One thing I find interesting is how Elmwood Changes. Some businesses close and some open. Buildings come down and new ones go up. Lately it seems that more have been closing then opening but maybe that is just me. The below article is verry good about how Elmwood is changing. I got it from the Buffalo News on line today.









Three-story building to house upscale apartments, retail space

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$1.2 million project set for Elmwood Ave.

By SHARON LINSTEDT
News Business Reporter
1/31/2006



Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News
Workers put in the foundation Monday for a commercial/residential building at 504 Elmwood Ave.




This artist's rendering of the 500-block of Elmwood Avenue shows how the three-story residential/commercial building will fit among the adjacent structures on the block.

Work has begun on a new $1.2 million commercial/residential project in the 500-block of Buffalo's Elmwood Avenue.
Crews are digging the foundations for a new three-story building at 504 Elmwood Ave., near the intersection of Elmwood and Utica avenues.

When complete this summer, the structure will feature 2,300 square feet of retail space, plus a handicap-accessible studio apartment on the ground floor. The upper floors will house eight, upscale apartments.

The project is the brainchild of three long-time Elmwood Avenue advocates, attorney Michael Ferdman, architect Karl Frizlen, and contractor Paul Johnson, working together at FJF LLC.

Ferdman, who served many years as president of Forever Elmwood, said the idea came out of conversations between he and Frizlen about targeting a derelict building on Elmwood Avenue for transformation.

"The idea was that instead of urging someone else to upgrade their building, we'd take it on ourselves," Ferdman said.

The two then brought Johnson, who has done several Elmwood Strip projects, onto the team. After weighing a few options, they decided on 504 Elmwood Ave., formerly the long-time home of Avenue Pizza, and most recently the short-lived Bidwell Elmwood, an eBay-linked auction business.

"Our original plan was to renovate, but we came to the conclusion that no matter how much money we put into the existing building, we couldn't guarantee it would be a structure with integrity," Ferdman said.

The trio received approvals from planning, preservation and neighborhood agencies to raze the existing building - a wood frame residence with a small brick addition in the front - and start from scratch.

"If you have to tear something down, it's critical to replace it with something much better. In this case the street is getting what we think is a very attractive building that will provide significantly more tenant density that what was there," Ferdman said.

Forever Elmwood Executive Director Justin Azzerella supports that goal.

"A great mixed use project is exactly what we are encouraging on Elmwood Avenue and we think this one will be phenomenal," Azzerella said.

Even as bulldozers were excavating the site, the development team started to get inquiries from prospective retail and residential tenants.

"Our goal for the first floor is to bring in a tenant that would add something new to the community. We would prefer to have something other than a restaurant, hair salon or gift shop," Ferdman said.

The 400 to 500 blocks of Elmwood Avenue are currently experiencing a turnover in retail tenants, including the upcoming closure of Pier One Imports, at 495 Elmwood Ave., which has been one of the street's anchors for two decades.

Artcrafters Gallery, at 472 Elmwood Ave., another veteran retailer, is preparing to close its doors and is having a going-out-of-business sale. And a Subway Sandwich shop sits idle a few doors away.

The block has also welcomed BeYouTiful, a new women's apparel shop at 513 Elmwood Ave. which debuted in last December. The store, owned by Jetaun Jones, offers "contemporary chic" clothing.

The new building features two upper floors of balconied residential units. The second floor will have four one-bedroom, and two two-bedroom apartments, ranging in size from 600 to 850 square feet of space.

The third floor will have four loft-style units with as many as three bedrooms, ranging in size from 800 to 1,100 square feet. All of the dwellings will be accessed from a central stair tower at the rear of the building.

The Community Preservation Corp., a nonprofit, private mortgage firm, is providing some $900,000 in construction and long-term financing.


e-mail: slinstedt@buffnews.com

Well last night and this moring I watched the X games that I taped last night, the mens part one of the finals in snowboard super pipe where great. Then there where the finals in Moto X best trick that was awesome. Tonight it is wrestling and X games and Taping 24. I look forward to watching 24 on tape on tuesday that should be great. Really looking forward to finals of SB Super Pipe tonight and finding out what happenend at the rumble.

I bearly have any food in the house, enough to live. But I don't really want to go shopping and when I set off the alarm be accused of stealing It may be a big hassle.

On another note (e:Jessika) looks so much differant then in her user pic. I could have been standing right next to her and never known it was her(I say do the movie if you feal comfortable, I wish someone would approch me about doing one, don't know as I really would be it would but it would be a great compliement).

I am glad to be finaly over and done with the religion debate; I hope.

Looking forward to the Superbowl. Go Steelers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes the pregame stuff is as good as the game. Hope there are some great commericals.

Maybe some day I will be one of the cool kids. Doubt it I'm always kinda the outsider a little.

Saw a preview for a movie that looks like it might be verry Funny callde "Date Movie". On the add it even says writen by 2 of the 6 writers from scary movie so the ad makes fun of itself.

I had some other stuff but I forgot it and this post is getting kinda boaring now.

Well Yesterday I watched sports on TV. I watched the winter X-games and got to see two four peats in snow board slopstyle mens and womens. Then I went to this Benefit for the famil of Linda Markle it was very nice and I saw a few people I knew. When I came home I watched the X Games that I taped. Moto X got delayed untill today so it will be on from 2-6 pm. So both Finals will be on today. But last nights Womens super pipe was a lot of fun to watch. Not sure what sports are on today other then more snow mobile racing what ever it is called just went blank.

Well below are a few pics from around Buffalo







one thing I didn't know is that all of the pictures didn't show up not sure why. But On an iteresting note. Yesterday I walked into tops and set of the buzzer thing by the door and did it again as I left. Then I was going to go to Target to buy some stuff walked in beeped so instead of being bothered after I buy stuff for setting it off I walked right out the out door and set it of again, verry stange maybe I have a demon following me or something else weird is going on who knows.

[inlink]metalpeter,527[/inlink] Saturday is the start of Winter Xgames it should be fun. Another sports weekend for more info check out www.expn.com . I am also going to a benifit for the wife of someone I used to work with. It really isn't a bennifit anymore since she died. Not sure what you would call it now maybe it is still a benifit but not sure. There will be a bunch of people I know but a lot more that I don't. I will take pictures and have a good time, that dosn't sound right, sord of but, i think you all know what I mean.

The link is for a website that I have seen before but don't know how often it is updated, it is about Disney Being Evil. I also belive the Keebler evels are evil also. I don't belive that any art is truely evil. I know there is a lot of art that is very controversal and starts protests. But that dosn't make it evil. Maybe if the art is in the form of a Movie and words that actully say something then you might be able to. This assumes that the process of making the art isn't evil like killing someone and then making a picture in their blood. I remember there used to be a picture on the side of an eastside building that showed whites and blacks hanging togather and it had a message that said something like: If we all don't stick togather then we all hang togather. I thought that was a great message of unity but I guess it pissed off a lot of people.

My newest topic is maybe art and not tv, but I think art is goodenough. I found an interesting article about Al Sharpton attacking a cartoon on comedy central, called Boondocks.{it is in qute marks if anyone feals like reading it} I myself have never seen it. I am a big fan of animation. Granted there all many kinds from the basic look of South Park to some truely amazing looking Animee that almost looks real to really good computer done stuff like final fantasy, the movie. But the thing with annimation is it is often assumed that it is for kids. Often that is very wrong. For example Haintai (basicly it is porn drawn animee style). Some movies and TV shows are aimed at kids but also have humor in them that only adults will get. Some cartoons like bugsy bunny are so violant. Looking back I wonder what where my parents thinking letting me watch that as a kid. Yes there are a lot of cartoons that are made for kids and only for kids. But Movies like Shrek have a lot of adult humor (from what I remember) in them. I think this is true of a lot of cartoons. I can remember when I was a kid a saw some animated movie where everyone was blue and all the ladies where topless, if it where not animated it would have been an X-rated movie just from all the nudity. I wish I could think of another good example of an animated Movie or show that at first looks like it is for kids but isn't. I am not blaming the animaters or the writers of the show but more the parents and maybe the advertisers if they make it look like it is for kids. I know Cartoon network used to show old Bugs Bunny (and other cartoons) that by todays standards are raciset or offensive real late at night but I think they stoped doing that.

below that is an ad for a sabres game that sounds interesting. Anyone who likes local music might want to check it out, I'm thinking about it, but who knows. I know i'm not the only dagger fan on this site.

Sharpton criticizes 'Boondocks' for showing King saying the n-word
NEW YORK (AP) - The Rev. Al Sharpton has asked for an apology from Cartoon Network for an episode of edgy animated series The Boondocks that shows the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. saying the n-word.

Huey is a character from The Boondocks Cartoon Network show and comic strip.
Cartoon Network

"Cartoon Network must apologize and also commit to pulling episodes that desecrate black historic figures," Sharpton, a civil-rights activist and former Democratic presidential candidate, said in a statement Tuesday.

"We are totally offended by the continuous use of the n-word in (cartoonist Aaron) McGruder's show."


AP
Sharpton

The episode, The Return of the King, aired Jan. 15, the day before the national holiday honoring the slain civil-rights leader. It shows King emerging from a coma and using the n-word in an angry speech venting his frustration toward sexually explicit hip-hop videos, among other things.

In the episode, King is branded a traitor and terrorist sympathizer for his "turn-the-other cheek" philosophy of non-violence in response to post-Sept. 11 retaliation. Exhausted, he moves to Canada, but his speech provokes a second civil-rights revolution.

Cartoon Network released a statement Tuesday saying the episode is a tribute to King and "in no way was meant to offend or 'desecrate'" his name.

"We think Aaron McGruder came up with a thought-provoking way of not only showing Dr. King's bravery but also of reminding us of what he stood and fought for, and why even today, it is important for all of us to remember that and to continue to take action," the statement said.

McGruder, who has been called a "genius" and "the angriest black man in America" as he skewered everything from the Bush White House to Black Entertainment Television, began writing The Boondocks comic strip, on which the TV series is based, in 1997.

The strip, known for its risky political and social satire, follows the adventures of two black children living in a white, middle-class suburb.

Sharpton said he could appreciate McGruder and his achievements, but added: "This particular episode is over the line."

The Boondocks airs Sundays at 11 p.m. ET on Cartoon Network. It is the centerpiece of the Adult Swim late-night block of programming.

I'm listening to the sabres game and it is currently tied. I was going to post about kink but I couldn't find a good defination. It was listed as not being vanilla but what is vanilla. To me Misonary is boaring and awakward. But hanging upside down from my balls is to kinky for me. It is amazing all the differant ways people have sex and all the Strange (differant to each person) things people do. But what about people who swing, and ingage in S&M and bondage (for example) as a life style. Would misonary be kinky for them since it is so far away from there norm? To me what is kinky is differant for each person. My defination is that kink has to be a sex act that you usaly don't do, or is outside of your usal sex acts. I also belive that A lot of people have kinky fantasys and things that they enjoy in porn but that they don't do in there sex life. They may find those acts kinky in life but not in porn. I wish I could come up with a good example. I guess a good example might be people who on line look at autofellatio pics, girls who may not be legal age, shitplay, and golden showers. But in there own life don't have the desire to do or try those things. I think what got these thoughts going was to shows I saw one of wich was The Seceret life of women: Women in porn. It was interesting and then I saw a piece on 20/20 about this lady who lived as a man and wrote a book about it, and how men where differant then women and vice versa. She visted a strip club and saw it differantly then she thought she would. Plus there are all those Sex advice shows and The L Word. One thing that also started this was the mention in someones post of Donkey Punch. I think that is insane to do. But for those who enjoy it as long as the other person is down with it who cares. But how do you bring that up in conversation? If it is someone you love how do you say "hey when you are doing me from behind will you punch me in the head". It has to be tough to admit to things you think your partner will think is strange, what if they say that is sick and end the relationship. So it seems that somehow my post has come down to saying that great communacation is important so partners can discuss this kind of stuff.

I was plainning on writing a journal about kink but I'm not in the mood. I went up to sweet tooth and just pizza and ate cuzz I was locked out. Then I was amble to get my back up keys. Time to go watch the rest of wife swap, wrestling and tape 24. On another odd note I forgot to mention I set off security devices at walgreens excerd and riteaid on the way in. I think it is because there is a lot of dust where I work and then I build up static. It could also be beacues maybe the RFID tags we use give off a singnle and maybe from the dust they build up, or who knows maybe I have a hight metal count in my blood, starnge in any event.

Below are some pictures from the Badits game last night. I did get a pic of the entrance but it didn't come out that good. The bagpipper from Jackdaw (I belive there website is brokencans.com) plays as "Chutes and Ladders" By korn plays. Then the bandits came down through the crowd and onto the field and then got introduced. Bandits started out kinda slow but in the end wound up winning the game. The candian fans are something else. They are hard to describe. After the game I did get a couple pictures of a great limo. Maybe I will post it later.

Warm Ups #32 used to play for the Bandits years ago.




















I thought I should have pictes of Taveres and Steinhous and the cheerleaders it gives a sampling. The pictures arn't perfect but it was interesting shoting to the left gave reflection and to the right not verry much. Up close you can see how messed up the glass really is.

I also wanted to mention thanks walt for the info on the quote. Hopefully I will have a reason to use it before I forget. Also Paul I hope you have a great Birthday, not sure what day it is. I hope the Steelers can win today. It will be a very tough game in Denver. For some reason I feal like saying Ladycroft, Carey and Alex (havn't met yet but I'm sure I will some day), oh and beast to all rock. For those of you who are anti casino or even for those for it; theres an interesting long article about it in artvoice. I admit some of it I disagree with but that is part of what makes it good.

As part of my day of going to see the Bandits Tonight Hope they win. I went to go see Underworld:evolution (however you spell it). I thought it was very good. Plus Kate Beckinsale is amazing the things I would let her do to me :-) . I thought it was a very good movie. Yes it is a Vampire/Warewolf kind of movie, so if that is your thing you will most likely like. I thought that is had enough violance but wasn't to gorry plus it had a good stroy line. With out giving anything away I like that in the beging the sumed up the story from the last movie. I havn't seen the first one in some time and it was good for a refresher. It is also good for people who didn't see the first one. Before the movie I saw a great ad for the Olympics where everywhere they went was in a Chevy it was funny and showed a few of our Team USA atheletes. I also saw a couple really good previews and thought of a couple (e:peeps) when I saw them. The first one I have been waiting to see was for X3 i think they are calling it, it is the 3rd X-men movie and really looks good. The other one was for a movie called Stay Alive, it looks like The ring meets Jumanji, it is an underground Video game and what you do in the game then comes to life so if you die in the game you die the same way you did in the game. I did a bad job explaining it but it looks really cool.