Buffalo Youth Media Institute event

SPECIAL AFTERNOON SCREENING FOR THE
BUFFALO YOUTH MEDIA INSTITUTE

Sunday, November 15, 3pm
Market Arcade Film & Arts Center, 639 Main Street

$10 Admission
$25 Supporter (will get a free t-shirt or dvd)
$50 Patron (will get free t-shirt and dvd)

Reception and gift raffle will follow the screening.

Please join us to help make this year's BYMI a reality!

We will screen an hour long program of some of the highlights from the past 4 years of the Buffalo Youth Media Institute. Expect a wonderful kaleidoscope of what Buffalo has to offer as seen through the eyes of Buffalo’s next generation of film makers: a magical portrait of Forest Lawn cemetery, a poem about graffiti, an insightful interview with recently deceased community activist Rosa Gibson, an ode to the beauty of grain elevators, a close look at the local food movement, a loving portrayal of St. Luke’s on the East Side, a passionate appeal on behalf of bees, and a thoughtful essay about the proposed downtown casino. Please help us so we can continue to offer this truly unique program to Buffalo’s youths!

The Buffalo Youth Media Institute is a collaboration with Preservation Buffalo Niagara and Squeaky Wheel and has been supported in part by the NEA, the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, the Baird Foundation, the Laura Jane Musser Fund, and individual contributions.

Please RSVP at 884-7172 if you wish to attend. As an example, here is another short film created by a BYMI student:

The Infected District

Buffalo Youth Media Institute | MySpace Video

New Book About Parkside

After nearly two years of work, Steve Cichon is now taking pre-orders for The Complete History of Parkside, a 172-page book, filled with 135 historic photos.

You can read about the Frederick Law Olmsted designed neighborhood, from its place in the history of the Seneca Nation, to its role in the War of 1812, to Olmsted's design and the turn of the century building out of the area, and the neighborhood's 20th century evolutions. Included are discussions of the area's earliest colorful settlers, Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House, Delaware Park, The Buffalo Zoo, and the stories and anecdotes of many more struggles, individuals, and institutions that have made Parkside one of Buffalo's premier historic neighborhoods today. More on the book and what's inside can be found at http://www.staffannouncer.com/parksidebook.htm

Sales of the book will benefit several non-profit groups and churches in the Parkside area. Steve Cichon is one of several Parkside Community Association members who give our monthly Parkside Neighborhood tours in the summer.

Looking Forward: The National Preservation Conference Comes to Buffalo

Edward Healy, Vice President of Marketing for the Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau, explains why Buffalo is the perfect choice for the 2011 National Preservation Conference. Visitors to this year's annual conference in Nashville were already buzzing about Buffalo.

Source: the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Seeds of the New Commons

Seeds of the New Commons: Building the Future in the Present
Chris Carlsson in conversation with Justin Booth and Kirk Laubenstein
November, 6th 7:00 pm
Sugar City (19 Wadsworth - near Elmwwod and Allen)

Join Chris Carlsson (San Francisco-based activist, author and historian), Justin Booth (Green Options Buffalo, Buffalo Blue Bicycle) and Kirk Laubenstein(Grassroots Gardens) for a discussion on how the future is being built today, in Buffalo and beyond.

Chris Carlsson is a writer, publisher, editor, and community organizer. He is the executive director of the multimedia history project Shaping San Francisco,
and has edited four collections of political and historical essays. He helped launch the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass, and was the longtime editor of Processed World magazine.

In his current book Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant-Lot Gardeners are Inventing the Future Today, San Francisco-based activist and historian Chris Carlsson profiles practices that embody a deep challenge to the basic underpinnings of modern life, as a new ecologically driven politics emerges from below, reshaping our assumptions about science, technology, and human potential.

Justin Booth is the director and founder of Green Options Buffalo which has launched programs including Recycle-A-Bicycle, Blue Bicycle and the Commercial District Bicycle Parking Program. His focus has been on developing interventions focused upon enhancing quality of life through healthier built and natural environments.

Kirk Laubenstein is president of Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo, a community gardening program working with public and private sectors to revitalize neighborhoods and build quality of life through the reuse and beautification of vacant land.

This event is free and open to all ages

http://www.nowtopians.com
http://www.greenoptionsbuffalo.org
http://www.grassrootsgardens.org

Carlsson interviewed on KEXP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_pfDjnbWuQ

[Thanks to Kirk Laubenstein and Cynthia Van Ness for the information]

Photos from our Annual Meeting

Preservation Buffalo Niagara celebrated its 1st anniversary with a meeting at the historic Delaware Avenue Baptist Church. Built from 1894-5, the interior has remained virtually unchanged throughout its history. After brief speeches about the year's successes and challenges, membership was invited to enjoy some birthday cake and cider. More pictures will be posted later. If you are interested in becoming a member, which includes discounts and coupons for many Buffalo Tours events, please call us at (716) 852-3300.

Richardson Olmsted Complex Declared 2009 Landslide Site

From the Richardson Center Corporation:

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) announced the 2009 Landslide theme – Shaping the American Landscape – and the sixteen 2009 Landslide sites, including the Richardson Olmsted Complex.

Landslide, established in 2002, examines threatened landscapes (listed thematically, e.g., working landscapes, designed landscapes), and is designed to educate the public about and rally support for these sites.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), established in 1998, is the only not-for-profit foundation in America dedicated to increasing the public’s awareness of the important legacy of cultural landscapes and the need to help save them for future generations.

Previous Landslides have been accompanied by traveling exhibitions organized in cooperation with and curated by George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, which commissioned original photography of the endangered places.

The sixteen 2009 Landslide sites, culled from nearly 100 nominations, feature the work of master landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted, Beatrix Farrand, George Kessler and Hideo Sasaki, along with architects I.M. Pei and H.H. Richardson.

Erie Canal Harbor Model Photos

Several hundred citizens attended a public comment session about the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Study (DGEIS) for the Erie Canal Harbor. More details about the meeting can be found on Buffalo Rising. Models were also on display, of which some photos can be seen below.


Pedestrian ramp and recreation area outside Bass Pro.


Looking south down Main Street


Looking east from the Cobblestone District


Looking north from the water. In front, a proposed boutique hotel.


Construction of a parking ramp near the Marine Drive Apartments generated the most controversy.