Allen Booker discussing Main Street topics with Theresa Brockman – Main Street Music & Art Festival 2012

Magic Bus on Pine Avenue – Summer 2012 – Photo by Courtney Goodman

Ceretto calls for health impact assessment on hydrofracking

Assemblyman John Ceretto (R,I-Lewiston) joined fellow lawmakers in the Assembly to pass legislation to have a health impact assessment conducted concerning the effects of horizontal gas drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing.

Currently, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is conducting an environmental study on the effects of natural gas exploration and hydraulic fracturing extraction. The environmental study being conducted does not address health impacts, which led to legislation calling for the assessment to be performed.

Mediterranean Festival makes plans for 8th annual event

Lewiston, NY – St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church will hold its 8th Annual Mediterranean Festival on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 13-15 on the church

Spiller thinks Bills are close to being Super Bowl contenders

The Buffalo Bills haven

Main Street beautification to include Garden Walk July 14th

The Main Street Business & Professional Association along with its team of Volunteers and Neighbors would like you to take part in our 2nd Annual Garden Walk. After some big names & acts to follow it will be nice to stroll through the Park Place and Orchard Parkway Historic Districts and up and down the streets of the WoMa District. Enjoy the sweet aromas and visual candy the neighborhood gardens will give us. Spend a peaceful day at your leisure appreciating the gardens of our city.

The Garden Walk and Festival is on July 14, 2012 from 11am – 5pm. The Historic Niagara Falls Garden Walk will be free for the public to attend, and is the perfect family friendly event. Committee members bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to Main Street, and have already started planning for the big day.

The Historic Niagara Falls Garden Walk will be centered around the Main Street Core and the neighborhoods from Fourth Street and Park Place to Orchard Parkway to Pierce Avenue and OakWood Cemetery, ending with a tour of the planned native garden at the Niagara Falls Library. Gardens from formal to cottage will be included on the free self-guided walking tour, and local Main Street businesses and restaurants will be open for lunch or afternoon shopping. Florists, Nurseries, Artists and Garden Centered Vendors will be centralized during the walk to help supply neighbors and visitors with beautiful plants and garden art, and scads of volunteers will be available to help those less familiar with our city navigate the map of the tour. Master Gardeners will be on hand to help with general garden questions as well as garden woes, and the committee intends on making the walk as historically accurate and relevant as possible.

The committee will be taking applications during the Main Street Music Festival and go door to door in neighborhoods along Main Street from the Post Office to the Library. Volunteers are still needed for the event, and are welcomed to join.

For more information, or to contact the committee about volunteering, or including your own garden you may email: mainstreetniagara@yahoo.com or call the Main Street Business and Professionals Association office at 716-285-1318.

Maikranz claims he didn’t know he struck mother and child

As reported by the Buffalo News:

Pivotal tips from the community led to the arrest of a city man accused in a hit-and-run crash last week which took the life of a 26-year-old mother, who was struck as she crossed Hyde Park Boulevard with her 6-year-old son, city police said today.

Francis A. Maikranz, 54, of Whitney Avenue, told investigators he did not know he hit the mother, Nicole Rodriquez, and her child

History All Around Us: 740 Park Place, James G. Marshall House

740 Park Place was built for the James G. Marshall family in 1913. Mr. Marshall was a founder of the Union Carbide Corporation and went on to become General Superintendent of all Union Carbide facilities throughout the world. Mr. Marshall was an inventor, industrialist and civic leader. He invented the industrial covered furnace, a safety improvement in the chemical industry, and he was an early proponent for employee rights and benefits. Mr. Marshall became General Superintendent of all Union Carbide plants in 1921 and held that position until his retirement in 1938. He remained closely associated with the company as a consultant, doing business from the library in his home at 740 Park Place. Local researcher Lou Ricciuti has determined that in his association with Union Carbide Mr. Marshall was involved with experiments related to the development of the Atomic Bomb in the local portion of the Manhattan Project.

In 1937 he was awarded the Schoellkopf Medal by the Western New York Chapter of the American Chemical Society for his work in the chemical industry. Upon receiving the Schoellkopf Medal in 1937, Mr. Marshall was recognized for

Magic Bus on Pine Avenue – Photo by Courtney Goodman

Niagara Falls native Paul Scaletta to golf in 96th PGA Championship

Niagara Falls native Paul Scaletta finished in 5th place with a -3 at the 2012 PGA Professional National Championship in Seaside, California.