffaloreuse.org , with your phone number and the days and times your available. I’ll make sure you’re informed of upcoming work when it’s available.

RETAIL and SALES. SOON…not soon enough, we’ll be making a move to a larger warehouse that will eventually be our retail store. So much is about presentation and organization. We don’t want to be JUST a store, we want to be a destination. That means our store will incorporate art, history, architecture, and community. If you have an eye for aesthetic presentation, a knack for organization, or an interest in unique materials, we’d love to have you involved in either organizing, staffing, or developing our store. Kevin is the go-to guy for this work. Right now we’re open on Sunday’s from 11-4 p.m. and that’s a great time to plug in, just stop by, but we’re also working on the layout and design for our new space so we’ll need to put heads together to work out a plan. Send an email to retail@buffaloreuse.org and Kevin will be in touch.

Here are some other very specific things that we will need help with in the short term. Send an email to info@buffaloreuse.org indicating what you’d like to work on and we’ll meet-up and help get the ball rolling. These projects completed by individuals or in small teams. Check out volunteer link for other volunteer ideas. Here are a few thoughts…

EDUCATORS. Assist in developing a job training curriculum guide.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS. Community resource manual to assist neighborhoods/block clubs.
SAFETY TRAINERS. We would love your expertise and support.
DOCUMENTARIAN. Organizing print materials, video documentation, photos, etc for future fund-raising, etc.

And one last thing, there’s something about start-ups, sometimes they drop the ball. If you don’t feel like we’re using your skills wisely or following up with you regularly enough, call us or email. We have volunteers that call regularly and check in and typically we find ways for them to contribute. Stay in touch, visit our store, get involved. So look forward to working with all of you.

Onward,
Michael

–
Michael Gainer
716-949-0900
www.BuffaloReUse.org

Buffalo ReUse is a not-for-profit organization committed to developing the practice of a deconstruction, to serve as a vehicle for job creation, building materials reclamation, and community development.

We provide an alternative to the practice of demolition; salvage building materials from construction, renovation, and demolition projects; and provide a source of high quality building materials for sale to the public.

Please contact us if you would like to donate materials you have stashed away in your basement, if you’d like an estimate for deconstruction services, or if you’d like to purchase salvaged building materials…716-885-4131.

Positive Buffalo Area News
August 8, 2007
Did You Know?
By Paul Wolf, Esq.

*Per capita income is growing more rapidly in Western New York than in any other Upstate markets, according to a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Per capita income in the Buffalo Niagara Falls metro area grew by 5.1% between 2005-2006, compared to Rochester and Albany at 4.9% and Syracuse at 4.8%.

*Synacor Inc. a Buffalo based vendor of online services is proposing a stock offering to raise an estimated $86 million to fund growth. The company, which currently has 163 employees, builds and runs web “portals”, customer sign-in screens, for Internet onramp services. Synacor is the second Buffalo technology company to propose a stock offering this year (Nanodynamics is the other).

*Roswell Park Cancer Institute is funding its third spin-off company AndroBiosys, Inc. (ABS). The primary goal of ABS is to pioneer new therapeutic approaches for prostate cancer. ABS will initially employ 6 people at 73 High Street in Buffalo.

What: Annual Brew Fest

Where: Central Terminal

Time: Doors open at 1, taps open from 2-6

When: Saturday, August 25th

This year’s Brew Fest will include over 100 samples of microbrews from around the world and promises to be an even greater success with more than 3,000 “tasters” in attendance. Event organizers have worked hard to make sure this year’s event is safe, fun and enjoyable, so as promised, there will be more bathrooms, more food, more brewers, and more everything!

Tickets to the event are $20 pre-sale and $25 at the door. Admission price includes a souvenir glass and 20 tokens to taste and enjoy microbrews from more than 40 regional brewers. Get your tickets online now or stop by Wegmans, Flying Bison Brewery, Alternative Brews, Buffalo Brew Pub, Pizza Plant, Niagara Tradition, Premier Gourmet or Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center. Don’t wait to get your tickets, last year’s event sold out at the door.

All proceeds from this year’s event will benefit Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center and the Central Terminal Restoration Corp.

*Note that my friend Ethan over at Beer-o-vision posted on this last week (sorry Ethan!), noting that it will definitely sell out!

Last year’s event sold out (I know, I was in line and was turned away), so get your tickets today!

What: Summer Wine Night

When: Tuesday August 21st at 6:00 o’clock.

Cost: $25.00 per person, tax and gratuity additional

Where: Celebrate the summer in style, at The Roycroft Inn!

Bring your friends and join us for the last Summer Wine Night of the year! Enjoy the perfect Western New York evening on the Peristyle as we sample six wines from our award wining wine list along with casual hors d’oeuvres displays.

Today, a press conference was held to introduce the UBbelievers group. The press conference began with Madison, a five-year old girl, who will be 18 in the year 2020. 2020 happens to also be the target year of UB’s development plan. Members of the community were also there to tell their UB story. Among them were Jeremy Jacobs Sr., Delaware North and Chair of the UB Council, David Barthel, President & CEO of SmartPill and Geraldine Horton, Principal of East High School.

As I mentioned in a previous post, 40% growth is planned between now and 2020. That growth includes adding almost 3,000 faculty and staff (750 faculty), more than doubling the research expenditures in the community to $300 million dollars (from the current $137) and increasing the student body by 10,000 students.

It was great to see so many members of the community (and UB) there to support this project. If you are interested in learning more about this, click here.

Looking for a way to learn more about the city of Buffalo? I encourage you to apply for the Fall 2007 Session of the Mayor’s Citizen’s Participation Academy. As you know, I attended the inaugural class last fall and I learned a TON of information about Buffalo.

The only requirement? You must be a city of Buffalo resident. The academy is free, although it requires a serious time commitment. 10 sessions. Mostly in the evening, but 1 Saturday session.

It’s a great way to learn more about how government works. Click here for more information about the Academy and how to apply.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news at all lately, you know that UB has unveiled (in several different venues), their UB 2020 plan. This plan is about the growth of UB between now and the year 2020. 40% growth. This plan is impressive with plans to grow the faculty, student body and downtown Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Next Tuesday, there will be a press event to announce a new group called the UB Believers. The UB Believers are a diverse group of community members. What brings them together? They all believe that UB’s plan will lead to a stronger future for the WNY region. The group will include individuals, community leaders, alumni, business and labor leaders, parents and students and members of UB’s faculty and staff.

For more information, check out UB’s website. After Tuesday’s press event, a brand new website will be launched. I’m a UB Believer. Are you?