my sometimes-skeptical social commentary

Archive for the ‘history’ Category

There were several times during this speech, when I was watching it last night, when I said “nicely put” or “well said.” (I wrote a little at the end of this long quote, so if you don’t want to read the speech, please skip to the bottom of this post and write a comment.)

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
Read the rest of this entry »

David Monroe moved to Buffalo and found he missed rockwiki – the people’s guide to Rochester, NY – and decided the way to stop missing it was to create a similar resource for his new home town. He invited me and a few other people to help get it started, and you know how I feel about building new web sites to connect people!

In fact, I’ve been mulling over the idea of a wiki about Buffalo for a while now, but recently, when folks from out of town were going to visit me, they asked me for a list of things to do while in Buffalo, and my Google search didn’t find any one web site that was dedicated to an encyclopedic description of our fair city. So I was ready to help, and that day I set up the framework of a wiki site so that we can start filling in the blanks.

On his blog, David wrote:

To that end, I’ve started a Google Group http://groups.google.com/group/buffalo-wiki?hl=en that is made up of Buffalonians, and computer savvy folks from outside of Buffalo to create a wiki just like the one I know and love. So far, we have some excitement and interest. If you want to lend a hand, join the group and give your opinion.

What do you say, are you the wiki type? Want to start writing wiki entries about the Buffalo topics you love?

Well, what is a wiki type, anyway? To write entries for a wiki, you just need to know about your topic, you don’t have to be a computer nerd. You just log in, do your best writing, and then wait for someone else to come along and try to prove that they know even more about the topic than you do.

Just be sure to proofread your work carefully, because otherwise, you’ll be one of the writers we post about on ShamefulTypos.com.

When I first read that New York State is going to close the Developmental Center on East West Road in West Seneca, my first thought was that there will be a rush of private developers to their friends in the government asking for the land. This 439-acre piece of land sits on relatively high ground, and still retains a slightly rustic feeling, despite all the new houses that have been built nearby. Developers with the right friends in government stand to make a fortune building new homes here.

I found one statistic online that says the average home price in West Seneca is about $118,000. If they divide the land from the developmental center into 1/2-acre lots (which is larger than the average lot in West Seneca), that land is worth more than $100 million in homes. The town of West Seneca would stand to take in a huge amount of property taxes, so the town may want to see the land developed into new homes, too.

But I have a different idea. Of course–all my ideas are different, ha ha. Those of you who have read my blog before might recall that I’m interested in history, preservation, and the local economy. Real estate development is not necessarily contraindicated by those values, so don’t misread me. In this case, I think that the state ought to not help the developers make a ton of money and keep the town’s taxroll the same as it is now.

Why? What could be more important than new homes and a greater taxroll?

History, that’s what. What’s more, Education (with a capital E).

What I think they should do with the 439 acres is build a village. Not a modern village, though, a historic village. Have you ever been to the Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford, NY? It’s not far from Buffalo, but it is far enough away that it is justifiable to build one closer to home.

I’m not suggesting we just copy whole-cloth what they’re doing in Mumford, but what they’re doing in Mumford is an excellent model. Here’s a couple paragraphs from their web site:

Spend a day within a 19th-century country village. As you stroll among the 68 restored and fully furnished buildings, you will see how a log cabin settlement grew into a bustling community of stores, shops, schools, churches, and fine houses. Take a tour and visit the Village Homes, the Businesses, Shops and Professions Buildings, the Public and Religious Buildings in the village, and the Village Gardens.

Experience vivid impressions of 19th-century American country life — the aroma of soup simmering over an open hearth and bread baking in a brick oven, the ringing of the blacksmith’s hammer, the calls of barnyard animals — and the friendly voices of villagers and craftspeople.

I’m sure it’s already too late, because if I am reading about this in the news, then the real estate developers have known about this for years, and they likely have already drawn up the plans to split the profit.

But if it isn’t already too late, I hope someone besides me likes this idea.

If Buffalo and Western New York are running out of manufacturing jobs, and all we really have left is service, education, and health care, it would sure help the region if we started thinking seriously about developing our tourism resources.

Buffalo and Western New York have a history that will soon be paved over at the rate we’re sprawling out. If we already have enough housing, why keep spreading it out? Why not make the investment into a historic village–a few years from now it would be one of several reasons to travel from outside of Western New York and stay for a week.

It is exceedingly rare for a piece of land this size to be made available for a new purpose, so if we miss this opportunity, there may never be another one.

<wink wink> I have a plan for most of Western New York, if they would just give me a chance. </wink wink>

Hey, next time you see an advertisement for an event at the Central Terminal, go. It’s a really cool place.

As I do more research for the new bike taxi tours I’m planning to offer in the 2008 season, I am enjoying the process and have found a lot of interesting stories about Buffalo’s rich history. I even found an archive of old photos online, and I spent an hour just looking at old pictures last night. Great stuff.

So now I’m thinking, I should be taking notes, because I might like to write a bit more than the booklets that I give out with the bike taxi tours.