Ralph Wilson always says that a downtown stadium would never work because Buffalonians would never pay the $65 it would cost to go see the Bills.

Lies.

*Cleveland only has tickets for the 2007 season in the upper deck ‘family zone’ for $32. Everything else is sold out. Their downtown stadium opened in 1999.

*Pittsburgh tickets vary from $59 to $212. Heinz Field opened in 2001.

*Detroit has tickets avalible from $40-$70. Pretty affordable for a new domed stadium.

*Cincinatti tickets vary from $60 to $78. As long as their winning, Paul Brown stadium is packed with a passionate fan base.

All these cities have similar economies and other than Detroit-similar populations. Drive around Williamsville or Orchard Park or Waterfront Village or see the list of new high-end retailers coming to the Galleria Mall and tell me there is no money to go around in this area. Then see how obsessed people are here with the Bills and tell me they wouldn’t spend the money on tickets to see their obsession in person in a beautiful downtown stadium.

A great site for a new stadium could/should be built over Perry Street in the cobblestone district, absorbing the surface lots behind the HSBC atrium and the HSBC arena. Google Map it for better visualization. Incorporate a new convnetion center and you have a potential date with a Super Bowl. Too expensive to have a retractable roof? They are closing in on getting one in Cleveland. Its right next to the Light Rail, Thruway, Amtrak, waterfront, and central business district (parking garages/surface lots included).

After seeing the rest of the rust belt build brand new NFL stadiums and then sell most if not all of their “expensive” tickets consistently afterwards, I’d like to know the real reason why Ralph doesn’t want the Bills to have a new downtown stadium.

Like with any big public project- its almost always feasible as long as the public wants it badly enough to make it happen.

Do you find yourself thinking such thoughts as…

*Bills are raising parking prices. This is one of the most devastating things to happen in my life other than the fact that Briere and Drury left.

*American Axle closed which obvs means Buffalo is now as good as dead. How there are any people living in downtown apartments if manufacturing jobs are gone?!@?!

*If the Hyatt is getting $5 million in public funds to renovate why can’t I have the government pay for half of renovations I’m doing on my single family home in Cheektowaga? How ridiculous that the government fund a downtown project that they already financed to begin with.

If so…likeminded folk await you in the comment sections of each WGRZ article. Although there are some interesting thoughts and insights, I’m usually overwhelmed with the written word of the most cliche Buffalonians.

Former Bison, Jeremy Guthrie is quickly becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball. After being given up on by the Indians and passed on waivers until Baltimore took the $20,000 mistakeHere’s a great Baltimore Sun feature on him.

I got him confused with Kyle Denney and therefore, my previous story now makes no sense. Hah.

I’ve been reading Gunther Grass’ “The Tin Drum” and the last thing I would expect to see in a book known as one of the best pieces of German literature in the post-war period would be multiple references to Buffalo.

In reference to the whereabouts of his missing grandfather:

Nor would I give a plugged nickel for the reports of the eyewitnesses…who claim to have seen my grandfather shortly after the 1st world war in Buffalo, USA…said he was importing lumber from Canada, big stockholder in a number of match factories, a founder of fire insurance companies. That was my grandfather, a lonley mulitmillionaire, sitting in a skyscraper behind an enormous desk, diamond rings on every finger, drilling his bodyguards, who wore firemen’s uniforms, sang in Polish, and were known as the Phoenix guard.

Do it for your grandfather…the lumber king of Buffalo, USA

I find it facsinating to think that this writer thought to himself “Hmmm..what American city would make sense for me to mention…Buffalo!” Thinking of it as a land far away in which simple men can come from Poland and make it big…sitting in a…”skycraper”.

Channel 2 interviewed Bashar Issa and got a sneak peak at the Statler.

I think for any typical person in Buffalo who doesn’t follow development closely or read blogs-this video makes it official that the Stater REALLY is being renovated and REALLY will be brought back to glory.

He was asked about City Tower..

If completed, it would be Buffalo’s tallest building: forty stories of retail and office space.

“On a scale from one to ten with ten being, for sure this is going to happen, we’re going to pour the foundation, to one being no way, where are you on this project,” Boose asked.

“A six,” Issa replied.

Issa says talks are in the works for an anchor tenant. The price tag for the skyscraper; $400 million! Add that to the $100 million to redo the Statler.

He didn’t say 9 or 10 which makes me think he really is being honest about this project. If we wasn’t serious he wouldn’t have purchased the lot and bothered with a 3-D video of the building and a masterplan for the area around it.

Although we are well behind Pittsburgh and Cleveland when it comes to having healthy and vibrant downtowns (yes I said well behind Pittsburgh and Cleveland) we’re getting there. With the City Tower-the potential of our downtown will be well known.

A nice piece in today’s paper about the man behind the recently closed Mondo Video. I was excited to see Mondo come to Main Street in the Heights-thinking that our decaying retail strip was about to start a comeback. Sadly it never caught on. UB students don’t need it because we can just download movies on our hub for free and everyone else can just use netflix or buy it on Amazon or whatever.

The University District was really starting to crumble when my family and I left in 1995. I remember seeing a decent amount of cool stores that clearly were there to accomadte college kids like the Co-Op, Ben and Jerry’s, and Das Boot (shoe store, duh). My parents still reminice over some of the cool places and things to do in the Heights back in their grad school days-even on Bailey-which is quite unfathomable nowadays.

Its not a lost cause though. The street improvements on Main are terrific. A huge public transportation hub is there, the University is still there and restaurants like Shango and Ming Tea are successful draws from around North Buffalo and Amherst. Talking Leaves provides books that you can’t find in most bookstores. Main street can still be a niche retail area if things improve a little in the area.

No one at UB wants to live in the Heights unless its all they can afford. Most would rather commute from Elmwood or Downtown than take a 10 minute walk to campus-thats how unsafe people feel there.

I heard an idea thrown around in which UB would buy houses in the heights, renovate them, and then rent them out to students, afterall UB has refused to build new housing despite increasing enrollment every year. Its a sickening feeling to drive or walk by the place where you grew up and see it get a little bit worse with each trip- UB has the ability to change that because the University district begins and ends with them.

As the Bass Pro project sits on the shelf and the new Naval Park area nears completion there is more activity underway or soon underway on the eternally untouched Buffalo waterfront.

1. WCP shows the world that the newst phase of Ellicott’s project is underway. Just the townhomes for now. It’ll be nice to walk around that area and not feel like you’re on a deserted island…just a private island. Look at the condo tower-looks better than the original renderings and notice they include HealthNow’s new buidling in the back. It’s a good reminder of how close the waterfront is to the city without the Niagara Thruway’s heavy presence.

2. Buffalo News reported that not only are the owners of Shanghia Red’s upgrading the restaurant but are eying a lot next to them for a small hotel! This major part of the waterfront is a concrete island surrounding the restaurnat, it’ll be nice to see it fill in a little bit. Shanghai Red’s needs more restaurants and just general commercial activity around it to succeed. In my humble opinion the food sucks for the price and I don’t think I’m the only person who feels that way so it will never be able to be profitable if its’ surroundings remain the same.

Combine all the Inner Harbor/Waterfront projects together and although they each have some faults…Buffalo will have a fairly busy and successful waterfont to be proud of when its all said and done.

In the endless cycle of Buffalo hats I have worn over the years, my Buffalo Braves one has finally reached its final stages of life.

Buying a hat is a fine art and takes much thought and care so I can’t just toss on a simple Bills or Sabres hat…especially a Sabres hat since I’d hate to look like a walking cliche.

I came accross the hat pictured above and thought it was too unique/clever to pass up on. Middle aged food-service workers or delivery men won’t stop me to share their memories of McAdoo and Randy Smith and my friends in Maryland won’t ask me “Why are you wearing a ‘Bridgestone Tires’ hat?” or “What the hell is that wierd B on your head?” anymore which is a shame but I think I feel comfortable with my newest addition.

As a twenty-something in Buffalo, who blogs…I KNOW the Buffalo News could have done a better job finding someone who could much better capture the essence of people our age and our views on Buffalo.

Here are two good ones right off the bat…
maxigumee.com
buffawhat.com

I’d be naive to say that these two blogs sum up the average 20-something in town but no one blog could do that. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll stop writing like an old man and make it more obvious that I too am a twenty-something in Buffalo.