AV street correspondent John Duke send in this story:

The Express Mart on the corner of Colvin and Highland Streets in the Town of Tonawanda is just a little bit different from the everyday gas station.  You can stop in for unusual items, from a hot Sicilian wrap to a Jones Pure Cane Soda (subtitled “M. F. n Grape”) to a venison snack.

Bob McDonald

Behind the counter you’ll find Bob McDonald, who also isn’t usual. Recently, a customer who was having one of those days, coasted in on fumes and without his wallet, but with a roll of dimes in the glove compartment.

Before the customer could ask, Bob said, “We take change,” and watched as the customer put five dollars of gas in the tank and then began struggling with the keys in the ignition. Bob put a small wrench on the counter as the customer returned to the store.  The customer said, “I can’t turn my keys in the ignition,” and Bob replied, “You need to get leverage,” motioning towards the wrench.

The customer took the wrench, started the car, and was all smiles as he pulled away.

“How’d ya know?” another customer asked Bob.

“I watch people, I see it all the time. He’ll be right back.”

“How do you know that?”

“They always come right back after you help them,” Bob said. “They always take off with my wrench, and I haven’t lost a wrench yet.”

County Executive Chris Collins’s proposal to build a new lockup at 120-134 W. Eagle Street is not a new idea, according to this 1998 Buffalo News Article.

The original section of the Erie County Holding Center was designed by renowned architect E.B. Green, who also designed the Albright Knox Art Gallery, the First Presbyterian Church and the Market Arcade, among other area landmarks.

The article identifies the separate, W. Eagle Street building, which currently houses the Erie County Board of Elections, as a “contributing structure” to the Joseph Ellicott Historical District.

Green also designed Buffalo’s War Memorial Auditorium, which was demolished this year and is soon to be commemorated as a coffee table book. A Bass Pro store may or may not take its place.

The Buffalo International Film Festival 2009 kicks off this Friday, October 9th.  Artvoice and BIFF will be giving out tickets throughout the month-long festival. We’ve got a pair of tickets for each event, and in addition we’ll have some extras for opening night featuring Charlie Chaplin’s Lost Outtakes and for the Saturday October 17th Ray Bradbury It Came From Outer Space matinee.

For more information and to register for your chance to win, visit our BIFF page.  Winners will be selected at random – we’ll notify you via e-mail and have your tickets waiting at will-call.  Registering once makes you eligible to win a pair of tickets to any of the BIFF’s events.  Good luck!

Visit the BIFF2009 website to see the entire schedule of events.

Yuichiro Yamada

Everyone in this community has some opinion on our local businesses. Some of us do everything in our power to support them. To these people, local businesses might as well be a part of the family. So for these people, Yuichiro Yamada, a documentary filmmaker and graduate student at UB, made two documentaries to follow the life and times of these businesses that color our streets, speak up in our communities and act as the familiar placeholders in our routines about the city.

Just Browsing takes a look at our local bookstores such as Talking Leaves, Rust Belt Books and Second Reader, and how they do business as a small, endangered enclave of independent booksellers. Yamada’s other feature, Irreplaceable, was shot during the last days of New World Records and focuses on the loss to the Buffalo community caused by its closing.  A loss that some may argue was like…well, losing one of the family.

They will be screened to the public as a part of collaboration between Hallwalls and Talking Leaves at Hallwalls Cinema, after which Yamada will be on hand to answer questions. Wednesday, September 30, 7-9pm. Hallwalls Cinema @ Babeville, 341 Delaware Avenue.

Yamada’s work focuses on local and independent businesses as members of the city landscape and how they are impacted by events in the city, the economy and the country. His films focus on these businesses both here in the US and in his native Japan.

Yamada couldn’t have picked a better place to film these documentaries seeing  as how the landscape of Buffalo’s independent businesses is a sore spot for some, a pride and joy for others, but certainly a point of discussion for everyone.

—ann marie awad

In response to our (clearly satirical) “Sponsor a Buffalonian” feature in this week’s paper, we received this very real solicitation for sponsorship from a real live Buffalonian. Contact editorial@artvoice.com if you’d like to make a donation, or of you’d like to solicit sponsorship for yourself.

Nicole

Name: Nicole

Age: 27

Home: Allentown

Lives off: Commission and tips

This is Nicole. She has her Masters Degree in Museum Studies and is currently working as a waitress. She is single and has no children.

What Your Donation Means: Nicole is suffering from a very sad wardrobe as well as not being able to pay her bills. If you donate a few bucks to her, she would be willing to perform a fashion show of  new clothes for your benefit.

If you couldn’t get into your usual parking space at the Buffalo Club this morning, blame it on UB President John Simpson, who held his annual community address across the street at Babeville. I think I was the only sucker who put a quarter in a meter on the street. And I’m lucky I had a quarter, because the automated kiosk on Delaware Avenue was broken and wouldn’t accept credit or debit cards.

This year’s speech, “Buffalo-Niagara at a Crossroads,” riffs on themes borrowed from bluesman Robert Johnson and poet Robert Frost.

Teddy Roosevelt also received major props in the address, as Simpson reminded us, “If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk big; we must act big.” As in UB2020, get it?

Simpson also borrowed Roosevelt’s warning to skeptics: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Dust and sweat and blood, people. You can’t make this stuff up. He even threw in a reference to the Russians and Sputnik. But don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself by clicking here.

And for the heck of it, I’ll offer another Teddy Roosevelt quote, for your edification: “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”

AV street correspondent John Duke sent in this photo of fans Kate Feroleto and her cousin Leah Feroleto with Keanu Reeves. Reeves was in town yesterday to get a feel for Buffalo’s City Court building, where filming for Henry’s Crime will take place.

Congratulations to Buffalo Niagara Film Commissioner Tim Clark for bringing the production to Buffalo. “It goes back to Keanu himself, who has very fond memories of Buffalo,” Clark said. “He grew up nearby Toronto and is pretty much insisting that this project be written for Buffalo.”

Reeves plans to winter in Buffalo. Anyone else got any Keanu sightings to share?

AV street correspondent John Duke sent in this invitation to come see two of his favorite local musicians:

Steve Balesteri and David Nolf

There are people that barbecue and then there are “Barbecue People.” Some of WNY’s best barbecue talent will be showcasing their ability to produce succulent, slow smoked ribs at Dunn Tire Raceway’s First Annual Rib Bash on Saturday, September 12, from 11am til dark. Lancaster’s Dunn Tire Raceway has a full bar, live entertainment, and fun for the whole family.  Join 103.3’s Shredd and Ragan for Summer’s Last Barbeque! Frontman Steve Balesteri along with David Nolf bring their bands to Dunn Tire Raceway Park for an end of Summer Gig to resist the Fall. This is a free event.

Nolf’s last big gig was opening for America at Artpark, so this show is instant karma: September 12 is the birthday of  Gerry Beckley, founding member of America. Balesteri promises to roll out a couple of the band’s new songs to mark the occasion.

While writing today’s story about next week’s Democratic primary, I noticed that in the 2005 Democratic primary for mayor, 2,420 ballots out of 30,308 were discarded for being “blank,” “void,” and “scattering.” That’s nearly 8% of the vote. In the 2001 Democratic mayoral primary, the number of discounted ballots was 3,920 out of 32,888—almost 12%.

In Albany’s 2005 Democratic primary for mayor, 366 votes out of 15,330 cast were discarded as blank, void, or scattering. That’s just 2%.

I understand that in 2005, there were seven primaries in Buffalo: Four County Legislature seats were up for grabs, as well as the South District Common Council seat, plus the city and county comptroller’s offices. More races yield more ballots with blank lines. But that was true in Albany in 2005, as well: There were 11 primary races in Albany in 2005, but still only 366 bad ballots in the mayor’s race, which is generally the marquee event in any municipal election—the least likely to be left blank.

I checked Rochester’s 2005 Democratic primary for mayor, and found that exactly one scattering vote out of 21,200 cast was discounted.

Maybe 8% is par for the course here. Does anybody out there know?

You’ve heard what Michael Gainer has to say about being fired from Buffalo ReUse, the organization he co-founded and led. You’ve read statements by the board and Harvey Garrett, the interim executive director who let him go. And you’ve learned that some members have called a special meeting at which they intend to oust the current board and reinstate Gainer.

Now the money guys are putting in their two cents.

This afternoon, Robert Gioia, who is, among other things, president of the Oishei Foundation, sent out this statement via email:

The Oishei Foundation made an initial operating grant to Buffalo ReUse of $200,000 about two years ago. For about the past 10 months, on learning of a number of issues, the Oishei Foundation has been actively working on and financing a reorganization of the structure and operations of Buffalo ReUse. All of these organizational issues arose subsequent to the grant being made.

In addition to many hours of staff time of the vice president and the senior program officer, the Foundation has underwritten the costs, which now exceed $15,000, of addressing serious legal and financial compliance issues with the services of CCS-NYS (now known as New York Council on Nonprofits). In addition to the organizational and board training work that NYCON did, the Foundation separately hired their executive director, Doug Sauer, to provide executive coaching and mentoring to Michael Gainer.

Because of the seriousness of the issues involved, and the toxic stalemate that had developed between staff leadership and the board at that time, the Foundation requested that the board of Buffalo ReUse bring in an outside administrator on an interim basis to oversee the implementation of the legal and financial corrections that were required, and to establish new controls and systems for the organization going forward. Harvey Garrett was brought in as that interim administrator, and Stephanie Simeon was elected president of the board.

Since Stephanie and Harvey have begun working on BRU’s issues, a great deal has been accomplished. While still not in complete financial compliance, the majority of the financial issues have been resolved. New controls have been put into place regarding expenditures and reporting. The remaining issues should be resolved shortly. The legal issues having to do with the incorporation and early activities of BRU have been resolved. Several new board members were recruited from an open call and formal interview process (in which the Foundation had no role at all), including three that had been recommended by BRU staff. Indications were that BRU was stabilizing, and that it would emerge from its crisis intact and in position to move forward rapidly.

It was because of this concrete improvement that the Foundation agreed to release a $50,000 payment of grant funds to BRU. It was also the basis on which BRU was recommended by the Foundation to the owner of a building as an ideal candidate to receive the potential donation of the building. After several conversations between the parties, it was decided to go forward in the due diligence process. The Oishei Foundation has offered to pay for legal counsel through the initial phases, which is currently estimated to be about $10 – 12,000 over the next few months.

We recently were informed by the chairperson of the board of new, previously unrevealed and serious developments dating back more than several months. Our understanding is that action on these developments is being undertaken by the board. We are now aware of the contemplated action by some of the members of BRU to remove the board, reinstate Michael Gainer as the executive director, and presumably have staff and members select a new board.

In our view, such action would seriously set back the possibilities for BRU to move forward, and negate all the work and effort that has taken place to rectify what was, by all public accounts, a very badly managed organization under the previous leadership. We have provided extraordinary support to Michael Gainer via BRU and in other ways, and we believe he may still have a role to play at BRU. However, should such action by a subset of members take place and successfully reinstate Mr. Gainer as the CEO, the Oishei Foundation would seriously reevaluate our current and any future relationship with BRU.

We firmly believe BRU is now poised to become a truly great non-profit serving a need and a population desperately needing to be served in Buffalo. We believe that the current chairperson and the nominated (and currently serving) board members — which, again, the Foundation had no role in recruiting or selecting — are well-chosen and capable. Finally, we believe that this leadership team, particularly Ms. Simeon and Mr. Garrett in his interim role, has clearly demonstrated extraordinary competence operating under tremendous pressure. They have our complete support.