darksabre

+1

It needs to be 5:00 so I can go home and sit on the balcony and drink whiskey and whittle.

The nice part is, they have a ton of players to sell off for picks and prospects...

Chuck Fletcher: OUT

I love it when the Flyers lose. Their fans deserve it.

All about them consolation prizes

*raises hand* it's me, guy who doesn't want players on his team to win the Lady Byng

The Ralph Lauren suit I ordered from Riverside did have a vest option. I decided not to get a vest (first time ever), but I could have.

That's... Better than I expected. But not as good as I'd like from a supposed offensive defenseman. I wonder how that compares to a Karlsson or a Hamilton?

I know it sucks but I guess chalk it up as a good deed, right?

But that's all Risto really does. He eats minutes and caches in on secondary assists. If he's not eating minutes then why even have him and pay him?

Ain't no repairing rims.

I warned you bud. That was a tough game. Rask had a lot of puck luck tonight.

Wonder if Vegas just sitting around waiting for other matchups to end will be a problem for them. San Jose (it's gonna be, right?) is going to be ready to rock.

Chicken and egg for sure. I just think there probably is enough money in the east side to support small business, just not enough opportunity to do so, since starting those businesses is hard. Also, I always balk at the use of manufacturing jobs as a solution to employment problems. I feel like whenever someone says "there are going to be these jobs" they never turn up in the quantity or quality hoped for. It would be nice if manufacturing jobs really were part of the solution, I just never buy it.

Sabres Twitter would be 100 times better if I were running it. Guaranteed.

This would certainly make a difference, but how many of those jobs are there? It'd be nice if we were training people on how to run their own businesses instead of on how to work for wages for some company outside your neighborhood that doesn't care about you. I got on this train of thought the other day because I was wondering about black owned businesses and how the east side could probably use more than just a couple bars and corner markets. There are repair shops, a used appliance place, some clothing retail, but you'd think there could be more. These places certainly aren't supplying all the consumer needs of the east side. People still have to drive to Walmart or Home Depot or Tops. The backbone of east side growth should be neighborhood small businesses owned and operated by the residents. That keeps money in the community.

Hell yeah!

I think we're being a little hard on the definition of gentrification. At it's core it's just the middle-class-ifying of a neighborhood. It doesn't necessarily have to be wealthy whites moving in, but that's the form it certainly takes since white people in America also tend to hold most of the wealth, mobility opportunity, access to financial assistance, etc. But you are right that what Taro and I are talking about does differ a bit, mostly because I wish there was a better way to do the gentrification dance from within a neighborhood rather than from the outside. I'm trying to come at it from a different direction. I agree with him that it will inevitably happen. The east side will gentrify someday. In fact it strikes me as crazy, given the potential it is currently loaded with, that it isn't already happening. But we know why that is: the wypipo aren't ready yet. It'd be nice if it wasn't dependent on that... I guess I wish there was a way to get creative with the rebirth of the East Side. Do something different. Do it in such a way as to reward the people who currently live there instead of making them feel like it's not their thing, that they're just spectators watching as the white wave rolls back in. I know the east side is pretty poor, but you have to think there is more money leaving the east side than is staying in it (with respect to commerce), and that it could be tapped in such a way as to start that growth internally. One area where there is some growth happening is around Sycamore/Woltz where a Bengali Muslim immigrant population is settling in. I think it's great because that's the kind of fearlessness the east side needs. But oh my lord you should see the white people bitching about it on the Broadway Fillmore Alive Facebook. Gerry from Cheektowaga sure doesn't like that St. Gerard's is being turned into a Mosque even though he doesn't even effing live there.

Hm? I think we're talking about the same thing. Maybe from different angles. I don't think Buffalo does any of this but I could be wrong. The medical corridor maybe kinda?

This is exactly something I've been thinking about. Like... What if there was a non-profit that employed accountants, business experts, stuff like that, who could help you manage your business, or teach you how to? You have experts who you can bring in to mentor the startup workers. Say I live on the east side and I don't have my high school degree but I want to open a bakery? I don't know a ton about baking, but the incubator has grant money to bring a bakery expert in to train me and a few workers, and a business consultant to help me with basic accounting, ordering supplies, etc. I don't know. Just something I've been thinking on.

Right? I have to figure it is. I just wonder who will ultimately benefit from it. There's a great podcast series called "There Goes the Neighborhood" all about the pluses and minuses of gentrification/development in neighborhoods in NYC and LA, and it's fascinating just how double-edged the gentrification sword is. If the East Side does see a resurgence it seems to me that it can't be at the expense of the people living there right now. It would be nice if it could be by them, and for them. Rather than just white people coming in and opening up organic cookie shops and Starbucks and all that. It would be wonderful just to enable growth of what is already there by who is already there.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the bountiful potential of Buffalo's East side. Land is cheap, so much of the old homes are cleared out that you could buy half a block with frontage on two streets for very little money. Taxes are low. There are undoubtedly people in these neighborhoods who would love to have jobs in those neighborhoods, or would love to have help starting businesses to serve those neighborhoods and employ some of their friends or family. There's gotta be a point where white people are going to get sick of how crowded and expensive the suburbs and Elmwood village are and, finally getting over their fear of crime and minorities, start investing in the east side...right? How many more Dyngus Day invasions do we have to have before we decide that Broadway Fillmore is a place to build instead of visit? I understand this all sound super "white savior"-ey, but the truth is absolutely tinged by racism. The people who live there and who have always lived there would probably tell you they love it and hate at the same time, I think... And that they wouldn't want someone coming in and developing them out of it... But man. There's so much potential there. So much potential.

You just have to belieeevvvvveeee