Laundromat offers much more than chore

By Jasmine Peterson and Maria Yankova
BengalNews Reporters

               When you step into the Westside Value Laundromat, you see more than just washers and dryers. Colorful drawings the walls, a group of computers in the corner and a stack of Burmese books are hints of the business’ other functions.

                Located at 417 Massachusetts Ave., the laundromat brings the community together by offering workshops, open-mic nights, arts and crafts, and English as a second language classes. -

               Zaw Win, a Burmese immigrant, opened the laundromat with the help of Westminster Economic Development Initiative in 2010. WEDI, run by Bonnie Smith, helps immigrants, refugees and native-born Americans start and manage a small business.

              “We help them right from the very beginning, anything that they need,” Smith said. “Permits, business plans, handling their cash flow, we find mentors for them who stay with them. We help them to find finances if they need it and then we stay with them afterwards.”

               That was made possible when Win partnered with Buffalo native Barrett Gordon last November to create the Westside Art Strategy Happenings Project at the laundromat.

               The WASH Project offers an array of specific weekly and monthly programs and services, including tax-preparation classes, home-buying workshops and weekly acupuncture clinics at the laundromat. It has also partnered with Computers for Children to help high school students in the community learn how to use and fix computers.

                 “I do a lot of things for my people,” Win said. “People have very limited English skills. They can’t understand when they go to school. … I read and write, translate, make phone calls. Every day they come here, I help them. Anything they need, they can come to me.”

                Gordon’s inspiration to help with the project came from The Laundromat Project, a Brooklyn-based non-profit arts organization which helps bring art programs to low-income communities.

              “The main idea is to just do some community-building and give people an enjoyable, free art experience while they do their laundry,” Gordon said.

              Gordon said that because of the WASH Project, the laundromat has fulfilled the goal to provide a unique place for people to enrich themselves while running an errand.

              “There’s plenty of community centers where people can go,” Gordon said. “But this is a place where people just kind of have to go to do, you know, their business and their laundry. We decided it just made sense to meet them there in the middle, and kind of engage them for that hour while they’re doing their laundry.”

              Michael Smith, a maintenance worker at the laundromat, noted the benefits the WASH Project has provided the community.

             “It keeps them off the streets,” Smith said. “They’ve got a nice place to come to, keeps them occupied.”

           

Lucy brews up tradition on Amherst Street

By Michael Mazzuto and Mike Provenzano

BengalNews Reporters

           Coffee. It’s an American staple. Most people cannot get through the morning without it, and it’s usually taken to go on the way out the door. Lucy Ethiopian Restaurant celebrates coffee with a ceremony that coincides with the origins of when the bean was discovered in the province of Keffa, Ethiopia.

            Patrons get to observe the way coffee is prepared, brewed and served according to Ethiopian tradition. The husband and wife team of Abba Biya and Naima Tesfu are co-owners of the restaurant and decided the coffee ceremony would be an automatic when the business opened on the corner of Amherst and Grant streets last March.

            “The ceremony is part of the culture and tradition,” said Biya. “It’s part of getting together and sharing.”

            The coffee ceremony has become synonymous with Lucy Ethiopian, along with the authentic cuisine.

            “We have a lot of people coming for coffee...some come for just the coffee,” said Tesfu.

Naima Tesfu demonstrates the traditional coffee ceremony: 

             
            The ceremony starts with the female hostess, in this case Tesfu.  She wears a white cotton dress specifically for the ceremony. The green Ethiopian beans are then washed, roasted and ground by Tesfu.

            The beans are roasted on a cast iron skillet and Tesfu walks it around the dining room allowing patrons to smell the aroma. She then grinds the beans back in the kitchen. It’s the only step that deviates from custom. Lucy Ethiopian uses a modern electric grinder as opposed to the traditional mukecha, a wooden bowl and stick that is used to crush the beans.

            The fine ground is then added to a jebena, a clay pot with a long neck, and is brought to a boil.

            The knee-high serving table behind the counter is where Tesfu carefully pours the final product into small porcelain cups to be served. The entire process is part of what Tesfu calls, “the fifths.”  The ceremony involves the five senses and ends when the final product is tasted. Natives usually drink it black.

            The coffee is never served alone. It’s accompanied by homemade bread, called de fo dabo, or sweet popcorn. Something always to has to be served with the coffee, according to Tesfu.

            The polar opposite of American coffee habits, Ethiopians celebrate coffee three times a day, morning, afternoon and after dinner, and each ceremony starts with a prayer. It symbolizes friendship and respect. Coffee serves as an extension of the community, according to Biya.

            The Saturday ceremonies from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. have added to the uniqueness of what Amherst Street has to offer, like art galleries, a pastry shop, a specialty delicatessen and numerous others eateries.

            Dr. Gary Welborn, Sociology professor at Buffalo State and long time West Side advocate sees a pattern of new business and renovations in the neighborhood.

            “They are really beginning to attract a good group of people coming down there.  So you see busy evening weekends.  To put it into a larger context, I think Amherst Street is a little ahead of Grant Street,” said Welborn “But it’s part of a whole thing where the city sort of bottomed out about the mid- to late-80s and then began a slow climb back up and now a lot of the fruits of the work over those years is beginning to take hold and people are seeing the rejuvenation.”

Asarese, hockey matter to West Side youth

By Lars Lewis and Anthony Howard

BengalNews Reporters

            Inside the Asarese-Matters Community Center on a Monday or Wednesday night during the winter, next to the scorer’s table sits a man who has seen and done it all for amateur sports on the West Side. 

Ottavino “Tovie” Asarese, 84, is the founder and commissioner of the West Side Play Area Street Hockey League on Rees Street, where he’s been involved in amateur and youth sports for over 50 years.

Since 1970, the floor hockey league has provided West Side teenagers with an opportunity to play the sport of hockey without paying the large fees ice leagues command.

Ottavino "Tovie" Asarese has his eyes on the game.

Asarese, who is a member of the Great Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, has inspired multiple generations through his leadership and commitment to keeping kids safe from the streets by forming multiple sports leagues for the youth.

“It is an alternative to ice hockey. It gives kids who didn’t or don’t have a lot of money a chance to play,” Asarese said. “I wanted to keep the kids busy in the winter time. We needed something kids wanted to play.”

Asarese also founded the West Side Little League football club, West Side boys baseball and West Side ponytail softball all with a similar goal in mind: to keep the fun going year-round.

The hockey league was created 19 years before the community center that houses it today was constructed. During those 19 years, the league was played outdoors on the playground next to the center.  

“When we built the playground, there were no lights,” Asarese said.

Asarese on the value of the floor hockey league to the community:


 At one point the league had 24 teams that played games five days a week. Now, Asarese said a lack of funding has caused the league to shrink to four teams across three different age groups -- 8 to 10, 11 to 12 and 13 to 15.

Still, Asarese said that the hockey program itself has been stable in terms of interest. It’s just a matter of spreading the word about the league.

“We do not have any money, we rely on public announcements.” Asarese said.

He also said that he is currently looking for more ways to spread awareness of the hockey program to ensure its longevity. 

The Asarese-Matters Community Center itself receives funding from New York State and charges a $5 registration fee for the cost of the trophies at the end of the season. 

Some youth who have outgrown the games remain involved to help support it. 

“I grew up in the league since I was 7 and I played all the way until I was 16, then I came back to referee the past two years,” said Marco Marrero, a 21-year-old student at D’Youville College. “The experience here is unique and it kept me off the streets. The league teaches kids sportsmanship and some of them build relationships here that continue to high school.”        

            Even with a new blue gym floor that was installed before the season began, most of the equipment used by the kids is outdated and torn. There is also a need for more bleachers for fans to sit and watch the games. 

The center itself was almost shut down last summer when its five-year contract with Erie County expired. With the needs of new equipment and the growing concern for support, the league is in need of assistance from sources aside from the state. 

But even after 40 years, the league continues to push forward with the support of the community that has never wavered. Asarese has fought through these concerns and wants this league to continue long after he leaves this earth.    

Darryl Hill, who coaches in the league, said he feels what Asarese provides to West Side youth is crucial to community.

“A lot of these kids that look forward to playing hockey bring their moms and dads out to support them and sometimes even their whole family,” Hill said. “Not a whole lot of places around here do that.”

Farmers market moves to Horsefeathers

By Crissie Russo and Caitlin Waters
BengalNews Reporters

Snowy weather is approaching, pushing at least one popular farmer’s market inside.

The Elmwood-Bidwell Market will be moving into the Horsefeathers building at 346 Connecticut St. and will be open every Saturday starting Jan. 5.

Farmers markets have usually been associated with the warm, summer months when produce and livestock are thriving. However, vendors that may still have products at the end of the season are left without a place to sell them. This is where the Horsefeathers building comes in.

The Winter Market at Horsefeathers, created by The Frizlen Group, will provide a location for vendors from the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market to sell their products during the off months.

The Market will stay open every Saturday through May 4. May 11 will mark the date to continue the summer Elmwood-Bidwell market.

The Horsefeathers building, which was vacant for about three years before the Frizlen Group bought it, will have 24 apartments in the upstairs floors and has approximately 10,000 square feet of commercial space in the basement and ground floors. The apartments will not be completed until at least May.

Construction worker Charles Bloomquist said the construction started in July and is more than halfway done.

Construction worker Charles Bloomquist with market flooring

“We recently got the wood needed to cover only about 4,000 square feet of flooring for the market,” Bloomquist said.

Karl Frizlen, founder of the Elmwood-Bidwell farmers market and president of the Frizlen Group, hopes to develop an outlet for food makers within the new building.

“I didn’t buy the building with the intent of creating a winter market but I wanted to provide this food makers concept,” Frizlen said. “This winter market is a great way to market the space.”

Frizlen said the momentum from the market in the summer months has developed a need for these vendors in the winter months. The success of the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market has lead to the public’s request for an indoor market during the winter months.   
 

Karl Frizlen, on the vendors for the Winter Market at Horsefeathers:

 

The future market, which 12 vendors have signed on for, requires that all participating businesses be within a 50 mile radius of Buffalo. They have to commit to being open every Saturday from opening in January to the closing in May.

The emphasis on the winter season is because some products do not reach their peak until the winter, therefore is essential to have a market at this time. Preservation of the produce allows the season to be extended.

Dr. Wende Mix, an associate professor in the Geography and Planning Department at Buffalo State College explained that plants grow successfully through December as long as they’re taken care of. 

“A lot of eating local has to do with preserving,” Mix said.  “Canned tomatoes, frozen meats and things along those lines you could see at a winter market.”

Buffalo State College Professor Wende Mix, on winter availability of produce:  

 

Mix also explains that fresh mint and herbs that are grown over the spring and summer months can be dried and sold as spices at farmers markets during the off-peak seasons.

         Some other items that will be available for purchase include pastas, salsa, dog treats, and cookies. Venders include Arden Farms, Avenue Boys Smokehouse, and The Pasta Peddler.

           Future vendors and more information about the development of the Horsefeathers building can be viewed at www.horsefeathersmarket.com  Edited by Maureen Vitali
















 

W.S. holiday food drives in full swing

By Tom Gallagher and Mike Straw
BengalNews Reporters

Thanksgiving is typically a time for families to gather and eat a festive meal while enjoying each other’s company.

For those that are less fortunate, however, holiday meals aren’t always that easy to come by.  On the West Side, with an abundance of immigrants and families in need, this is commonplace.

Catholic Charities and many other local organizations are lending their hands, determined to assure that nobody goes hungry this holiday season.

“We provide constant service to people who need it,” said Catholic Charities Communications and Public Relations Coordinator Stephanie Hamm.

Sure enough, Catholic Charities provides Thanksgiving meals for people in need. Hamm noted that as should be expected, more people come during the holiday season.

“(The meals) can be delivered or the families or persons can pick them up,” Hamm said.

Despite not having a pantry located immediately on the West Side, Hamm noted that Catholic Charities has seen a large increase in clientele from the West Side,  refugees and immigrants in particular.

D'Youvile's Anthony Spina sorts food donations

D’Youville College’s CampusMinistries has also lent its hand to the community by sponsoring a variety of food drives and accepting food donations.

“We collect food and it all goes to West Side Ministries,” said Rev. Jan Mahle, Associate Campus Minister. “We have collected and donated, in the past, 50 Thanksgiving boxes.”

In addition to sponsoring its own food drives, Campus Ministries has teamed up with several local organizations that are also committed to assisting those in need.

One of these organizations is Friends of Night People, a non-profit soup kitchen located 394 Hudson St. Mahle and Campus Ministries volunteer at the soup kitchen regularly.

“(Friends of Night People) serves an evening meal every night,” Mahle said. “On average, they serve 200 meals. Most of the persons who come to the soup kitchen are homeless, but there is a growing percentage of those persons who are immigrants or refugees.”

Campus Ministries has also created a working relationship with Holy Angels Roman Catholic Church, adjacent to D’Youville.

D'Youville Campus Ministry's Rev. Jan Mahle talks on a message that she was told years ago:

“The church has a food pantry and whenever we have a collection our food goes there,” Mahle said. “Recently, we collected 28 boxes of food. They can be used for the Thanksgiving drive, and what isn’t appropriate for Thanksgiving we give to the Holy Angels food pantry.”

Mahle noted that everything Campus Ministries collects is sorted by whether or not it’s perishable. For the holiday season, they’ve put an emphasis on turkeys, canned goods and other common holiday foods, though any and all donations are accepted.

“The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for,” Mahle said. Edited by Chelsea Goodridge

Old West Side homes for sale need rehab

By Mackenzie Clarke and Cheri St. Croix
BengalNews Reporters 

According to real estate agents, buyers and sellers have been extremely active for the past few years on the West Side, where some of the oldest houses in Buffalo reside.

“The housing on the West Side is so inexpensive that if you bought one of these places that were in need of renovation and you did that work, I think you’d be way ahead of the game, instead of going out to the suburbs looking for that finish product,” said Michael Maywalt, owner and broker of Maywalt RealtyGroup.

            However, not many buyers are willing to put in the time and work associated with these older homes, most of which were built before the 1940s. 

            According to Maywalt, only 20 percent of new home buyers are looking to renovate. That 20 percent consists of mostly younger people who want a vibrant city life.  Then there’s the 80 percent of home buyers who are looking strictly for move-in-ready housing, most wary of taking that renovation plunge, which is usually an older, busy and single executive lacking time or wanting renovations.

“These old homes often come with quite a bit of baggage,” said Jennifer Yuhnke, development coordinator of Heart of the City Neighborhoods Inc. “The cost of rehab can often be unpredictable. Asbestos, lead paint, [and] water damage are just some of the many challenges we see in homes that we rehab.”

“The West Side   is filled with housing in terrible need of renovation, and with city streets deteriorating from slum landlords, disrepair and neglect over time, it seems that homebuyers are fearful of taking on major renovations that could exceed the budget by thousands of dollars,” said Maywalt.

“Many buyers don't mind doing little things to a property, painting or minor repairs,” said William Abels, real estate agent with Hunt Real Estate. “But, for the most part if the property needs something major like a foundation repair they will not even consider it.”

If homebuyers choose move-in-ready housing to avoid more expenses and loss of time from renovating themselves, they lose the chance of having a more personalized home and are left with the taste of the previous owners.

“I think that [renovating] is the best,” said Abels. “You can design your home the way you want it and not have to pay top dollar for something someone else has done.”

For example, in kitchens, many people like different styles of counter tops, tiles, and back splashes.  A homebuyer may purchase a house that has an updated kitchen but it’s not at all to their particular sense of taste. The homebuyer must simply live with it or spend even more money redoing the previous owners improvements just to meet their own personal needs.

            “Don't be afraid to do a renovation in a property, just make sure you do not over improve it, said Abels. “Many people go into a house that needs work and spend way more money than they will ever get back when they try and sell it.”

Homebuyers should know that even though buying a house between $10,000 to $40,000 with added improvements can be time consuming and somewhat expensive, it will ultimately enrich the neighborhood’s appeal and is a far better option than leaving Buffalo.

“I feel like more people should be socially responsible,” said Maywalt. “Fix something in the city and make it viable again.” Edited by Miranda Ruckdeschel

Somali community questions surveillance

By Michael Canfield and Jacob Tierney
BengalNews Reporters

 It’s been two months since a leaked document emerged detailing the NYPD’s surveillance of the Somali community in Buffalo, and members of that community are still wondering why they were being watched.

 The document, issued on January 2, 2009, outlined several steps the NYPD had taken in Buffalo, including meeting with then Erie County Undersheriff Richard Donovan and discussed area schools with high populations of Somali students. It’s unclear from the report if or when the NYPD’s Security Intelligence Unit stopped conducting intelligence operations in Buffalo. It’s also unclear whether any arrests had been made as a result of the surveillance.

Lafayette High School was chosen for surveillance because of its large number of immigrant and refugee students.

 Several attempts to contact Mary Murray, the Erie County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman, went unanswered, as did several phone calls and emails to the NYPD.

  The Somali community in Buffalo has a lot of good, hard working people in it, said Yahye Omar, executive director of H.E.A.L. Internationaland chairman of the Imams Council of WNY. If police know about someone who is involved with illegal activities, they should be pursuing that person. Where the line gets blurry, is when police don’t have a reason.

 “The thing is that, for no reason, they stereotype,” Omar said. “They say, ‘You are Muslims and you come from such and such country, you are a bad guy.’ That’s something wrong.”

 There are three types of people in the Somali community when it comes to the spying, he said. For some, it doesn’t matter. Others are more upset about it.

 “Some say, ‘Why us only?’ and some of them say ‘Why don’t we have the same rights and respect as the others?’” Omar said.

 The Somali community works with local law enforcement when necessary, and has a good rapport  with them. That’s why it was surprising to Omar to find out that the NYPD was watching Somalis in Buffalo. 

Mosques in WNY, like this one on Connecticut Street, were targets of NYPD surveillance.

 “We have local law enforcement here, and they know us, we know them and we work together. To come from another place and become involved, that’s a kind of ridiculousness. It’s important that the rights of those living in the Somali community are upheld, Omar said. "(The NYPD) can’t do anything they want, if the Constitution gives them the right, then they can do it.”

 Since the report was made public, Omar acknowledged that it might lead to people being suspicious of the Somali community. The community, however, has nothing to hide. While it’s not clear whether Somalis in Buffalo are still being watched, there isn’t a lot to watch, Omar said.

 “We go home, we go to the Mosque, we come back from the Mosque, that’s the routine that we do,” he said. “We go to the restaurant, we eat. If this is wrong, that’s another case.”

 Despite the concerns raised by the release of the document, the Somali community is ready to help if the NYPD needs them and has a reason to be there.

 “If they look up certain people, and think they’re bad, it’s up to them,” he said. “They have to do their job. If we have some people that are bad, we have to stop them.”