The pictures on the left are from one of the first news stories I created after moving to Western New York. Airing mere months before the pandemic began, it covered redevelopment plans for a circa 1931 food terminal in East Buffalo. Viewers sent encouraging messages asking for more news about the area and its development plans. That led me to many stories and friendships on the East Side.
After the mass shooting at Tops supermarket, an article appeared in the Wall Street Journal talking about disinvestment in the area. Though the writeup contained valid concerns, residents reached out to me saying that they wished it had acknowledged their hard work in recent years to redevelop East Buffalo. Since I know those projects well, they asked if there was anything I could do about that. These people mean so much to me that I wrote a letter to the WSJ editor and it was published. You can read about the efforts to revitalize this area here.