Traffic helps 500 block of Main St. pop to life

By Julia Waterman 
and Corrinne Wheatley
Bengal News West Reporters

             It may not look like much now but come this summer, the 500 block of Main Street is expected to see a lot more activity.

Manager Tiffany Gagliardo expects more traffic this summer 

A quick view of the 600 block shows more cars and people than it would have seen in past decades. This is the hope for the 500 block as the street is now shared on both blocks by cars and the metro rail.

The use of cars being able to drive through has brought much traffic into shops occupying Main Street. Buffalo Adore, and Scentcerely Yours!, two locally owned boutiques, have benefitted with the opening up of vehicular traffic.

Buffalo Adore is a shop that caters to handmade gifts from local artists. There are two Buffalo Adore shops in Buffalo, one in South Buffalo and the downtown location. The downtown location focuses more on everything to do with Buffalo specifically to cater to tourists.  Owner of Buffalo Adore, Andrea Dacey, has said the traffic that this change has brought to her shop has helped her become successful.

“This couldn’t have even been considered a storefront, but now because of all the traffic I can finally consider it one and it would have been a lot more difficult to survive if Main Street never opened up to cars,” Dacey said.

This change has opened up downtown for people outside the city and it is more convenient now with the parking spaces making all the.

“I see more people using the train, especially people who aren’t used to coming downtown. It’s more crowded now and I think it makes people more comfortable to come down here,” Dacey said.

            Another store that has benefited from the opening up to vehicular traffic is Scentcerely Yours!, which is a small boutique that sells handmade soy candles. The story carried 42 scents, including themed candles, some that go along with the shows that come Shea’s Performing Art Center.

“We are a small, local store and it’s nice seeing all the business we are getting and Main Street opening up to traffic plays a big roll, along with having Shea’s and the restaurant across the street,” said owner Ron Snell.

Another place benefiting from the traffic on Main Street is Expo Market. Expo Market opened in February 2016. It is an upscale food hall offering many different food selections including gourmet sandwiches, a juice and smoothie bar, healthy fast food selection, Italian, and Asian dishes.

Manager Ashley Druar believes the market wouldn’t be as successful if it wasn’t for Main Street opening up to vehicular traffic.

            “There have been a handful of other restaurants that have been at this location, and I think were going to be a great success, and some of that I believe is because we came here as Main Street opened up to cars, people on foot, and the train,” Druar said.

D’Avolio, which opened in August, is among the newest shops on the 500 block. It offers lunch, as well as the sale of olive oils, vinegars, and more.  

“We got lucky opening up just months before the street opened, so we haven’t seen much of an impact on traffic coming in and out. We’re always extremely busy because we are one of the only lunch spots, and everyone down here can easily walk to us. This location makes us and our customers really happy,” Tiffany Gagliardo, store manager of D’Avolio, said.

Joe Incao, Owner of Furnishings, says, “I want this to become a place where people get to walk down from their apartments and be able to come shop.  Down town is on the verge of becoming great again, and if I waited a year, I wouldn’t be able to get this spot, or even maybe afford it.”

            As of right now, a French restaurant, a bar, and a 50’s style ice cream parlor are set to open here within the next few months along with others in the process of this new development of the Main Street strip.

West Side colleges wait for plagiarism loophole to close

By Annaliza Guard and Madison Marquardt

Bengal News West Reporters

            The Internet provides limitless resources to college students across the planet.  Within recent years the World Wide Web has opened an underground black market of students buying and selling term papers, theses and dissertations.

            In a survey conducted by Rutgers University, out of 63,700 undergraduate college students, 7 percent self report to turning in work “done by another.”

            The sale of term papers is not a new phenomenon.  In the 1960s, commercial services began selling term papers to students, sometimes under names like “academic research services.”  In 1981, New York State passed laws to make these sales illegal.

            Until recently the anti-plagiarism laws in New York State contained a loophole that left materials purchased unlawfully over the Internet outside of the current penalties.  Senate bill S2810 seeks to change that.

            The bill extends the current prohibition against the sale of dissertations and term papers to those provided through electronic media such as the Internet.

            Vice President of Student Affairs for Canisius College, Terri Mangione, says that plagiarism is a serious issue.

            “People choosing to make money off of time management issues of students is a problem,” Mangione said.  “If they were to enforce something like this it would be interesting.  If we are mandated to report acts of plagiarism [to state authorities], we will report them.”

            The new bill would remove the ambiguity attached to the current legislation, and assure that students—as well as others who provide unlawful assistance—would be eligible for prosecution.  Violators could be fined up to $1,000.

            Simply adding the phrase “either written or provided through electronic media,” to Section 213b of the Education Law, would remove the loophole that currently prevents state authorities from prosecuting students who illegally obtain materials over the Internet.

            The bill passed unanimously in the senate on Jan. 29.  Sponsors of the bill includes local Sen. Timothy Kennedy, D-Buffalo and Assemblyman Robin Schimminger, D-Kenmore. Last March the bill failed to make it past the assembly..

            Locally, four schools carry policies that reprimand students accused of plagiarism.  Canisius, D’Youville and Medaille colleges and SUNY Buffalo State each have their own definitions as to what constitutes plagiarism. Penalties range from warnings to expulsion.  All four schools also have committees that review cases of students who are accused and the evidence against them. 

            “Our policies for everything are separate and distinct from anything law enforcement would impose,” Mangione said. “If a student is found to be responsible for our policy we will impose our own sanctions. If a student is found responsible for anything outside of Canisius, in terms of law enforcement, then they would move through that process on their own.”

            Mangione also stated that the school has not yet been informed as to how administrators should report violators to authorities or what the new process will entail.

Cultural diversity showing up in West Side restaurants

By Jae Tomlinson and Jamal Richards 
Bengal News West Reporters

            A really hungry person could voyage 6,303 miles across the Pacific Ocean to Japan and enjoy Funazushi for lunch or go 8,299 miles in the other direction to Burma and enjoy Lahpet for dinner.          

There is no longer an ocean that separates people from experiencing the cuisine of other countries. Now people can step through a doorway to one of the many restaurants that fill the West Side with diversity

Diners enjoy Asian cuisine at the West Side Bazaar

As Buffalo continues to grow in immigrant populations one of the most apparent changes to come out of this growth is the diversity and cultural experimentation that has taken over the West Side. The different groups of people moving into the West Side brought with them a taste of their native countries.

            SATO, a Japanese restaurant at 739 Elmwood Ave., is one example of how new cultures have affected the residents of the West Side and their taste in food. SATO specializes in both modern and traditional Japanese cuisine. 

            Satomi and Joshua Smith opened the restaurant in 2014, bringing together her native Japanese culture and their shared world travels and experience in restaurant ownership.

 “We figured that we could bring something authentic to the west side and Buffalo in general,” Joshua Smith said.

A few blocks away at 25 Grant St., another cultural hub of food is packed into a building with enough different kinds of food to take people on an extensive journey.

 “It’s like traveling,” West Side Bazaar Manager Michelle Holler said.

International palates are catered to at the West Side Bazaar

Representing  Ethiopian, Loatian, Thai, Jamaican and Halal cuisines, the West Side Bazaar caters to the traditional taste of the many immigrant and refugee groups on the West Side while encouraging others to join in the adventure. A lot of traditional handmade merchandise is made and put on display. Clothing, wooden sculptures and jewelry grab the eyes of customers as they sift though all the unique clothes and decorations from other countries.

The food is only the result of a much larger trend that begins with the people. The rise in population from immigrants originating from other regions of the world has created a demand for foods from those countries,  according to Cindi Thomason, senior  advisor at the Small Business Development Center at SUNY Buffalo State.

“The West Side restaurants have a client base, they have built a demand for the comfort foods that people like,” she said. “Based on what I see in my office, there is a demand for food products of other countries and they wish to share it with their countrymen and others.”

            She also noted that the development of this built-in market has greatly contributed to the revitalization and growth of small businesses on the West Side. The development of international restaurants on the West Side shows no signs of slowing down and for all who live there, the experience of another country’s culture is right around the corner.

Immigrant family waits 6 years for W.S. home

Volunteer Marsha Brown

By L'Oreal Adams

Bengal News Reporter

After a six-year wait, an Ethiopian refugee family finally moved into their dream home on the West Side.

With the help of volunteers, Habitat for Humanity has completed 277 homes within the city, the most recent at 457 Busti Ave.  This is the first house that Habitat completed this year and will be the first home that the refugee family has owned.

The new homeowners Kemal Asabel, Meaza Tedela, and their three kids ages 6-12, rented a house in North Buffalo. They prefer the diversity and the tight-knit community that the West Side has to offer.

“We were on the waiting list six years because each time they give me East Side. We patiently waited for the West Side,” Tedela said.

Earlier in March, they became West Side winners.

“I only have my one sister here and my family but my friends from the West Side are like my family too. We do everything here and our home is much nicer,” Tedela said. 

The mission of this non-profit organization is to provide simple, decent and affordable housing to families in need. With the help of donors, local businesses, corporations and Habitat for Humanity affiliates, three families who’ve earned themselves a home will now be neighbors.

Planning begins long before the plot breaks ground. Armitage Architecture  on Delaware Avenue is one of the firms that works closely with Habitat to design a home. On Busti Avenue, the space needed a specific fit in order for the city to approve the construction.

“We were looking for a design that would fit within a standard city lot because there are a lot of individual lots throughout the city. So we needed a plan that would fit within the urban infield design,” said Penny Armitage, who is the architect who planned the layout for two out of the three new homes on Busti Avenue. 

The two new builds are still blooming. The plots are filled with dirt where two new homes will be built in honor of Pope Francis. The funding for the two Pope Francis builds came from an anonymous donor who gave $60,000. It’s unclear exactly why but that’s what Habitat for Humanities does to people, “it brings out the best in them without needing public recognition,” Barry Weiss construction manager, said. 

The space for the third house is still empty but not for long. Habitat’s goal is to complete 15 more houses by the end of this year.

The house is given to a deserving, qualifying family in exchange for 500 sweat equity hours.

“It’s a hand in and not a hand out,” Weiss said.

In order to be put on the housing list, the family must complete an application and attach it with a recent credit report. Then they have to submit copies of two recent pay stubs, W-2s and their most recent federal tax returns.

The Habitat homes offer a 0 percent  interest mortgage rate.

“They have to be making little enough that they wouldn’t be able to afford homeownership through the traditional lending means,” said Weiss. 
Families also have to show that they are invested in the partnership with the organization by completing 150 volunteer hours on any new build or rehabilitated house before they get on the list. It’s considered as a form of a down payment.

 “Providing an opportunity to our families that they wouldn’t have through other avenues is what I love the most about Habitat,” Weiss said. Maris Lambie contributed to this report.

BNW Social media director profile

Name: Asiria Cornielle

Where are you from? Queens

What are your interest/hobbies? Softball, poetry, creating flyers 

What interest you about the West Side? The culture is what interest me the most. So many different backgrounds brought together just makes me want to learn more about the local business and what they have to offer.

What are some of your previous work experiences in the communications field? Public relations chair for SUNY Buffalo State United Students Government, social media chair for NYPIRG

Student drivers offer alternative rides

Student driver Darryl Roberts behind the wheel

By Kadija Bah and Deshawn Bolden
Bengal News West Reporters
  

Video games, drinks, food, and good company are what every college student looks forward to after a long week of classes, however, giving up these nights to make a little extra cash has become the routine for some student drivers.

College students on the West Side have created what is known as the underground cab service. Using their own cars, these drivers provide fellow students with a more affordable means of transportation to get pretty much anywhere they need to go.

Since 2014, this underground cab service has become a lucrative business that benefits both the students and the drivers. In turn however, it is a disadvantage to already established taxi companies in the Buffalo area. 

Graduate student Darryl Roberts, 23, participates as one of the student drivers knowing he can triple the amount of money he would make by working at a retail store. Making extra cash on the side by driving others became the new thing.

Roberts has made roughly $3,000 since he started sixth months ago. He mentioned that he has made up to as much as $150 in a single day.  

“I didn’t have any money,” Roberts said. “I like to look out for my people, that’s another reason why I started it.”

Students have the opportunity to get to their destination with the convenience of having a possible classmate be their driver.

Facebook groups serve as the primary channel to get a ride somewhere. It is as simple as posting in the group and waiting for a timely response from one or even multiple people offering their services. However, word of mouth is just as effective. People exchange numbers and before he knew it, Roberts started receiving calls from other campuses such as D’Youville College, Canisus College and University at Buffalo.

“It’s convenient, comfortable and very affordable for students,” said Gordon Carr, a student at the University at Buffalo. “Ten dollars to the bus station and $20 to the airport, you can’t beat it.”

While student drivers have become more popular to college students, it has begun to take a toll on established taxi services throughout Buffalo.

“Yeah they take away some customers but we do what we do,” said Nicole Price of Buffalo Transportation, Inc., one of Buffalo’s many 24/7-taxi companies. “At the end of the day we’re a business, we’re going to get ours.”

Not only do taxi drivers around the city have to worry about student drivers, they also are concerned about companies such as Uber and Lyft coming and taking fares too.

Lyft and Uber are not currently operating in Buffalo, there’s no doubt that a desire is brewing to make it available throughout the city. While Lyft was in Buffalo for a short period of time, service was suspended in August 2014 in compliance with NYS insurance laws. New York City is the only place where Uber is allowed throughout the state while legislature battles to pass a bill that will alter state insurance laws and allow these companies to operate statewide.

While Mayor Byron Brown continues his support of bringing Uber to WNY, Buffalo remains the largest city in the country without the popular taxi app.       Although they may get around state legislature by staying underground, Roberts mentioned a possible organization making it possible for all student drivers to work together.

Advocates of these alternative cab services say it’s convenient and affordable. That’s why this underground service excels throughout colleges in Buffalo.

“We’re definitely taking away from their business. But, I think we should be very unapologetic about that,” Roberts said. “They have no reservations about overcharging us so I think we should take every last penny we can.”

Year-old Inn Buffalo part of city’s rebirth

By Julia Waterman and Corrinne Wheatley

Bengal News West Reporters

Walking up the stone steps and through the thick wooden door of the Victorian Hewitt mansion, guests are welcomed in this grand entrance by innkeepers.

Joseph Littieri owns Inn Buffalo with his wife, Ellen

On the left is a meeting room with silk damask wall coverings and on the right is the library with 22-karat leafing with hand-painted artwork covering the walls and ceiling. The music room down the hall is dressed with jacquard tapestries.

Elsewhere, oriental rugs cover the floors in almost every room in the house. Light shines through the many stained glass windows decorating the mansion and original onyx stonework borders each of the 11 fireplaces in the house.

              Inn Buffalo, 619 Lafayette Ave.,  is celebrating its one-year anniversary, and the owners, Joseph Lettieri and his wife Ellen, couldn’t be more proud of their success so far. Although this is preservation in progress and they still have more work to do before the finished product, the feedback and support they’ve received over the past year has been more than they had ever hoped for.      

            “This first year has exceeded our expectations, we were very excited. We knew we had a special property,” said Lettieri.

They won the Small Business Administration award of 2016 and the Small Business Development Entrepreneur award from SUNY Buffalo State, which is also funded by Small Business Administration.

Inn Buffalo has been rated number one out of 22 hotels in Buffalo on the travel website TripAdvisor. There have been a few celebrities who have stayed there as well, including John Rzeznik, lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls, who mentioned the inn during an interview on WKSE Kiss 98.5.

 “I was just back in Buffalo and I was staying at a place called Inn Buffalo on Lafayette, I can not believe how our home town is just becoming this insanely amazing destination,” Rzeznik said.

The architecture and the craftsmanship of this house may be what draws you into Inn Buffalo, but it’s the hospitality, and warmth the Lettieris bring to your experience that is going to make you want to come back.

“I want our guests to get a real authentic experience, we want nothing more than to make our guests feel welcome, and taken care of,” said Lettieri, “whether that means you want to see a lot of me, or as little of me as possible. Whatever you need, we will make sure you get it.”

The hotel is filled with culture and history, which is one of the main attractions and uniqueness that you will appreciate during your stay.

“Inn Buffalo is a great historic mansion, it speaks for itself in terms of beauty,” said Brad Homer, of Visit Buffalo Niagara. “In the grand scheme of Buffalo, there are many bed and breakfasts but this is one of the best.”

Some might say that Buffalo is becoming an up and coming city, and the Lettieris want to be a part of that.

“In the future we want to continue to help Buffalo,” Lettieri said. “Be a part of its rebirth, a part of showing and telling people our story while showing off and talking about what made Buffalo great back in the turn of the century.”