Chippewa in transition after under-21 ban

By Fran McCann
Bengal News West Reporter

Chippewa Street, also known as the nightlife district, has about 13 bars and restaurants that welcome thousands of people every week. The area has built its reputation as the hot spot for many people to gather, but many people see it heading in a different direction.

Since the under-21 ban in October 2012 because of underage crimes on Chippewa Street, the district has been trying to find another image. 

            Real estate developer Adam March, who owns The Lodge and buildings 67-79 W. Chippewa St., was one of the lead activists to protest the under-21 ban.

He, along with bar owner Daniel Valentine and University at Buffalo student Colin Miller, filed a lawsuit in late January 2013 against Mayor Byron Brown, Common Councilmembers, Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda and James Comerford Jr., commissioner of permits and inspections. They argued the ban hurt their right to earn a living and restricted their business. 

            “The lawsuit is at a pause right now,” March said. “It went through its initial run but we weren’t seeing any results.”

March said he believes the ban isn’t because of violence by people under 21, but instead because of a lack of police control over the crowd.

            “On any given night we would have 8-10,000 people in our bar and I don’t think the police wanted to deal with the crowds anymore,” he said. “Things will happen when people drink, but in our bar’s existence we have never had one crime occur other than an occasional scuffle. There were never any injuries and we handled the customers very professionally.”

            Thomas Cowan, owner of City Tavern bar at 51 W. Chippewa St.,  said he thinks the ban was a good thing for the street and city as a whole.

            “The bars that participated in the 18-and-up had a good thing going,” he said. “They created a fun and safe place for college kids to go and dance, but then again Chippewa is an entertainment district that was designed for the 21-and-up patrons.” 

Andrew Rechin, head of Security at Bottoms Up, 69 W. Chippewa St.,on what his job involves:

 

            Cowan said the ban has affected businesses in the area, and “Thursday nights have become a lot quieter.” He said he could see the area slowly starting to go in a different direction.

            “I think the ban was a positive step to rebuilding the entertainment district and in time the street will be back,” he said. “I think we will be more of a restaurant row in the next few years rather than a late night dance club street.”

            With Chippewa starting to rebuild its image as more of a restaurant scene, some might wonder what will happen to the nightlife. March said even though he believes the ban to be “unfair,” he is reinventing his investments. 

            “We’re in the process of investing in restaurants,” March said. “We have the idea of a high-end Japanese restaurant and we’re confident that it, along with whatever other ideas we have, will do well.”

Amodeo peddles pasta in family business

By Fran McCann
Bengal News West Reporter

The Pasta Peddler, which operates at Horsefeathers Market, sells a variety of pastas, sauces and many other products. 

The Pasta Peddler started in 1994 making gift baskets. In 1999 Mike Sedia bought the business but a few years later he was ready to sell.  A young man who was engaged to Sedia’s daughter decided to take a stab at the business, and in 2003 Eric Amodeo became the co-owner  of the Pasta Peddler.

When Amodeo hopped on board with the business, it was very difficult for him to figure out how to operate things.  He not only had to understand how to sell the pasta, but he also had to figure out how to make it.

“The first pasta I made was absolutely terrible,” Amodeo said. “The old way we used to make the pasta was with counter top machines and it required us to work the dough a lot more, which resulted in not a very good product.”


Eric Amodeo, on the machine behind The Pasta Peddler:

When Amodeo helped take over the business, his initial plans were to only concentrate on it during the summer. Working from his basement in the double he and his wife lived in, Amodeo, with the help of father-in-law Sedia, was selling product to the Lexington Cooperative and the Elmwood-Bidwell farmers market. In 2004 Amodeo’s wife, Andrea, decided to join her business, Blackbird Sweets, and try and help grow the business.

 As demand grew bigger, Amodeo soon realized the business was taking off and it was time to move into a bigger location. In March 2013, The Pasta Peddler moved into the Horsefeathers building  at 346 Connecticut St. Amodeo, his wife, and father-in-law worked together to maintain the business and keep its reputation  up. 

Although the business is doing well, the economic downfall in 2008 forced the Pasta Peddler to change its prices.

“During that time the price of wheat quadrupled,” Amodeo said. “We were forced to raise prices but since that time, our prices have not gone up.”

The Pasta Peddler sells a variety of gourmet pastas in individual 10-ounce packets, starting at $3.75.  Depending on the size of the order, the Pasta Peddler offers a discount and also a 10 percent discount for students with a valid I.D. card.

Blackbird Sweets also works with the Pasta Peddler selling baked goods. 

Joe Kirchmyer, a West Seneca resident and longtime customer of the Pasta Peddler, was never a huge fan of pasta until he came across the business.

“The ravioli is out of this world,” Kirchmyer said. “The freshness and flavor is so different and way better than something you would buy at Wegmans or Tops.”

Kirchmyer said people should consider buying local and keep the money in the community. He guarantees the food to be fresh and says it is great to “support the little guy.”

This upcoming spring to fall, you will find the Pasta Peddler at various farmers markets. Starting this spring, it will be at the Hamburg, Elmwood-Bidwell, East Aurora and Williamsville Farmers Markets.

Regular farmers market-goer Margaret Lalley is a supporter of local food businesses. During the summer, she finds herself going to a market at least once a week.

“I love the Pasta Peddler’s pasta and sauce,” Lalley said. “When you buy local and freshly made, you definitely pay a little more. In the end, I believe the quality is definitely worth paying a little bit more.” 

The demand for the Pasta Peddler is growing,  and Amodeo is looking into the future.

“Right now we’re in talks with a business called Mercado,” Amodeo said. “It’s a large-scale community market and we’re looking to add a location with them in the next 12 months.”

$3 million medical office planned for W.S.

By Angelica Rodriguez and Brandon Waz
Bengal News West reporters

            A new medical facility on the West Side is set for construction in mid-April, provided that tax credit approval will be gained toward the end of this month.

            The Greater Buffalo United Accountable Healthcare Network (GBUAHN), a free service through Medicaid located at 393 Delaware Ave., is investing $3 million in the facility, which will be built on a vacant lot on 7th Street, between Jersey and Pennsylvania streets. It will be placed just behind the Urban Family Practice on Niagara Street.

            The building will help expand GBUAHN’s primary care functions and provide a central location for the eight-practice collaborative. A 28,500-square-foot building, it will contain  offices for primary care, a behavioral wellness center, a nutrition and diabetes treatment center and a conference center. It already provides care for 1,500 Medicaid patients in the health home program and hopes to attract more from other parts of the city.

          

Dr. Raul Vazquez, on the 7th Street medical facility:

             Dr. Raul Vazquez,  based at Urban Family Practice and president-CEO of GBUAHN, said that the collective is moving forward with full support from the community at this point despite some misgivings.

            “There was a little misunderstanding in the beginning, because they thought we were going to have  a detox program at the facility, and that’s not what we do here at GBUAHN,” he said. “(We want to) expand primary and behavioral care, so once they found that out, they were all in agreement.”

            With that issue resolved, the facility just has to clear one more hurdle in the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, which GBUAHN is depending on for tax credits. Dr. Vazquez said the project will move forward if the ECIDA approves tax credits at its meeting this month.

            The facility will provide accessible health care for everyone in the vicinity while also creating job opportunities for those living on the West Side. Dr. Vazquez said the project will likely create over the originally projected 75-100 jobs, and, noting the area’s diversity, added that one of the collective’s goals is to engage  "people who look like the community."

            “In our offices, we have people from Somalia, Arabs, Puerto Ricans, African Americans… we want to serve all of that community,” he said.

            GBUAHN office manager Jillian Deuble stressed that above all, the new building would facilitate more of a community effort and that the West Side is the perfect location.

            “It’s so close to where our office already is, but that is the community where it is hard to get around,” she said. “A lot of people there do take the bus, and there is very limited opportunity – if there is one, it’s not a very sustainable opportunity.”

            Mayor Byron Brown was on hand at a recent announcement GBUAHN's partnership with Rite Aid, called Rite Aid Health Alliance. The partnership links local physicians to Rite Aid professionals in working with patients various health conditions to set goals and improve self-management abilities. Buffalo is the third market to engage in the Health Alliance, and there are 10 stores within the city limits. Three of them – Niagara Street, West Ferry Street and Connecticut Street – are on the West Side. 

            Brown welcomed the idea of economic development and expansion in the city, as well as expanding much-needed health care to residents who cannot always access it.

            “I think it’s also important that medical practices located in the city of Buffalo grow and expand to provide more and new and better health care services to the residents of this community,” he said.

            “The physicians at GBUAHN have been doing that for a long time, they know how to do it well, and this unique partnership of physicians in an integrated health facility on the West Side of Buffalo is something that I think is very much needed.”

 

Press Raw Food plans to open on Grant St.

By Sean Dwyer and Youleidy Vega
Bengal News West Reporters
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After months of planning, Press Raw Foods & Juice is almost ready to open its doors to health food lovers on Grant Street.  Since moving from Horsefeathers Market on Connecticut Street, owner Esther Pica is excited to officially put down her roots on the West Side. 

Once open, Press will provide all organic raw food and products, including ready to order juices and smoothies. In addition, Pica also anticipates doing home deliveries for people who are taking part in cleanses. 

“Great thing about this place is that we have retail space so we can sell the ingredients to people to go home and experiment,” said Pica.   “Because the only license we could get without having to change the use of the building is food retail, everything is packaged to go.” 

Pica has called Buffalo home since 2011.  However, she freely admits the choice to make the move from New York City to open a juice bar occurred entirely by accident.  

Pica, on her transition from New York City to Buffalo: 

“The market in New York was oversaturated with juice bars, so I was looking for a college town with a warm climate,” said Pica.  “I started looking for a house based on zip codes.   But I had mistakenly transposed two of the numbers.  So, when I thought I was looking at a house in Georgia, in actuality, I was looking at houses in Buffalo.” 

Due to the cheap prices, Pica decided to buy a house in Buffalo originally as an investment.  Later, she started doing research and was encouraged by businesses like Prish Moran’s Sweetness_7 to look into opening her juice bar nearby. 

Sara Ali, is a SUNY Buffalo State  student who has written for Human Athletics  about the benefits juicing can have on the body and understands the important role a juice bar can have on the health of community. 

“Fresh juice is loaded with nutrients, vitamins and minerals,” Ali said.  “You can satisfy your body’s need for the essentials with (a) day of juicing.”

According to Ali, juicing can play an important role in the body’s ability to heal itself and is a key part of the Gerson method, which is a natural treatment that requires the intake of large quantities of raw juice. 

“By juicing fruits and vegetables, you remove the insoluble fiber which the digestive enzymes are locked away in,” said Ali.  “Juicing allows you to access those enzymes you normally cannot by eating the produce.”

Beyond providing products that are good for the body, Pica’s new building, located at 197 Grant St., also strives to be good for the environment. 

“This building is a green renovation,” said Pica. “It’s got geothermal heat and there are sun panels on the roof. We are marketing everything in as green of a way as possible.”

Pica boasts that all plastic products she uses are cornstarch based and biodegradable and has a goal to create as little waste as possible. 

“All the produce that we have is going to be merchandised,” said Pica. “With there being a lot of young families in the neighborhood, they won’t have to go all the way to Elmwood to get an organic banana.” 

Abaca Press, which is located at 9 Lafayette Ave., is owned and operated by Peter Sowiski. He agrees that providing families in the nearby area with more options, beyond shops on Elmwood Avenue, is positive for the entire West Side community. 

 “Obviously, when this happens it creates a spill over that benefits the whole neighborhood,”   Sowiski said

Pica anticipates  having a soft open before the New Year.   Once her shop is open, Pica plans on advertising coupons and sample opportunities on her shop’s Facebook page.  

Despite the delays, Pica is in no rush as she plans on being here for the long-haul.

“I love Grant Street,” said Pica. “My heart belongs to Grant Street and my house is right around the corner.” 

Small businesses offer shopping alternative

By Michael Loffredo
Bengal News West Reporter

Oh the holiday shopping season is upon us.

Long lines at the most popular stores.

Great deals that even Santa couldn’t make up.

The most popular products fly off the shelves and your wallet takes a hit.

What if there was a way to shop in a quiet, elegant, unique store without all of the hustle and bustle? —Oh wait, there is!

The boutique crawl is just one of the events throughout the year that helps the many small businesses of the Elmwood Village thrive.

The boutique crawl has “helped promote the Elmwood Village as a premier stop for holiday shopping,” said Carly Battin, executive organizer for the event.  “The crawl gives customers a better shopping experience and helps them get away from the big name stores. Through the event, each and every participant is helping small business success in Buffalo.”

            The third annual Elmwood Boutique Crawl is set to take place on Nov. 29 and stretches across the entire Elmwood Village. Four stores in particular appreciate all of the support they receive from Elmwood Village consumers as the holidays create a nice little buzz in the area.

Joe Maniaci, owner of Allentown Music, on shopping locally:

            “People are finally getting a hang of shopping locally,” said Stephanie Robb, owner of Turnstyle Designs located on Ashland Avenue in Buffalo.   “Customers that shop locally are keeping their dollar within the vicinities.”

            Robb also owns Wild Things Boutique, which is located on Lexington Avenue,  not far from Turnstyle. In Wild Things, Robb houses numerous amounts of jewelry designed by local artists.

            Robb’s philosophy of small business is pretty much every owner’s opinion throughout the village. These boutiques may only see 20 customers a week, but there is a reason why these customers choose these small boutiques instead of Macy’s or other big box stores; they are guaranteed to have something that you’ll fall in love with. 

            “Turnstyles has things that others don’t have,” said customer Jackie Blanco. “I know no one else will have it.”

            That is the exact point that Elmwood Village vendors are trying to draw. The service and products in these small stores and boutiques are nearly impossible to come by at a mall or a big name brand store.

            Siobhan Taylor, owner of Ms. Eye Candy Boutique, located on West Utica Street, carries designs from artists from the West Coast. She caters to customers between 20 and 50 years old and believes that small businesses are a great place to shop.

Siobhan Taylor, owner of Ms. Eye Candy Boutique

            “Being a resident of Allentown I have always committed to shopping in the Elmwood Village,” said Taylor. “It is nice to get different things as well as help other peoples businesses. We have a cool little area.”

            Taylor puts the nail in the coffin when defining small business.  
            “Yes, you don’t hear the name first like most do when it comes to a store in the mall, but once you visit and shop in boutiques, you get a different feel. You get to help a community and you get to own something unique in style,” said Taylor.

            Many stores in the village  highlight the Queen City in posters, postcards, clothing of all different kinds, and replicas.

            Joe Cascio,  owner of PosterArt USA located on the corner of Elmwood Avenue and Bird Avenue, believes that small business is great and defines the Elmwood Village.

            “Small business means a lot to this city,” said Cascio. “These businesses are very important to this city’s growth.”

            PosterArt carries the famous Buffalo sports teams t-shirt designs, the “Fred-Ex” shirt, for example, which is designed after Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson and can only be found online. Cascio compiles all of what Buffalo has to offer into one store.

            Making your way through the Elmwood Village, the storefronts are mostly clean with a classic design. Not at Allentown Music. In this storefront, located on Elmwood Avenue near Forest Avenue, old guitars screwed onto the facade are one of the many things that catch the average passerby’s eye.

           

Joe Maniaci, owner of Allentown Music

Joe Maniaci, owner of Allentown Music believes in small business and the Elmwood Village in a whole.

            “Elmwood’s small business owners are all people just like myself. People are just trying to make a living,” said Maniaci. “It is just that personal touch within the village that you wont get anywhere else. Small businesses help give a unique experience that you will never forget.

            With small business Saturday coming up following Thanksgiving, all of these featured shops and boutiques, as well as many other shops in the Elmwood village, are expecting higher numbers, more foot traffic, and a lot of sales.

            “About 40 percent of our year is done during the holiday shopping season,” said Robb.

Evolation Yoga aims to relax the West Side

By Sade Mckenzie and Shytisha Taylor
Bengal News West Reporters

As the vibration of mellow tunes flow throughout the body and citrus-flavored incense  fills the hot, humidified room, one can’t help but to feel relaxed by the calmness of one’s mind. 

Evolation Yoga made its first appearance on the Elmwood strip in 2009 as a Bikram Yoga, also known as hot yoga studio. Since then it has become a transnational meeting ground for diverse individuals sharing a common passion for yoga.

  Alicia Kirkendall

 Bikram Yogawas created by Bikram Choudhury. It is a 26-posture exercise conducted in a 105 degree room. Each individual posture works collectively to create muscle flexibility, constant blood flow and a clearer mind.

The studio has  expanded, offering a variety of classes for students including a beginners  yoga class conducted in a less heated room, a faster-paced yoga class also known as “flow” and Bikram Yoga for advanced students. These classes focus on controlling the outer body through inner stillness.

Alicia Kirkendall has been a yoga instructor at Evolation for two years and says that yoga has helped her to exude positivity and embrace self-reflection and meditation.

            “What are you doing for everybody? You’re just sitting there meditating but without that inner stillness what would you be projecting otherwise? Chaos or anger? There are so many feelings that people feel, that they don’t realize they can put off to others,” Kirkendall said. 

 In addition to the advantages that yoga has for the mind, practicing yoga in a heated room helps to sweat out toxins held within the glands and organs of the body. The heat also helps to soften the muscles, allowing students to easily adjust to the various postures without messing up their body alignment.

“With the heat, it increases the circulation of your blood so it gets everything moving around faster,” Kirkendall said.

Kelly Trip, a Yoga Flow instructor at Evolation calls it fun. She teaches yoga to her employees at her corporate job for 50 minutes during her lunch break and calls it “corporate yoga.”

“It’s really about connecting the postures in a fluid way,” Trip said.

Yoga also allows students to connect with each other. Students contribute to the self-healing process of people around them. They work together by feeding off of each other’s energy and motivating one another. 

“It’s amazing having everyone come together into one room and work hard to better themselves,” Kirkendall said.

Instructors at Evolation Yoga continue to build a larger yoga community by teaching their techniques to students and teachers nationally and internationally. They conduct a series of training workshops in California, Florida, Costa Rica and Spain, and have helped open Evolation Yoga studios in Florida, Atlanta, Costa Rica and Columbia.

“We all help each other,” Kirkendall said. “It’s a good network of teachers and guidance. It’s a well-rounded training.”

They have  training workshops in California and Hawaii in March 2014, and later in London, Paris and Amsterdam.

 “Yoga is a great getaway from a hectic life,” said Lasasha Oyo, student at SUNY Buffalo State.

Oyo has participated in yoga classes at Evolation for the past year and calls it a spiritual journey.

The West Side offers many other yoga studios that contribute to the community and present a different focus other than hot yoga. With all of the different types of classes available, an individual can find a style specific to what he or she  wishes to accomplish.

Erin Cook, owner of Head to Heart Yoga,  says that it is never too late to begin yoga. She believes that there are various styles and levels to suit anyone’s liking.

“There are many kids yoga classes offered around the world and people practice yoga well into their 80s and even 90s,” Cook said.  

Two West Side shops sell throwback theme

By Caitlin Kupiec and James McDonald
Bengal News West Reporters

Kindles, iPods, eBooks, and iPads are all things that don’t scare the owners of Black Dots and West Side Stories.

Black Dots, at 223 Lafayette Ave., is an independently run record store that opened last June on the West Side and a few doors down  is the used book store, Westside Stories at 205 Grant St.

Black Dots specializes in selling vinyl records and carries various genres including rock, metal, punk, hardcore, hip hop, and pop albums.

Owner Joshua Smith said business was slow at first, but it has been picking up lately. His friend owned the building that Black Dots is located in, which is initially why he chose the storefront.  But said he likes what is happening on Grant Street and all of the resurgence businesses and shops on the West Side.

Joshua Smith, on vinyl:

Smith admits that he thinks downloading is very convenient. According to him, it’s nice to have all of your music in your pocket and being able to download instantly, but there is an experience that music listeners miss when they just download. 

“It’s just a different experience I guess,” Smith said. “It’s the difference between watching a movie on your phone and actually going out and going to see a movie, or play. It’s a different form of entertainment. It’s a different experience, a more tangible thing.”

Eric Bifaro, who owns a print shop in the same building as Black Dots, thinks that downloading is always going to be popular, but he believes people are starting to realize that they are missing out on the experience of downloading that Smith pointed out as well.

“I think for a number of years, people got away from (buying records) because of the ease of downloading,” Bifaro said. “But people are now seeing that they are losing something in not having the tangible album."

According to Smith, a lot of people still collect records. It’s a hobby and a part of music culture for some people. He said customers will come over from Canada or the Rochester area just to check out the store and see what he has in stock.

 “That’s the thing about record collectors,” Smith said. “Wherever you go, if you are traveling around, you are going to want to search out the best place to find records.”

Westside  Stories has been open for a little over two years, and like Smith, owner Jeanenne Petri has noticed the more time that passes, the more customers find their way into her small but quaint store, filled with stacks of used books from floor to ceiling. 

Jeanenne Petri, on traditional books:

Petri said she loves being located on the West Side, and that she thinks it’s a special place with lots of diversity. According to Petri, a used bookstore is beneficial to the neighborhood’s reputation.

 “I think having a bookstore is something that adds a lot of value to the neighborhood,” Petri said.

With the new innovations of Kindles and eBooks popping up, Petri feels that there is still room for both in the media world. She likes to download books on her iPad and said she thinks downloading is convenient and easier for travelling. But she still thinks that owning a physical book is something that holds a greater meaning.

“A book is something that you can pass on physically to someone else,” Petri said. “And that’s something I think has a lot of value still.”

Petri owns a record player and has wandered down to check out Smith’s inventory.

“I love the fact that there is a record store opening in this day and age,” Petri said. “That makes me feel better about owning a book store.”