Apartments, hotel rooms next on Statler agenda

 

Property Manager Joe Konze, stands in the newly renovated Terrace Room in the Statler Buffalo.  Also renovated were the main lobby and Golden Ballroom were recently renovated.  The major event that led to the renovations was a call from the mayor’s office, in 2022, stating that the mayor wanted to host the State of the City address.  The rooms were painted and plastered giving an updated look but keeping the nostalgic feel that the Statler Buffalo is known for. The next phase, which will begin next year, is to update and renovate the hotel rooms and apartments.  Historic hotel room floors will be on

Golden Ballroom

levels nine, 10 and 11.  Residential units will be on levels three through eight and levels 12 through 18.  The reasoning for this is that the goal was to put the hotel rooms in an area with beautiful views.  The goal for the Statler Buffalo is to have a cohesive ecosystem in which hotel guests and residents can come and go without bothering the other. “We are going to put the hotel in first and then we will do residential above and below,” Konze said. “We are going to have different banks of elevators, meaning the hotel guests will have their elevators and residential will have their elevators.  Residents will not have access to the hotel floors and hotel guests will not have access to the

Terrace Room

residential floors.” Konze is excited for the future of the Statler Buffalo.  “The idea is that while we are doing the renovations to the hotel, we are still able to provide Buffalo with nostalgia, a nostalgic building that people maybe had their proms and weddings at or where they attended a wedding here.  That is what we wanted to do, is get people in the door to host these special days.” 

                   By Jim Tammaro

Community asked to help keep stray cat population down

Veterinarian Timm Otterson at the Summer Street Cat Clinic, 25 Summer St., has worked with the stray cat population for over 20 years. Whether the cat is an indoor cat or outdoor cat, Otterson says the best practice to help keep the stray cat and feral cat population at lower numbers is to spay and neuter all cats. Community members are encouraged to work with local vet offices and rescue groups to take stray cats they are feeding or partially taking care of in for health checkups and treatments of common illnesses carried in stray cat colonies. The community can also take cats to free rabies clinics hosted each month by the Niagara Frontier Veterinary Society and the Erie County Health Department. By Rylee Shott

Flip It saves the planet, one piece of clothing at a time

 Maria Chayban and Jennifer Holmes, owners of Flip It Reverse It, 515 Elmwood Ave., let environmental awareness guide them in their business of giving longevity to the clothing by reselling and refurbishing vintage and modern unique pieces.  The owners have passion for preventing carbon and chemical pollution by preventing clothing from going to landfills. “Saving the planet. Yes. If we can get people to continue to shop secondhand because there is enough to go around, and you don’t even need to make another piece of clothing,” Holmes says.  Chayban says they are always considerate of the prices and even make special deals for most of their clothing. “We always have a $5 rack available for anyone,” Chayban said. According to First Research, the used merchandise industry in the US includes about 20 stores with a combined revenue of $15 billion. By Emmanuel Rogers

Provisions 139 announces special hours for Dec. 28

Mary Schaefer, director of operations at West Side Community Services, is stocking shelves at Provisions 139, the organization's food pantry at 44 Breckenridge St. The pantry serves residents living in these zip codes 14201, 14209, 14213, and 14222 and is open on Wednesdays from 12-3 p.m. and Thursdays from 5-7 p.m. It will be closed on Christmas and New Years Day. Instead, it will be open on Saturday, Dec. 28 at noon for special giveaways that include prepacked bags of food and other items. Provisions has been serving the West Side since 2021. Schaefer said Provisions does accept donations and relies on FeedMore WNY and a five-year contract with the New York State Department of Agriculture where it receives over $100,000 a year to spend on food grown, raised, and produced in New York State. If you are looking to donate, the pantry can use non-food items like toiletries or cleaning supplies, or food not covered by the grant like sugar, flour, and coffee. By Alex Miley

 

Apartments coming to Richardson complex

Apartments to add to historic Richardson campus

By Rylee Shott

                  The historic Richardson Hotel is looking to start its next renovation project, apartments.

                  After the current renovation on the porte-cochere in the front of the building is finished in the summer of 2025, Douglas Development plans to work on putting apartments into the six adjacent buildings on the property.

                  Currently the property is being surveyed to start the process of the apartment renovations.

“Over the next few years, the idea is to create a community inside a community. How cool would it be for people to live at a historic property? So, what we would like to do is develop apartments and livable spaces,” Joe Konze, property and operations manager with Douglas Development, said.

                  The Richardson Hotel has gone through several changes over the years from its beginning as an asylum in the 19^th century, to near abandonment, to Hotel Henry, to The Richardson Hotel and now adding apartments to the mix.

                  Mark Saglian whose great aunt was a patient in the

Mark Saglian with a family memento

asylum supports the changes. He is a volunteer with the Richardson Center Corp. who has done tours of the campus for seven years

“I am positive about it in the sense it gives us an opportunity to preserve this historically significant space so that it doesn’t disappear, so that it doesn’t face the wrecking ball,” Saglian said.

Over the years the community has had mixed views on the building that holds The Richardson Hotel, but the community has started to see the building in a positive light Saglian said.

Saglian sees the life coming back into the building benefits the spiritual life and history of the building.

 “For life to come back into those buildings, children’s voices, music, light, art, if you’re a lingering spirit that has to be positive, it has to be hopeful, and it has to be healing. So, for me the development its beautiful and it’s a positive thing,” Saglian said.

                  Since the reopening of The Richardson Hotel, Visit Buffalo Niagara has seen an increase of tourism on the West Side.

“Because of the nature of the property, the historic significance of it, the preservation of it, it has gotten a lot of great press. That has helped tell the story of the neighborhood as well,” Patrick Kaler, president and CEO of Visit Buffalo Niagara, said.

Douglas Development’s goal is to put the word out about the city of Buffalo and the growing community on the West Side.

“For those who are local and want to stay the weekend or those who are staying from out of town really get a feel for what Buffalo is about,” Konze said. “I feel like some people don’t really understand Buffalo and I think where The Richardson Hotel sits in the Elmwood Village with the Elmwood Village really showcasing what Buffalo is about.”

Youth need to know about dollars and sense

 

 

President of SC Parker LLC Jeffrey E. Hahn has concerns on the basic fundamentals of financial literacy not being taught frequently to kids and teenagers from elementary to high schools. Hahn’s professional background consists of working with clients to teach them how to build their knowledge of investments, stocks, and wealth planning. Hahn says the basics of financial literacy such as buying, selling, and investing in your assets are important to learn at the earliest age possible. Assistant Principal of Lafayette High School Walter Diaz says that there has been a set of four classes since 2023 that all focus on the basics of financial literacy. These classes are taught to 12th-grade students and consist of subjects such as credit card usage and adjusting to the new age of investing including cryptocurrency. By Emmanuel L. Rogers Jr.

Colleges set policies for student protests

By Antonio Calderon

            During a time in which college students are becoming more comfortable with speaking out on social injustices and other issues within the community, many colleges have the choice of whether or not they want to respect their ways of thinking and actions to bring upon change.

            Colleges in Buffalo have dealt with their own instances of dealing with protests held by their students and now have similar policies and opinions on how to deal with it all.

Buffalo State Plaza where protests are permitted

            Earlier this year in May, students at Buffalo State University held a peaceful pro-Palestine walkout. Students were able to safely display their beliefs, but it was now clear that more protests would now be taking place for months and years to come.

            Bonita R. Durand, the Interim President of Buffalo State is in favor of students having a space to protest but just wants to make sure that it is done properly and follows the schools Campus policy.

            “Our goal is to conduct any demonstrations in a safe, respectful, and helpful manner. We don’t want our students to feel scared to express their emotions,” said Durand said.   

            Buffalo State is not the only school committed to the rights of students. Canisius University is also big on protecting and giving proper freedom to those that attend. Dating all the way back to 2018, a released statement from Canisius stated that it would be joining other colleges and universities from across the nation in supporting students who would exercise their freedom. These values held true then and they still hold true now.

            Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Lawrence T. Potter Jr. said he supports students making their voices heard about issues they deeply care for.

            “Much like with other colleges, we also have our own policies that students do have to follow in relation to their protests but as long as they communicate with faculty ahead of time, it makes the process of giving them that space to express themselves much easier,” Potter said.   

            Jasean Michie, a member of the Canisius Students for Life organization says that Canisius has provided him and the organization a lot of help and resources to help push their beliefs out to the rest of the campus community and others living in the area as well.

            “With our organization being based around a topic that is controversial and can be tricky to speak on, it is nice to know that Canisius still provides us with the resources to share our message when in many other situations I could imagine an organization like ours being shut down to avoid controversy,” Michie said.