Every channel, especially CH4 has given wayyyyy more attention than it should to the whole “No beer at the ‘Party in the Plaza’ at HSBC Arena….OH NOW THERE IS AGAIN!!!! Must find out more!” story.

Taking that whole “small town mentality” to a whole other level.

I had a dream last night that I went down to the dining hall like I do every day for dinner but the guy swiping the cards at the entrance was…

Frank Lloyd Wright?!

He was about 70 years old in the dream and carried himself in his notoriously overconfident manner as he swiped the UB cards and then after his shift was done we both headed towards the elvator but the whole thing wierded me out so much that I took the stairs instead.

Guster performed at UB last night. I listened to them really quick one time in high school and it bored me so I never listened to them again. At the urging of friends I went to SpringFest and realized that…um that’s the genre I usually listen to nowadays. I’ve been listening to this song all night. Enjoy.

For those of you who gave up on reading the comments on “The Truth Hurts”, Jim Allen himself chimed in…

I certainly didn’t expect my remarks to a planning class at UB to generate this amount of interest. I think the above discussion is great and we need more of it. But I would like to clarify a couple of things.
My remarks were not intended to pit Amherst against Buffalo in any way. My remarks were intended to point out the importance of planning your future not just wishing for it. Amherst took advantage of the State’s decision to build the north campus in Amherst and developed a master plan to create the type of physical space that firms that wanted proximity to the University would be looking for. In the ’70s and continuing today, many firms wanted to be in a campus-like industrial or office park. Planning such facilities and encouraging private sector developers to build them has paid tremendous dividends. My remarks, rather than saying Amherst is wonderful were meant to point how crucial good planning and implementation is.

I am personally excited about the City’s master plan, the Queen City 2020 plan, the Waterfront plan and the Canalside Plan. If all of these plans are implemented, and I do believe they will be under Rich Tobe and other planning and development officials downtown, then Buffalo has an exciting and prosperous future. But the key is planning your future and vigorously implementing that plan.

I think its pretty amazing how blogging gets everyone involved and interacting. Really breaks down the long existing communications barriers of the world. Even on my blog! Totally x-treme!

The pictures are frickin huge and pink today. Dunno how either happened.

Can’t be too far away from this place opening up. Hopefully the first retail is done in time before my semester ends.

Some people have questioned the potential success of the retail in this place but I think if it caters to the everyday needs of the downtown residents, it will succeed.

Speaking of retail downtown…more stores keep closing along the pedestrian Mall. A month ago, Main Street Bistro closed, Theo’s did as well and its a bit scary that while downtown is allegedly seeing a renaissance, two small places that catered fairly well to the food needs of downtown workers has failed.

James Allen of the Amherst IDA came to one of my planning classes today to discuss economic development (obviously).

It’s a tough crowd to face since most young urbanists from Buffalo look to Amherst with disgust but Mr. Allen said a lot of very true and sometimes hard to face facts about Buffalo.

*Geico never wanted to come to the city. It was Amherst or some other region. That’s not Amherst’s fault, thats Warren Buffet or whoever decided that the City was not an option.

*Once UB came here, it was game over. Businesses want to be where the young/smart talent is. Its in Amherst

*There are a lot of union/permit/political obstacles with development in the city that just don’t exist in Amherst. Its much easier to get it done.

*Many people in Buffalo really felt that manufacturing in America was going to comeback. Buffalo had the resources in place for a manufacturing renaissance but that obviously never happened. Only recently has Buffalo given into the “new” economy we live in.

*A lot of businesses want that “greenspace/campus” feel to their company. Harder to do that in the city.

He emphasized that the Amherst IDA doesn’t compete with Buffalo. It competes with other regions. Companies come to Amherst because that is THE spot in the Buffalo-Niagara region that they want to do business in. Also, a pretty powerful number…70% of economic development in the region has taken place in Amherst since UB North Campus was built.

The world is a harsh place, and most businesses aren’t going to come to Buffalo because they don’t care about the history, the architecture, the character, whatever. Bottom line is what matters, and the bottom line is that Amherst, not Buffalo was ready for business and Buffalo wasn’t and perhaps still isn’t.

Buffalo has added jobs for the third straight month.
Mostly public sector stuff, mixed in with a dash of private sector jobs. There’s no need for balloons and streamers, but three months of job growth is the most i’ve witnessed since moving back here in Summer ‘05.

I’ve noticed a lot of people rely on BuffaloRising to see how any construction project is coming along. I know I’m barking up the wrong tree by saying it on my blog but ummmm…pretty much any construction project is followed on a bi-weekly to monthly basis here…no need to anxiously wait for someone else to give you one picture of one place…you got ‘em all right here.

Soooo yeah. Thats about it.

Looks like the NYSDOT is all finished now. Haven’t seen it since November I believe. Its a bit of a dissapointment. The side facing the ballpark is window-free at the request of NYSDOT but the Thruway side looks pretty nice for what it is. Capped it off with the NYSDOT logo which adds a little to it. No big deal obviously, but the occasional signage on a downtown building is greatly appreciated