Where do I start?

I am sitting with my two favorite boys – Joe and Chris at Cafe 59 looking at Buffalo’s 1971 plan where the 33 expressway ran through downtown buffalo and the inner loop of buffalo was planned to go through the best neighborhood in Buffalo, the lower west side. Buffalo could have made so many more devastating mistakes.. its unbelievable to think what would have happened had we not had many strong grass roots efforts to push the city of buffalo from making poor decisions. I am so thankful for this convo…This is my daily routine and its such an inspiring way to live..

Anyhow, the Party for the Preservation Generation was a HUGE success. Kuntsler was there, the videos went off without a problem, we raised over a thousand dollars for the campaign and everyone had fun. So much fun. The preservation conference really pushed the idea of young preservationists and the BYP party and our after party was well recieved by the national trust because for the longest time, preservationists were the older greyed woman or a gay couple. Now, the young hipsters are really changing the preservation landscape and defining the future face of preservation.

I have been working on a ton of things lately. Tomorrow is my first event of the new “sustainability series” brought to buffalo by WNYSEA. Chris and Chuck are giving two presentations about urbanism in Buffalo and how it promotes sustainability. I am very excited. There are so many topics that I want to discuss throughout the next year… its going to be fun and exciting to make WNYSEA more active in the community.

Another thing that I have been researching is greening historic buildings – i know i do this all the time but I recently met a young preservationists who knows the rules of the road for national register stuff. I think its great and I think Buffalo is an untapped market in which both myself, buffalo energy and pres. studios can really succeed. If I want to make buffalo better, I have to push what i know and help maintain one of the best things about buffalo – its building stock. Right?

Lastly, the link below is from a detroit blog that is beyond inspiring. It explains how I live my life every day in Buffalo and what it takes to promote the city you love – no matter where you are. I think its a real must read.

http://citadinedetroit.blogspot.com/2011/06/so-you-say-you-love-detroit.html?spref=fb

Anyhow, enough with my rambling. Time to leave Cafe 59 and go to bed!

Bernice