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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v11n2 (01/12/2012) » Section: Week in Review


Subsidizing a New Museum at Canalside

by Bruce Fisher
On Tuesday, the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation board of directors approved the $500,000 Canalside Cultural Master Plan Final Report, which calls for building a $25 million, 22,400-square-foot Buffalo Story Center, including a “children’s experience museum” that would require between 140,000 and 170,000 annual paying customers and an ongoing annual taxpayer subsidy of at least $300,000 in order to break even. The report was prepared by Lord Cultural Resources and Ralph Appelbaum Associates for the CanalSide Cultural Steering Group., and features comparisons to location-themed visitor centers in Montreal, Quebec and in Austin, Texas.

It's Not Fracking Over Yet

by Geoff Kelly
The public comment period on the state’s proposed scheme for permitting fracking for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale expired on Wednesday. Still, the debate—over whether the practice is safe, whether it is the economic boon the oil and gas industry claims it to be, whether natural gas is in fact a reasonable “bridge” energy source—is hardly over.

Odds and Ends

by Geoff Kelly
• The governor has chosen March 20 as the date for special elections to fill vacant Assembly seats. (He’d originally indicated the special elections would take place in April, coinciding with the state’s presidential primary, but that would favor Republicans unduly, since Democrats have no primary to vote in.) Around here, that means filling the seat of Mark Schroeder, who has moved into the office of Buffalo City Comptroller. The leading candidates are South District Councilman Mickey Kearns and Chris Fahey, an aide to Congressman Brian Higgins.

Scorecard: The Week's Winners and Losers

by Zachary Burns




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