So today, I finally figured out where the train station is downtown. I’ve actually seen it before but it didn’t reall register because I envision Union Station in DC or Grand Central in NYC

….yeah that is like the size of a personal storage space.

Notice anything different?

Apparently, AMTRAK is sooooo popular, that they feel no desire to replace the sign to inform the 5 or 6 people who use the station.

But I guess the good part of having such a small train station is, lets say, the old old old one on the East side

was serving its purpose instead…incoming visitors might get a little more freaked out as they enter our city. Imagine coming to a city you’ve never visited before only to see a handful of people inside a large public transportation area.

Today I was talking to my friend who is going to attend UB next fall (I am a VERY good recuiter in the Maryland region), him and his family are from Ukraine and mostly only know the DC area when it comes to America. Despite this his mother has expressed deep concern and doubt about her son living in Buffalo. I quote his mother when she says “You know, downtown Buffalo is REALLY depressing. REALLY depressing.”

See, people who have never even been to Buffalo know that our city is a mess. So what if WE know that we have nice architecture and that we USED to be the city of the millionaires

who American icons such as Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Frank Llyod Wright once called home? What is so sickening is that City Council is perfectly content with the status quo, and must recieve some sort of gratification in knowing that the city continually collapses. I want to vomit when I hear Masiello talk as if he has fixed all of the few problems the City has. It makes me more sick that he was mayor for so long. I have my doubts about Mr. Brown, mostly because so many people have jumped on the bandwagon without knowing much about him at all. He seems to not be an ounce like Griffin or Masiello, and thats a very good thing. I just hope that he is able to turn this city around.

Sometimes, I don’t know how to feel. The city has improved in appearance over the last 15 years,

there is some sort of life downtown with new lofts filling up, and there are always people who love Buffalo and want to see it get better. But then the same things happen, money becomes a major issue for everything, the local government has no credibility amongst its own people, and then some think that a new major project (Bass Pro) will turn the city around. For the optimists out there…do you REALLY think that a sporting goods store will turn the city around?
That is a rhetorical question.

yes…the bridge we have now is older than this postcard of it cira the FDR administration. I can’t believe that we had a new one in place in ‘96…ready for use in ‘02. Where are we now? We haven’t even chosen a bridge design. When it comes to planning like this, it is clear to the rest of the country that we deserve nothing. The thorough incompetence of the local government, and a state government that cares as much about WNY as it does about the unemployment rate in Portugal. Obviously, this stuff has been said before, but sometimes it just becomes so frustrating. I’m not an anarchist, but its times like these when I wouldnt mind being one.

The first of three new buildings for the Hauptman-Woodward science complex in downtown has been completed. It’s about time we get a nice looking building that actually serves an integral purpose to the city. Here’s to the present and the future.

I was reading the Buffalo News in January and I saw some snippet about a man from Buffalo (Curtis Doebbler) representing honorary Buffalonian,

Saddam Hussein in his trial and today I came accross this article…

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/12/06/Worldandnation/Hussein_s_defender__A.shtml

“He has advised the Palestinian Authority, Sudanese leaders and Afghanistan’s Taliban regime. He has called American soldiers cowards in print. He says President Bush is a war criminal - a more flagrant violator of international law even than Saddam Hussein.”

its definately a facinating read.