Lee talks about Alex Van Pelt taking over the offense and what direction he thinks they will go in.

Thurman talks about the firing of Turk Schonert and we look back at Hall of Fame weekend

This is a video about the Buffalo, NY-based organization Buffalo ReUse. Buffalo ReUse’s main activity is green deconstruction of vacant houses, but their bigger aim is to help rebuild neighborhoods and offer training, guidance and hope for young people in the community.

A Buffalo Tribute…

Hitler is a pissed off Bills fan…

Commentary by Kathleen Mecca

Funding a massive truck plaza on Buffalo's West Side will increase health risks.

President Obama spoke before Congress to articulate his health care initiatives.  In a firm, clear voice he stated he's not the first president to raise the issue of health care reform, but he will be the last.  President Obama's determination presents a formidable challenge to democratic lawmakers: they are going to have to choose sides--either they stand with the people or stand with the corporations.

So how would the President view a looming health care crisis right in our own back yard, namely the proposed Peace Bridge expansion project? Two years ago, The Public Bridge Authority announced plans to build a massive truck plaza inside one of the poorest and most racially diverse districts in Buffalo--the city's west side, home to the youngest population in Buffalo.

YouTube video: What Does Environmental Racism Smell Like? 

Almost half of all area residents (approximately 22,000) are diagnosed with respiratory illness. Epidemiologist Jameson S. Lweguga-Mukasa MD, PHD, studied asthma incidence among Buffalo children and found the prevalence of asthma along the current Peace Bridge traffic corridor to be three times the national average. Asthma is one of many diseases directly linked to diesel emission exposure

Last week, a neighborhood pharmacy received 170 Ventolin inhalers, a prescription medication used for treating asthma. The delivery represented a one-week supply, which surprised the pharmacist receiving the shipment. "So what do you think of that?" he asked.

Personally, I think it's frightening! At a retail cost of $42.00 per inhaler, that's over $7,000 per week and more than $370,000 annually for just one asthma medication at one west side pharmacy. Many asthma sufferers use multiple inhalers along with other medication.

The public health cost to this region for treating the asthma epidemic on the West Side is estimated at $70M a year - a figure that does not include the cost of myriad other drugs, doctor visits, lost time from school or lost wages from work.  A majority of health care costs in a poor community like the West Side are billed to Medicaid or other government-sponsored programs. Factoring in the cost of other diseases directly linked to diesel emission, such as cancer, cardio-vascular disease and Type II Diabetes, pushes the regional price tag to several hundred million dollars a year.

Several states across the nation recognize the hidden costs of urban-centered transportation projects. Many cities are partnering with the EPA to mitigate the air quality hazard caused by these projects, a level of which exists in Buffalo right now.  Government agencies are acutely aware that the location of these diesel-fueled operations can be detrimental to the present health and future welfare of community residents.

YouTube video: EPA and American Lung Association

In Buffalo, we still have politicians turning a blind eye to the health risks associated with building a bigger truck plaza. The proposed Peace Bridge expansion plan is in the middle of Congressman Brian Higgins congressional district, yet he ignores the catastrophic environmental and health impact threatening Buffalo's West Side.  In fact, Congressman Higgins has expended an enormous amount of political energy toward fast-tracking the first phase of plaza construction.

Mr. Higgins, Democrat, has the support of Buffalo's Mayor Byron Brown, Democrat, to move the trucking expansion project forward. Now another wrench has been thrown into this heated political debate: a Democratic president who supports health care reform with a public option plan for those who cannot afford private coverage. So I ask Congressman Higgins and Mayor Brown, which side of the health care reform aisle are you on? Will you stand with the people or with the corporations?

THE BASICS:  E T A Hoffman's eerie, symbolist short story, as re-imagined and interpreted by Sigmund Freud.  Certainly not your everyday theatrical fare!  The New Phoenix production, devised and directed by Robert Waterhouse (their Artistic Director), plays Thurs-Sat nights through October 3rd.  There are five humans in the cast, three of whom operate puppets designed by Michele Costa.  The show is very short, running slightly less than an hour, with no intermission.

THUMBNAIL SKETCH:  Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis, retells, analyzes and interacts with the characters of Hoffman's creepy, Poe-like tale.  In the story, Nathaniel, a young lover of hysterical bent, is obsessed by twin father figures--the evil Coppelius and good Coppola--who he fears are one and the same. These C's are, in fact, jointly responsible for the creation of a pretty automaton, Olympia, who lures Nathaniel away from his perplexed betrothed, Klara.  It all ends badly for Nathaniel, as you may have guessed.  Waterhouse brings Freud into the act as a major character; the results are curious, at best.  We get a fair amount of philosophizing--words and their opposites having similar meanings, for example--but the inherent drama of the Hoffman story is completely lost.  It's a weird muddle, and my guess is that it will please very few.

THE CAST:  Christian Branjes makes a most engaging Freud, and certainly looks the part.  The rest of the company is pretty much up-to-speed.  Three of them show considerable skill operating Costa's puppets.  The puppets themselves were a big disappointment to me.  They are clever and elegantly crafted, but so small in size that they almost make a mockery of poor Nathaniel's torment.  If ever there was a show that cried out for larger-than-life puppets, this is it!  And where are the disembodied hands, feet, eyeballs, and that telescoping penis we were promised in a pre-production press piece?  And why is Olympia, a character that could have been dynamite either in human hands, or as a puppet, been reduced to a mere dress-maker's dummy here??

PRODUCTION VALUES:  On the plus side, the production has some haunting original music by Paul 

Kozlowski, and some handsome period costumes by Martha Rothkopf.  Waterhouse gets a lot from his small cast.  On the minus side, the set by Dyan O'Connell is neither aesthetic nor eerily expressionistic, and Franklin La Voie's lighting is pedestrian in a show where it could have been spectacular. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:  I went to this production with high hopes, as the New Phoenix can sometimes do great things with the offbeat.  Sadly, FREUD AND THE SANDMAN promises much more than it delivers.  Caveat emptor!

RATING:  TWO BUFFALOS (out of five). 

Shot on location at the 2009 Taste of Buffalo. Watch as All Access Pass Host: Nelson Starr samples some of Western New York’s finest food. From Cajun to Kabob’s, Soul Food to Soulvaki the Taste of Buffalo has it all!

Like most people in sports, Lindy Ruff loves projecting what players can achieve. The Buffalo Sabres coach observes the talent, sees the potential and puts a number on a guy.

A man told Buffalo police that he was shot late Saturday while walking along Fillmore Avenue near Urban Street, about three blocks from Martin Luther King Jr. Park.

Four people were arrested on drunk driving charges in separate incidents early this morning across Niagara County, including a Lockport woman who had an 8-month-old in her vehicle at the time.

A 35-year-old Sinclairville woman was taken by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center on Saturday after the car in which she was riding veered off a Chautauqua County road and struck a tree.

A 28-year-old East Aurora man remained in the Erie County Holding Center today, without chance of bail, after fighting the deputy who arrested him and becoming combative at the jail.

LEWISTON - The annual Lewiston Kiwanis Peach Festival closes today at Academy Park on Center Street.

The two-story building at the northwest corner of Swan Street and Michigan Avenue is sporting a crisp, new look.  A new brick facade has been installed on the structure.  Work on the building, owned by James T. Sandoro, started late last year.

From Courtney's original post:

The building was built in 1918 as a factory outlet for the Simon Pure Brewery. Soon after, pesky Prohibition got in the way and left the building and its industry sitting shuttered for 15 years until it finally opened in 1933. The 3,000 square foot, first-floor commercial space still flaunts the original tin ceiling, terrazzo floor and back bar. This could be transformed into offices or, as with the former tenant, used as a bar/restaurant.

The 6,032 sq.ft. building is one block north of Sandoro's Buffalo Transportation Pierce Arrow Museum, currently closed for renovations.  More in a future post.

Get Connected:  James T. Sandoro at 716.855.1931