Welcome to Broadway-Fillmore Alive! Our mission is to work together with community
groups, businesses, residents, churches and other organizations to help
promote, preserve and revitalize the Broadway-Fillmore area.
Sister Mary Johnice Rzadkiewicz and John Reed share a laugh over a singing moose during Christmas dinner in the Response to Love Center on Kosciuszko Street. - Derek Gee / Buffalo News
Twenty-six years ago, when Sister Mary Johnice Rzadkiewicz was studying at a Philadelphia seminary, Mother Teresa came to town, and the two women sat at the same lunch table.
“Mother, do you think I could come to Calcutta?” Sister Mary Johnice asked. “I want to learn how to work with the poor.”
“She looked at me and said, ‘Little sister, go back to your neighborhood. Find your Calcutta there.’”
(By Bernice Radle – Buffalo Rising) Have you ever been to, or heard of, the R&L Lounge on Buffalo’s East Side? Do you have any idea what the East Side of Buffalo once held, as far as small businesses, community centers, tight-knit neighborhoods? Have you read the “Last Fine Time” by Verlyn Klinkenborg?
Kolędy Night will feature Polka music by the New Direction Band and traditional Polish and American Christmas sing-a-longs featuring the Saint John Kanty Choir and the Response to Love Center Trio made up of Sisters Johnice, Catherine and Rose.
A special guest appearance will be made by Dave Gawronski.
Kolędy Night takes place at Potts Banquet Hall, 694 S. Ogden St., Buffalo. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and admission is $10.
Music will be from 7 to 11 p.m. with the Kolędy sing-a-long at 7:30 p.m. A buffet dinner for just $6.95 per person will be served from 6 to 7 p.m. There will also be special raffles and door prizes.
To make a table reservation call Sister Johnice at 894-7030 or Danny Potts at 826-6575.
As sometimes happens in my BFA world, I forgot to grab my video camera for the public meeting regarding the post office. I did have however have my audio recorder with me.
The above audio is of Buffalo’s Postmaster, John Phelan. He lays out the problems facing the United States Postal Service and why the Broadway-Fillmore Station is under review to determine if it should close.
About twenty people were at the meeting. I spoke along with other people from the neighborhood.
The reoccurring message most of the public sent is how important the post office is to the community and the business district.
This is a very old community. Most residents rely on public transportation. Being a less desirable neighborhood, mostly low-income people live here. Like most communities, we deal with criminals who prey on the weak and elderly. The post office tells us to use the main office on William Street, which is not a practical solution. It would take two buses and $3.50 bus fare for me to check on my mail in my post office box. And even that location is part of planned closings.
Many of our older residents remember the Great Depression and don’t trust banks. Having a post office box allows them to receive their check, in their hands, instead of direct deposit in a bank. They purchase money orders to pay their bills and mail them—all at the post office. They don’t have to worry about their check being stolen from their mailbox on the house.
The post office should also take into consideration its carriers, who slog through unshoveled sidewalks and past vacant buildings, drug dealers and aggressive dogs. The more mail being put into the post office boxes, the less likely a carrier will be injured in a fall or endangered in some other way.
I appreciate the dilemma the post office is in, but the potential damage to our community is much too great to allow the Broadway Fillmore Station to close.
When I had the opportunity to speak, I spoke of how the decision to close the post office can’t solely be based dollars and cents (the Broadway-Fillmore Station isn’t losing money by the way) and that the intangible benefits to the neighborhood and business district need to be taken into consideration. A post office being open means a lot to a neighborhood like Broadway-Fillmore which has seen its share of decline over the years. Closing it works against its residents, people, organizations and businesses working hard to change things in the neighborhood.
I encourage you to give your input and ask the USPS not close the Broadway-Fillmore Station by writing to:
Facility Optimization Coordinator
United States Postal Service
1200 William St. Rm 205
Buffalo, NY 14240-9345
November 30th, 2011 | by Christopher Byrd | 0 Comments
Home for the Holidays is especially meaningful this year for 48 chronically homeless individuals. For the first time in years, they have a home thanks to our Housing First Program. To make this year’s holiday extra special for them, we asking the community for gift donations. Suggested gifts include men’s & women’s scarfs, sweaters, gloves (all sizes), wall clocks, movie tickets, puzzles, games, lotions for women, grooming kits for men. Unwrapped gifts can be dropped off at the Hope Center M-F 11 am – 4:30 pm, or contact Karen Carman at 716-893-7222 x301 to make other arrangements. Thank you for your continued support!
Please condsider donating…
November 29th, 2011 | by Around the Web | 0 Comments
We are having a program for Young Adults at the Adam Mickiewicz Library about Polish folktales/legends. Young Adults aged twelve and up are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be provided.
Caught this interesting bit in the AM-POL Eagle about Buffalo Common Council President and Fillmore District Council rep, David Franczyk in relation to County Executive-Elect, Mark Poloncarz :
Getting back to the new county executive, one of the first things the council president would like Poloncarz to do is reopen the Dr. Matthew Gajewski Health Clinic at 1500 Broadway.
You can run government in a business like manner, but you can’t run government like a business as Chris Collins promised, Franczyk said. Private businesses exist to make a profit. Government exists to provide services to people. If you take the people’s money in taxes and then put it in a bank account like a business would do rather than cutting taxes or providing services to people, voters are not going to be happy. The Matthew Gajewski Clinic was named after a great Polish-American humanitarian. It wasn’t costing the county anything, since all of its expenses were reimbursable by the state. It should be reopened to serve the health needs of the surrounding community.
I would also like to see it reopen. With the high cost of healthcare, a health clinic like this is an invaluable service to a community where seniors and others struggle to make ends meet. People shouldn’t have to worry if they can afford to receive medical services.
For much of the middle twentieth century, thousands of Buffalo’s servicemen and women passed through the Buffalo Central Terminal. After participating in a 2008 tour of the Terminal, Chuck Marsillo, past commander of AMVETS Post 897 got the inspiration to return the flagpole to this Broadway-Fillmore treasure.
Marsillo partnered up with Central Terminal Restoration Corporation President Mark Lewandowski who is a twenty year military veteran currently serving with the 107th Airlift Wing.
The partnership culminated in the re-installation of the flagpole in its original location. Marsillo got donations from AMVETS members and other military members to purchase the flagpole.
The flagpole rises fifty feet above the eastern side of the Terminal. It replaces one that was taken down for scrap in the 1980s.
From a press release from the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation:
“On behalf of the veterans and their families who have passed through the main concourse of the Central Terminal, on their way to a journey where in most cases their lives were changed forever, we are proud to acknowledge this remembrance of sacrifice,” said Lewandowski. “For thousands of people, Buffalo Central Terminal was their final time in Buffalo.”
