The 14th Annual Parkside Tour of Homes is Sunday, May 20, 2012 from 11 am - 4:30 pm. Tickets are available. $13 for PCA members, $15 in advance and $20 the day of the event.

The PCA office will be open Saturday May 19th from 9 to 12 for ticket sales. Call the PCA office at 838-1240 for more information.

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Mark your calendars, the first Parkside Walking tour is coming up this Saturday, May 12th.  Tickets are $10 per person, $5 for students, and each tour will begin at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, at the corner of Jewett Pkwy and Summit Ave from 10:00 am

To purchase tickets or for more information, visit Buffalo Tours online, or contact the PCA directly.

VIP Tickets are going quickly, with the 2:00 tour fully booked already.  Seats on our 11:00 trolley however are still available now with the addition of special 'Goody Bags' for all VIP ticket holders.  Local businesses and institutions have offered special discounts, coupons, and free give-aways for the 60 lucky VIP visitors.  

You will board a dedicated Home Tour Trolley, departing from the Nichols School at Colvin and Amherst, transported in luxury to each of the 10 homes on this years tour.  You will be allowed priority access to the homes when you arrive, and in between stops, our resident historical guide will share anecdotes and context concerning the history of the neighborhood.  Lastly, this year the privately owned Frank Lloyd Wright designed 'Davidson House' will be available exclusively to VIP ticket holders.

Tickets are limited to no more than 30 for each of the trolley tours, leaving at 11:00am and 2:00pm, and have been going fast.  (Note that the 2:00 tour has already sold out).

More info here.

On Wednesday evening, May 2nd, the PCA is hosting a public meeting to discuss a proposal to locate a 24 hour gas station at the corner of Fairfield Avenue and Main Street. The meeting will be held directly across the street from the site in the back room of the Central Park Grill from 7:00pm.

This location has long been an eyesore and magnet for graffiti, and a terrible introduction to the Vernon Triangle and Parkside Neighborhood.  The former owners were involved with Housing Court since early 2011, but have recently sold it off rather than invest in cleaning it up.  The Current owners are proposing to demolish the existing structure, remove the crumbling pavement, conduct a full Phase II environmental review, and restore it to it's former use as a 24 hour gas station.  Their proposal includes the sale of deli sandwiches and related refreshments.  They will be on hand to present their plans, including entrance and exits either onto Main or Fairfield, lighting, security, market study, and business experience.  We encourage all interested in the ongoing development and beautification of Main street to attend, but for those that are unable, please submit your written thoughts to the PCA to be entered into the record.  Thank you all for your interest in this matter.

As part of the Open House / Ribbon Cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of construction at the PCA offices at 2318 Main Street on Thursday at 2pm, local resident and former Curator for the Burchfield Penny, Gerald Mead, has loaned us a series of pieces depicting architecture in Buffalo.  They range from a 1940s painting by James Vullo of a Victorian home in the city to a 2011 photograph by Christina Laing depicting the interior of one of Buffalo’s famed grain elevators. Other Buffalo landmarks included are the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Darwin D. Martin House, Buffalo City Hall, Kleinhans Music Hall, First Presbyterian Church and the Hellenic Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. 

Structured as a brief survey, this exhibition illustrates the broad range of styles and techniques artists have used when approaching architecture as subject matter and highlights the artistic achievements of artists affiliated with regional organizations such as the Buffalo Society of Artists and CEPA Gallery.

These artworks are on loan from the collection of Gerald Mead, a longtime Parkside resident who is also an artist, educator and independent curator. The Gerald Mead Collection has been profiled in the Buffalo News, Buffalo Spree Magazine and Artvoice and works from the collection have been loaned for exhibitions at the Albright-Knox, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo Museum of Science, Hallwalls and UB Anderson Gallery.

Photo: Interior Detail of Darwin Martin House by Biff Henrich.

The Parkside Community Association will be holding a ribbon cutting and open house on Thursday, April 26th at 2 pm at the Parkside Community Association office, 2318 Main Street in Buffalo. In 2010, the PCA was awarded $200,000 from the  NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal through their Urban Initiative Program to rehab the office and two affordable rental units. Delaware District Councilman Michael Locurto gave an additional $8,600 for the project. The project is complete and the office and one of the low income apartments will be open for the public to view. All are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

With the spring weather, Buffalo Tours is once again offering their schedule for Parkside Historical Walking Tours.  These tours are jointly sponsored by the PCA and Buffalo Tours (the tour and education arm of Preservation Buffalo Niagara). Tours are usually led by the venerable  George Stock, who has conducted tours of Parkside for more then 25 years.  As a long time member of the Darwin Martin and PCA boards he knows the kind of history you just can't pick up in books. 

With proximity to the Darwin Martin House,  The Buffalo Zoo, and our upcoming Home and Garden Tours, the Parkside neighborhood sees our share of visitors.  Wouldn't it be great to know more about where we live then our guests do?  Wouldn't you like to impress friends and visitors with your in depth knowledge of our unique history?  If you haven't yet taken the tour, consider doing so this season, and be surprised by what you might learn.

Tickets cost $10 per person, $5 for students, and each tour will begin at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, at the corner of Jewett Parkway and Summit Avenue. They are scheduled to run:

Last week the PCA took part in a collaborative Safety Assessment of the intersection of Parkside Avenue and Florence Avenue.  City engineers and consultants from Bergmann Associates are currently drafting a report of our findings and thoughts from that two-day review.  We will share this draft report with our members for your comments and feedback, but have been pushing for a series of interim measures in the meantime.

The Buffalo Green Code is entering its second phase this spring with citizens, planners, and consultants turning their attention to the work of actually writing a new zoning ordinance that will shape Buffalo's regeneration in the 21st century. Mayor Byron W. Brown is firmly fixed on a new code that will make Buffalo more sustainable in the years to come - economically, environmentally, and socially.

Much has happened since last fall when about 400 citizens assembled on "Planning Day in Buffalo" to review the first draft of Buffalo's Land Use Plan. Staff from the Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning reached out to hold additional conversations with neighborhoods that had been under-represented in the initial "Planning Day." Staff is also working to incorporate citizen input in an updated draft of the land use plan, which will guide the preparation of the new zoning ordinance.