Well...I have heard stories about people who joined MySpace and then out of no where someone from their childhood of 10-15 years ago e-mails them. I never thought it would heppen to me.

I opened my mail on Myspace and saw two messages from two girls. I read them and they both said that they went to elementary school with me. I mailed them back and turns out that I was best friends with both of them through most if not all of my elementary school days. I was quite impressed and shocked. They were apparently bored and were looking through names of people they went to school with and such and I popped up. I think its so cool!!!

Anyways, one had to mail the other to believe it :) So now I am glad to have met up with old friends and hope to hear from more.

Now for the hotel. We managed to delay any decision on the proposal for a maximum of thirty days. The Common Council is expected to meet on rezoning issues and allow the public to voice support or opposition in a public hearing this Tuesday at 2pm in City Hall 13th floor, Council Chambers. I will be there.

Here is my latest news article on the hotel:

Also, there is LITTLE time left to sign the online petition to stop the hotel here:

If you are against it, please sign it if you have not already. And spread the link :)

Jason

Sources that want to remain anonymous have said that a meeting for all OPPOSED to the Elmwood Village Hotel is to take place TONIGHT at 7:30pm at 55 Penhurst off Forest Ave. just west of Elmwood. Sources say that Joel Golombeck is also going to attend this meeting. Please spread the word

Well I interviewed Eva Hassett, VP of Savarino construction. My latest article is here:

Also, time is running out to sign the Stop the Elmwood Village Hotel development petition:

One thing I like that she said:

We would be happy to do one more big public meeting. We will be talking to Forever Elmwood about that on Monday (February 27, 2006). We would like to see if there is support for the new design and we also want to honor the public's request for another meeting. I am hopeful that meeting can take place the week of March 6th.

Also, time is running out to sign

I am trying to figure out where I can go on a short vacation. No where fancy. Just somewhere where I can relax and enjoy myself for about a week. I was thinking Toronto. It is so easy to get to from Buffalo and is fairly cheap. I am also planning on Florida in March. Any Ideas? I want to spend as little money as possible, but still have a good time :) Let me know.

I am also glad to see that Eva Hassett of Savarino is open and willing to talk to me. I e-mailed her some questions and she replied right away. I called her earlier on tThursday and she was busy. I did not think she was going to get back to me. I am in the process of using her answers in my next article so I cannot post what she answered to my questions just yet.

Also, I am going to have to stop accepting signatures on the Stop the Elmwood Village Hotel petition soon to get it ready to send out or give to the Mayor. So if you or anyone you know is AGAINST the hotel, please have them sign the petition here: if anyone has not yet done so.

Jason

Well it seems the hotel IS going under a complete redesign. My source tells me, who has come through for me on my latest news article, (thank god), however, that the development company will NOT or at the moment is not releasing any major details to the public. At the moment it seems that its a possibility that the meetings on the 28 will still take place, but sources say its not likely. Since Eva Hassett is out of the office for the night and likely the weekend I cannot call her. But she did leave me a message this AM.

I am now concerned that Savarino will keep the NEW design in hiding until the 28. So far no new meeting has been announced and no plans to release the new design to the public have been made. I fear that they will not let the public know whats going on any longer....at least until the meeting...I don't know...I just hope they do not build this thing.
Petition to stop the hotel:

Hotel News article I wrote yesterday:

Ok so I am taking the story and runnng it before the local media get their hands on it. If I knew how to I would even send my article to all the local stations just so that when they do report my "breaking news" they will have to give Wikinews all the credit...well according to copyright laws anyway.

Since the story is too local, I cannot mark it as "breaking" but however it is quite breaking if you live around the area.

Here is my latest work:


BTW...Once again, I wrote published interviewed all the people in here. This is all original reporting. P.S. I am up for accredation for Wikinews. If accredited, I get a Press Pass :)

Here is photo of Rocco's Plan...its a bad photo...but at least its something. My article above has a larger, clearer picture. Just click on the picturre in the article. After looking at this, please reconsider my petition. And if you want Rocco's proposal, please sign the petitionto STOP the Elmwood Village Hotel here:

Well I worked last night. After being up all day, it was not fun. We were dead, and had maybe 12 tables the whole night. So the shift just dragged on and on.

I have seen a lot of stuff working at Pano's. fights with drag queens, fights with 15 peoiple, you know drunk people things. But last night tops them all.

This woman who was totally ripped cam speeding into the parking lot got out of her car and went inside. She then proceeded to tell the host that she wanted to order to-go. After only waiting a minute for her order, she began to say, "where the h*ll is my s**t"? Some cusrtomers ended up noticing something. They were taking pictures of her car. After 2 pictures they went inside. the drunk woman then ran out went into her car and drove off in a big hurry. It reminded me of the feeling like someone just robbed your store. But, not the case. She had apparently went to the Mobil on Elmwood and Forest and drove away, intentionally, with the gas pump still in her tank. But we managed to get the pump from her car before she peeled off. The police have not found her yet.

Crazy huh?

I feel it was like a where's waldo book. Sitting in the front row looking back at what seemed to be 300 people crammed into a room about 50 long maybe. I looked and looked, and after confirmation from Savarino, Hans Mobius was NOT there.

They ran out of chairs, literally, there were none left for anyone to sit on.

I recorded most of the speech by Sam Savarino and Eva Hassett. I got interviews with both :) I also interviewed Frizlen and Rocco Termini.

So,,,Rocco Termini...He proposed a whole new thing. No hotel, but completely redoing the exisiting structures. Much like what they did on Auburn and Elmwood. He had a brilliant picture and I was totally amazed. Shocked. Perhaps the most suprising thing from him when I interviewed him:

I would be willing to take hold of it myself. Or I would be more than happy to partner with Sam, Sam Savarino.

So...if he wants to develop this himself...why not let him. He is sending me a digital image of his design...and its really nice. And I am glad he would want to do it himself.

So wheres Hans? No one knew. I am begining to wonder just how much he really cares about Elmwood, if at all. I mean wouldn't you show up to a meeting of one of the most talked about projects in Buffalo? I would.

But as soon as I get a picture from Rocco I will post it his way with an image of the hotel...then you can judge...Personally, I go for Rocco.

Jason

I respect everyone opinion on the hotel. I just do not see any good side to this, or another side. Petition to stop Hotel Link:

I want to invite everyone to attend tonights meeting at:
Burchfield-Penney Art Gallery, Buffalo State College, Rockwell Hall, 3rd floor.

The preview begins at 5pm and the meeting starts at 5:30pm. This is an informational meeting where, from what Forever Elmwood told me, you can voice concerns too.

Jaso

Some are saying i have a "agenda". Not true. Our community and neighborhood is at risk. The way we built Elmwood is going to be taken away. We value the "small town feel Elmwood has. Why is it that we need to tear down VIABLE businesses and HOMES that people live in. Does anyone realize that these peole will be forced to pay around 1000 dollars to move? Does anyone know how much money and effort was put into theses businesses?

The ONLY reason any of these buildings look like they do is becasue they have been intentionally neglected for 20 years. Hans Mobius has made little or no attempt to fix anything in any of those buildings. They would not look the way they do if HE let them get that way. Thoses businesses and residents put their own money into them to get them to look at least halfway decent.

Hans Mobius intentionally neglected these places so he can maake a few million like he will. He does not care about the city or the community or about the peole that live there and work there.

So...there are 4 MAJOR hotels in downtown Buffalo...are they ever filled to the max? I called the Adam's Mark, who were not even open. Called 3 times and all 3 the phone rang 20 times or more with no answer. The hyatt said that usually they never have more than 60% filled at any night. So is this hotel going to work?

Also realize that a hotel is not going to bring people to buffalo. Do you think someone in California is going to say "Hey, theres that hotel in Buffalo, lets go there." Hmmm....Something tells me no.

I am being one sided a little. But the truth is, there are plenty of other places, close to the same spot, the hotel can go...see my previous blog. Why not kiddy corner from the same spot....emty space...nothing there. I am sure the hospital could use the money, if they own the land.

We do not need to tear down anything to build anything...look at the Hampton Inn on Delaware. They used an entire abandoned MORE falling apart warehouse and turned it into that fabulous hotel. These houses and busineses are not falling apart that bad.

We need to really look at this and say, Is this the best thing for Buffalo? Will this benefit the neighborhood and community not only soon but in the long run? Most importantly will YOU benefit from this? Just think about it.

Jason