Looks like an awesome event, Fred! I became a fan of HOCN's work in 2006 after hearing about them - and touring one of their rehabbed houses - during a Kleinhans Neighborhood event.

Celebrating HOCN's work is especially timely in light of this week's Buffalo News series about vacant housing. HOCN has worked to preserve the West Side's rich architectural fabric by rehabbing homes and partnering on neighborhood revitalization. We need more of that in our urban areas all over upstate!

Anyone who's missed the series in the News can check it out here: http://www.buffalonews.com/433/index.html

Tom, good to hear from you, and glad to hear we're on the same page about the News coverage. Especially in light of your 10th anniversary event, IMHO you should seriously attempt to get the News to follow up with coverage of HOCN and other organizations that are tackling the housing stock/neighborhood revitalization equation by rehabbing houses and getting people into them. I think that was a part of the picture given relatively short shrift in the News' recent series - except to leave the impression that only My Fair City is doing that - and if they're serious about taking a comprehensive look at the issue they should be willing to take a closer look at what you and other groups are doing along those lines in Buffalo.

Of course, if their idea behind the series was mainly to serve as buildup to support their subsequent editorial in favor of the land bank...then they may have moved on to other issues at this point...