PLEAS, PREDICAMENTS, PARADOXES, AND POTENTIALS OF PLACE AND PLACEMAKING

On a balmy early summer night, flames began to emerge from a long-time staple in a central neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. By the break of dawn, the Old Pink was no more - the bar’s sticky floors and nicknack-laden walls no match to the ire of a disgruntled patron. The neighborhood was certainly no stranger to change, its main street a barometer hosting the newly hip next to echoes of trends past. While historic preservation protections have safeguarded the area’s fabric for decades, its lively tapestry of wandering souls is slowly giving way to the upwardly mobile air of college professors, middle managers, and medical workers.