Slippery Slope of St. Gerard
on August 16th, 2011
By Dean Evaniak:
Last evening, I attended a discussion at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta about the proposal to move St. Gerard's Church. The event was sponsored by the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art and the Parish of Mary Our Queen in Norcross, Georgia. I must say, I went in skeptical, and left somewhere between livid and terrified.
The first speaker was Fr. David Dye, Pastor of Mary Our Queen. I was struck by his particular reasoning for the effort to move a traditional church rather than construct a modern building. As he noted, buildings that carry tradition and history with them become much more than mere buildings in the community where they are located. He mentioned the difference that can be made by foregoing a modern structure that simply houses the location of worship, and the greater community spirit that surrounds and is fostered by traditional churches. A church such as St. Gerard became appealing to him because it comes pre-invested with history and spirit and can immediately become a cornerstone of a community, even beyond the flock that gather within its walls to celebrate.
The audience of about 60 people certainly agreed, and were eager to embrace this "just-add-water, instant community cornerstone" idea. I, however, wondered to myself why the eager desires of a new community were apparently outweighed by the resignation and apathy of the community which is about to lose such an important focal point.
The second speaker was an ICAA member from Notre Dame University, who is closely monitoring the Moved By Grace process. He spoke quite eloquently about the timelessness of classical architecture, including its resourcefulness at housing a variety of building functions, as well as the durability of traditional construction methods over time. While describing the history of St. Gerard's and its inspiration, St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome, he all but listed the versatility of the floor plan for use as everything from ancient judicial use to worship space to residential and commercial space. Examples were given of churches turned into restaurants in Pittsburgh and condos in Boston.
Somehow he managed to praise the congregation who managed to reproduce a smaller copy of the famous St. Paul's, while at the same time pointing out that it would be impossible to reproduce yet another copy in Norcross. The only option is to remove the building from its current site and move it to Georgia. I wonder if the thought had ever crossed the minds of the Buffalo parish to remove a church from Rome and bring it to America.
One of the great advantages of the move, as he pointed out, is the 'green factor' or 'sustainability' of reusing older buildings. Modern construction, he noted, involves large amounts of resources and effort, (wood shipped across the country, materials mined in remote locations, technology imported from Asia, and artists that can only be found in dwindling numbers in Europe). The comparison was made that America's older cities are virtual quarries from which we can extract the labors of previous generations. He likened it to shopping at Home Depot and buying a pre-made house.
Lastly, the advantages of older construction vastly outweigh modern building methods. Churches built by contractors require constant maintenance and repair, while the sturdy buildings of previous generations simply last longer, are built stronger, require less maintenance and significantly less heating/cooling costs than steel and glass. As his presentation went on, I wondered to myself why such inefficient modern churches keep popping up while we ignore and abandon buildings that he admits are so much stronger and cheaper to operate. Why do we continue to invest in buildings that require constant care, yet the buildings that can survive a few years between maintenance sit idle?
The last speaker of the evening was Bill Harrison, the architect who is supervising the move. I shuddered in my seat as he called St. Gerard's a "Blue-Light-Special", a structure that would take $40-60 million to be recreated, yet could be boxed and shipped for under $16 million. The increasing notability of this project is attracting corporate sponsors based in or around Atlanta, which could reduce the price even further. There are discussions with CSX Rail to cover the cost of transport, and Home Depot to contribute toward reconstruction costs. Currently, $3 of the $16 million has been raised. It is expected that once the first corporate sponsor is secured, additional donations will become even easier to obtain.
A church that was built by poor immigrants, and was expanded during the worst years of the Great Depression, is now about to be moved by corporate giants. I can't help but wonder if the pennies and dollars that built this church can also save it, especially when confronted by the checkbooks and contributions of nouveau riche Southern suburbanites.
When I asked if this project was simply a cash-for-merchandise transaction, Fr. Dye responded that the community in Buffalo would certainly benefit also. The single mothers of Gerard Place would have a lovely new lawn on which to enjoy the outdoors. The Catholic community would be welcomed with open arms any time they wish to visit their old church in its new home. And we would all rest assured that a priceless building sat safely in a green suburb instead of on an abandoned and crime-ridden street corner. His answer attempted to be diplomatic and he likely thought these were truly good reasons for the move, but a certain amount of smugness still seeped through. He praised the city of Buffalo for its wide avenues and beautiful architecture, and thanked the people for their generous gift. But he appears to honestly feel that the people of Norcross are more deserving of the task of keeping this building.
Other notable comments that arose from the question-and-answer session included a virtual denial that there is any opposition to the relocation. Obviously, there are few if any in Atlanta who would speak out against this project. The only opponent Fr. Dye admitted to knowing was a "crazy city council member" [Franczyk] who {insert hillbilly accent here} "doesn't want a rebel stealing his church". Perhaps the overwhelming support from the Georgia side of this project has blinded them from the debate which is truly going on up in Buffalo.
There is one last thought that was reiterated over and over during the presentation. It is what left me shaking in my seat, and is the reason I call this a Slippery Slope. The Moved By Grace project is receiving national attention. It is being scrutinized by preservationists and architects and universities across the country and the world. All three speakers mentioned that this is not a done deal, and there are still many hurdles to overcome, the outcome is still far from certain. But it was repeated several times that if it is successful, it will open the doors to more projects like this in the future. If it fails, it will be a lesson for others on how to better approach similar projects in other cities.
Apparently, St. Gerard's will not be the only piece of architecture to be moved, only the first. Keeping St. Gerard's in its home will not win the war to save our architectural heritage, it will only be the first battle.
The Moved By Grace campaign admits that it may take years and perseverance (and a lot more money) to attain their goal. This gives Buffalonians some time to make their feelings known to their city council members, as well as to the Moved By Grace project (though only positive comments seem to appear on their website).
Hackemer laid to rest in Arlington
on August 16th, 2011
Family and friends gather in Arlington, Va., to pay tribute to soldier.
Tokyo II: Hibachi comes to the city at last…
on August 16th, 2011
When I was young, my favorite thing to do for my birthday was to go to a Japanese hibachi grill. I was fascinated by the chefs who would chop food at the speed of light, while tossing eggs in the air before breaking them on knives. The sound of the sizzling grill and the flames... I would go once a year until I finally 'outgrew' the theatrical dinner. It wasn't until last week when I realized that I had not actually outgrown my love of hibachi. A friend called me up and told me that a Japanese restaurant had opened in the former iHop restaurant on Delaware Avenue... and they had hibachi grills. I wasn't quite sure what to say when he told me the news other than, "OK, I guess it sounds interesting."
Upon arrival to Tokyo II, I was actually impressed with what could have been a transitional disaster. After all, how do you transform an iHop successfully? From the outside it didn't look half bad. What really shocked me was the interior. It looked nothing like what I had expected. It was filled with all sorts of nicely lit features, including a waiting room, sushi bar, tatami banquet rooms, hibachi grills, and a bar. While I waited for my guest, I headed to the bar to engage the 'bartendress' whose name was Ryan. After settling down to a sake, Ryan and a manager by the name of 'B' began pouring sake bombs and tequila shots. They were still celebrating the grand opening of the restaurant and were more than happy to spread good cheer.
Once my friend arrived, we headed over one of the hibachi grills and waited for our server to arrive. While we browsed the menu, a bit of my old childhood anticipation crept over me. I found myself looking forward to our chef's arrival... this was going to be fun. When I finally placed my order with the waitress I told her that I wanted hibachi shrimp and salmon with noodles. My friend ordered the hibachi chicken and fried rice. We also ordered a few pieces of sushi for good luck. Before we knew it our chef was upon us, putting on a show just as lively as I remembered from my youth. He made some sort of flaming volcano out of onions, caught something in his hat, chopped the hell out of everything in sight, and engaged us with friendly banter.
I find it funny that I don't really remember anything from the hibachi days of my youth other than the thrill of the spectacle. That's why I was so surprised to find that the food was so delicious. Honestly. I was really happy with the way the shrimp was cooked, and was impressed with the smoky flavor, the freshness of the veggies, and the texture of the noodles. I tried some of the fried rice too - something that I gave up long ago because it never did anything for me. This time I couldn't get enough of it, especially once I had mixed it all together with the remaining sauce that was on my plate. All in all I couldn't have asked for better food or a more enjoyable experience. The only thing I would change would be the music - listening to Bryan Adams' style rock 'n roll for a couple of hours was enough to make me want to stick my ears on the hibachi grill. I was also disappointed to see Chilean sea bass on the menu (
seafood watch).
Tokyo II, like its counterpart on Elmwood, Tokyo Shanghai Bistro (the original Elmwood location has half price sushi on Tuesdays) is locally owned. I was happy to learn that the owners from the Elmwood restaurant had taken over a location of the fallen chain. Tokyo II is a great addition to the city's restaurant choices. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the hibachi experience - and since I had replaced the hibachi with the sushi experience, I was even happier to encounter both food options at the restaurant (along with some Thai). If you have kids, hibachi is a lot of fun and there's a shortlist for them to choose from. Hibachi is also perfect for date night due to the interactive nature of the performance as well as the social seating arrangement.
Instead of looking at hibachi dining as just an event, for the first time I'm looking at it as alternative lunch and dinner choice. Thankfully it's close to home and back on my radar.
Tokyo II
2236 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo NY 14216
716-877-2688
Open 7 days a week - check
website for hours.
Funk legend is still Sly
on August 16th, 2011
Funk legend Sly Stone declares "I'm Back!" with new disc of mostly reimagined classics aided by an impressive lineup of musical guests.
Termini’s plans for two city restaurants move forward with ECIDA abatements
on August 16th, 2011
Developer receives approval for $131,000 in tax breaks for pair of downtown restaurants planned for vacant buildings.
Big-name programs under new leadership
on August 16th, 2011
Clarence, Iroquois, Lackawanna, NT, Canisius and Timon among 10 programs with different coaches as teams take to field for first time in 2011.
Ambrose’s long and winding wait is over
on August 16th, 2011
Australian Marcos Ambrose breaks through for his first Sprint Cup win.
Court papers claim Ceglia faked contract
on August 16th, 2011
Facebook lawyers say they lifted document from his computer.
Good Morning, Buffalo
on August 16th, 2011
A quick look at what's happening in Western New York.
Building an Entrepreneurial Buffalo
on August 16th, 2011
“If you could get the right ten thousand people to move from Silicon Valley to Buffalo, Buffalo would become Silicon Valley.” – Paul Graham in his essay “How To Be Silicon Valley“
In many ways, the notion of “imported innovation” is the core tenet of our local economic development strategy. We strive to identify companies who will move here or we struggle to keep existing companies here, but we do little to help generate innovation and entrepreneurship.
This is odd as Buffalo has a rich history of innovative entrepreneurs who powered the growth of Buffalo and WNY at the turn of the last century. At some point, we seem to have lost our way, we lost our network effect.
The reason Buffalo struggles to innovate is related to the lack of an innovation community, a self-perpetuating problem. We lack a thriving community of innovative and energetic entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks. Sure, there are some, but they are a disconnected group and access to capital to fund their ideas is limited, at best.
There is no center of the city which fosters shared ideas and creative entrepreneurial energy. Sure, we have a couple of areas in the city chasing the Richard Florida model of huddling hipsters and creatives into small alcoves to create an economic impact, but there is no effort to create an Artspace-like environment for business.
In cities where innovation thrives, you’ll find strong academic universities surrounded by an urban area populated by entrepreneurs with access to investors who are willing to fund risky ideas. You need a confluence of wealth and energy to create a network effect.
Chairman Emeritus, IBM Academy of Technology, Irving Wladawsky-Berger had this to say about innovation and network effects:
Throughout history, certain cities and the regions around them have been the major centers of innovation in a variety of different fields as a result of their unique accumulation of talent and wealth. Innovation is very susceptible to network effects – that is, the more talented people you have in close proximity, the more their ideas and their work influence each other and stimulate them to innovate. While talent is necessary to becoming an innovation hub, it is not sufficient. You need wealth, in order to support the talented people and bring their work to market. You also need an open culture that values a diversity of ideas and experiences.
So, we lack a thriving urban area which creates shared energy. We lack access to innovation capital as most of our local wealth is inherited and descended from the casino capitalism tree (those interested in collecting wealth for the sake of collecting it). Our talent base is drained each year as they migrate to greener pastures. Most importantly, we lack people willing to invest in what Keynes called the “real economy”, the economy of production capital, long-term investment and job creation.
So, how do we overcome all of these factors? The answer from the likes of BNE/BNP and most IDA’s is to keep paying a vig to companies like Geico and Yahoo! to set up shop in our fair region and bless us with midlevel jobs. Those jobs are designed to create wealth for plutocrats in other regions of the country. While this strategy has merit as a force multiplier for the local economy, it’s shouldn’t be the primary driver of economic development, it should be a tactic in a wider strategy.
I’d posit that we need to build our own network effect. No longer should we look to the local “business leaders” for handouts and capital. We should rebuild our culture of innovation from the ashes of closed steel mills and shuttered auto factories. Looking to ourselves to fund a new wave of innovation, a rising tide of locals who want to build a better future for themselves and their neighbors. To give this city back the entrepreneurial roar that was heard around the world at the turn of the last century.
So, I’ll leave it to you to tell me what you think. I have a skeleton of an idea that I’ll discuss tomorrow. But first, I’d like to hear what you think. How do we begin to create our own network effect? How do we begin to bring capital to bear for innovative ideas? How do we build a community of ideas?
It’s time we took control of our economic future, help make it happen.
How the Genesee Beer sign was saved… and relit!
on August 16th, 2011
Below is a story from the Post Standard... further shows how awesome NA Breweries is!
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Auburn, NY -- For years, the cost to maintain the giant Genesee Beer sign that looms over downtown Auburn included one case of Genny Cream Ale each month.
Rochester-based
Genesee Brewing Co. regularly sent the beer to Nicholas Speno Jr., owner of the music store on whose roof the sign was placed. That, plus the annual rent of $1,500, meant the sign continued to be a landmark for motorists heading to or through downtown Auburn, as it has for nearly 60 years.
Three years ago, it almost disappeared. The brewery, which has had several ownership changes in recent years, seemed ready to stop paying rent and let the sign come down.
But after a campaign led by Speno, who died last year, and his son, Mike Speno, the sign is not only staying put, it’s undergone a $60,000 restoration, paid for by the brewery.
On Saturday, as part of Auburn’s annual Founders Day celebration, the renovated sign will be lit up for the first time since the mid-1970s. State-of-the-art LED lights have been installed to replace the original neon tubes.
Lighting the sign
Genesee Brewing Co. and distributor B.E. Wright are hosting a “Genesee Lights the Night” celebration starting at 7 p.m. Aug. 13. It’s in Market Street Park in downtown Auburn, and features music and specials on Genesee Beer, Genesee Cream Ale and Genny Light. The sign will be lit at 9 p.m. “It’s such a major part of Auburn, a landmark that everyone knows, it would have been a shame to see it go,” Mike Speno said. “I feel really good this happened, and just wish my father was here to see it.”
The sign, 26 feet high and 48 feet wide, found its place atop the six-story building then called Auburn Music Center at 3 E. Genesee St. in 1952. The store later became Speno Music.
“The brewery came scouting locations for a sign and my grandfather (Nicholas Speno Sr.) agreed to it,” Mike Speno said. “It’s really something out of the golden age of 1950’s advertising.”
The sign was lit up at night until the mid-1970s, when that decade’s “energy crisis” made the cost of powering the neon tubing out of reach. The tubes were removed, and the sign was painted Genesee’s signature red and white.
Even without the lights, the sign was prominent. But Mike Speno said that wasn’t always the case.
Urban renewal — and the building of the Routes 5 and 20 “arterial” though Auburn — knocked down many of the taller buildings in the area in the 1970s. In their absence, Speno said, the Genesee Beer sign really stood out. It’s 85 feet from the ground to the top of the sign. It was good for the Speno family’s business.
“Nobody ever had trouble finding us — we’re right under the Genesee Beer sign,” Speno said. “Any way you turn, from Route 34, North Street, the arterial — look up at the skyline and you see the sign.”
When they thought Genesee might give up on the sign, the Spenos put together packets of information that included old news stories, videotaped testimonials and other evidence that Auburnians felt a keen tie to the sign. They worked on the project with the Auburn Business Improvement District.
Eventually, the message was heard at Genesee headquarters, especially after a company called North American Breweries took control of the Rochester brewery in 2009.
“We were hearing from people asking what we were going to do with the sign, why aren’t we getting it fixed,” said Lisa Texido, brand manager for Genesee beers. “So we said, ‘We have to keep that sign.’ “The support from the Auburn community was phenomenal.”
It coincided with Genesee’s decision to emphasize the newly hip “retro” nature of the Genesee brand — and with the brewery’s mission to highlight’s its historic place in Upstate New York’s beer culture.
“We’re always hearing from people around here who say this is the beer my uncles drank, or this was my father’s favorite beer,” Texido said. “It’s great that this sign is right here in our backyard. It’s our way of saying ‘Genesee is back.’”
The only similar sign sits atop the Genesee brewery itself — though that one reads “Genesee Beer & Ale.” That one has been restored and relit, too. The Auburn sign will be run on a timer that will turn it on at dusk each night and off at dawn. Mike Speno said he’s not much of a beer drinker himself, but his father — like so many other Upstate New Yorkers — loved Genesee Cream Ale.
“It’s really perfect here,” Speno said of the sign. “It’s a blue collar beer and this was always a blue collar town. It belongs here.”
- Don Cazentre, Post Standard, August 13, 2011
2011 Fantasy Football Tips: Bills Impact Players
on August 16th, 2011
Are the Bills going to win the Superbowl? I think not. 
Do we have tons of super dominant players? Nope
Any one really fantastic “best in the league” players? Maybe Brian Moorman, but he won’t help you out in your fantasy league.
So why am I writing an article telling you which Bills players are worth drafting? Because the truth is that your draft is won in the later rounds, not the early rounds. The Bills definitely have players that are worth drafting. Plus, when it comes right down to it, don’t we all love having a “homer” on our team?
… [visit site to read more]
Are the Buffalo Bills tight for a TE?
on August 16th, 2011
The Bills have a 6'7, 267 TE?
Looking through the film of our first preseason game has shown the Gaily does know what the Y TE on the x and o board actually is. This player is someone who is able to actually provide help in pass blocking and on occasion is able to go out and snag a ball or two. As the draft and free agency have been progressed the call for a Zach Miller or Greg Olsen has resounded from even the part time fans. It seems as though the Bills have actually found a guy who might be able to impact the game from a position once thought lost in dusty pages of Chan’s playbook. After the jump may be the Bills first true tight end since the future congressman, Jay Riemersma.
… [visit site to read more]
Bills waive former first-round pick Maybin
on August 16th, 2011
Organization cuts ties with former 11th overall pick, who was drafted for his pass-rushing ability but recorded no sacks in two seasons.
visit site to read more