This is a fantastic new documentary on the importance of historic preservation in Buffalo by Diedie Weng and Squeaky Wheel. It was produced by Preservation Buffalo Niagara and funded by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.  It is a very simple straightforward look at grassroots preservation in Buffalo.  Much of it was shot on the East Side and West Side. 

This is not highbrow Allentown preservation. This is not about saving great monuments - rather it is about saving the soul of the city... its neighborhoods.  I was so heartened by the intelligent, committed people highlighted in this movie.  Buffalo has a great future if these are the kinds of citizens being called to action.  For so long it has seemed that Buffalo was a place waiting for someone to come in and change things.  More and more it appears that the people are just going to change things themselves.
 
Following is the movie blurb:

With the severe, long-term economic and population decline in Buffalo and the surrounding older suburbs, the housing vacancy rate has rapidly increased. Since 1990 vacancy rate estimates have increased from 10% to as high as 23% -- among the highest in the nation. Decent, solidly built vacant older houses become community problems, dragging down communities as targets for vandalism and crime. As they are demolished, though, they leave holes in the sense of place, the fabric of community, and a visual and psychological emptiness. This short film aims to promote a conversation about low-income communities' efforts and struggles in revitalizing neglected historical neighborhoods by valuing the people and the place as assets.
 
This is really a great great piece on Buffalo, well worth your time!
 

Building on the Past for Our Future (22:00) by Diedie Weng from Squeaky Wheel on Vimeo.