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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v11n43 (10/25/2012) » Section: Week in Review


Give 'Em Something to Talk About: Outer Harbor Stadium

by Geoff Kelly
You don’t need us to tell you about the new proposal, unveiled at Tuesday’s Committee on Community Development meeting in Buffalo’s Common Council chambers, for a $1.4 billion multi-use sports stadium with a retractable roof, a convention center and hotel, and sports museum on the city’s Outer Harbor. The news is everywhere; cynicism and optimism are let loose upon the region. The proposal excites well-guarded prejudices and animosities that have no place in the conversation: After Tuesday’s hearing, I listened to a proponent argue that “the preservationists” would surely scuttle the deal, although the Outer Harbor is essentially devoid of any structures to preserve. Outside Common Council chambers, another fellow shot the proposal through the heart with the dismissive phrase “silver bullet.”

Meantime, Along the Strait of Niagara... Air Quality Concerns

by Geoff Kelly
The stadium proposal drew a substantial crowd to Common Council chambers on Tuesday, and when it was finished the retreating spectators and the media gantlet in the hallway raised a din that nearly drowned out the more quotidian business that followed: several items tabled, a brief and confused exchange regarding complaints about the city-funded media center hosted at the old Apollo Theater, and finally a series of testimonies regarding air pollution in the West Side neighborhoods surrounding the Peace Bridge.

Grisanti: I Will Debate No More Forever

by Geoff Kelly
Republican State Senator Mark Grisanti debated his two general election opponents, Democrat Mike Amodeo and Conservative Chuck Swanick, in the gymnasium at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute on Wednesday morning. But he won’t do it again: Grisanti has declined to take part in a livestreamed debate hosted by the Buffalo News on October 31.



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