What happens to these houses of infamy after crime scene is cleaned up, cameras leave and headlines give way to other stories?

Superintendent spent more than 130 days out of town over one year, often when school board was making key decisions.

The shots that rang out one year ago this morning outside City Grill sent the community, especially on Buffalo's East Side, into collective mourning as it searched in vain for answers.

Connect political dots surrounding Kensington Heights debacle and they point to another black eye for Byron Brown.

State worker suspended without pay; city still investigating its employee.

The Buffalo Bills first preseason game is in the books. I must say, I was extremely impressed with the Bills Defense. It might be safe to say that “Lights Out” Shawne Merriman is back. Merriman’s back-to-back sacks were awesome, plus the play … [visit site to read more]

Last Sunday, Buffalo News Political Columnist Bob McCarthy got on his high horse and wrote this:

A local blogger named Chris Smith has been downright giddy in recent days criticizing The Buffalo News for reporting that SEIU Local 1199 is paying employee Jennifer Hibit to manage Poloncarz’s campaign for county executive. Around here, something unusual and of interest to voters makes a good story.

But not over at WNY Media Network, where Smith toils. More important to the network, apparently, is the $3,750 Poloncarz paid to WNY Media Network for website design and video editing, according to state campaign finance records. In fact, the same records show WNY Media Network has handled Poloncarz’s video campaign for years.

Some local bloggers receive money from politicians. The Politics Column does not — and that says it all.

I then responded later that day with the following:

I didn’t receive any money from Mark Poloncarz nor any other politician and I never have. Not for work performed on a campaign, not for services provided to a campaign, not for content on this website, not for anything. Not once. Not a thin red cent. Neither has Alan Bedenko, Brian Castner, Chris Charvella, Tom Dolina, Gabe Armstrong, or any of our other writers. We’re simply a group of citizen journalists who add context and analysis to the evolving story of Western New York. Nothing more, nothing less.

Several other articles were written here and a bit of a firestorm developed on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. McCarthy’s column was lazy and the audience took the newspaper to task for publishing an unqualified personal attack.

On Friday, The Buffalo News published a clarification to McCarthy’s bullshit article about my being a “pay for praise” journalist.

An item in Sunday’s Politics Column may have mistakenly given the impression that blogger Chris Smith was paid by the county executive campaign of Democrat Mark Poloncarz. The article pointed out that the firm running the website to which Smith contributes blogs, WNY Media Network, was paid $3,750 by the Poloncarz campaign for website design and video editing, according to state campaign finance records.

While it’s well and good that The Buffalo News published a “clarification” on their never-read “Corrections” page, this is a half-assed clarification to an accusation, but not an apology for the insult.

As Alan pointed out in his column, The Buffalo News has received well in excess of $250,000 from political campaigns since 2000. There is no difference between their print outlet taking money from candidates and our company being paid for professional services. Especially when neither I nor Bob McCarthy are directly paid with the proceeds. I qualify that statement with “directly” because Bob is actually paid by his outlet for his writing services while I am not compensated in any way.

It’s not “may have been mistaken”, it’s “was mistaken” or “deliberately/willfully mistaken”.

Making an accusation that I am on the take is a direct assault on my integrity and credibility in the community and can and might be subject to legal proceedings. I did not and still do not take this allegation lightly.

The Buffalo News, at a minimum, should publish a full retraction in the same space as the accusation was published, in Bob McCarthy’s Sunday politics column. Earlier today, I sent an email requesting exactly that.

RE: Correction WNYMedia/Poloncarz
Chris Smith Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 10:05 AM
To: msullivan@buffnews.com, rmccarthy@buffnews.com
Cc: Alan Bedenko

Ms. Sullivan,

I’d like to thank you for the clarification/correction to Bob McCarthy’s inaccurate statement regarding my alleged employment with the campaign of County Executive Candidate Mark Poloncarz which was published on 8/6/2011.

However, it has come to my attention that the correction has not been noted in the webpage of the actual column.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial-page/columns/bob-mccarthy/article514711.ece

In the age of new media, it is important to publish your clarification/correction on the offending webpage as well as in print or on the corrections page.

Mr. McCarthy’s article is still searchable on the internet in its uncorrected format and serves to misinform readers as to my role at WNYMedia and my involvement with the Mark Poloncarz campaign.

I would appreciate the clarification being published in the Internet version of the column as soon as possible. Your organization often makes changes to an online story as it develops, I do not see why it cannot also be done for acknowledged corrections.

I thank you in advance for your expected attention to this matter.

Regards,
Chris Smith

–

Christopher M. Smith
327 Niagara Street
Buffalo, NY 14201
Email: chris@wnymedia.net

If action is not taken within 72 hours, I will be moving on to other tactics in order to have my name cleared. It is unacceptable that the sole political writer at The Buffalo News be allowed to prosecute a personal agenda against another local journalist with impunity.

Church-goers gathered with members of the victims' families inside True Bethel Baptist Church with an unexpected guest -- shooting victim DeMario Vass.

Back in June WCP reported that an upgrade was underway at this apartment building on Elmwood Avenue. While owner Barons of Buffalo, LLC has been busy on Elmwood, another apartment complex in the company's portfolio is getting similar treatment on Main Street.

Built as The Wayne apartments in 1914, the interior units eventually became downtrodden, and that was their condition when they were purchased by new owners. I spoke to General Manager Marilyn Rodgers who told me that work is underway to bring dignity back to the apartments through a systematic restoration of each unit. "We're leasing the apartments out to UB students, theater people and others who have heard about the work that we're doing," Marilyn told me. "We've just leased 20 units. So far we have people moving in who have relocated from Brockport, Toronto, Syracuse, Dallas and Amherst (due to the close proximity of the medical campus)... and five European students are hoping to move in once more units are completed. As of now, 17 apartments have been fully renovated. Common areas have been cleaned and will soon be repainted. There's a brand new laundry room on the way, we're resurfacing the driveway (there is off-street parking)... we're even encouraging the tenants to start a tenant association. There's a community in there now. We're not just managing the properties, we're redeveloping the properties. There are eight vacancies at the moment, but those units are being worked on and should be rented soon."

I spoke to a couple of new tenants who happened to be moving into the building when I arrived to take photos. They told me that they had been living in the Elmwood district, but that they found the Main Street building charming, spacious and affordable. They liked the proximity to Allentown and the Metro Rail and were encouraged by a variety of other nearby restoration projects underway. The Wayne Apartments are bookended by University Pediatric Dentistry to the south (with brand new signage) and World Auto Paint and Collision to the north (specializing in classic and European cars). Across the street is the former Our Lady of Lourdes church - a structure with awesome potential.

It might behoove The City to remove the large dead tree out front - I called 311 regarding removing a dead tree at 888 Main Street in March and still nothing. Main Street desperately needs new trees to go hand in hand with the private investment that is taking place. 

To see a detailed description of the units, policies, etc. click here.

The Wayne Apartments
1106 - 1110 Main Street (near Summer)

An expanding hotel market has led to a need for a good dining experience.

A display downtown might be worth a look if you love old baseball memorabilia.

Today's NASCAR Sprint Cup race offers many fascinating storylines.

Merriman impressive in limited work as Buffalo falls to Chicago, 10-3, in preseason opener.

A car careened off the edge of the Scajaquada Expressway, plummeting 35 to 40 feet to Niagara Street.

For those of you who may be interested, here is the court order and maps (including a separate, detailed map of Buffalo), relating to U.S. District Court Judge Skretny’s decision on Erie County Legislature redistricting:

Skretny Order: Erie County Legislature

Buffalo Legislative Map