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Friday, March 10, 2006

Buffalo, New York —The Common Council of Buffalo voted on Tuesday to send the Elmwood Village Hotel proposal “to committee for further discussion”, after citing the need for more public involvement.

The Elmwood Village Hotel is a development proposal by the Savarino Construction Services Corporation, a project designed by the architect Karl Frizlen of The Frizlen Group. The hotel would be placed on the southeast corner of Elmwood and Forest Avenues in Buffalo.

To make way for the project, at least five buildings located at 1109 to 1121 Elmwood Ave would be demolished. At least two properties on Forest Avenue could also be demolished. The Elmwood properties, according to Eva Hassett, Vice President of Savarion Construction, are “under contract”, but it is unclear if Savarino Construction actually owns the Elmwood properties. Hans Mobius, a former mayorial candidate, is still believed to be the current owner the properties. Mobius also owns 607 Forest Avenue.

The properties 605 and 607 Forest Avenue could also be included in the proposal according to Hassett.

“We would use a Special Development Plan to rezone 1119-1121 Elmwood and 605 Forest to a C-2 zoning category,” stated Hassett. It is possible that Savarino Construction may try to obtain a variance for 605 Forest, which would allow them to enforce eminent domain, should the hotel be allowed to go forward.

The building at 607 Forest was also discussed to be rezoned, but it is unclear what the plans would be for that property. During the February 28 Common Council meeting, Hassett stated that the properties 605 and 607 were “now off the agenda”.

Pano Georgiadis, owner of Pano’s Restaurant at 1081 Elmwood, owns the property at 605 Forest and attended Tuesday’s Common Council meeting.

“Having a hotel is a bright idea. We all love the idea of a hotel, but the way that it is presented, is wishful thinking. This hotel does not fit. It’s like putting two gallons of water in a gallon jug, it does not fit. At the last meeting, the architect admitted that they are planning to put the undergound parking lot and the hotel, right at the property line. If I open my window, I will be able to touch the wall, that goes fifty feet high”, said Georgiadis.

“There is a problem having a seventy-two room hotel and fifty-five parking spaces. That means that all the other cars will spill all over the neighborhood. The footprint is simply too small. If you have a bigger [parking] lot, and a smaller hotel, I will welcome a hotel. I have a parking lot at my own business, and I am chasing people all day long. Remember, the city says it has ‘zero tolerance [for illegal parking]’. Try telling that to the guy from Albany who came to see his kids, that are going to Buffalo State, who would get tickets totaling over a hundred dollars”, added Georgiadis.

The city’s Planning Board is scheduled to meet on March 14, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. about the proposal. Although a discussion will take place, no vote is expected to be taken.

At the moment, none of the properties are zoned for a hotel. Savarino Construction plans on asking for a C2 zoning permit. If that does not work, they plan to implement a new zoning plan called a “special development plan” which would allow for only a hotel on the site. That zone would not be able to be changed.

“This [project] justifies Mobius’s refusal to invest in any maitenance^[sic] or improvements”, on the properties said Clarence Carnahan, a local resident. “Where were the Council persons over the years? Where were the city inspectors over the years, to make sure that he maintained and improved his properties? The government was supposed to be protecting, not being preditorial. I see a predatorial issue here when it comes to this hotel. Over the years: Why has the local government been disfunctional when it came to Mobius’s properties? Refusal to invest in improvements, doesn’t that sound like a slumlord? Maybe I am missing a point here, but what kind of messages does this send to other slumlords that havn’t^[sic] been jailed or fined? It’s [the hotel] trying to be pushed through.”

Carnahan also presented signs for residents and or business owners who are opposed to the hotel, that could be placed in windows or on stakes in the yard. Some of the signs said, ‘No tell hotel’, ‘Hans off, no hotel’, ‘It takes more than a hotel to make a village’. and ‘Keep Elmwood free, no hotel’. Carnahan plans on making more signs for a protest to be held on Saturday March 18, at 2:00 p.m. (EST) on Elmwood and Forest. Some signs were given to individuals after the meeting.

“First things first, Hans is the problem, and I don’t think it has been addressed. Let’s roll back the clock on this project. What can we do with Hans? There is such thing as eminent domain, which could be of greater interest to the community, to seize the property at its lowest assessed value”, said Nancy Pollina, co-owner of Don Apparel with Patty Morris at 1119 Elmwood. “There are so many ideas that have not been explored and we are about to give this parcel away, to a big developer.”

Mobius has not returned any calls by Wikinews regarding the situation.

A freelance journalist writing for Wikinews has obtained a letter, exclusively, addressed to one of the five business owners from Hans Mobius stating:

There is a proposal to develop my property which you are currently renting. Because of opposition to this development, it does not look like it will happen. I will let you know if there any changes.

Despite the letter, there have been no plans or decisions made to end the proposal.

To date, none of the business owners or residents of 1119-1121 Elmwood have received an eviction notice.

Business owners and residents gave an indication of what they would like to see happen at the corner; a project similar to one done locally last year. There, developers renovated two buildings on Auburn and Elmwood Avenues, merging the buildings into one thus allowing for more shop space. Among some of the shops to move in after the development were Cone Five Pottery, The Ruby Slipper, and Abraham’s Jewelers. Prior to the renovation work, the left building in the picture was boarded up for several years. Many of the concerned locals would like to see a similar development on Forest and Elmwood.

Rocco Termini, a developer in Buffalo, proposed a similar design at the February 28 community meeting

In an interview after the February 28 meeting, Termini stated, “I will be willing to take a look at this myself, or I would be more than happy to be partners with Sam, Sam Savarino”, who is President and Chief Executive Officer of Savarino Construction Services Corp.

So far Savarino Construction has no plans to team up with Termini.

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Sunday, September 21, 2008

British Grammy Award winning singer George Michael has been cautioned over drug use. The 45 year old singer was caught with class A and C drugs in the Hampstead Heath area of London. He was arrested on 19 September after being caught in the public toilet. British Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said drug laws needed to be “flexible”. He stated he did not know the details of the case when questioned why Michael was given a mild sentence.

Michael was banned from driving for two years after being caught slumped behind the wheel of his car twice. He pleaded guilty to driving while unfit through drugs. On May 15, 2006 Michael was found semi-conscious apparently snoozing at traffic lights while in his Range Rover. In the early hours of October 1, 2006, Michael was found unconscious in his Mercedes-Benz S-Class car, causing an obstruction.

Michael found his fame as front man of pop band Wham!. He won two Grammy awards as well as 12 British number one singles. Michael announced that he would be retiring from touring after completing his first tour in 15 years last month. He announced that he would release a Christmas single in December.

Monday, November 26, 2007

In the 18 months since Andrea Muizelaar was crowned winner of the reality TV series Canada’s Next Top Model, her life has been a complete whirlwind. From working in a dollar store in her hometown of Whitby, Ontario, to modeling haute couture in Toronto, she had reached her dream of becoming a true Top Model.

But at what cost? Unknown to casual television viewers, Muizelaar had been enveloped in the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, which inevitably became too much for her to bear. She gave up modeling and moved back to Whitby, where she sought treatment for her disorder, re-entered college, and now works at a bank. Where is she now? Happy and healthy, she says.

Recently Andrea Muizelaar sat down with Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman in a candid interview that stretched to nearly two hours, as she told all about her hopes and aspirations, her battle with anorexia, and just what really happened on Canada’s Next Top Model.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

India is the latest of the countries where the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) experiment has started. Children from the village of Khairat were given the opportunity to learn how to use the XO laptop. During the last year XO was distributed to children from Arahuay in Peru, Ban Samkha in Thailand, Cardal in Uruguay and Galadima in Nigeria. The OLPC team are, in their reports on the startup of the trials, delighted with how the laptop has improved access to information and ability to carry out educational activities. Thailand’s The Nation has praised the project, describing the children as “enthusiastic” and keen to attend school with their laptops.

Recent good news for the project sees Uruguay having ordered 100,000 of the machines which are to be given to children aged six to twelve. Should all go according to plan a further 300,000 machines will be purchased by 2009 to give one to every child in the country. As the first to order, Uruguay chose the OLPC XO laptop over its rival from Intel, the Classmate PC. In parallel with the delivery of the laptops network connectivity will be provided to schools involved in the project.

The remainder of this article is based on Carla G. Munroy’s Khairat Chronicle, which is available from the OLPC Wiki. Additional sources are listed at the end.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

During the 2007 WiMAX Forum Taipei Showcase and Conference, WiMAX Forum announced the highlights from WiMAX Forum PlugFest in Grand Hyatt Taipei last week and announced that WiMAX Forum will endorse the M-Taiwan WiMAX Application Lab (MTWAL) in Hsinchu Science Park at the Press Conference yesterday and the General Assembly of the WiMAX Forum Taipei Member Conference today. With this laboratory located in Hsinchu, the WiMAX infrastructure in Taiwan will be enhanced more with the cooperation between academics (especially National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan), governmental organization, and companies in networking industry.

This laboratory provided an open environment where world-wide innovators can experiment and test WiMAX-related products and the stability of application solutions at Hsinchu Science Park. Currently, equipment and application developers will have the 1st priority in testing for the quality evaluation and knowing the sanctification of consumers before bringing them to market.

“Members of WiMAX shows the latest innovations at this showcase (WiMAX Forum Taipei Showcase), I believed that MTWAL will provide a complete product testing environment and applications in the WiMAX access area with the support from governmental and industrial organizations in Taiwan.”

“WiMAX is a brand new wireless network different from other similar industries, this service must be dominated with lots of different operators to maintain the basic infrastructure of WiMAX.” Ron Resnick (Chairman of WiMAX Forum) remarked at the Press Conference.

“WiMAX Forum chose Hsinchu Science Park as the development basis of WiMAX with a unique characteristic in networking industry in Taiwan. We held a PlugFest last week for brand new WiMAX products with 200 engineers participating this test to evaluate the performance and test the quality. With this PlugFest, participants experienced rich services and good quality of new products. The PlugFest also had numbers of milestones including testing the leading advanced antenna technologies delivering the fastest speeds and broadest coverage.”

“MIMO setups aren’t achieved until mid-week historically, but in this PlugFest, lots of vendors completed this high-risk testing and demonstrated the data flow ability between different matrices, as well as several beam-forming IOP set ups.” Ed Agis (Chairman of the WiMAX Forum Certification Working Group) said.

According to WiMAX Forum, lots of vendors also participated the exhibition of 2007 WiMAX Forum Taipei Showcase and demonstrated WiMAX technology solutions. Ron Resnick also remarked this information at the 2nd day Keynote of 2007 WiMAX Forum Taipei Conference. Mei-yueh Ho (Chairman of Council for Economic Planning and Development, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. Taiwan) also looked this MTWAL set up as a bright idea, and Steve Ruey-long Chen (Minister of Economic Affairs, R.O.C. Taiwan) praised this set up as a boost of WiMAX infrastructure in Taiwan.