For those fans of Hockey The sabres are currently on OLN. I'm currently listening to the game on NHL.com . They have a free part of there site called NHL radio and you can listen to games using media player it works preaty good.

I belive strting on the 16th Mens March Madness starts. College Basketball or at least the finals is fun to watch. I never see as much of it as I want to. But they cover it so well on TV with Bonus Coverage and look ins on other games. I know some people who think the pros are better. The only thing is those playoffs take so long with lots of games. I like the excitement of elimanation.

Hopefully I will watch some of the Sabres game on Saturday and Tape Saturday Nights Main Event and then make it over to Matts 25th. Then on Sunday there is the Parade and after WOrds Jackdaw is supposed to be performing at Cozumel. I had another sports thing to mention but I don't remember what it was. Oh hope everyone had a Great Steak and BJ Day. I wonder if there is a Vegatarian Version. Oh does anyone know of a good sports Bar that shows multiple games and has great tunes. That is what elmwood needs is a Sports Bar or is there one I don't know about?

For those oif you who have never heard of it here is a link to one website about it. . Finaly A holiday for the guys where they get a steak and BJ sounds great. But I wonder since it was ment for a guy and girl I wonder if two gay guys could celebrate it. I wonder if anyone really celebrates it at all.





The above card was from a link sent to me fromBullradio at Myspace. Steak and BJ day is March 14th. It still seems like a strange holiday. I wonder what would happen if you walked into a resturant and Asked for the steak and BJ special I wonder if they would kick you out or have you arested. Now that I think of it in the movie waiting they work at one of those places and Steak and BJ day is never mentioned as rude and crude as that movie was that kinda surprises me. If any one really celebrates it I hope you enjoy it Tommarow Or in My world Tuesday.

On Thursday I had a great time with the people from work. I just wished I would have thought to find out where (e:ladycroft) was sitting It would have been cool to visit her. The 200's are a great place to see the game from. The Resturant at the 200 level is interesting to, man there where a lot of hot chicks there plus some the waitresses where amazing to. The game went buy quickly viewing it from the resturant and from the seats. It was a great time and the sabres beat Tampa Bay.

Last nights Bandits game was also A lot of fun, even though they lost. It was still a great game. That is except for one the Toronto Fans Having a cow bell, that was fucking anoying. At the beging of the game there was a tribute to John Tavares for the record he set last game that was neat.

I just caught the end of the sabres game on saturday after coming home from my sis's apartment. It was good to see that they won. I helped her download itunes and transfer them to her shuffle. I couldn't figgure out how to get songs from rhapsody on it but maybe her roomate can. The strange thing is that the way there computer is set up the ipod has to be plugged into the back of the computer it is to wide and hits the side of the tower. That was interesting and fun. Now if I ever get one I sord of know how to do it, if I can remember it that is.

The Sabres Play again today I think at 5pm that should be interesting. Tonight the Sopranos start up again and there is some new show on about poligamy called Big Love that might be interesting hopefully the game will be over by then. Hopefully when I reduce the size of the pictures I will update this entry or maybe make a new one.

I'm going to the Sabres game on Thursday with work a few people from work. It is going to be the first time I think for a hockey game that I've been in the 200's they should be great seats. I havn't been keeping up with the sabres like I should have been lately. I don't come here for a few days and a bunch of things are new. The News has a differant look and there is a web cam or something link that I didn't see. There is New thing called Gather I have no Idea what that does. There are a few new people here. It seems like that Hotel Debate is still going on, I hope that is over I think everyone has said everything they can say about it. The other night I watched this great Show Called Tattoo: Under the skin. They showed jail Tats and gave some of the meanings and showed people in Thailand geting tattoo with spritual power it was verry interesting. It werid how you miss a couple days of posts and chat and you sord of feal like you are missing others lives. I can't read all the posts but I've read some. Hope the Sabres win that would make the day even better but as long as it is a good game it will be fun.

I admit that I was looking for a post that I found [inlink]metalpeter,428[/inlink]. I'm sure those of you who read it may remember it. . It was about how if Elmwood will expand to Grant St and if that is a good thing or a bad thing here is the link to it [inlink]metalpeter,428[/inlink]. I think Paul and either Uncut and or leetee respondend to it. I'm I little bit Tired of the Hotel Debate. The reason that I'm sick of it is it seems to be all about asthetics and looks and not weather or not it is good for elmwood. So I add this thought what if the hotel opened on Grant Street instead? Would anyone stay there? Would that depend on where it was. I remeber growing up when the Black and Gold Signs went up and that was a huge deal that they all matched. In any event this article from the news sounds like it grant might be able to be able to come around and get better.

Former Forever Elmwood chief sets sights on Grant-Ferry
By MICHELLE KEARNS
News Business Reporter
3/6/2006



Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
Bob Franke stands on Grant Street where a revitalization effort will be launched to help businesses prosper.

To help solve the puzzle of how to make businesses on Grant Street prosper like they do on Elmwood Avenue and develop a plan for new Grant-Ferry Association, Bob Franke parked his car, studied Guercio's market and watched people dash in and out.
The grocery at 250 Grant with a reputation for obscure variety in herbs, cheeses, pasta, dried beans and produce, manages to draw cooks to the old Italian section of the city even though it now has a bleak, dangerous look with graffitied walls and boarded-up buildings.

Franke, who hopes to start a series of business improvement committees at an upcoming meeting, watched customers climb into their cars and drive away without stopping elsewhere as they do on Elmwood.

"The thing I can't understand is the buildings right across the street from it don't seem to spring to life," said Franke, 50, who quit his job as director of the Elmwood Avenue association in December to work on business-improving community action on Grant Street.

Guercio's faces a record shop and a derelict store with its windows papered in newspaper and a sign promising a new shop opening soon. A hole smashed in the glass revealed a bare room. Franke traces such neighborhood decay to a decline in population after the Italians moved away.

Newcomers from Somalia, Puerto Rico and Vietnam have since moved in, but the numbers are still down. Modern immigrants move out and don't stay as long as others did. "I'd like to see Somalian markets," said Franke. He measured the change by analyzing census data that showed fewer people and fewer homeowners, a sign of socioeconomic decline.

In 1970, the population in the district several blocks west of Elmwood was 23,837 with 4,600 owner-occupied households and 3,000 rentals. In 2000, there were 17,000 people in 2,156 owner-occupied households and 3,925 rentals in the same area. That is a 29 percent population drop and a 53 percent drop in owner-occupied households in 30 years.

"The big goal is to increase the population," Franke said. "You have to start making a more attractive, desireable neighborhood and that starts with the businesses."

To figure out how to make things better for the part of the city that surrounds Franke's own Dorchester Street residence, the former communications manager for Delaware North Companies spent two years with Forever Elmwood and its 600 or so resident and business members.

The Elmwood neighborhood has been thriving lately with million-dollar building projects and increasing residential demand. For the last two months, Franke has been working to apply what he learned to Grant Street. He wants to get businesses and residents to pitch in and develop an identity with a street festival, outdoor concerts and a farmer's market.

Instead of Elmwood's fashion and boutiques, Franke said Grant could become a specialty food district with an international food festival. Already he has offers of help from Guercio's and potential grants and loans from the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC). "This is a project that I've been trying to get somebody to bite for the last two and a half years," said Fred Heinle, CPC assistant vice president.

Louis Guercio, one of the brothers who own the market and restaurant supplier, would like to see Grant Street develop the same kind of walking and shopping traffic that Hertel Avenue has. "I wish they could do that here," he said.

The improvement project will officially begin on March 15 at 7 p.m. when Franke will hold the first organizational meeting of the Grant-Ferry Association at the old library building at 271 Grant. The library's new tenant, the Massachusetts Avenue Project is an agency that helps food entrepreneurs start up and sell their creations, such as quiche and veggie burgers. It is among those interested in collaborating with the new street association.

"I've talked to so many people and now it's time to bring them together," said Franke, who has compiled a contact list of 200 business and property owners. "I just don't want to waste any more time. I'm kind of pushing everybody along now."

As word of Franke's plan gets out, people doing business here say they're willing to consider a new approach.

"Anything that will help the business climate here is a plus," said Jim Lorigo, owner of the Meating Place, sausage maker and meat distributor at 185 Grant. For the last five years that he has been president of the 75-member West Side Business and Taxpayer's Association, he has worked to incorporate charity work, such as food deliveries and winter coat and hat giveaways. Next week, the group, which had about 110 members five years ago, will consider Franke's proposal to affiliate.

"This community is in so much of a need," Lorigo said.

When the owner of Rotundo's dry cleaner at 332 West Ferry St., near the Grant intersection, takes his dog for walks in the neighborhood, he sees houses without footprints in the snow. The population drop and closed shops is a cycle.

"How do you stop it?" said Gary Rotundo. Businesses don't want to open in ailing neighborhoods, and people don't want to move to places that seem decayed and dangerous.

"Elmwood was easy," he said. "Now this one's going to be a real undertaking."

At Russ's Pastry Shoppe at 294 West Ferry, just beyond Grant, the owner has put his three-story building up for sale for $250,000.

When Franke stopped in for coffee and asked the owner's daughter if she could be talked into staying, she shook her head. "Nope. No way," said Rosalie Patronaggio. The bakery's counter stools and window tables were empty. It was Monday, the shop's first day open after closing for the slow months of January and February.

In the third floor kitchen, her father Russell worked spreading carrot cake dough as fig cookies cooled in pans. There was a time during his decades in business when he would sell out of his eclairs and pastry-wrapped baked apples each day.

"Every morning I used to come to work and my shelves were empty," said Patronaggio. "Now I come to work and my shelves are full."

In April he plans to open an outlet store at 1612 Niagara Falls Blvd. in the Town of Tonawanda to lure clients who tell him they won't drive to Grant Street.

Yet Franke is optimistic that dramatic change can come to the street. He wants to start small. To make the point, he stopped at one of the trash bins posted on a pole. The black paint on the metal holder had rust spots. To him, that made it look like nobody cared about the street.

"That's a few bucks and a little bit of paint. That's something we can do right now," said Franke, who expected to talk to business owners about the trash, as he had on Elmwood. "If there's no scold on the street, the culture doesn't change."

Further down the street he tried a gentle "scold" when he stopped by the Rainbow clothing shop at 110 Grant St. Big flakes of red paint hung in peels from the sign. A worker opened the door to explain that someone painted it a couple of years ago and didn't do a good job.

"Maybe you've got to do something again," Franke said before she ended the conversation by closing the door.


e-mail: mkearns@buffnews.com