Buffalo Rising

Infilling: 93 Nottingham Terrace

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 14:58:08 GMT

Work on a new house at 93 Nottingham Terrace is wrapping up. The two-story residence will contain 5,339 sq.ft. with an exterior of cultured stone, stucco, and architectural asphalt shingles.

Ray Kollidas, owner of Greek restaurant Milos on Main in Williamsville, started work on the house in 2018 but then stalled out. He purchased the lot in 2014 for $168,000. L.M. Bahas LLC, a painting contractor based in Cheektowaga, purchased the unfinished house last January for $170,000 and restarted work. The property overlooks Delaware Park and is 13,935 sq.ft. and 70 feet wide.

Corps Moving to 478 Main Street

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 20:08:56 GMT

Nearly a year after starting its search, the Buffalo District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has found new space downtown. In a surprising move, the Corps is leasing nearly 60,000 square feet of space on the third through fifth floors of the former Hens & Kelly Department Store at 478 Main Street. The Corps will be moving downtown from a government-owned office building at 1776 Niagara Street by November of next year.

The lease changes Ellicott Development’s plans for the building. Ellicott started work on renovations to the building and had been planning two floors of commercial space at 28 upper level apartments. With the Corps lease, apartments will now only occupy the sixth floor and penthouse levels.

The U.S. Social Security Administration signed a lease last year for 15,000 sq.ft. of office space on the second floor. The agency will relocate from 186 Exchange Street this spring.

Carmina Wood Morris, with offices across Main Street from the project, is architect.

Whirlpool Commons will be An Attraction Unto Itself

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 18:01:17 GMT

Outdoor common areas are looking a lot more appealing these days. So is the brilliant concept of removing disruptive highways that run along waterfronts and through city centers.

Take, for example, the removal of the Robert Moses Parkway in Niagara Falls. The removal of this “parkway” has allowed the Aquarium of Niagara to move forward with the construction of “Whirlpool Commons,” a place-based outdoor improvement project that will second as a fabulous new entranceway to the Niagara Falls attraction.

Whirlpool Commons is made possible thanks to the removal of the Robert Moses Parkway, which had previously separated the Aquarium from other destinations, attractions, and amenities in the downtown district.

Rendering demonstrates the removal of the Robert Moses Parkway, as it replaced with greenscape and humanizing paths

The creation and implementation of Whirlpool Commons was also made possible thanks to $250,000 from the Niagara River Greenway Commission, through the City of Niagara Falls Host Community. The effort goes a long way towards bridging the Niagara Falls State Park and Greenway Corridor.

“With this new Aquarium of Niagara project, we’re seeing how Governor Cuomo’s efforts to remove the Robert Moses Parkway are revitalizing Niagara Falls and allowing residents and visitors to reclaim the waterfront,” said Empire State Development Acting Commissioner and President & CEO-designate Eric Gertler. “Congratulations on the creation of an outdoor welcome plaza that will further reimagine the aquarium and transform the surrounding parkland.”

Aside from being a visually appealing gathering place and a grand entranceway to the Aquarium, Whirlpool Commons will also be a central hub that will connect to a series of new trails and attractions along the new greenscape that was once the Parkway. The feature will also present new collaborative opportunities for the Aquarium, while allowing for enhanced educational programming centered around the Aquarium’s conservation priorities.

“Whirlpool Commons is an important milestone in the advancement of the Aquarium’s strategic initiatives.” said Gary Siddall, President and CEO of the Aquarium of Niagara. “This project is part of a concentrated effort to provide increased accessibility and movement while drawing visitors to the multitude of new experiences offered by the Aquarium.”

“We are excited to partner with the Aquarium of Niagara on their plaza development, which is positioned at the head of our spectacular new Gorgeview Shoreline Trail segment heading north and connecting City of Niagara Falls and New York State Parks to Gorge attractions,” said Greg Stevens, Executive Director of the Niagara River Greenway Commission. “It will be exciting to see how this project will launch the Aquarium into more outdoor ecological education for our youth.”

Whirlpool Commons features will provide leisure space for visitors complete with shade structures and tiered seating designed to echo the landscape of the greater Niagara Gorge.

Aside from enhancing visitors’ experiences pertaining to the ecological history and heritage of the revived corridor, the new addition is also intended to spur more outdoor development, by spotlighting the area’s economic viability.

“I’m proud to congratulate the Aquarium of Niagara on their continued efforts to grow as an attraction here in the City of Niagara Falls, drawing both residents and visitors alike with their latest and greatest exhibits,” said Mayor Robert Restaino. “This new outdoor opportunity will add yet another way to connect visitors of the Falls to the Aquarium, while also providing yet another unique outdoor space for events and visitors of the Aquarium. I am excited for the City to be a part of their continued efforts to update and innovate the Aquariums exhibits as we move into 2021 and the future.”

“This project is a natural extension of the Aquarium to further integrate into the greenspace development along the rim of the gorge,” said Michael Mistriner, Vice President of Clark Patterson Lee’s Buffalo office – the firm has been designated as the designer for Whirlpool Commons.

The project has an “aggressive timeline” with construction beginning immediately, and a projected completion date of summer 2021.

STILL TALKING | Susan Morreale

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 15:39:22 GMT

We asked Susan Morreale, Owner of @herstorybuffalo : “How were the paths of your medical and retail careers influenced by your own personal wellness journey?”

“Well, first of all, I’ve always believed in taking care of yourself and helping others to do the same.” At the age of 20, Susan began her nursing career and her passion for caring for others was discovered. But soon, the desire to spend more time with her loved ones created the need for a career change.

“After I had my daughter, I really wanted to spend more time with her. It was a business that I could have her there with me and still help others.”

Soon after, Her Story was born. The shop is a great reflection of Susan’s own life experiences.

In a different capacity after being diagnosed with breast cancer. I really needed to look at the things that were out of my control and try to concentrate on the things that I could control. It started with my mind and also with the food that I ate. I began to really research and look at the things that I could do to help myself and help others learn about healthy living.

To find out more about Susan and about Her Story and Her Sanctuary, watch the video above or check her out on IG!

View other videos in the Still Talking series

2 Film Critics: Top 10 for 2020

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 15:36:59 GMT

In spite of being deprived of theaters, it was a good year for film. We saw only two of these in theaters (and now even they are available at home). In alphabetical order—so we didn’t have any arguments over which should go first, and because they are all worthy—below are synopses of, and links to, the reviews (within each review is accessibility online).

“Bacurau”
“Beanpole”
“First Cow”
“I’m Thinking of Ending Things”
“Mank”
“Martin Eden”
“The Painted Bird”
“The Painter and the Thief”
“Palm Springs”
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”

Honorable mention: “The Assistant” ★★★; “Cuties (Mignonnes)” ★★★; “Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always” ★★★1/2; The Traitor (Il Traditore)” ★★★1/2;

Bacurau ★★★1/2: A corrupt government, working with white supremacist mercenaries, withholds water and medicines from a small, idyllic, rural village, then attempts to wipe it off the map, figuratively and literally. The town musters a defense. Despite violence, the storytelling is remarkably subtle, and the themes—blatant racism and government disintegration—contemporary.

See review

Beanpole ★★★★: At the center of this compelling drama, set in Leningrad in 1945, are two women, each damaged and traumatized by the war and its aftermath. “Beanpole” is the nickname of the very blond, blue-eyed, rail-thin, 6-foot tall, cool and neurotic Iya, a veteran of the Soviet artillery. Masha, Iya’s co-worker and friend from the front, is dark and short and round and vivacious, as well as pragmatic and clever. A survivor, she knows how to get herself a job, salt and fruit, and sex.

See review

First Cow ★★★1/2: A charming caper, taking place in the rough-hewn wilderness of Oregon Country in the 1820s. The title is both literal and a metaphor of transition and change, representing that liminal moment between a hard, masculine, beaver-trapping (“soft gold”), frontier culture that‘s on the cusp of decline, and something gentler—still masculine and distinctly entrepreneurial, but with a feminine side—that’s making its first appearance. In the form of a biscuit.

See review

I’m Thinking of Ending Things ★★★1/2: A couple drives out of a city towards his rural boyhood home so she can meet his parents. He’s funny, not particularly good-looking, maybe not funny, apparently knowledgeable about musicals, maybe a poetry expert, maybe a physicist. She’s melancholy, thinking of ending the weeks’-old relationship (“things”), or she’s perky; she’s maybe a student, maybe a literary critic, maybe a gerontologist, maybe a poet, maybe a waitress. As in all things Charlie Kaufman, there’s no stable ground. In this faux horror film there’s no real horror, except that of realizing the limits of one’s ability to shape one’s existence. https://www.buffalorising.com/2020/09/five-cent-cine-at-home-im-thinking-of-ending-things/

Mank ★★★1/2: “Mank” is ostensibly about writing the script for “Citizen Kane,” the 1941 film some consider to be the best ever made and historically understood as the product of one auteur—namely, Orson Welles. Welles is here a minor character. Although one can appreciate “Mank” as an historical treatment of the origins of the famous script and of the era, the film is in essence the story of one man’s struggle to preserve his identity—as a person and as a writer—in a world that seems committed to stripping him of it. Mank (a superb performance by Gary Oldman) is an unlikely hero. He’s unattractive, alcoholic, arrogant, pushy and acerbic. Yet he represents the last and best attempt to both be part of Hollywood and not succumb to it.

See review

Martin Eden ★★★1/2: Based on Jack London’s semi-autobiographical 1909 novel of a sailor turned writer, “Martin Eden” is set in Italy in the Mussolini era. Its focus is on the charismatic Eden’s struggle to rise about his station, and then to deal with the loss of self caused by sudden fame. “There is no Martin Eden,” he tells an audience gathered to hear him speak and read, “you’ve invented me.” London’s character has been memorialized in Tom Waits’s 1974 musical ode to sailors, “Shiver Me Timbers.” A traditional story in some respects, unusual in others.

See review

The Painted Bird ★★★1/2: A boy of about 9 is separated from his family, moving from one adult to another, from one isolated dwelling or village to another, in a desperate two-year effort to survive in the culture of racism, ignorance, superstition and intolerance that characterized Eastern Europe in 1944 and 1945. Stripped of name and family, the child experiences life as a series of horrors that include animal torture, sexual abuse, assaults and attempted assaults, murder and attempted murder—of him and others. His nemeses are all blue-eyed; he is the other. Three hours of hard-to-watch but gripping cinema.

See review

The Painter and the Thief ★★★1/2: A drug-dazed thief steals the paintings of Barbora, a talented Czech realist. Then they have a relationship. He becomes her model. “I can sit,” he says. The two are complex characters, whose dark, self-destructive, parallel pasts may never be fully revealed.

See review

Palm Springs ★★★: The R-rated Romcom is alive and well in “Palm Springs,” a creative look at the 40-something slacker male and the woman destined to drag him into adulthood. Andy Samberg (“Saturday Night Live”) fully inhabits the role of Nyles, with exceptional physical as well as verbal humor. Cristin Milioti (the mother in “How I Met Your Mother”), is Sarah, the more thoughtful and somewhat less comedic side of the couple and a formidable match for Nyles. For those who demand more than laughs, there’s an existential subtext!

See review

Portrait of a Lady on Fire ★★★1/2: Very French: slow-paced, quiet, subtle, restrained, thoughtful (even intellectual), this compelling love story between two women is impeccably crafted and narrated and exquisitely acted.

See review

Plans for 1569 Niagara Revised

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 14:44:04 GMT

Neighborhood Health Care of WNY has revised plans for renovations to 1569 Niagara Street. After pushback from the Zoning Board of Appeals, plans now call for a vestibule along Niagara Street leading to a lobby on the north side of the building along with more transparency. The existing building would double in size with parking provided south of the building and behind it off of West Avenue.

Previous Project Plans

The former warehouse/storage facility is being renovated, added on to and repurposed into a new healthcare facility for Neighborhood Health Care. Outpatient services will including Family and Internal Medicine, Podiatry, OBGYN, Dentistry, and various community health programs including behavioral health, dietary, and social work.

From the revised project description:

The current building is a two story, 12,000 sf, brick and block building and our plan is to put a two story 13,128 sf addition alongside of the existing structure.

Our plan for the existing façade is to remove all existing paint, expose existing brick, tuck point and repair, as well as seal existing brick. We plan on infilling boarded up window openings and keeping with the colors and integrity of the existing neighborhood Our addition will be comprised of brick and metal panels to order to complement the existing brick building. We respectfully have maximized our transparency on the Upper Floor and Ground Floor. Ground floor and Upper floor transparency are now >40%. Our plan now provides a Front Door on Niagara Street, this item was tabled at the Zoning Board Public Hearing and we have since addressed the matter and believe the updated street facade now complies with the green code requirements.

The project team includes Kirst Construction, Colby Development and engineering and architecture firm LaBella Associates.

Retail is alive and well in Allentown – Catching up with Trend Up, which is on the move!

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 21:16:07 GMT

Organic growth is the best growth when it comes to small business. For years, I’ve been following the retail pursuits of Giovanni Centurione, who started off in an incubator space at the Market Arcade before establishing a stand-alone brick and mortar at 85 Allen Street. Actually, he was joined by Siobhan Taylor, owner of Ms Eye Candy – the two shared a sizable storefront.

Whenever you hear “huge announcement” coming from a business owner during a time of pandemic, you tend to shudder. At least I do. But when Giovanni posted that he had a “huge announcement” to make, it turned out to be great news – he’s growing once again. This time, he’s moving into a storefront a few doors down at 95 Allen Street, while Siobhan will continue to operate Ms Eye Candy clothing boutique out of 85 Allen Street, while expanding her lines of merchandise at the same time. So their ingenious plan to share a space – to conserve money and labor – has now proved to be a wise decision that will ultimately be a boon for Allentown retail.

By moving into his own digs, Giovanni will be able to grow his fashion lines, while affording him the opportunity to do even more of what he does best: pop-ups (such as yoga, jewelry, and homemade purses), podcasts, sip and shops, fashion shows, photo shoots, book signings, open mic/cypher, DJ parties, and designer meet and greets.

“This will give me an opportunity to carry a lot more variety, including vinyl and old magazines, with vintage apparel, and new sneakers,” said Giovanni.

I asked Giovanni how the rest of the Allen Street block was faring, and he was very upbeat about the future of his block. “A whole bunch of things have changed. The Barkery (pet store) moved to Allen Street, so that brings more traffic and more dogs. Fast and Tasty moved out, and Sammy’s moved in – they are Indian, American, and Spanish cuisine. Freshly Dipped moved out, and Shirt Off My Back took their space – they sell second hand clothing and other stuff. French Girl Skin Spa opened as well, so yes, there’s a lot going on on this block. I heard that they are going to start the next phase of the Allen Street streetscape this spring – hopefully that entire project will be completed sooner rather than later.”

In the meantime, head on over to Trend Up before they bust a move, because Giovanni is having a big sale on apparel, such as funky t-shirts, joggers (fashionable ‘sportywear’ track suits), with lines that include EPTM, Reason, and Cooper9.

After three years sharing a space on the street, Giovanni is ready to take Allentown by storm, with an anticipated opening date of March 1.

Ms Eye Candy | 85 Allen Street | Buffalo, New York 14202 | (716) 240-9961 | Facebook

Seeing the light at Mandella Market

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 17:47:27 GMT

For years, the East Side has been a part of town where it is hard to access healthy foods. While that remains true, there are signs of hope that things are slowly starting to change.

Since many East Side residents are forced to shop at corner markets, due to lack of transportation, there is a cause for concern that unhealthy eating habits equate to numerous problems including elevated obesity rates and a variety of sicknesses. When corner store shelves are stocked with mostly canned foods, chips, prepackaged sandwiches, soda, etc., what’s one to do?

That’s a question that is now being answered by the Cuomo administration, which recently announced the completion of a $145,000 expansion project at Mandella Market (272 East Ferry Street). Funding for the project was allocated by the state’s East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund and Buffalo Billion II initiative.

Stats from the East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund

The market, open 24 hours a day and accessible by bus routes, is located within a USDA-designated second standard food desert. That designation was what prompted the need for the expansion, which will ensure that residents now have access to fresh and healthy foods.

“Access to fresh, quality food is critical to the health and prosperity of all communities during these challenging times,” Governor Cuomo said. “New York State is proud to support projects like the expansion of the Mandella Market and the continuing revitalization of Buffalo’s East Side. I congratulate (owner) Ahmed Saleh, who works hard every day to provide food to the neighborhood he lives in and loves.”

“Lack of access to fresh food is an injustice,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “We are proud to support the expansion of Mandella Market, which will put healthy food on the table for families in Buffalo’s East Side. Thank you to Mandella Market founder Ahmed Saleh, who is helping lead the way to make our community even stronger.”

Stats from the East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund

To date, Saleh’s successes running the market have also warranted the investment. In 2012, he initially expanded the East Ferry market, and in 2018 he opened a second location on Broadway. This newest expansion on East Ferry saw the construction of an additional 1,500 square feet of new space, and allowed Saleh to purchased new equipment. In order to advance the project, an investment of $130,000 came from Empire State Development as part of the East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund. The funding allows Saleh to introduce a variety of healthy fruits, vegetables, and prepared foods to his market inventory.

“We are pleased the expansion of our market on East Ferry street is complete and ready to be enjoyed by residents of Buffalo’s East Side,” said Saleh, an African immigrant who worked his way through business school, and established Mandella Market in 2007. “I thank New York State for supporting this opportunity to bring fresh produce, new food options and additional jobs to a neighborhood in need of convenient, affordable and nutritious meal options.”

Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes said, “Ahmed Saleh’s Mandella Market is literally an oasis in the ‘food desert’ on Buffalo’s East Side. This $145,000 expansion, thanks to the state’s East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund and Buffalo Billion II, will help Saleh grow his mission to provide fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy food options to people who live and work on Buffalo’s East Side.”

City of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said, “The completion of the Mandella Market’s expansion project on East Ferry and Jefferson is great news for residents who live in this neighborhood as they now have access to healthier food options like fruits and vegetables. I am grateful for this $145,000 targeted investment from Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State’s East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund. Our residents can now enjoy even more nutritional, prepared food options and fresh produce, all year long. I also thank Mandella Market Owner Ahmed Saleh for his deep commitment and excellent service to our community.”

Mandella Markets | Facebook

272 E. Ferry St.
Buffalo, NY 14208
(716) 882-0288

Extra Extra! Pizza and Wine Cooperative Comes to Five Points

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 15:07:18 GMT

When it comes to West Side real estate investment opportunities, a lot of the low hanging fruit has already been picked. But for the visionary investors, there is still plenty of room to play. Take, for example, Frits Abell. In recent years Frits has successfully accomplished a number of rehab feats in the Five Points neighborhood that few would dare to tackle. But with each success, he gains invaluable insight and knowledge pertaining to the delicate landscape – the properties, the residents, and the economic ecosystem that is taking hold.

Now Frits is onto his newest project – his sixth project, following success stories that include the sensational Remedy House addition. This latest project is not for the faint of heart. Along with his business partner Matt Schaab (an expat currently living in NYC), Frits picked up 549 West Utica in 2019. He describes the structure as “a nondescript building across from the gas station that you never would have taken notice of.”

Bridget and Joey spend the day harvesting grapes at the vineyards of Wild Arc winery in the Hudson Valley

But Frits did notice it, which is a great thing for the Five Points neighborhood, and the West Side in general. He has also identified a commercial tenant for the first floor – a pizza slice shop and wine bar called Extra Extra. What is most unusual about this business is that the husband and wife team of Bridget Murphy and Joey Pucciarelli have decided to establish a worker-owned cooperative model that will allow employees to have a stake in the operation.

“We want the business to work and function like a NY-style slice shop,” said Bridget. “We want to change the model of how a restaurant runs. It will be ‘tipless’ – every full time worker will make the same wage, with benefits. We’ve seen crazy pay inequities in the industry, with harassment between customers and the staff in the front of the house. From a customer standpoint, they won’t notice a difference, except that there will be no tip line on the receipt. We’re also hiring at least 75% from the neighborhood, and we’re hoping for 100%. It’s a business for the neighborhood, by the neighborhood. We both live right around the corner.”

Back in 2019 I wrote about PUSH Buffalo’s new Cooperative Academy, a 12-week course that instructs people on how to “build wealth and power for workers and communities typically excluded from the mainstream economy.” It turns out that the owners of Extra Extra took this course, which has prepared them for establishing this unique restaurant concept in the Five Points neighborhood.

Along with gaining invaluable knowledge of the cooperative economy, Bridget and Joey also have plenty of real world experience in the culinary industry. It turns out that Frits first met Bridget when she was working at Remedy House, while Joey cut his teeth at Jay’s Artisan Pizzeria in Kenmore. Aside from wanting to pursue a different business model, the two felt that there was a real need in the Five Points area for more food, since it was already saturated with coffee.

“Pizza-wise, it’s going to be different,” said Joey. “It’s going to be NY pies – big 20″ slices to-go, while we will serve smaller round pies inside the restaurant. We’re also going to have ‘Gramma Brooklyn-style pies,’ which are more substantial and thick. There will be hoagies too – I currently bake the rolls over at Remedy House. We will have shared plates and salads, and soft serve ice cream. It’s going to be lowbrow, approachable and welcoming… nothing too stuffy.”

“The beverage program will be similar to the food, with unfussy wines,” added Bridget. “I work at Winkler & Samuels. There will be natural wines from smaller producers – I like to highlight female producers. The ‘pizza wines’ will be young and fruity reds that you drink with a little bit of a chill. They will always be changing because of the small producers. We will also have a small program of cocktails and beer.”

With the business model established, Frits set out to address the building, which “… was interesting and presented a challenging process,” he explained.

It turns out that the circa 1880 building was a Rubik’s Cube that needed to be solved. In fact, the previous owner ended up getting to a certain point during the rehab process and finally gave up and sold it.

Why was this building such a dilemma? At some point, around the turn of the century, the City came up with a plan to widen West Utica, which meant that 549 West Utica was partially “in the way.” But the plan never came to fruition, and the building sat idly by, with a sort of “planning hex” on it. The funny thing is, once these types of bizarre scenarios come to pass, they are very hard to straighten out with the City, hence the last owner giving up.

Thankfully Frits was not deterred, and rose to the challenge. “The building was converted to residential in 1960,” he explained. “In order to build it out and transition it back to commercial (the first floor), we would have to either move the building, or shave off five feet, neither of which we were willing to do. My architect (Seth Amman – Arch&Type) found some work permits that had been pulled in 1915, which showed that work had been conducted after the ‘deemed street widening,’ which allowed us to get the designation back to commercial. And with the Green Code, there is a clause that if a building has been used as commercial, it can go back to commercial. And the Common Council has agreed to it, with the blessing of neighbors who were included in the process every step along the way. We’ve essentially got the green light – we’re just waiting for the final permits to begin work.”

As for the state of the building, it was stripped down to the studs by the previous owner. “That means, as far as work goes, it’s going to be the least onerous of my projects,” said Frits [laughing]. “It will probably take a 8-9 month buildout. It needs everything, including a facade makeover, which will be in keeping with the historic storefront, with a contemporary look and feel.”

Speaking to Frits, it was clear that he had some boxes to check off with this one. He wanted the owners to live in the neighborhood, which they do. He sees the couple hiring from the neighborhood, which they are. He was excited about the worker-owner aspect of the business. And he is inspired to add more life and vitality to Five Points, while being sensitive to the residents concerns at the same time.

Sounds like a win for everyone involved.

Extra Extra | 549 West Utica | Buffalo NY | Instagram

Infilling: Severyn’s Oxford Triangle Developments

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 15:02:38 GMT

Severyn Development has completed two two-family residences at 30 and 34 Horton Place in the Oxford Triangle neighborhood. Each home includes off-street parking and front and rear covered porches. Severyn is planning several other infill projects in the neighborhood west of Main Street near Canisius College.

The first floor features an open kitchen and great room, stainless steel appliances, breakfast bar, half-bath, and laundry room. The master bedroom, second bedroom, and a full bath are located on the second level. A one-bedroom, one bath apartment is located on the garden level of the house.

The units in 30 Horton Place are already leased. The rent for the two-story unit at 34 Horton is $2,100 and $900 for the garden-level unit.

Severyn is also planning to build a similar home at the southwest corner of Harvard Place and Lafayette Avenue nearby and also at 219 Oxford Avenue. Further east at 1016 Lafayette, the developer is building a two-family home and carriage house. Across the street, two, four-unit residential structures on two side-by-side vacant lots at 1017 and 1021 Lafayette are proposed. The structures include two, front and back, two-story units with two bedrooms each and two one-bedroom apartments garden level apartments.

Get Connected: Severyn Development, 716.818.0207

The Black Sheep’s NEW Bo Peep Deli, an Eastern-European style delicatessen

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 12:19:24 GMT

Owners of The Black Sheep have set out to make some changes at their restaurant, in order to accommodate more people during the pandemic. “We want to get back to normal,” Steve Gedra told me. “But in the meantime, we thought that a good solution was to drop the price point and rely on volume and mass appeal.”

To that end, the husband and wife team continues to do what they do best – Steve is smoking meats ‘under the hood’ in the kitchen, while Ellen is baking up a storm. What is different is their approach to serving their scratch menu. “We’re trying to do some stuff that people aren’t doing currently,” said Steve. “Customers can buy anything in bulk. We’ve set up our take-out service in the front of the restaurant, and our in-house service in the back, so that people have less exposure to one another. There’s a display case when you walk in, for take-out, or customers can eat in café-style. The big thing is that people can order a dozen bagels, or a pound of smoked brisket or tongue – if you love tongue, you’re really into it… it’s nature’s hot dog.”

Per usual, everything is made in-house, because Steve and Ellen want to do it right. Ellen serves up her breads, cookies, and coffee cake, while Steve whips up his smoked whitefish, salmon, lox, and burro di chianti (whipped pork lard). There are even a few vegetarian dishes such as borscht, or the BD Griddle (pancake sandwich available without the meat). And for those ordering take-out food, there are single-serve cocktails to go.

Steve and Ellen have thought of just about everything, to adjust to a very peculiar period in the history of restaurant dining. But if there is any restaurant that’s set up to pivot and cater to the masses – and their eclectic tastes – it’s The Black Sheep.

A sampling of deli menu items: Antipasto salad, sandwich platter, cheese and charcuterie, turkey melt, beef on weck, chateau blank sliders (White Castle style), grilled cheese and tomato soup, house bagels with schmears (assorted bagel spreads), house pickles, fries, chocolate mousse, Oreo crusted cheesecake, matzo ball soup, potato pancakes, croque-monsieur, pierogi…

BRRAlliance finds a new home, and Buffalo is officially designated as a Community Wildlife ...

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 21:35:18 GMT

As a follow up to my The Story Garage article, I want to highlight another exciting Black Rock success. Over the last couple of years I’ve been following the pursuits of the Black Rock Riverside Alliance (BRRAlliance), which have resulted in numerous monumental accomplishments, from the vast introduction of urban wildlife habitats to the rehab of a number of critical storefronts.

Along the way I’ve been chatting with BRRAlliance Project Manager Anne McCooey, who is always full of energy and zeal, because she loves what she does. And she does a lot, along with her team!

Not only are there a number of game changing projects underway, BRRAlliance’s offices recently relocated to a new headquarters at 43 Hamilton Street, corner of Dearborn Street. The organization is now located on the first floor, in a space that was once home to a neighborhood bakery. McCooey told me that there is now enough room for the Alliance to host meetings for between 34-40 people, non-covid times. There’s also room for programming, along with 6 work stations, office space, 2 bathrooms, storage, and a garage (for community garden supplies and equipment).

The move into a new neighborhood space also prompted a spin-off for the Black Rock Historical Society (BRHS) which relocated over to 436 Amherst Street – the two organizations formerly shared a storefront on Niagara Street. I will have more news on the reopening of BRHS in coming days.

Aside from successfully anchoring itself in the heart of Black Rock, one of the most exciting recent revelations to come to pass (for the Alliance) is the official certification of the city of Buffalo as a Community Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. I discussed the ramifications of this designation back in April. According to McCooey, this is a huge feat for the city, as Buffalo is now deemed the 15th largest qualifying nature habitat in the US, designated by the National Wildlife Federation’s Community Wildlife Habitat Program. “They said that it would take 3 years for a city of this size to do it,” said McCooey. “We did it in 18 months. It’s the largest in NY State.”

McCooey credited the cooperative nature of Buffalo in undertaking the accomplishment, citing the City of Buffalo (Andy Rabb, Deputy Commissioner for Parks and Recreation) and its help certifying 36 parks as wildlife habitats. A number of garden organizations also participated, as did numerous citizens – altogether, there are 229 certified individual properties (and counting). Grassroots Gardens also enabled 8 schools and community gardens to be certified. That means that there are more birdbaths, native plants, pollinators, rain gardens, rain barrels, and all sorts of other ‘nature friendly’ amenities scattered throughout the city, all of which contribute to an expansive – and ecologically imperative – Habitat Project.

“Everyone is thinking about their little urban lots and saying that they can make better spaces where nature can thrive,” McCooey told me. “So far, my proudest moment was when someone said that they saw a fox in the neighborhood (on social media), and instead of people panicking and saying, ‘call the DEC!’ or ‘shoot it!’ they said, ‘let it be.’ Previously, they would have wanted it removed, but now they understand that we can all cohabitate together – people with nature. It was at that moment that I knew that we were successful in our efforts. We are creating a habitat… a community… for wildlife, and pollinators, and people… all in the city. Now we need to make this a regional movement.”

In subsequent articles, I will get back to the business at hand in Black Rock, at Market Square. There are a number of business shake-ups at the moment, some exciting news on the storefront renovation front, as well as progress with the new streetscape that should be breaking ground soon.

Lead image: New BRRAlliance home – the landlord has plans to redo the storefront

Genesee Gateway Preservation District Expansion Proposed

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 15:07:58 GMT

Plans are in the works to expand a downtown preservation district. Tomorrow the Buffalo Preservation Board will consider the northward expansion of the Genesee Gateway Historic District to include sixteen parcels, fourteen primary buildings, one secondary building, one vacant lot, and one parking lot along Genesee, Ellicott and Oak streets east of the Theater District. They include the properties that Legacy Development and Withrow South Capital Corp. purchased from Bruce Adler in May for $2.7 million. The documentation to justify the expansion was prepared by Kerry Traynor’s kta preservation specialists.

According to Traynor, “the commercial function of most of these buildings, typically as grocery stores or furniture stores, directly relates to the significance of the existing district as a primary commercial corridor during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The architecture of each of these buildings is in keeping with the preexisting district, as all convey the typical forms of nineteenth and early-twentieth-century commercial architecture. All of the buildings in the proposed district expansion are directly related in history, function, and design to the overwhelmingly commercial character of the Genesee Gateway Historic District.”

The local Genesee Gateway Historic District was certified for tax purposes by the National Park Service in 2010. The certified district includes a total of nine buildings on the south side of Genesee Street between Ellicott and North Oak Streets.

From the analysis by kta:

The Genesee Gateway Historic District Expansion is clearly eligible for local landmarking as provided in Section 337 of the Buffalo City Charter 37-14 Criteria for Designation, under Criteria 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9.The Genesee Gateway Historic District Expansion is significant for its architecture as a largely intact collection of nineteenth and twentieth-century commercial and mixed-use buildings that chronicle the growth of commercial activity in the Washington Market
area.

Criteria 1: They have character, interest or value as part of the development, heritage, or cultural characteristics of the City, State, or Nation.

The Genesee Gateway Historic District is significant for its associations with the history of commercial development in the City of Buffalo. This area was historically associated with the wholesale grocery business which grew up around the Washington Street Market, formerly located immediately adjacent to the east of the district expansion. The expanded district buildings served as commercial destinations for groceries, meat products, furniture, and other household goods. The stories embodied in the buildings in this district expansion represent examples of the ‘American Dream.’ Throughout the history of this district, German immigrants and their descendants established businesses, gained financial success and social capital, and contributed to a thriving commercial area. These buildings have sufficient architectural integrity to convey a historic understanding of their original functions today.

Criteria 3: They exemplify the historic, aesthetic, architectural, archaeological, educational, economic, or cultural heritage of the City, State, or Nation.

Many of the buildings in the district date to the mid-nineteenth through early twentieth centuries and exemplify their respective architectural styles. Each of these buildings was integral to the architectural history and economic character of the area, similar in function and design to the buildings already contributing to the district.

Criteria 4: It is identified with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the development of the City, state, or nation.

Several prominent members of -American community owned businesses and/or resided in the expanded district. Perhaps the most prominent among them was George Urban Sr. and George Urban Jr.., a father and son who built one of the most successful grain milling businesses in Buffalo. George Urban Jr. was also very active in city politics and organizations, serving as First Vice President of both the Buffalo General Electric Company and Cataract Power and Conduit Company, Director of the Bank of Buffalo, Director of the Buffalo German Insurance Company, and chairman of the Erie County Republican General Committee. With a large 5-story mill located in the district on North Oak Street, the Urban family significantly contributed to the district and the development of the City of Buffalo as well.

Other prominent business owners in the district included: John H. Kamman, owner of a large chain of meatpacking stores; Gerard Lang, who had a butcher shop to supplement his brewery business; George Fisher, who had a prominent Flour and Feed Store as well as lumber business; John G. Seeger, owner of a large furniture business; and Louis Hagmeier, who ran a grocery store and saloon in the district during the Civil War. Evidenced in these examples, the district was a neighborhood where many business owners rose to prominence in the city’s economic and political sectors.

Criteria 5: They embody the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style valuable for the study of a period, type, method, of construction, or use of indigenous materials.

The Genesee Gateway Historic District Expansion is significant for its architecture as a largely intact collection of nineteenth and twentieth-century commercial and mixed-use buildings that chronicle the growth of commercial activity in the Washington Market area. The thirteen contributing primary buildings located within the boundaries of the expanded district are excellent examples of their respective architectural styles and present a substantially intact streetscape along Genesee, Ellicott, and North Oak Streets.

The styles in the district expansion include, but are not limited to Italianate, Nineteenth-Century Commercial Block, and Twentieth-Century Block Styles. While this type of streetscape would have been common in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, extensive demolitions due to Urban Renewal and Expressway construction programs led to the loss of architectural fabric in the vicinity during the 1960s and 1970s. Today, this expanded district presents a rare surviving and largely intact block of commercial buildings spanning a century of design and commercial activity.

Criteria 7: It embodies elements of design, detailing, materials, or craftsmanship that render it architecturally significant.

The Genesee Gateway Historic District Expansion has a variety of styles that manifest themselves in high quality details in windows, moldings, roofing, brickwork, and woodworking throughout the district. All of the contributing buildings in the expanded district retain sufficient integrity of location, design, materials and workmanship to convey historic understanding of the area’s significance.

Criteria 9: It is a unique location or contains singular physical characteristics that make it an established or familiar visual feature within the City.

The Genesee Gateway Historic District Expansion emerged as a primary commercial hub of downtown Buffalo in relation to the Washington Market. The group of commercial buildings in the district was a destination for shoppers for over 100 years. Aside from the Washington Market itself (demolished 1965), the adjacent buildings in the expanded district were familiar sites for anyone who bought groceries and shopped in downtown Buffalo. The towering height of the 5-story George Urban Mill building at 324 North Oak Street was recognizable from a substantial distance, as a marker of the Washington Market area, expanded district, and its surroundings. Historic images and postcards illustrate the towering presence of the 5-story mill building and the commercial activity in the buildings in the district, with the Urban Mill recognizable even from the Washington Market one block away.

Building Specifics

On the north side of Genesee Street between Ellicott Street and North Oak Street, the district expansion includes five buildings on seven parcels. The four-story brick commercial building at 110 Genesee Street was constructed for George Fisher in 1863 and is closely aligned with the history of the district as a commercial area comprised mainly of German-run businesses. The building is three bays wide with a ground floor storefront and original 2-over-2 double-hung wood sash windows on the upper floors, a wood crowning cornice with paired brackets and dentils, showing a combination of the Greek Revival and early Italianate styles.

The adjacent building at 112 Genesee Street was constructed for Fisher at the same time. The four-story, four-bay, brick commercial building features a ground-floor storefront with cast iron pilasters, straight-headed 1-over-1 double-hung sash windows with stone lintels and sills, and dentils under the crowning cornice. The parcel at 118 Genesee Street is a parking lot.

The four-story commercial building at 122 Genesee Street was constructed in two parts and used as a furniture manufactory and store, reflecting the historic growth of furniture manufacturing in the district. The east portion of the building was constructed in ca. 1880, with cast-iron pilasters and recessed storefront entrances flanked by display windows, segmental-arched double-hung sash windows on the second and third floors, and round-arched fourth-floor windows. A corbel panel with dentils and brackets is located below the crowning cornice. The western half of the building was constructed as an expansion in 1902, with segmental-arched windows with corbeled sills and flanking piers with a corbeled base.

The one-story tan brick commercial building at 130 Genesee Street reflects the modernization of the district in the early twentieth century. Constructed in 1930 by architect and builder Jacob A. Gangnagel, the building features two recessed entrances with display windows flanking the curved corner storefront, with multi-vertical light transoms over the windows and entrances and a cast stone band above the first floor. Together, the four contributing commercial buildings on Genesee Street represent a diversity of styles that demonstrate the growth of the district from the mid-nineteenth century into the early twentieth century.

The one-story brick commercial building at 433 Ellicott Street is the youngest contributing building on the street, constructed in 1922 by the Civic Planning Company. The building is a good example of a small-scale commercial building built during the era of continued growth in the district during the early twentieth century, with two storefronts, each with a recessed center entrance and display window with leaded glass band in a vertical lozenge pattern. The parcel at 435 Ellicott Street is now a vacant lot, due to the emergency demolition of the previous ca. 1870 building there as a result of severe deterioration and roof collapse in December 2019.

The three-story brick building at 437 Ellicott Street was constructed ca. 1880 and is a good example of a late-nineteenth-century commercial building typical in the district. Serving originally as a saloon, the building features a first-floor storefront with transoms, rusticated stone lintels over the upper floor windows, and piers with rusticated stone bands and dentils rising to the cornice above.

The Italianate style three-story brick commercial building at 439 Ellicott Street similarly reflects the late nineteenth-century growth of the district, with details such as round-arched 4-over-4 sash windows with keystones, and three cast-iron pilasters with Ionic capitals flanking the entrance and display window.

Three buildings on this street are affiliated with the meatpacking and animal-related industries. The two-story, five-bay, brick building at 441 Ellicott Street is a good example of an early-twentieth-century commercial building, built in 1912 for John H. Kamman as a warehouse and cold storage facility for his extensive meatpacking business that supplied dozens of his local chain stores. The building features details such as stone banded piers, a stone cornice on the first floor, and a corbel panel below the metal crowning cornice with end corbels. The building was once connected to the rear of the former George Urban Flour Mill building on 324 North Oak Street, but this connection was demolished along with the connection portion of the former Mill building in the late twentieth century.

The building at 461 Ellicott Street is also affiliated with the meat industry, as it was occupied by the Gerhard Lang Met and Provisions Company from 1910 into the 1960s. Originally constructed ca. 1888 for the Abel & Bagley Agricultural Implements and Carriages store, the three-story red brick commercial building is a good example of the period, with decorative elements such as a cornice, spandrel, and cast-iron columns largely intact.

The three-story brick commercial building at 455 Ellicott Street was built as one of the first animal hospitals in New York State and continues to operate according to that function today. The building features Italianate details such as locally made Washington Iron Works cast iron pilasters, a recessed center entrance with transom light, an arcaded corbel panel, a stringcourse below the cornice with arcaded corbel panel, and brackets.

The district expansion also includes three buildings on the west side of North Oak Street. The building at 324 North Oak Street is historically affiliated with the George Urban Rolling Mill, which represented an advancement in rolling mill technology at the time it was built. While the rear, five-story portion of the building was demolished in the late nineteenth century, the portion that remains functions as a three-story commercial building The building is a good example of the adaptation of the Italianate style for commercial/industrial buildings. The first floor is divided into four bays by cast-iron columns with foliate caps and paneled faces, and the upper floors are divided into three bays by brick piers. Details such as segmental-arched windows, round-arched windows, and brick corbeling at the top of the primary elevation attest to the significance of the building and its appropriation of the Italianate style.

The building at 328 North Oak Street was constructed ca. 1860, serving as a grocery with residences above for several decades. The three-story, three-bay, brick building features cast-iron pilasters, entrances with transoms, and a projecting wood bay window on the second floor. Round-arched 1-over-1 double-hung sash windows with keystones are located on the upper floors. The building is a good example of the type of commercial and residential building that once was common in the area during the mid-nineteenth century.

The building at 334 North Oak Street was built in three major stages and later combined into a single tax parcel. The oldest portion is near the center of the parcel (historically 340-342 N Oak Street), with the three-story apartment building featuring a cornice with dentils, segmental-arched single light double-hung sashes with stone keystones and sills, and twin entrances under segmental arches with stone keystones. To the north is a two-story portion with twin garage doors on the first floor and three rectangular window openings, currently boarded, on the second floor. To the south is a single-story portion with a flat roof and late-twentieth-century storefront window. The single-story portion to the south is a non-contributing portion of this otherwise contributing building, as it was constructed after the period of significance in ca. 1975.

This parcel also contains the only secondary building in the district, which faces 459 Ellicott Street and is contributing. This building is a one-and-a-half-story brick gabled building with a garage door facing Ellicott Street to the west. It has two round-arched windows beneath the gable and an offset entry, setback substantially from the street.

All of the buildings in the proposed district expansion are directly related in history, function, and design to the overwhelmingly commercial character of the Genesee Gateway Historic District.

Get Sauced! A virtual cooking and wine tasting fundraiser for Graycliff

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 15:03:56 GMT

On Saturday, January 30, Graycliff will host a saucy fundraising event via Zoom that includes a virtual wine tasting experience led by Mark Fornatale, Italian Portfolio Manager at Skurnik Wine & Spirits, plus a layer of culinary education with Tom and Caitlin Moriarty of Moriarty Meats.

Get Sauced! Wine & Meatballs With Graycliff begins at 7:00 PM. There are a variety of ticket options, one of which includes three bottles of premium Italian wine —one white and two red. A very limited number of Wine Tasting + Meatballs Packages remain, which includes the wine and eight Moriarty Meats meatballs along with 32oz of their Homemade Sunday Sauce to cook and serve with your favorite pasta, or freeze for later.

During the event, Mark Fornatale of Skurnik Wine & Spirits will walk viewers through each bottle. The wines, distributed by Skurnik, have been made available locally through the generosity of the Premier Group. Click here for information on the individual wines.

In addition to viewing the wine tasting program, there will be a cooking demonstration led by Tom and Caitlin Moriarty, as well as video content related to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff. You do not need to taste during the event to enjoy this presentation. Take in the information and sip at your own pace.

Tickets are on sale through noon on Thursday, January 21. Click here for tickets, pricing, member discounts, and pick up information.

Moving Back Home During COVID-19: What Used to Be, What Will Never Be Again, and Whatever This ...

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:19:47 GMT

Author: Maria Sebastian

I’m standing at the corner of Forest and Elmwood avenues, waiting at a daily-walk red light, back in the neighborhood I grew up in—in Buffalo’s Elmwood Village—feeling a strange mix of nostalgia, inevitability, sympathy, hope, and what I realize now is ownership—a function, one might say, of pride; it is home after all. But the more I walk this stretch of six or eight blocks and the art-filled surrounding streets, the more I worry it won’t be like this much longer.

And what’s not to be proud of—no, not just The Bills. Regardless of the area’s wear and tear, within Frisbee distance, near the grounds of Buffalo State College, is the Richardson Olmsted Complex—a gothic-towered former psychiatric center and national historic landmark, now a luxury hotel and conference center, go figure. Across from it on two sides hunch a small collection of cheap-eats multicultural restaurants and a gas station, and before me, all like-it-or-not, is the developing skeleton of a controversial condo / retail project replacing a string of beloved long-time small businesses—however in need of updating—housed in former flats with classic east-coast-style upper and lower porches. Shops like “Home of the Hits” records, “The Copy Cat” printer, and various boutiques that came and went over the disco, punk, and grunge eras are undoubtedly what natives still see when they pass.

As I continue by, I hear a radio playing somewhere between the probably-future-lobby and the probably-future-laundry room—some kind of modern pop I’m relieved not to recognize—everything Elmwood is not, was not, never should be, but is probably on the verge of. Of all times to move back to the old neighborhood, I had to pick now—during a virus—when even the businesses that made it all these years are in danger of extinction, and the Desperate Housewives are bound to invade with their Jersey Shore in-laws. (I’m just passing the “We Never Close” convenience store—and may it never—if only because it’s been open since before I could walk to it.)

Anyone of a certain age feels a door closing between tenses when they realize they only know familiar streets by what used to line them. They point, “That was my favorite dress shop,” or “That diner was tiny before!” By the end of the stretch they add, “Everything’s changed,” or “God I’m old,” or “It ain’t what it used to be,” if they cling to clichés—throw in the occasional “Everybody’s dead now.” Maybe that’s it—cliches—this area never was and never should be cliché. Or maybe it is. Maybe every city has an Elmwood. Maybe I’m just a John Lennon sentimentalist “clinging to a wreck” (even Ibsen is here). All of this morphs in my middle-aged brain as I pass more pizza and souvlaki. I was only twenty miles away the last 30 years, reluctantly in the suburbs, for family reasons. Had the pandemic not happened, I may have relocated as a new empty nester to a larger city like Manhattan, or to a long-time-crush town like Woodstock, in the Catskills, where I hoped to relocate one day, but what would those places be like in 2020? As a single musician and adjunct professor, with no gigs and college enrollment tanking, I was on the fence about relocating, afraid I wouldn’t find work–but I had to get out of Pleasantville.

The day after my second child, my son, left for the military, in August of 2020, I was all cried out and on the verge of leaving my physical belongings and relocating anywhere just to live near a Starbucks again. Serendipitously, my grown daughter called that very week and said she was moving back home. She recently landed a sweet tech job in northern Michigan and after “going remote” like so many businesses, they approved her request to work from anywhere, even Buffalo. It only made sense that she would move to the Elmwood area, and so would I, and we would parade up and down our favorite strip in memory of all those cherished characters who inspired us all my life and hers with their creativity–their music, their graffiti, their edge: Mark Freeland walking to some most-important-place-on-earth in a Native American headdress and spandex “fuck” pants—stopping me one day outside the Everything Elmwood gift shop to tell me our mutual bassist, Brian Burd, “…was singing one of your songs man–you should be proudathat!” –their entrepreneurship: Mark Corsi opening or closing Poster Art, one minute young, thin, tall, and long-ponytailed, the next, a middle-aged “Bro,” a fixture of the scene—those legendary spirits, many now just ghosts we mention with a smile in passing like everyone does who knew them.

Parts of the Elmwood Village are the Left Bank of Buffalo. I imagine Hemingway here holed up in a corner swearing about the blenders and writing in longhand at Caffé Aroma, the tiny coffee shop with year-round outdoor seating at the tip of Bidwell Parkway—the stately, well-maintained street I moved back for—”the other side of the tracks” from the poorer blocks I grew up on less than a mile away. Fitzgerald would have visited but bar-hopped mostly in nearby Williamsville, our Right Bank, if we’re still in Paris (he did live in Buffalo for a while as a kid). With the small, artsy shops dying out, and the sterile, Tony Walker types slowly creeping in, I’m hoping I remain patient and don’t skip town again to avoid the princesses and their concrete hubbies. It’s fun with my daughter nearby, and the Co-op should last at least our lifetimes. The comic shop and Thai place might be gone, but there’s still a line down the aisle for prepared ginger tofu, imported artisan ghee, and “locally-grown” blueberry crumble.

We meet halfway often, and when I see her walking toward me in her Freeland “Try” beanie and pink retro headphones, smiling past the alternative Shoe Fly window, I see all the art and music and creativity this neighborhood has poured into her and embrace a flurry of clichés: alive and well—surviving and thriving—living and learning—reinventing and resisting. Let them put their hotels on our Boardwalk. Nobody’s traveling anyway.

Buffalo’s Inauguration Day Legacy

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 11:37:00 GMT

Author: Tom Murdock

Today promises to be an inauguration day unlike any other. 120 years ago, Buffalo was home to another inauguration day unlike any other, when Theodore Roosevelt became the 26^th American president on September 14, 1901.

No stranger to Buffalo, then-Governor Roosevelt had visited as recently as February 1900 for a dinner and address to members of the Saturn Club.

Roosevelt commemoration on a chair at The Saturn Club

Just six months into his tenure as vice president, Roosevelt returned for an entirely different reason on September 6, 1901: McKinley had been shot while attending the Pan American Exposition. Roosevelt stayed at the home of his friend Ansley Wilcox, and departed for a planned family vacation in the Adirondacks when McKinley’s health stabilized. Days later, he was reached by a runner and called back to Buffalo as McKinley’s condition took a turn for the worse.

September 14, 1901

Roosevelt traveled overnight from his campsite through a series of stagecoaches and trains. McKinley passed at 2:15 AM, with word reaching Roosevelt by telegram at the North Creek Train Station as he boarded a train for the final leg of his trip. Arriving in Buffalo at 1:30 PM and still wearing his camping clothes, Roosevelt was whisked to the Wilcox home to freshen up and borrow a hat and coat. He headed further up Delaware Avenue to offer his condolences to McKinley’s widow at the Milburn House (today a part of the Canisius High School campus). While many assumed the ceremony would be conducted there, Roosevelt objected and returned to the Wilcox House to take the Oath of Office.

The Library (1901)

At 3:30 PM, Roosevelt, a handful of civic leaders, and all but two members of McKinley’s cabinet gathered in the Wilcox library. After some debate, newspaper reporters were admitted, albeit without their photographers. District Court Judge John Hazel administered the oath at 3:32 PM. It was only the second time the oath had been conducted outside of the Capital.

For two long minutes, the crowd remained silent in respect for the fallen president and likely with awe for the task that awaited Roosevelt. He declared a national day of mourning, and to convey stability, asked all cabinet members to stay in their positions, and decided not to convene a special session of Congress.

Roosevelt – and Buffalo’s – Legacy

Close McKinley friend and Ohio Senator Mark Hanna lamented, “that damned cowboy is president now.” 120 years later, that cowboy still ranks as the youngest American president, and certainly among the most consequential. A departure from many presidential norms, he expanded the influence of the office, reveled in his role as a “trust buster,” championed the development of the Panama Canal, expanded conservation efforts, and was the first president to receive 24/7 secret service protection.

On that fateful day, Buffalo added William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt to its presidential legacy of Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland. The somber oath conducted in Buffalo was identical in words to today’s inauguration, if not its elaborate ceremony. Buffalo remains just one of a handful of cities to witness the smooth and peaceful transition of the American presidency. In addition to Saturn Club and the Wilcox Mansion, Buffalo is home to numerous sites of presidential interest, including Forest Lawn Cemetery, City Hall and the McKinley Monument, the Statler, Old County Hall, and neighboring Lincoln Building.

Faith, love, and determination pave path to success

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 19:45:50 GMT

When Ieshia Brooks began her journey at Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) Adult Education Division, she wondered if she would – or could – finish. What kept her on her path to success was a promise she made to one of her sons, the support she received along the way, and her strong faith in God.

Going back to school was “the longest year and a half of my life,” she said. “There were times when I wanted to give up, but my team (of instructors and advisors), along with my family and friends, made me understand that was not an option.”

This is the type of student who serves as a role model for the Adult Education Division according to Amanda Vellake, Director of the BPS Division. “We are just so proud of all her accomplishments. Hard work pays off and she didn’t give up. We recognize how that can inspire other students.”

When Ieshia first started taking night classes, she was employed full-time at First Student. Eventually, she switched to part-time to ensure she could focus on her studies and reach her academic and career goals. A month after completing preparation classes, she earned her high school equivalency (HSE) diploma. She was simultaneously enrolled in the Division’s Buffalo School of Cosmetology and, upon completion of those classes, was granted a temporary New York State License. Because of COVID restrictions, NYS is not offering the practical portion of the exam until further notice.

That’s not stopping her from strategizing for the future. While COVID has put many activities on hold, Ieshia is formulating plans to open a wig store and salon with a focus on people who suffer from alopecia and cancer. She credits her Cosmetology Instructor, Danielle Mott, with seeing things in herself that she didn’t know she could do, such as becoming an entrepreneur.

Ieshia is grateful for all of her instructors and advisors at the Adult Education Division. “Surround yourself with positive people and you will get positive results.” She also singled out BPS Adult Education Division instructor Lisa Deinzer and recalled, “She often said that if I take two steps forward, she would take four to help me.”

Lisa, a HSE teacher who assisted Ieshia with math, is grateful in return. She still recalls a phone conversation last summer when the two talked about life, kids, school, and dreams. “By the end, we were both laughing. The moment made me realize that sometimes we need our students just as much as they need us. When we hung up, I just knew in my heart that this was a woman who was going to be successful no matter what came her way.”

Ieshia is the mother of six children: two in college, two in private schools, one in public school and one in a Pre-K program. “I am blessed to have all well-behaved children,” adding, “I truly believe it takes a village to raise a child. I thank everyone who has played a role in our lives.”

Buffalo Public Schools Adult Education Division offers free preparation classes for earning a high school equivalency diploma and for Learning English. A wide variety of other training and community education programs will be offered once again when the Division resumes in-person classes. Visit www.UpSkill.org for more information.

On the Market: 505 Pearl Street

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 18:58:07 GMT

One of the few large downtown buildings ripe for redevelopment has been listed for sale. 505 Pearl Street, owned by the estate of Mark Croce, has been listed by The Knoer Group with a $1.3 million asking price. The six-story, 42,000 sq.ft. building is located across from Ellicott Development’s mixed-use 500 Pearl Street and is adjacent to Shea’s 710 Theater.

From the listing:

Ready for redevelopment. Located in a federal Opportunity Zone. Solid structure with historic tax credit and other development opportunities. Significant investment in the immediate area. Metro Rail stop less than one block and one stop away from Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus metro stop. Possibility for long term parking arrangements in adjacent lot.

505 Pearl Street was constructed for Byers Companies for film distribution and storage. The building is also known as the Saturn Rings Building, named after a long-time tenant that was a jewelry manufacturer.

In 2014, Croce received approvals to add 29 apartments in the building’s upper floors with commercial space on the ground level. He put the plans prepared by Carmina Wood Morris (above) on hold as he focused on opening The Curtiss hotel, renovations to Statler City, and conversion of the CW Miller Livery Stable on W. Huron Street into a second Emerson Hospitality School.

What to look for in this year’s races for mayor, county comptroller, sheriff; maybe Hamburg ...

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 17:53:03 GMT

Originally published on politicsandstuff.com

As someone who has lived most of his life as a participant and an observer of local politics, I have to admit that the local scene isn’t quite as exciting or interesting as it was in years past. I’ve been wondering why.

It may be that local and state politics is not attracting the sort of personalities that ran for office or helped get people elected in days gone by. Or maybe the elected jobs that people seek are not what they were once cracked up to be.

Older readers have institutional knowledge of a different kind of politician. There aren’t politicians like Joe Crangle or Stanley Stachowski or Arthur Eve or Ned Regan or Vic Farley or Alfreda Slominski active anymore. They operated in a different manner. Whether their styles would work in the 2020’s is anyone’s guess.

Maybe it’s that the issues in local politics are different. Over time government programs get added or changed, costs go up, but revenues usually don’t rise accordingly. So those in office or interested in running for office might consider that it is harder to promise things in a campaign that may be beyond being deliverable once costs are calculated and available resources are assessed. The pandemic has exacerbated that problem.

Resource availability is most relevant in races for executive offices, and to a lesser degree, for legislative offices. The subject gets vaguer when the public office in question is an administrative position such as comptroller, clerk or sheriff where costs are relevant but money decisions rest with other officials.

Among the approximately two hundred local offices on the ballot in Erie County alone in 2021, there are three with the most visibility as the election season begins. Petitions are due to hit the streets soon. More on that below. It’s time for candidates and would-be candidates to show their hands.

In the race for mayor there will likely be a Democratic primary facilitated perhaps by legislation that might make it easier in a pandemic for a candidate to qualify for the ballot. Having a primary, however, is no guarantee that the election will pose a serious challenge to Mayor Byron Brown winning a fifth term.

The city has multiple serious problems in terms of poverty, education, housing, management of the Police Department and its finances. The issues did not develop overnight; it will take a long time to resolve them. Overshadowing all the issues is the lack of money to finance city operations.

If President Joe Biden and the Congress can work out another relief package that includes state and local government aid one of the main questions will be how long such assistance will be available. The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority projects major deficits extending for at least the next four years. Will the city use the time that any 2021 relief package offers to put itself in a better financial position or will city officials simply expect relief packages extending beyond 2021?

At this point in time it is hard to imagine Mayor Brown being seriously challenged. He has his own well-established political organization, and as of July had $115,568 in his campaign account; the new financial report that was due to be filed on January 15 was not available as of the close of business on January 18. Brown’s account is hardly an overwhelming number but India Walton has not reported a penny collected yet even though she has a committee established. Two other potential candidates, Scott Wilson and La’Candice Durham, do not have campaign financial accounts created at this time.

Brown is in a position to raise considerable sums from people who have an interest in his re-election – think contractors and vendors who have business with the city and City Hall employees. On the other hand insurgent candidates can often these days raise considerable sums from small dollar grassroots organizations if they can catch fire with voters. At the moment such fires are not evident in Buffalo.

Incumbent Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw will not seek re-election. The Democrats will nominate Erie County Legislator and Canisius College political science professor, Dr. Kevin Hardwick, who has been a Democrat for nearly three years now. (Perhaps Republicans, who seem to have some sort of hang-up with recognizing that First Lady Jill Biden has a doctorate, will raise issues with Dr. Hardwick. The more pressing issue for Republicans is coming up with a candidate for comptroller, unless they are just being secretive about a bid by Lynne Dixon, Mychajliw’s Deputy for Public Relations.

A financial check: As of January 10^th, Hardwick had $15,360 in his campaign account. Dixon still has $6,402 left from her 2019 campaign for Erie County Executive.

The race for Erie County sheriff is getting more interesting. Retired Buffalo police officer Karen Healy-Case seems to be the favorite of county Republicans while another former Buffalo officer John Garcia has been steadily building political support and finances. His recent financial disclosure shows an impressive total of $135,422, including a personal $50,000 loan to his campaign. Healy-Case reported $29,050, which includes a personal loan of $28,000.

The Democratic candidate for sheriff could be Buffalo Chief of Detectives Dennis Richards. He does not have a campaign committee filed yet. Former FBI official Bernie Tolbert, who came within 4,000 votes of being elected in 2017, is interested in running again. Tolbert does not have a campaign financial report on file for 2021 at this time.

The problem that Hardwick and the Democratic nominee for sheriff must contend with is that November Democratic turnout in the City of Buffalo is generally at its lowest in this year of the four year election cycle. If the countywide Democratic candidates can push Buffalo turnout for their races to approach suburban turnout numbers then they will have a reasonably good chance of election. Previous blog posts have highlighted this problem. For Peanuts fans, this is your classic Lucy-pulling-the-football-away-from-Charlie-Brown problem. Or for the more literary, “those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

And then there is Hamburg

The Town of Hamburg will elect a new supervisor in November. Incumbent Supervisor Jim Shaw, who has performed ably for the past four years, has decided not to run for re-election.

At the moment the Democratic Party has no candidate for supervisor. The Republicans have settled on Stefan Mychajliw, who has $1,752 in his campaign treasury. He spent $5,000 in campaign funds on legal fees to a Lockport firm in September, about the time of a legal proceeding concerning his campaign finance problems were being heard in court.

Mychajliw has set his sights on being the Erie County Donald Trump as he tweets away and stakes out Trumpian positions on local issues. Was he one of those on local buses that went to Washington on January 6?

Given Mark Poloncarz’s quality management of the county’s finances, Mychajliw has little to talk about concerning his eight years as comptroller. Politically he burned many bridges with his failed campaign for Congress. And then there are some pesky issues related to the handling of his campaign finances, including the money swapping arrangements by his deputies between his state-regulated campaign account and the federal congressional campaign account.

It seems that Republicans would have had a more natural, quality candidate for Hamburg supervisor in Lynne Dixon, but she declined. Now the question is who will the Democrats in the town put up for the office?

2021 election procedures

While the start of COVID vaccinations offers hope for improvements in our lives in 2021, the election calendar in New York State is not playing along.

Petitioning for mostly local offices begins on February 23. It might be snowing and blowing that week. People may not be willing to open their doors to sign petitions. It seems likely that some changes will need to be put in place prior to February 23 to make it easier to qualify for the ballot this year.

In 2020 the number of required valid signatures for petitions was reduced. That may happen again this year. Another option would be a bill on file in Albany which would permit “a system for qualified voters to sign a designating petition for a candidate by way of a secure internet portal.” Or perhaps as an alternative, candidates in 2021 might, as in some other states, be allowed to pay a fee to qualify for the ballot. Has anyone checked with Rudy Guiliani or Jenna Ellis about such things?

Legislation to set up alternative procedures for 2021 seems likely before we get too deep into February. Stay tuned.

Follow me on Twitter @kenkruly

Ken Kruly writes about politics and other stuff at politicsandstuff.com. You can visit his site to leave a comment pertaining to this post.

Presidential inaugurations and the role the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site ...

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 17:14:27 GMT

Author: Stanton H. Hudson, Jr., Executive Director/Site Superintendent @ Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

At the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site, we are in the unique position of being surrounded by an important piece of American history and tradition that the rest of the country only experiences once every four years. In a sense, we exist to pay tribute to the solemn act of the peaceful transition of the power and office of the presidency from one person to the next.

We know better than most that behind the pomp and pageantry there are only a handful of Constitutional requirements to elevate a person to the highest office in the country. The simplicity of the act is, perhaps, its most symbolic element. One private citizen, one federal magistrate, and one sentence. The entirety of the power of the executive is transferred in less than fifty words. By design, it is simple and solemn. Since 1789, the oath of office has been administered in fifty-eight planned inaugural ceremonies and nine unexpected events. Each time, the same simple formula is used.

The framers of our Constitution grappled with the idea of an executive officer.

The framers of our Constitution grappled with the idea of an executive officer. They walked a fine line between empowering the office to the point of abuse or restricting it to the point of ineffectiveness. In similar fashion to the rest of our government, they settled on a compromise – a democratically elected leader with a fixed term. All the elements of assuming the presidency were meant to remind incoming presidents that the office was a privilege bestowed upon them by the people they serve and represent. There is an inherent expectation that with all the power of the office comes the responsibility of stepping away at the end of the term.

The uniqueness of that dynamic is best expressed by Theodore Roosevelt. As he reflected on assuming the presidency, he said, “To me there is something fine in the American theory that a private citizen can be chosen by the people to occupy a position as great as that of the mightiest monarch, and to exercise a power which may for the time being surpass that of a Czar, Kaiser, or Pope, and then, after having filled his position, the man shall leave it as a non pensioned private citizen, who goes back into the ranks of his fellow citizens with entire self-respect, claiming nothing save what on his own individual merits he is entitled to receive.” (To Sir George Otto Trevelyan, October 1, 1911)

This tradition has been pushed and tested during the past 232 years. Presidents have changed and expanded the reach of their office over time and even the inaugural ceremony itself has evolved. Originally held on or around March 4th, it was moved under Franklin Roosevelt to the January date we know today. It has been held in various locations in Washington, D.C. and, on four occasions, across our nation.

TR Inauguration sketch

On September 14, 1901, Buffalo, NY served as the backdrop for one of the four inaugurations outside our nation’s capital. Amidst national tragedy, Theodore Roosevelt assumed the office of the presidency in a short, somber ceremony. Even when pushed to the extreme, as was the case in 1901 when Roosevelt became the third vice president in thirty-six years to assume the presidency following the assassination of the president, the core integrity of the tradition was maintained.

That is part of what makes the American political process so special. Every four years we as a people come together to raise our voices and cast our votes. The democratic election of our president and other governmental leaders is the cornerstone of American politics. Our voices alone are enough to elevate someone to the highest office in the land. While the elections of 1800, 1824, 1860, 1876, 1912, 1948, 1960, and 2000 have been contested, the democratic process established more than two centuries ago has weathered the test of time.

Following are photos from the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site:

Lead image: TR reprisor reviewing Proclamation to the Nation