Driving Buffalo

Ok... it's going to snow soon.

It snows every year in Buffalo. Why then are there so many bad.... bad... winter drivers? You know... they are the ones in the ditch on the side of the road with their flashers on. They are the ones with the smashed in bumpers outside the collision shop. Come on... you know who I'm talking about! Maybe I'm talking about you!?

Talk a look at this quiz and see how you do.

Better yet, talk some advice from AAA.

And some of you may need to take this quiz also!

Educating Buffalo

We are starting to see what a billion dollars can do for Buffalo.

I'm not talking about downtown development. I'm referring to the $1.1B Joint Schools Construction Project that is reshaping and reinventing Buffalo Public Schools.

According to Buffalo Business First, phase II of this massive 5 phase program is now complete with a price tag of $327M. This brings the total investment to date to $500M.


Photo: The Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts Theatre
under construction. Credit.

The scope of this project is simply mind boggling. The past three years, combined with the remaining three phases expected to be completed by 2010, will have brought Buffalo from an underscoring, under performing system to a modern progressive educational model for the rest of the country.

Money well spent.

Thank you James A. Williams. Thank you for bringing your vision to Buffalo.



The key to economic development in this city is an educated work force. The key to socio-economic reform is an educated youth.

It's exiciting to have learned that the old Kensington High School is slated to be included in the Joint Schools Construction Project. The school, dating back to 1937, is one of only a handfull of art deco buildings in the city. It is now the home of the Olmsted School for the Gifted and Talented.

Photo: The former Kensington High School at 319 Suffolk Avenue

Innovate Buffalo

You've had your chance Buffalo. Now it's time to welcome new ideas.

The FLW Boathouse was a good start.

I do support projects such as Canalside that wish to invoke Buffalo's grand past as a building block for the future. However, the fact that it is the past that we're talking about means that there needs to be other avenues to a brighter Buffalo future. Simply recreating the past in much different modern times will only serve to fulfill a limited number of needs. It's time for this city to open itself up to the modern world.

Buffalo is a blank canvas... brownfields, parking lots and abandoned buildings.

Nowhere is the opportunity greater than Buffalo for architectural and environmental innovation.


Photo: City of Culture of Galicia
Santiago de Compostela, Spain

The time to play it safe has gone (moved to Charlotte).

Buffalo needs to market itself as a city open to new ideas. The status quo should no longer be acceptable. It frustrates me that every national broadcast of a sporting event in Buffalo shows a cut-away shot of Niagara Falls. It should frustrate everyone that there is nothing in this city worth looking at, sort of speak.

The opportunity exists. Let's start with the National Weather Discovery Center. Let's create a modern marvel!

Take a look at Eisenman Architects. (click on the red N)

ReUse Buffalo

Everyone should take a few moments and check out Buffalo ReUse.

If you're not familiar with them... well now you are.

Take a look at their salvage services. Now think back a few years.
How many items, inluded in this list, have you considered trash and put to the curb?

I found 11 things.

The next time you think about throwing something out, take a look at Buffalo ReUse.
Better yet, give them a call.

BuffaloReUse
(716) 885-4131

KX2-391

The following article was published by the University at Buffalo on 11/16/2007

Buffalo-Made Anti-Cancer Drug Begins Human Trials
Potential 'Blockbuster' Developed by Kinex and UB Chemist

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- An anti-cancer drug developed by Kinex Pharmaceuticals of Buffalo and a University at Buffalo faculty researcher has begun clinical testing with patients.

As part of FDA-mandated phase 1 testing, KX2-391 is being administered to a group of patients with advanced cancer who have not responded to other therapies. In non-human testing, the drug has been shown to be active against all cancers, according to Kinex Pharmaceuticals CEO Allen Barnett.

KX2-391 may be the first small-molecule drug discovered and developed in Buffalo that has progressed to the human trial stage. The phase 1 trial is a first step toward FDA approval of the drug and is intended to test the safety and dosage tolerability of the drug.

"We're very excited about the drug's potential," Barnett says. "As we go further in the drug's development, and do broader testing, we get better and better data. If the drug works half or a third as well as it's worked in pre-clinical trials, it will have blockbuster, billion-dollar potential."
During non-human testing by Kinex over the past two years, KX2-391 has reduced tumors in several types of cancer. Though the drug must complete two additional phases of testing after phase 1, Kinex has attracted significant interest from venture capital firms, private investors and several major pharmaceutical companies, Barnett says.

Barnett is negotiating with several pharmaceutical companies considering funding Kinex's development of the drug through phase 1 and other clinical phases needed to test the drug's effectiveness with larger patient populations. A deal, which would include an upfront payment, milestones and royalties, could be made by early next year.

An alternate source of funding would be via venture capital investment, which would provide necessary funds to progress KX2-391 further in clinical trials before partnering with a large pharmaceutical company in a bigger deal. Those discussions are in progress as well.
The drug was created from the work of David Hangauer, Ph.D., UB associate professor of chemistry, who developed a compound that targets Src ("sark") kinase, a protein that is linked to the survival of cancer cells. Hangauer's drug compounds, known as protein kinase inhibitors, are designed to shrink tumors and prevent metastases.

Kinases are considered one of the most lucrative classes of drug targets in the pharmaceutical industry, and Hangauer is the first to develop a kinase drug that targets a unique site on the kinase target. KX2-391 is the first in this class of drugs to progress to the clinical trial stage.
"We have the first success to come from this approach," explains Hangauer, who also serves as Kinex senior vice president of research and development. "Our drug compound has been shown to be active against all cancers.

"Cancer is a very tough disease to treat with drugs," he adds, "but we think this will be better than any kinase inhibitor currently available."

Hangauer also sees great potential for using related drug compounds, under development at Kinex, to treat autoimmune diseases like lupus, ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Roswell Park Cancer Institute and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston are performing the phase 1 trials, which are expected to enroll a total of 50 patients and last about a year. Alex Adjei, Ph.D., M.D., senior vice president of clinical research at Roswell, is principal investigator for the phase 1 study at Roswell. Adjei is a national leader in translational research, drug development and thoracic oncology.

The drug was synthesized by Albany Molecular Research Institute, a contract research organization, and the final dosage form for human trials was prepared in UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, where Kinex Pharmaceuticals is headquartered. Kinex's progress has been bolstered by significant cost savings from their use of Center of Excellence facilities and its funding programs, including funding from the UB Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology (UB CAT).

Kinex originally licensed three patent filings from UB that describe the drug's makeup, as well as a methodology for the design and synthesis of this and other kinase inhibitors. Kinex now has four issued patents and six other filings under review.

Marnie LaVagine, Ph.D., director of business development at UB's Center of Excellence, says the drug's progression to human trials "is a critical milestone" in the development of a local life-sciences economy.

"We're banking on our ability to create private-sector jobs in drug discovery and development, rather than licensing university-developed technologies to out-of-state firms, which had been the more common path for moving locally grown inventions from the lab to the marketplace."
Success for KX2-391 and Kinex would be a huge win for Buffalo's emerging biotechnology industry, agrees Lyn Dyster, Ph.D., Kinex vice president for operations, who, like Barnett and Hangauer, earned a doctoral degree at UB.

"Big pharma is thriving by licensing innovations from small-drug discovery and development companies like ours," Dyster says. "The success of Kinex and other Buffalo companies like Smart Pill will put Buffalo on the biotech map and help other local companies grow."

Collaboration between scientists at UB's Center of Excellence, Roswell and Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute -- as well as the attraction of new companies like Cleveland Biolabs to Buffalo -- should continue to fuel groundbreaking life-sciences research in Buffalo, according to Barnett.

"You're starting to see the right kinds of scientific and entrepreneurial activity and partnerships you need to build a biotech industry in Buffalo," Barnett says. "If Kinex is successful, you'll start to see more local investment in local companies and also more investors from the outside starting to take a closer look at Buffalo opportunities."

Buy Buffalo

I challenge everyone to buy local this holiday.

When you shop locally owned businesses, you keep your money in the community and help the local economy. When you shop national retailers, you send your money off to the home office to benefit another economy in another community.

Make up your shopping list and head down to Elmwood this Saturday. That is where I will be.
I have set a personal goal to buy at least half of the items on my list locally. If all goes well, I will likely knock out the majority of what I have planned to buy.

So... avoid the mall (do you really want to deal with that traffic?)... forget about Target... and make your first stop Elmwood Ave. I guarantee you will be surprised at what you find.

There are also plenty of places to park. So don't worry about having to walk a mile in the rain or snow. A block or two won't kill you though. You do live in Buffalo after all.

Wear Buffalo

Here's your chance to show off your Buffalo pride and, at the same time, help support a young local business.


CityLove Clothing Company
901 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14222

Read more about them on Buffalo Rising

If you haven't seen it...

I stumbled accoss this video on YouTube.

No words... just watch.

Best of Buffalo - Nektar

I will take this moment to plug one of my favorite Buffalo restaurants.

If you have never been to Nektar on Elmwood (between Bryant and Hodge)... why not?!

My new favorite bar in Buffalo. And the food... well the food is amazing.

I had the good fortune of ordering the Pan Seared Duck and let me tell you... simply amazing!
Easily one of the best dishes I have ever had. It's not on the menu so you may want to call ahead to see if it is included with the specials for that evening. I am no critic so I'll leave it at that. Reservations are strongly recommended. And don't worry... you'll be able to catch the end of the Sabres game on the bar's plasma.






Nektar
451 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14222
716.881.1829






Photo credit: buffalorising.com

Ben, the two of us need look no more...

Having now lived in the Town of Cheektowaga for 2 years, I have come to realize why many people levy such negative comments.

The town continues to drag it's feet when it comes to the rat problem. Many surrounding towns and villages have acted on the problem and implemented garbage totes. The Town of Cheektowaga says that the cost of garbage totes, as well as equipping the garbage trucks to handle them, is too high. So instead... the town decided to introduce the Sanitation Patrol. Individuals paid to drive around the look for violations in the towns increasingly complicated sanitation laws.

It seams that there are enough residents not complying with the garbage rules to continue to foster the rat infestation. The City of Buffalo realized that the only way to solve the problem was to provide the solution.

And what about this Sanitation Patrol? It won't work unless the rules are enforced.

I witnessed the Garbage Cops driving in my neighborhood yesterday. I also witnessed them drive past two residences that had their garbage at the curb at 2:30 in the afternoon. That's 3 and 1/2 hours early... according to the rules. To top that... the garbage that was at the curb was in plastic bags sitting on the ground. That too is a violation of the "rules of the road".
So what have we learned? If you don't enforce it... consistently and frequently... it won't work!

As I said earlier, I have lived here for 2 years now. Not once have I ever received in the mail a letter detailing the sanitation rules. I am aware of them only because I bothered to look then up on the website.

So it is time for the Town of Cheektowaga to join the rest of Western New York and invest in garbage totes.

they don't eat, don't sleep
they don't feed, they don't seethe
bare their gums when they moan and squeak
lick the dirt off a larger one's feet...

Note - I'll try and limit angry rants to one a week and focus on the positives more often.

Being Developed

Bear with me. This is a work in progress.

Being Buffalo

I thought for some time about the title of this blog. I wanted it to be perfect. Why? That's just me. Perfectionist. I wanted it to be witty... something people would remember. I have to say I probably spent a good 30 minutes on this project. What's it about... this blog. Nothing. Specific. My experience living in the city that I love. Experience Buffalo. Nope. Sounds like something you would see on a brochure at a Thruway rest stop. Living Buffalo. Um... no. Too National Geographic...ish. I thought I had it with Bleed Buffalo. Because I do... bleed Buffalo. I'd like to think everything about me is Buffalo. I'd be proud of that. But... Bleed Buffalo can be a little misleading. As is... Bleed Buffalo Dry. I'll simply avoid going there. And so it is... Be Buffalo. Have you ever thought about what it means to Be Buffalo? Here's your chance. Take a few minutes. Think it over. I'll keep myself busy in the meantime.