Western New York State of Mind Archives - Page 14 of 16

A Whole Greater than the Sum of Its Parts

By Chris Carosa on August 23, 2012

Now that we’ve marked the boundaries of Greater Western New York, the fun really begins. First, we can delineate the counties included. Greater Western New York contains 17 counties. These represent all the counties west of or touching the correct Pre-Emption Line. Those counties are:

● Allegany           ● Chautauqua
● Cattaraugus      ● Chemung
● Erie                    ● Genesee
● Livingston        ● Monroe
● Niagara              ● Ontario
● Orleans              ● Seneca
● Schuyler            ● Steuben            ● Wayne               ● Wyoming            ● Yates

We should note that Pre-Emption Line marks the western border of both Seneca County (maybe, depending on who owns Seneca Lake) and Chemung County. The Line slices through the counties of Wayne, Yates and Schuyler. As it stands, the eastern borders of Wayne, Seneca, Schuyler and Chemung form a fairly straight line from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania line. OK, maybe it’s not quite straight enough to convince an officer you’re not unduly influenced, but it’s close enough.

What exactly does this constellation of the 17 western-most counties of New York State tell us? I discovered this particular hidden gem while preparing for a January 2004 Continue Reading “A Whole Greater than the Sum of Its Parts”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged 50 Hidden Gems, Alaska, Allegany County, Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo/Niagara Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, Cattaraugus County, Channel 13, Chautauqua County, Chemung County, Combined Statistical Area, Erie County, Gates-Chili High School, Genesee County, Livingston County, media market, Metropolitan Statistical Area, Micropolitan Statistical Area, Monroe County, Niagara County, North Dakota, Ontario County, Orleans County, population, Pre-Emption Line, PRSA, Research Triangle, Rochester, Rochester Americans, San Diego, Schuyler County, Seneca County, St. Louis, Steuben County, Tampa Bay, test market, Treaty of Hartford, U.S. Census, Vermont, Wayne County, Western New York Investors Conference, Wyoming, Wyoming County, Yates County

We Preempt Westward American Expansion for…

By Chris Carosa on August 16, 2012

A funny thing happened on the way to researching my book 50 Hidden Gems of Greater Western New York. For years I had been trying to explain to people just what exactly I meant by “Greater Western New York.” From a regional mutual fund’s perspective, it was easy. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires all regional funds to specify the municipalities covered by the fund. In the case where a fund’s region encompasses only a portion of a state, the fund’s prospectus must list all the counties included in its unique definition of the region covered. Like I said, from the SEC’s standpoint, defining Greater Western New York was easy.

Beyond that, though, I had to justify why we chose those particular counties. This was especially important because we market the fund only to New York residents, specifically, Western New York residents. And the folks we consider “Western” New York residents don’t necessarily consider themselves “western.” Or, in the case of those in the Buffalo-Niagara metropolitan area, they don’t consider Continue Reading “We Preempt Westward American Expansion for…”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged 50 Hidden Gems, 82nd milestone, Buffalo, Central New York, Charles I, Charles II, Colonel Hugh Maxwell, Connecticut Colony, Duke of York, Geneva, Greater Western New York, James I, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Monroe County, Niagara Falls, North Virginia, Ontario County, Pennsylvania, Pre-Emption Line, Pre-Emption Road, Pre-Emption Street, Preemption Line, Rochester, Royal Patent, Seneca County, Southern Tier, Treaty of Hartford, Upstate, Warwick Grant, Waterloo, Western New York, William Penn

The Lost Tribe of Western New York

By Chris Carosa on August 7, 2012

By the summer of 1679, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle had approached his wit’s end. His faithful lieutenant, the Neapolitan Henri de Tonti, had already repulsed one attempt by the Seneca to burn La Salle’s soon-to-be sailing ship Le Griffon. A year earlier, in hopes to attain a promise of peace, La Salle had travelled seventy-five miles east to the Seneca village of Ganondagan, located on present-day Boughton Hill, just outside of the Village of Victor, about 20 miles south of Rochester.¹ Peace was promised, but as the attempted arson proved, wasn’t necessarily guaranteed. So, ahead of schedule, on August 7, 1679, La Salle gave the order to weigh anchor and commanded twelve burly sailors to grab tow-lines and walk Le Griffon from the shallow ten-foot waters of Squaw Island, through the rushing rapids of the Niagara River and, with the help of a much hoped for northeast breeze, into the calm waters of what his native tongue called Lac du Chat (Lake Erie).² Embarking on La Salle’s mission in search of the Northwest Passage, Le Griffon thus became the first large ship to grace the waters of the Great Lakes above the Niagara Falls.

But it also left several intriguing questions: How did the Lake he sailed into get its name? More interestingly, why did he need to travel to the east side of the Genesee River nearly to the other end of Western New York to speak to the Indians? Indeed, what had happened to the native (at least relative to the Europeans) Western New Yorkers?Continue Reading “The Lost Tribe of Western New York”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged 50 Hidden Gems, Alqononquin, Annencraos, Boughton Hill, Buffalo, Buffalo Creek, Canandaiqua, Cat Nation, Champlain, Erie, Erie County, Etienne Brule, Ganondagan, Genesee River, Henri de Tonti, Honeoye, Huron Neutral Tribe, Jesuit Relation, La Salle, Lac De Chat, Le Griffon, Niagara Falls, Ontario County, Richmond, Rochester, Seneca, Sonontouan, Squaw Island, Susquenhannock, Victor

The Real Birth of Greater Western New York

By Chris Carosa on July 19, 2012

“It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.” – Clemenza, The Godfather

Our story starts approximately 400 million years ago. Back then, Western New York wasn’t really western, it was more northern. And by northern I mean north – as opposed to west – of the east coast, which itself might have been more appropriately called the south coast. Oh, and another thing. We weren’t hanging at a cool 42º North latitude. We were closer to the equator. In fact, we were just south of the equator.¹To prevent further directional confusion, I will Continue Reading “The Real Birth of Greater Western New York”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged 50 Hidden Gems, Acadian orogeny, Avalonia, Baltica, Catskill Delta, Devonian, Iapetus Ocean, Laurentia, limestone, Mesozoic, natural gas, oil, Paleozoic, Pangea, salt, The Age of the Fishes, Western New York

The Night They Burned Old Buffalo Down

By Chris Carosa on July 12, 2012

John Candy died of a heart attack in his sleep on March 4, 1994 while on location shooting scenes for what was to be his final film Wagons East!. Carolco Pictures released the 107 minute movie later that year. It flopped. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the last John Candy picture released. More than a year later, Canadian Bacon, featuring a cavalcade of Canadian-born actors, hit the screens. It quickly left those same screens, the farce of a Canadian invasion of Western New York too outlandish for cinema goers to believe.

Of course, in real life, America did fall victim to a Canadian invasion from across the Continue Reading “The Night They Burned Old Buffalo Down”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged 50 Hidden Gems, Batavia, Battle of Lake Erie, Blackrock, Buffalo, Canadian Bacon, Fort Erie, Holland Land Company, John Candy, Joseph Ellicott, Mrs. Lovejoy, Mrs. St. John, New Amsterdam, Niagara Falls, Paul Busti, Peter B. Porter, Reece's Blacksmith Shop, resiliency, resilient, Squaw Island, Timothy Dwight, Wagons East, War of 1812

Who Killed Cock Kodak?

By Chris Carosa on January 24, 2012

Hearing the news of the bankruptcy of Kodak evoked the same sadness of the final scene in Godfather II. As the film draws to a close, a lonely Michael stares into the cold waters of Lake Tahoe beneath the ominous clouds of a darkening winter sky. It was the end. It was the end of success. It was the end of the high life. It was the end of the family.

But then I briefly remember the heyday. I remember when high school classmates would preen proudly into the room as they announced they had just been hired by the Big Yellow Box. Like a clip from yet another gangster movie, Goodfellas, the new employee had the strut of a made man. His life was complete. His career determined. His place in the community cemented forever.

And now it is gone. We knew it was coming. Death for Kodak came not suddenly, but Continue Reading “Who Killed Cock Kodak?”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged high speed rail, Kodak, NASA

Ode to Curt’s Stop-In: An Era Ends

By Chris Carosa on December 15, 2011

Like a scene from The Wonder Years, I remember the feeling of youthful exuberance when, in the dark of evening, we crossed the six lanes of hectic highway as only reckless eight-year olds could. The thrice daily shift change left Route 5 abuzz with a cornucopia of cars – from speeding muscular sportsters to equally vigorous family sedans. I wasn’t looking at the traffic, though. Instead, my eyes fixed on the heavens above as I followed the path of a faintly glowing satellite arc through the starry sky blanketing us. I pointed it out to my friend, who also had a thing for astronomy. It was the early summer of 1968 and I was about to experience something I would never forget.

We survived the treacherous crossing and made a bee-line to a place I had never Continue Reading “Ode to Curt’s Stop-In: An Era Ends”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Bethlehem Steel, Blasdell, Buffalo, Curly Q's, Curt's Stop-In, family, Growing Up, Route 5, Woodlawn

Western New York’s Bread of Life Fills Both Spirit and Stomach

By Chris Carosa on June 21, 2011

Brother James looked just the way I would picture a monk looking. Tallish with an angular face, he wore the kind of retro heavy-rimmed glasses that aren’t really retro, merely that old. His soft caring voice spoke with the peaceful contentedness so appropriate for the part you’d swear a Hollywood casting agent placed him. Only you wouldn’t swear here – and here is about as far from the superficial celebrity of Tinsel Town as you could get.

Where exactly is “here”? It’s the Abbey of the Genesee located in the hamlet of Piffard in the Town of York, Livingston County. About a mile west of the Genesee River, this community of Trappist monks belongs to the Roman Catholic order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. The Abbey of the Genesee came about from a Continue Reading “Western New York’s Bread of Life Fills Both Spirit and Stomach”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abbey of the Genesee, Cistercians, Constantine I, Genesee Valley, Kentucky, Letchworth State Park, Livingston County, monk, Monk's Bread, Piffard, Roman Catholic, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, Trappist, Wadsworth, York

“Back to the Future” or “Goodbye to our Future”

By Chris Carosa on January 25, 2011

While we’ve been listening to a good game from our various leaders, Western New York’s best and brightest have been buying one way tickets to better climes. According to a recent editorial (“The plight of upstate,” The Buffalo News, January 20, 2011), over the past twenty years, the job growth in our state as occurred mainly downstate. Indeed, a national magazine (“If You Need A Job, Move To New York!” Forbes, January 10, 2011) lists New York City (the “New York” referred to in the title) as among the best places to go look for a job. This emphasis on the Big Apple isn’t lost on The Buffalo News editorial writer, who suggests state lawmakers “drive twice each year along the Thruway from Schenectady to Niagara Falls.” Maybe that’s the only way for them to see our plight.

Worse, this ignorance has mortgaged our future. We are losing our brightest young Continue Reading ““Back to the Future” or “Goodbye to our Future””

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged Buffalo, high speed rail, Rochester

Blizzard Envy

By Chris Carosa on January 11, 2011

Snow is fun.
Snow is great.
But still a
Snow Day I await.

I’m spoiled. I grew up in the famous Snow Belt south of Buffalo. Like clockwork every winter the blustery weather blew in off the lake, dumping several feet of snow atop our community. School closed. Dad stayed home. It was a fun family time.

And how I miss it.

While we’ve seen record breaking snowfall, it’s been far too long since we’ve had a real winter emergency. Indeed, I think the last time we had a 3 foot drop I was (ironically) Continue Reading “Blizzard Envy”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged Buffalo, Lake-effect Snow, snow, Snow Belt, Snow Day