Community

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Community

ARTSPACE BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT

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By Mrs. Evelyn V. Santos, Artspace Block Association The home advocacy program provided Artspace beautification garden project opportunities and guidance in Buffalo, New York, 14209 and 14208 area codes. The Artspace Block Association and Cold Spring Block Association were given the opportunity and the funding to do several projects for our community. One was the Artspace community garden on Northampton Street and Ellicott Street off of Main Street in Buffalo, New York; the others were in the Northampton area for the homeowners.  With help from Cold Springs and our home group Artspace, we have been working extremely hard since the starting date for these new projects from 2023 to September 2023.   For Artspace, we have provided these services for the community garden and the lawn cutting, which was done by both block members like Mrs. Carry Ingram, president of Colds Springs Block Club, and Mrs. Evelyn Santos from Artspace Block Club. Not only is Santos president, but she is also a resident of the Artspace loft apartments on 1219 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14209.   This project is significant to Mrs. Evelyn Santos, who wants to make a difference in our Artspace community and to make long-term changes to the garden that, by no fault of the past garden manager, Mrs. Colleen Morrisey, and due to lack of funding, she could not continue with the upkeep of the Artspace community garden. We wanted to reach out and help her to make these significant changes happen.   This project has been an eye-opening experience for both groups involved in learning about the procedures for healthy plants, the planning of the vegetables and fruits, and the preparing of the soils for each season and plant. Learning about the different plants and the benefits they can provide us for good nutrition.   We cut the lawn ourselves at first because we were learning what to do for the first time, and then we found a great person to start cutting the lawn for us at an excellent price for the block club. We started buying the different tools needed for the projects and buying the right plants, like the perennial and patio furniture, adding decorations for the garden, and adding colors to make the garden look great and welcoming to our community and the neighborhood.  I want to end this story by saying thank you to the home advocacy program for all their help and trust, especially for allowing us to work with the beautification program, including the garden and the procedure. Read More From Buffalo Latino Village All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics Sports ARTSPACE BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT October 4, 2023/No Comments Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Read More… Read More  MEET EL COQUITO at ALLEN STREET “AUTHENTIC CARIBBEAN CUISINE” October 4, 2023/No Comments At 242 Allen Street, Buffalo, NY 14201 you will find El Coquito, impeccable architecture, and the smiling face of founder… Read More MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS October 4, 2023/No Comments In this edition, I hope to educate and inform about medicinal mushrooms, specifically about lion’s mane mushrooms. Lion’s mane mushrooms,… Read More Load More End of Content.

Community

 A COMMUNITY GIFT OR A TROJAN HORSE? 

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This past month, on Friday, September 15th, the beginning of what has become known as “Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15), the Hispanic Heritage Council, along with a long list of who’s who in the political Kingdom, including the New York State governor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, did what they have long been waiting for, the ground-breaking ceremony for the Lower West Side “Hispanic Cultural Institute, on Hudson & Niagara Street, a center dedicated to arts, culture, history, and community service for the local Puerto Rican/Latino community. It is estimated that over 30 million will complete the project, which will begin within the next few weeks or sooner. The center is scheduled to be developed right on the corner of Hudson and Niagara on the Lower West Side, the heart and soul of the Puerto Rican community. This group makes up over 85% of the Latino population. It is estimated that over 70,000 Latinos live in western NY, with about 45,000 in the city of Buffalo, primarily Puerto Rican. The center, a three-story, 37,000 square footing building, plans to house an art gallery, museum, cafeteria, theatre space (Raices Theatre Company), gift shop, media program (radio, television & broadcast), and a 150-seating performing arts theater, among other community programs. The idea behind this institution came from Casimiro Rodriguez during 2019, a fixture in the community and founder of the Hispanic Heritage Council (HHC). To his credit, he convinced the city, state, and federal elected officials to support and help finance the project. Under his leadership, in 2021, HHC started an aggressive fundraising campaign to raise millions of dollars from the public (government) and private sector ($18 million). The local New York State legislators gave HHC about $12 million and nearly $2 million from the local federal elected officials. As of this writing, more tax money continues to pour in. While the Buffalo Latino Village gave thumbs up when the project idea was first revealed in 2018, and local Puerto Rican groups opposed it, we now have reservations. The support for the project comes mainly from HHC’s inner circle of friends or colleagues, including the politicians they support and donate for their political campaigns. There has also been a lack of transparency, and very few Lower West Side residents know anything about the project. Casimiro Rodriguez is articulate and a go-getter, a hard worker, and a long-time Buffalo resident with family roots. But we would like to see more transparency and communication with the grassroots community, open meetings, and press conferences with the public, not just the “chosen few.” Having said that, we keep our fingers crossed and hope the agenda is based on a passion for community and not political ambition or political theatre to advance the status quo at the expense of the Lower West Side community. Time will tell. For the sake of our community, we hope it is not a Trojan horse. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics Sports ROBERTO QUINTANA! SETTING THE RECORD October 4, 2023/No Comments “He who is without sin can cast the first stone.” The other day, I was thinking about Roberto Quintana and the history of… Read More  A COMMUNITY GIFT OR A TROJAN HORSE?  October 3, 2023/No Comments This past month, on Friday, September 15th, the beginning of what has become known as “Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15… Read More LATINO COLLEGE STUDENTS FACE INEQUALITY AND CULTURAL ISOLATION AT THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK at BUFFALO March 25, 2023/No Comments LACK OF COLLEGE SERVICES FOR LATINO STUDENTS: This is in response to a story by UB Spectrum reporter, Kayla Estrada,… Read More Load More End of Content.

Community

A TRAGEDY

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LEADING TO AN ANTI-BULLYING CAMPAIGN (a Community Responders Pilot and a Peace Ship for a Nuclear-Free Future) Hola, mis Amigos!!  Están sucediendo tantas cosas, que esta columna será sobre algunas de ellas. La primera es la tragedia de Dariel Joel Rivera Reyes, quien se suicidó después de ser intimidado implacablemente por otros estudiantes. Dariel, a peaceful, loving 12-year-old bilingual student, tried to avoid altercations with a group of bullies in his school, who proceeded to harass him relentlessly – at school, on social media, and even at home (including stealing his bike). New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act – The Dignity Act, or DASA – seeks to provide students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying. Despite DASA and numerous incident reports, little was done. The then-principal was also the DASA officer (an obvious conflict of interest) and did not file the required reports. Resources and interventions were not provided. Eventually, Dariel could not take it anymore and killed himself.  The WNY Peace Center and other groups are working with the grieving grandparents and teachers to push for real change to prevent these situations from happening again. Please watch wnypeace.org for the next steps.  We also work in a coalition for a Community Responders Pilot Program in Erie County. We have had too many years of heartache, death, and tragedy when police respond to mental health/ social needs calls (e.g., India Cummings, Daniel Prude, Meech Davis, Pito Rivera, Willie Henley, etc.). We need a team of mental health, health (EMT), and peer responders to respond – independent of police – to low-level 911 calls. Such programs in other cities have been successful. Erie County must have – and fund – a Community Responders Pilot Program NOW. Please help urge county leaders to allocate $500,000 for a community responders pilot program before 2023. Please visit linktr.ee/CommunityResponders4EC for an action toolkit, including contacting your elected representatives. Please also go to wnypeace.org to take the WNY Peace Center’s survey regarding Erie County’s proposed plan for a huge new jail costing up to a quarter of a Billion dollars! Please express your opinion. Lastly, como necessitamos una futura libre de armas nucleares, residuos nucleares, – en otra palabras, a NuclearFree Future!! Pronto, tendemos una oportunidad de aprender, trabajar, y inspirar a otros hacia lo mismo. La Regla De Oro esta llegando!!  The Golden Rule is a sailing ship that was used in the 1950s to try to stop nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. Now it has been revived, is on a two-year “Great Loop” tour, and will arrive in Buffalo on 7/30. We will hear from Veterans for Peace sailing the ship; Mark Colville, who did time for his brave protest of nuclear weapons (King Bay Plowshares); Shannon Shenandoah, a Seneca activist working for safe remediation of West Valley nuclear waste; and more. Events run from July 29- August 2nd, including music and the arts at Canalside. Go to wnypeace.org and/or WNY Peace Center on Facebook. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics A TRAGEDY July 4, 2023/No Comments POST TITLE (CAPITAL) Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus Read More EMBRACING BUFFALO / HEALING MOMENTS May 10, 2023/No Comments EMBRACING BUFFALO / HEALING MOMENTS “No podemos dejar que la gente abra brechas entre nosotros… porque solo hay una raza Read More RACISM IN THE BUFFALO POLICE DEPARTMENT (BPD)? March 16, 2023/No Comments “The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be anti-racist. Anti-racism Read More Load More End of Content.

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