http://www.buffalorising.com/city/archives/2006/06/post_10.php

Today we see one man who complains about the service at Globe…and here comes the discussion. Amusing to see one man have to constantly defend his stance that the service isnt that great.

“ronmoss4mayor.org”

Okay if this were ANY other city in America I’d be sure this guy was just kidding…but I think he might be for real. Is he? Seriously, I need to know cuz if he is i’m on the next bus out of town.

This is a segment I should have started a long time ago. Everyone likes to insult the BuffaloNews and I dont blame them, but I’m gonna take the road less traveled and take some hits at BR (which by the way is an awesome site I check about 10x a day-but still). So today I throw a punch…

On the heart of Bailey ave. there is a new “FastTrac” gas station. A very big one with a decent selection of things to buy in the store. In case you don’t know-Bailey Ave is a dump. Complete. Dump. Embarassing, and mostly sad. So now we see something new, something that helps the comunity. But nooooooo…here come the armchair snotty-architects destroying and trashing its urban design

DUDE. ITS. A. GAS. STATION……….(on Bailey ave at that)
Look, I’ve seen one sexy example of urban design for a gas station and that is the Allentown Trading Company gas station. Everything else looks standard, and thats just fine w.me
(urban planning major<— )

So yeah last I checked theres a huge comment brawl going on about its design and how its terrible for not being up to the street and blah blah blah. Wow some people need a friggin life. Let the people have their damn gas station.

Go check it out, its nice to laugh at people sometimes.

Waiting for my friend to meet me downtown, I took a nice little stroll around downtown but of course-since its a weekday after 4pm-all the WONDERFUL creatures came out to greet me and here are the encounters…

A disheveled and assumed crack-head from accross the street comes up to me..
CrackHead: “Ayo how you doin man?”
Me: “Um im fine”
CH: “Yo you got change?”
Me: “Nah, I need it to eat tonight”
CH: “Ah cool you gotta eat thats cool
(shakes my hand)
CH: (Inaudible)
Me: “what?”
CH: (Inaudible)
Me: “what?”
CH: (Inaudible)
Me: “what?”
CH (pulls out silver chain)” take this man!”
Me: Nah, im good

(he then walked w.me for the next 2min….awkward!)

The next guy saw me on the corner of Chippewa and Pearl
Guy: “Yo what time is it?!?!!”
Me: “Um 635″
Guy: “Aw shiiiit! I gotta get my weed from this dude before its too late!!!!” (runs down Chippewa)

And one more convo that took place between two dudes at Univesity Station…
1: “Yeah you go to ECC? I went to school there for 7 years!”
2: “Pfff thats nothing. Im starting my 14th year studying there.”
1: “Wow, thats a long time, man.”
2: “Yeah, I should be done in 2 years.”

For a change of pace I went to the Central Library today and came accross this book written right after Buffalo missed out on their chance for major league baseball expansion in 1990. It was a good book about how Pilot Field changed Downtown Buffalo and boosted the City. What I found that was INSANE was these quotes from Cuomo from around 92…
I paraphrase..
“Buffalo is going to see a lot of good change. This new NAFTA deal is gonna bring a lot of trade to Buffalo and a lot more people are going to be coming across this city.”

and the craziest one..
“Buffalo has the strongest economy in the state, the lowest unemployment in the state. Buffalo is changing for the better all the time and is only getting better.”

Ummmmmmmmmm…what. happened?

My newest favorite local band, “This Day and Age” has a couple new tracks out on their PureVolume page (purevolume.com/thisdayandage). I’m predicting that this album that is due out on August 22nd will get my Buffalo album of the year award.

They’ll re-start their touring August 26 at Club Infinity in Williamsville.

My friend and I had a pretty unsatisfying dinner at Century Grill tonight, so to make up for it we went to Anderson’s.

Good God that hit the spot! It was a hot summer night in Buffalo and enjoying a nice vanilla custard with sprinkles outside with a friend was just…awesome.

So yeah someone just bought that on Ebay. I honestly to this day can’t watch the video footage. Well I’m glad someone is such an avid Sabres and/or blood fan.

Formally known as the “McGuire Building” it should begin construction late this year. Hopefully the contractual obligations set by City Hall will force this building to not become like the other Paladino projects which in many cases-never happen. Westcoastperspective over at the skyscraper forums provides once again…his thursday afternoon crack cocaine special for the urban planning/architecture dorks like myself…here is a rendering he provided….

It has a very Washington, DC look to it. Blends in well with its surroundings and looks far better than the older designs proposed.

I returned to Buffalo this week to hear that it looks like we’re finally going to get the downtown AM&A’s saved. These two downstate guys (Libby and Farkiris) have a pretty serious portfolio of developing apartments…even using other abandoned builidings in terrible shape! The deal is supposed to close on August 15th and we’ll see the conversion completed in 08 or 09 which in Buffalo means 2010 maybe 2011. The top eight stories will be apartments. The 2nd story will be office space and the bottom will be a restaurant and retail space for the estimated cost of $50 million.
So now the big Main St. eyesore will be taken care of. Time to take care of the dozen smaller ones.