Recently I have seen two good Documentaries that I taped. One of them is really a TV series and the other not sure if it would be considered a documentary by film makers but I really enjoyed both of them.

The first one was called "Sucide Girls the first Tour". That was interesting there were some really hot ladies in that. There was one quick shot of Niagara Falls in it. There was some good perfomances and great nudity. But there was also footage of the girls on tour. It was about the girls who toured and it did get into the site a little bit but it is tough to cover the site when there are so many ladies on that site.
[inlink]emily,66[/inlink] (past post on it). Not that there are any sites that I currently pay for other then webshots if I was going to join an adult site that is the one I would join . I don't go there verry often at all because there are so many girls it is overwhelming. In any event I know there have been a few posts about them I wanted to talk more about the show about the tour. They came to ICON last summer I think I don't know why I didn't go I really should have.

The Second one was part of MTV News Documentary series called True Life. This one Followed 3 Competative eaters. I found it interesting how some of them trained . Some with weights some with eating things to stretch there somach. One of the guys was the Japanase guy who holds the record for eating the most hotdogs.

Today I had to work. I didn't want to be there is a lot of work. On wendsday I may get to meet Dave Mira. If it works out that would be awesome. He is supposed to be at the company I work at. He does Adds for Oxy not sure if they are one of his sponers but I do know they Had some adds at the X games. Today on break I was Reading the Paper and found this article in the business section about Cliff Claven aka John Ratzenberger. Hopefully it will increase sales and profits and how much work we have. Hopefully I will have some issues or more interesting things to post about. Maybe I will have a crazzy dream or something.



In the first ad, John Ratzenberger offers advice on Mentholatum's WellPatch to a "canoe guy' with sore muscles.


John Ratzenberger used a WellPatch on his leg after mountain bike riding.

Mentholatum hires 'Cliff Claven'

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'Cheers' actor will wear firm's WellPatch in TV commercials

By MICHELLE KEARNS
News Business Reporter
2/25/2006



A national ad that begins airing on TV stations today features the actor who played postman Cliff Claven in the 1980s sitcom Cheers, a canoeist with a sore arm, medicine made by the local Mentholatum Co. and the creative work of a small Orchard Park firm.
"They let me make up my own lines and they let me have fun, so it was a pleasant experience," said actor John Ratzenberger, whose latest work includes voices for Pixar animated movies and hosting the Travel Channel's "Made in America" show.

In the new commercial, developed by Campbell Associates, Ratzenberger appears driving an RV as he does in the Made in America shows, which are about U.S. made products - including Westfield's Welch's grape juice and Olean's Cutco knives.

In the first ad to debut for Mentholatum's WellPatch - medicine patches that work like nicotine patches - Ratzenberger pulls up to a lake somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. He sees a canoeist rubbing his shoulder and calls out to the "canoe guy," a reference Ratzenberger ad-libbed into the script. "Hey canoe guy, try a little WellPatch relief on those sore muscles," the actor says in the spot.

The script for the ad was written by Bob Campbell, president of Campbell Associates, a four-member ad firm that counts Mentholatum as its chief client. Another Orchard Park firm, Media Pros, arranged for scheduling the commercials.

"They are the largest national ad spenders in Western New York," said Ken Dobmeier, president of Media Pros.

WellPatches come in formulations for muscle aches, arthritis, migraine headaches and coughs and colds. They first came out four years ago. Ratzenberger said he had friends and family try them before he agreed to be spokesman. "They all reported back that this stuff actually works and so I said, "Yes,' " recalled Ratzenberger, who tried one on his leg after a strain from mountain bike riding.

Campbell said the actor was a creative pleasure to work with, improving the commercials with his suggestions. "Every time he added something, he added something that was a keeper," Campbell said.


e-mail: mkearns@buffnews.com

First of all thanks to everyone who responded to my previous post. I will come clean about the two dreams. One of them had Ladycroft in it. I admit I have no idea why I can't remember it had something to do with my apartment but other then that I have no clue. The second Dream Had IMK2 in it she woke me up with a kiss. That dream was really strange since I don't think I have ever met her. The dream is a little fuzzy but from what I remember it was intense. It wasn't sexual it was like Ok who is the hot chick, why is she here, how did she get in, and what is going on? It wasn't sexual at all from what I remember.

(e:Paul) sent me this link. Part of one of my journals is qouted. It is an article from the Buffalo News about the sex laws of Canada. The website is interesting.

I read a bunch of journals today since I feel behind and there where a couple interesting ones. I like that the elmwood hotel is being mentioned.

Reading IMK2 journal the other day got me thinking. I remember I knew this girl and guy who where dating really seriously. There was some problem sexualy not sure what it was. But she would tell her girlfriends about it, that he couldn't lay her right or something. But is soundend like she didn't tell him that other wise the problem would have been corrected. I wonder why didn't she just tell him that it could have fixed a lot of problems. But what makes thing more interesting is that some of us guys know that women talk dirty to there friends about there boyfriends or boytoys. We know that there are things that they wouldn't tell us. So that can make us self consicus and wonder what if I'm doing something she dosn't like or that is no good and she just isn't telling me. That is one reason I think the truth is verry important. That way everyone can be happy.

I am thinking about starting a service for angery ladies and ladies only of (e:strip). It would be completely free of charge and would benifit both you ladies and me. I would let you ladies take you anger out on me. The theroputic release of anger is good for you. The key is to let the anger out slowly and let it build. You can provide the belt or I could. The key with any physical activity is to start out slowly and build if you over do it before you warm up you can pull a muscle and we don't want that to happen. Sord of joking but it is an interesting idea. With my luck someone would slip and buckle will crack my head open.

I watched some of the Mens Freestyle Skiing last night and this morning when I woke up and it was truely amazing. I may get off this computer some time today and get to watch some olympics and maybe Mill Maher tonight that is a great show. I don't agree with every thing he says but still a good show.

I get to work on sat. Not looking forward to it but the OT will really make the check nice.

Hopefully one of these days I will get my own computer so I can chat, read and post here as I watch TV that would be cool. Sure I forgot something. Oh yeah Mardi Gras is going on in New Orleans and Buffalos Annual Celerbration is Tuesday I belive. Lacrosses All Star Game is in Toronto on Saturday not sure if it is on tv or radio. Ok I think that is everything.

I remember hearing that there is this part of your brain that makes it so you can't act out your dreams it is like an inhibator. Not really sure if that is true or not but it is interesting. I admit I don't usauly remember my dreams. But the ones that can be strange or verry intense are the ones you have after you wake up. I don't mean day dreams. You wake up and go back to bed and close your eyes but your mind keeps going and it as if you are in the dreams but you are wide awake you then move or react to something and your eyes open and you see your souroundings and they don't match the dream so they close again. This can happen many times. But sometimes I wonder what would happen if You where just to move since you are aware and your eyes don't open or you don't blink. What would happen. Granted if any thing caused them to open you would be fine. But When you are awake eyes closed but you are in that middle ground where your brain is going as if you are awake but you really arn't it can be intense. I did have a couple dreams like that, whare I can still remember parts of them but i can't repeat them here. I have never had a sports dream that I can remember. I wonder if I was sking and did a back flip with two rotations and crashed in the snow if I would wake up in pain. Right now I'm listing to Triple Crown by Jackdaw it is a burn with some hidden tracks or maybe it is just one it is a good CD. I had some other question about dreams. I can't imagine what it is like to be blind but I wonder how the blind dream. If they never had any vision does the brain make up images. If they had seen before do they dream both ways. I think someday I should do some dream reserch that would be something I might be able to reserch and enjoy.

[inlink]metalpeter,569[/inlink] contiuned from my previous post



Watching The Olympics is great. Some sports like figure skating I can't watch. But I saw some aeirals ladies qualifing it was amazing. Well except this one girl looked like she really messed up her knee. I had some other sports I wanted to mention but forgot what the were.

I didn't get to see the USA womens Hocky game that they won to win the bronze Medal. But I did get to see the medal Ceramony that was cool. I did watch the end of The Canada game they beat sweeden and got the gold and sweeden the silver. Below i included some pics that I downloaded. I forgot to mention the other day that the Bandits beat the Swarm and Johny Tavares tied the all time points record. I'm been trying to watch as much hockey as I can but it often is on when I'm at work. Hopefully I can watch some of the medal rounds for the men. Tonight is going to be tough with wrestling, House and the olympics on as I tape 24. I love watching aierals the tricks they do are amazing Bobsliegh is awesome to.

I read some interesting news about Google on USA Todays website. For those that are interested the complete article is below. Basicly my understanding is that The US government or at least that evil fucking trying to take all of our rights away in the name of freedom asshole Tottolotarian little Hitler wana be George Bush want Google to hand over peoples private information. Basicly they are fishing for information. It is one thing if you know a certain person has commited a crime and you where trying to get information about what they looked up online. With a court order then that might be ok. But we arn't talking about that. We are talking about George W. Shitting on the Consitiution and violating our rights. I'm glad Google is fighting this. They shouldn't have to give any of there information over. The second that they start to do that then people will stop using there service and what the government is trying to do may wind up crushing Google then they will have to move on to some other serch engine maybe Yahoo. The one thing that bothers me a little bit is the way the article is written it makes it sound like Google is doing this for Business Reasons and not morale reasons. I hope I am miss reading this. On this issue I have to say I hope Google kicks there fucking ass. My philoshpy is that If we have to give up freedoms to be free then we arn't really free, so the minute you start to surrender those freedoms then freedom means nothing and is just a term. What I don't get is why Google is going along with china. Here in the US they are fighting for freedom but in China they are going to help a repressive government help repress the people. I'm hoping the Google will wise up and not give China everything it needs to Filter everything and that will let some subversive information into chinas web space. I think the article is worth a read, I found it interesting.

Posted 2/17/2006 9:06 PM Updated 2/17/2006 9:14 PM


Google rips Justice Department in court papers
By Michael Liedtke, The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Google criticized the Bush administration's demand to examine millions of its users' Internet search requests as a misguided fishing expedition that threatens to ruin the company's credibility and reveal its closely guarded secrets.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company delivered its indignant critique Friday in a 25-page brief that marked its initial legal response to the U.S. Justice Department's attempt to force the online search engine leader to comply with a 6-month-old subpoena.

The Justice Department has until Feb. 24 to respond to the papers that Google filed Friday. A hearing for oral arguments is scheduled March 13 before U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose, Calif.

The case has attracted widespread attention because the Justice Department's demand to peek under the hood of the Internet's most popular search engine has underscored the potential for online databases becoming tools for government surveillance.

Hoping to revive an online child protection law that has been blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justice Department wants a random list of the search requests made by the millions of people who visit Google during any week.

The government believes the search requests will help prove that Internet filters aren't strong enough to prevent children from accessing online pornography and other potentially offensive websites.

Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and Time Warner's America Online already have provided some of the search engine information sought by the Justice Department. All three companies say they complied without relinquishing their users' private information.

But Google has steadfastly refused to hand over the requested information, a defiant stance that the company reaffirmed in a brief that depicts the Bush administration as heavy-handed snoops and technological rubes.

In one particularly scathing section, Google's lawyers ridiculed the government's belief that a list of search requests would help it understand the behavior of Web surfers.

"This statement is so uninformed as to be nonsensical," the lawyers wrote.

Although the Justice Department says it doesn't want any of the personal information, Google contends its cooperation would set off privacy alarms and scare away some of the traffic that has driven its success.

"If users believe that the text of their search queries into Google's search engine may become public knowledge, it only logically follows that they will be less likely to use the service," Google's lawyers wrote.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is opposing the Bush administration's effort to revive the online child protection law, also filed a brief Friday in support of Google.

"This subpoena is the latest example of government overreaching, in which the government apparently believes it can demand that private entities turn over all sorts of information about their customers just because the government asserts that it needs the information," the ACLU's lawyers wrote.

Google also said it doubts the government would be available to shield the requested information from public scrutiny. The company maintains the data sought by the government could provide its rivals and website operators with valuable insights about how its search engine works.

As it battles the Justice Department, Google is cooperating with China's Communist government by censoring some of the search results that the company produces in a country that restricts free speech.

That odd juxtaposition has caused civil rights activists to applaud Google for defying the U.S. government while the champions of human rights and free speech jeer the company for bending to China's will.

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I don't know if I agree with putting Cars and the Metro rail on the same street in downtown Buffalo. I think it is a great idea. I know they do it in Toronto but we arn't toronto. I don't know if the streets are wide eoungh to do that and have parking I think they may be out of there minds. I think it would be awesome if they could pull it off and make downtown amazing. But I think the Idea is Silly Delaware and Elmwood both go downtown. So I'm a kinda mixed on the idea. One issue that I havn't read about in the below article is Sprawl. As much as I do like to go to the mall the mall and all those shopping plazas is what keeps people out of DT Buffalo. Why shop Downtown if everything you need is at the Galleria Mall or a plaza that is ten minutes away. I don't think the Train Killed DT at all I think it was stores moivng out to malls. I used to always ride the train downtown all the time. It is great for after sabres and Bandits games (going tonight). This project will take a lot of time and a lot of money and I'm not sure if it is worth it. I think doing this is premature what happens if they take the skyway down. Granted it is a big if but that would effect traffic so much. I guess I have to admit that Often Buffalo fucks things up and does things wrong and if they don't do this right people will get killed by trains and cars and there will be a huge mess. In any event for those that take the time to read the article I would like to hear your views on this mater.

FOCUS: DOWNTOWN
Main Street makeover would go back in time, see return of cars

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Plan to revive downtown would have automobiles share road with trains. This could happen as early as 2007.

By JOHN F. BONFATTI
News Staff Reporter
2/18/2006



Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
As early as next year, cars will again resume their place in the Main Street traffic flow, alongside Metro Rail trains. Proponents say their return will restore vitality to the downtown area, while opponents believe the cost is too steep.

Automobiles were banned from nearly all of Main Street downtown when Metro Rail was built in the 1980s, although cars had shared the street with trolleys for many years before those were removed in 1950.
Cars and trains will share the road again, according to the city's plan for a Main Street makeover that, while not extreme, will reverse a decision that some say accelerated the downturn of downtown.

"As far as I'm concerned, they destroyed the whole heart of the city," said Buffalo resident Charles Griffasi, who has lobbied to return cars to Main Street almost since they were banned two decades ago.

Griffasi might finally get his way as early as next year, at least for the first segment of the plan in the Theater District. The city has $6 million of the $12 million it needs, and city officials say they are confident they can obtain the rest.

It's estimated that about $40 million more will be needed to complete the job for the entire length of Main Street.

Construction would occur in four stages, with no stage taking more than one construction season to finish.

A final design plan is expected by fall, but one thing has been decided: cars will travel on the same track bed that carries the transit cars. And because of that, the train's existing stations will be changed. A few might even be eliminated.

"The stations take up quite a bit of space now," said John M. DiDonato of DiDonato Associates, the Main Street firm in charge of the redesign. The new stations won't "dominate the streetscape like they do now."

The plan now is to tear down the existing Metro stations and replace them with smaller ones, likely made with glass and stainless steel, DiDonato said.

Engineers are figuring out what to do with the poles that supply power to the rail system. Currently, they are between the two sets of tracks.

Some poles will be moved "no matter what, because of turn lanes and that type of thing," DiDonato said, but designers are considering moving all the poles to the side of the tracks. Curbs will be cut at points to allow for parking - the current plan is 150 spaces. Surveys indicated parking was a priority for merchants, restaurant owners and residents. Crosswalks will get special paving, and sidewalks will be redone.

"We'll be doing the sidewalk areas in different types of concrete, like stamped and exposed aggregate," DiDonato said.

The overall look will be designed to make the area more welcoming, he said.

"Right now, you have a lot of uninviting, hard to maintain and worn out areas, everything from the track bed, which is cracked, to the sidewalks, which are heaved," DiDonato said.

Proponents say bringing cars onto Main Street will help restore vitality to an area that "most nights, you could shoot a cannon down," said Michael T. Schmand, executive director of the downtown development agency Buffalo Place. "We want to change that."

Schmand pointed to surveys showing that, since 1987, Main Street property values and retail space declined nearly 50 percent while vacancies increased by nearly 25 percent.

Buffalo's pedestrian mall is "probably too long," according to Dave Feehan, president of the International Downtown Association, who said the city was "probably better off" restoring cars to Main Street.

"You probably have four or five years before you get a critical mass of residents downtown," he said. "During that time, it's going to help things rather than hurt things."

There are those who don't think returning cars to Main Street is a good idea, including developer Paul Ciminelli, a member of the Buffalo Place board.

"I don't know if it's the highest and best use of $40 million," he said, adding that he feels the money would be better spent encouraging the fledgling residential community.





Opinions vary

But two downtown residents said they welcomed the move.

William Smith manages the Ansonia and Sidway buildings and said most of the residents "are all for it."

Ansonia Center resident Jim Burke, who has lived downtown for 18 years, said the Main Street traffic will "bring people downtown, and the more people downtown, the better."

Downtown merchants expressed a variety of opinions, with some saying the plan may be too late for them.

"I think they've taken too long to do it, and they've already killed business on Main Street," said Judy Fuentes, owner of Grever's Flower Shop at 537 Main St. Sam Gullo of Crinzi and Gullo Jewelers, which has been in Ellicott Square since 1957, believes it will take more than cars on Main Street to fill those vacant storefronts.

"I think what will attract people and cars is business," he said. "Part of the plan should be recruiting small businesses, not large ones, that people can pull up and run into, like you would on Grant Street or Elmwood Avenue."

Eric Smith, general manger for Ultimate Restaurants, which includes the City Grill at 268 Main St., looks forward to the traffic.

"It would be extremely beneficial not only to the businesses on Main Street but to downtown as a whole," he said.

But he remains skeptical. "I don't know if it will happen," Smith said. "They've been speaking about it for so many years now."





Solid political support

This time it's different, officials insist.

Some construction on the rail line is inevitable, according to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, because much of the infrastructure needs to be replaced.

"The track bed rehabilitation would have to be done as part of its natural life expectancy," NFTA Executive Director Lawrence M. Meckler said. "It makes sense to do it as part of this entire project."

And there seems to be solid political support. Mayor Byron W. Brown called putting cars back on Main Street "one of my top priorities in terms of our federal legislative requests."

The city's representatives in Washington, including Sens. Charles. E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, said they are committed to finding the money to complete the project.

"We can get this thing fully funded," said Rep. Brian M. Higgins, who said the plan will gather momentum once it's started.

"Our ability to get future phases funded is dependent on our ability to show progress and complete the first phase," Higgins said.


e-mail: jbonfatti@buffnews.com

There is this new movie coming out this weekend that I want to see called Date Movie. It looks like it might be good. On saturday I'm going to the Bandits game and then I would also like to catch some of the olympics so I don't know as I'm going to make it or not. I'm a little disapointed it is rated PG-13. I figured it would be R and have some great nudity oh well, I may still check it out.

Lately I have read a bunch of interesting articles but I can't talk about them all and give links to them all. So I will briefly mention them (the ones I remember). I think the article I have below is the most interesting one. I think it brings up a good question. Is preservation a good thing. I understand that there are historic bulidings that have a lot of history and should be kept. But what about new buildings that could add revenue for the city and make sense for Buffalo to move ahead in time. Some people belive that preservationsists keep companies from moving to buffalo by not allowing new buildings to replace old ones I don't agree with that but it is interesting to read.

I read two articles in todays Buffalo News about The Silos and the Casino. Apprently the Sencas have had plans made up for the new Casino that include knocking them down and Keeping them and working them into there plans. I think the fact that they at least are considering keeping them may be a good sign who knows what will happen there are still legal battles going on. The other article was about those legal battles and that was interesting. It was about how cheap the indains got the land and that if they got more land then they needed for the casino that it could violate the state compact with them.

I Have read about a couple of possible constrution projects. One was about the New Burchfield Penny Center. They make it sound as if it is a sure thing. I guess one complaint is that there wasn't much community invovlement in it and it isn't predestian friendly. The other article was about how the person who owns the buildings on Elmwood near forest where Skunk Tail Glass, Mondo video and a few other places wants to turn that area into a Hotel with underground and ground level parking and shops. They didn't say if all those houses would come down or if they would be built into it. I assume that they would be torn down. I guess calling this post Changing Buffalo isn't really correct yet because none of these projects has started officaly yet. For example Niagara Falls has supposed to have gotten I'm guessing about 30 differant big time devolpments that never happend.

In sports local boy Travis Meyer from the Meyer Brothers family didn't medal in the olympics. That is to bad. I was hoping he would. There is a real nice article about him in the paper. When I have more time I want to talk about the Google and Yahoo issue of helping China Sensor there web use there are a lot of issues there to be covered from the few articles I have read about it, but I want to hear some thoughts on TV about it also before I chim in. I want to know all my facts before I talk about it with the computer savy people on this site.





FOCUS: PRESERVATIONISTS
Preserving or obstructing?

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Saving historic buildings is a fierce passion for some, but others feel an 'everything must be saved' philosophy is hindering Buffalo's growth

By MARK SOMMER
News Staff Reporter
2/16/2006



The historic value of the H-O Oats grain elevator has been a subject of debate, with preservationists touting the tourism potential of elevators near the Erie Canal terminus.





Preservationists in Buffalo can be found in the trenches, trying to stop 19th century buildings from being torn down, or saving hulking grain elevators from meeting the wrecking ball.
But not everyone applauds such efforts.

From average citizens to developers, some local people see preservationists as obstructionists who want to save every blighted building in an aging city. They do so, critics charge, without regard for feasible reuse, prospects for restoration funds or how their actions discourage investment in the city.

"There is definitely a school of thought - and quite a large contingent of people - who very openly take the position that everything must be saved. I don't think that helps the city in terms of moving forward," said Richard C. Baer, a member of the Buffalo Preservation Board, the city agency that considers changes to historic structures.

"I think preservationists are choking the city with the things they are doing," said Ernestine Aberle, a Buffalo native who lives in Clarence and opposes spending $76.5 million to restore the historic H.H. Richardson complex.

"I'm all for preserving things from the past, whether it be family customs or buildings, but it can get way off balance."

Critics point to several buildings they believe preservationists have gone overboard to save: the Vernor Building in the Theater District, the Balcom/Chandler House on Niagara Square and a 19th century building next to Pano's restaurant on Elmwood Avenue.

Preservationists are hardly a monolith. Some focus on buildings with clear historical value, such as the Richardson complex, while others are concerned about maintaining the historic integrity of neighborhoods that include structures less highly regarded.

But all believe the city's future can be found, in part, in its past.

"Preservationists have visited other cities and know that quality economic revitalization occurs when the fabric of the built environment is invested in, rather than demolished in the name of progress and easy profits for developers," said Dennis Galucki, executive director of the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier.





The Pano's battle

A recent battleground between preservationists and those who think they go too far is the building next door to Pano's, a popular Elmwood Avenue restaurant. The 1893 structure is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Restaurant owner Panagiotis Georgiadis applied for a demolition permit in September 2004 to tear down the building. He wanted to replace it with a dining patio and more parking, and later offered to incorporate design elements from the building.

Preservationists insisted that the building was essential to the Elmwood Avenue streetscape. They pressed their case with picket lines and at public hearings, attracting the support of some politicians.

Georgiadis said his supporters voted with their feet, boosting his business during that time to all-time heights.

The case is in the courts, but the experience, Georgiadis said, landed him in the hospital.

"I got a bleeding ulcer, and since then, I don't care about this house anymore, or this city. I just go to work every day. I think [preservationists] are parasites," he said.

Baer, the Preservation Board member, is another critic.

"I think of those of us on the Preservation Board as being pragmatists," said Baer, who works as a construction consultant in Angola.

Baer said he is sympathetic to developers because he recognizes obstacles and delays can make redevelopment of historic buildings untenable.

"They just drag out beyond the developer's patience or ability to financially make it work," Baer said.

Tim Tielman of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture, can recite dozens of downtown buildings torn down through the years, most prominently, Frank Lloyd Wright's Larkin Administration Building in 1950.

Tielman blames the city's failure to penalize irresponsible owners and its lack of interest in citizen concerns for forcing preservationists into action.

"These complaints about "preservationists' are not about preservation. They're about power," Tielman said.

"For 50 years, the decisions about the future of our city and how our money was spent was the exclusive province of the business and political elite," he said. "Today, on the margins, citizens are making themselves heard. Hooray for them."

Preservationists also point to many run-down buildings that were nearly demolished in recent years and are now success stories.

Recent examples include: the 1863 George Squier mansion on Main Street, now home to Literacy Volunteers of Buffalo & Erie County; the former Holling Press on Washington Street, which opened last year as mixed-income housing; and The Church, the former Asbury Delaware United Methodist Church, at Delaware Avenue and Tupper Street, now reborn as an art gallery and, soon, a performance hall.

That's why Baer also said a debt is owed to activists like Tielman.

"I've always said I couldn't be a Tim [Tielman], but I think of the Erie Canal Harbor and [buildings being rehabbed at] Main and Virginia, and I'm sure many more that would probably be gone if he hadn't jumped into the fray, as mad as it makes developers," Baer said.





Developers aren't fans

Not surprisingly, many developers see preservationists as impediments to progress.

"There are a lot of projects people would like to see saved that are not saveable and may ultimately be a hindrance to development," said Benjamin Obletz, president of First Amherst Development.

The company owns Lofts at Elk Terminal near the Cobblestone District and is restoring the row of mostly 19th century buildings at Virginia and Main streets.

Carl Paladino, chief executive of Ellicott Development Co., who was vilified by preservationists for demolishing the Harbor Inn in 2003, is more blunt.

"I think the preservation effort is tempered by the Preservation Board. Beyond them, you have a bunch of extremists who have no appreciation whatsoever of how to help our city move into the 21st century," said Paladino, who has converted two historic downtown buildings into housing and is planning others.

The fate of the H-O Oats grain elevator, on Seneca Nation of Indians land near the Cobblestone District, has stirred perhaps the most recent controversy. Preservationists have promoted tourism potential in the collection of grain elevators near the historic terminus of the Erie Canal and suggested the H-O Oats silos could be turned into a hotel.

Paladino, who sold the grain elevator to the Senecas in October, recommended that the silos be used for signs, and was told the idea would be considered.

But he fails to understand what preservationists see in them.

"We have enough grain elevators to show the next few generations," said Paladino. "There's nothing particularly unique about the H-O grain elevator compared to the 17 other ones in town."


e-mail: msommer@buffnews.com