CITY OF BUFFALO: Re-Tree WNY will be unloading over 1,000 trees representing 75 species beginning at 9am at 1120 Seneca Street today, Thursday May 1. Trees will be delivered from two nurseries and will be separated into species for May 2 when over 30 city blocks and community-based organizations will be picking up their trees starting 7am at the site. All groups will receive their pre-ordered trees, stakes, tie and irrigation bags in addition to tree care instructions for each of the over 1,000 trees which will be planted by a 100% volunteer labor force. Saturday morning starting at 9 a.m., plantings will get underway on dozens of city streets. The trees are being provided by Re-Tree WNY from funds raised by the group. The largest city planting will occur on May 3 beginning at 9:15am in the Hamlin Park neighborhood, headquartered at Hamlin Park Elementary School #74 located at 126 Donaldson Rd..

Re-Tree WNY will be planting a total of 30,000 trees over a five-year period and began the program on Arbor Day, 2007. Additional information on Re-Tree WNY is at www.re-treewny.org

SUBURBS: Re-Tree WNY will also be unloading over 1,150 trees at the Wayne Cotton Tree Farm site in Elma with 75 tree species to be planted starting on Saturday 9.a.m., May. Plantings will take place in Akron, Alden, Amherst, Cheektowaga, Clarence, Depew, Grand Island, Hamburg, Kenmore, Village of Lancaster, Town of Lancaster, Town of Tonawanda, City of Tonawanda, and North Tonawanda.

Information on volunteering and donating to Re-Tree WNY is at www.re-treewny.org.

Peter Reese makes an interesting comment on Bruce Fisher’s article about sprawl in this week’s AV:

I actually think the local school districts which come with towns are the biggest part of the problem. They facilitate white flight to these little cocoon communities. If you look at Jefferson County which contains Louisville you will find that the secret behind their regional success is the fact that they always had one county-wide school district. When they got hit with the inevitable segregation lawsuit, there was no Elma, Alden or Orchard Park to flee to. They were stuck with the issues of poverty and racism. Apparently they decided to deal with their problems, rather than running from them.

What are the chances that we will have a single Erie County school district in the next 100 years?

Is that possible? Is it a good idea?

Christine Todd Whitman, the Bush administration’s former EPA chief, cannot be held liable for telling residents and workers that the air was safe to breathe after the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. A lawsuit by residents was dismissed by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court found the EPA’s actions were “flawed” but ruled that legal remedies “are not always available for every instance of arguably deficient governmental performance.” Many residents and workers in New York City are suffering severe and chronic breathing ailments. With the Bush administration, “deficient governmental performance” seems to be a way of life, from Katrina to Iraq to the World Trade Center. I guess the official response could be summed up this way: “tough shit.”

Hillary Clinton, pundits said, had to win Pennsylvania by 10% to stay in the race. She won the Pennsylvania primary by 10%, beating Obama 55% to 45%.

McKinley High teacher is cleared by the state of an allegation she prepped students beforehand on an essay question for their Regents exam. Other McKinley High allegations made by an anonymous source are still under investigation, including video and computer equipment disappearing; athletes put in special ed classes so they could pass and remain on the basketball team; and friends and relatives of principal Crystal Barton being given jobs that amounted to running errands and hanging around the office.

Proposed Suspension Bridge designed by Christian Menn that was the choice of a 32-member design jury in 2005 (after years of fighting the PBA’s “twin span” concept) has been ruled out by state and federal environmental agencies because of a possible threat to some bird and fish species.

It looks as though one of Buffalo’s grand old theaters will be spared the wrecking ball. The Sattler Theatre, built in 1914 and located at 516 Broadway (near Jefferson), has been purchased for a scant $40,000 by a non-profit group called Western New York Minority Media Professionals, Inc (WNYMMP). They plan to pour roughly $1 million into restoring the building, which has been on the city’s demolition list for years, decaying all along. The Sattler will become WNYMMP’s headquarters and performing arts center.

WNYMMP works to educate members of minority communities “on how to improve themselves through the media, and how they can benefit from its resources and tools.” Among other things, the organization will be starting a gospel show for television called “Speak a Blessing,” which will be produced by a group of 50 high school students and 35 college students. The show, which will air on Channel 7 starting this spring, provides the students with invaluable hands-on education and job training to help them towards careers in broadcasting and marketing and advertising. Other shows WNYMMP has produced in the past for WKBW include “Western New York Magazine,” “Upfront TV Magazine,” and “Official Heat.” (more…)

PUSH Buffalo is cruising to completion on its second cooperative house on the West Side, this time at 129 Chenango Street. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new house is happening next Saturday, April 5 at noon. Be sure to check it out.

The roughly $140k it cost to renovate the long abandoned house was money well spent. The house is now environmentally friendly, with high-rated “super” insulation, bamboo (read “renewable source”) floors, on-demand water heaters, radiant floor heating and Energy Star windows. In keeping with PUSH’s mission of community empowerment, the work was done entirely by neighborhood locals. Says PUSH executive director Aaron Bartley, “We like to find people who need work, give them basic skills and move our projects forward with their help.”

PUSH is currently receiving applications for tenancy. Part of living there will mean participating in the federal First Home Club home-buying program. Under this program, co-op tenants pay below-market rent to PUSH, who each month places $75 of it into an escrow account. M&T Bank then matches the money on a 4-to-1 basis for the first 18 months, at which point they’ve put away considerable cash towards buying a house ($6,750 plus interest). Tenants are obliged to buy a house then, and finance it through M&T.

Saturday, April 5 @ noon. New PUSH house (129 Chenango St.) Free.

Last summer, we wrote about the ongoing work at 129 Chenango, and PUSH’s program to empower would-be low income home buyers.

At any rate, getting back to Paris, which is what I should be blogging about, here is a nifty idea they have in practice: All over the city there are loads of bicycle racks filled with city-owned bikes. One just puts in a credit card or a couple coins and takes a bike. It can be returned to any other rack around town near where you’ve traveled to.