How Change Buffalo Shows Up in the Public Conversation
Public Discourse tracks where Change Buffalo PAC and its ideas show up in the region’s public conversation: news coverage, opinion pages, blogs, broadcasts and social media. We list every mention we can verify, favorable or not, because a regional turnaround needs an honest public debate, and because how our ideas are received helps us sharpen them.
Each entry gives the outlet, date, headline, author and a short summary. We mark whether a piece is independent coverage or was written by the PAC’s founder, so readers can weigh it accordingly.
What we found
A search of local news outlets, opinion sites and public social media in October 2026 found that Change Buffalo’s public footprint is mostly in Buffalo Rising. That includes independent coverage of the founder’s 2009 mayoral campaign, which first introduced ChangeBuffalo.org, and a 2013–2014 series of guest columns whose author bio identified Change Buffalo PAC. We found no other verified news, broadcast, podcast or social-media mentions of the PAC by name. We are not listing coverage of the founder’s other ventures unless it actually mentions the PAC. As the PAC’s current Turnaround Agenda and initiatives draw public attention, this page will grow.
Mentions, newest first
Paladino Attacks Establishment GOP, says “Astorino Can’t Win”
Buffalo Rising · January 3, 2014 · By Matthew Ricchiazzi
Guest column by founder Matthew Ricchiazzi (PAC-authored)
A political column on Carl Paladino’s open memo to the state Republican Party ahead of the 2014 governor’s race. The piece is political commentary rather than policy, but its author bio identifies Ricchiazzi as the founder of “Change Buffalo PAC to promote issues of new urbanism in Western New York” and points readers to changebuffalo.org.
It’s Time to Fix Our Flagship Park
Buffalo Rising · December 15, 2013 · By Matthew Ricchiazzi
Guest column by founder Matthew Ricchiazzi (PAC-authored)
Argues that instead of rebuilding or merely downgrading the Scajaquada Expressway, the state should consider removing Route 198 entirely and turning the land back into parkland, with cross-city traffic moved onto Hertel, Delavan and other city streets. It also sketches an ambitious vision for Delaware Park. More than a decade later, reconnecting Delaware Park is still a core PAC campaign.
A West Side Stadium?
Buffalo Rising · December 2, 2013 · By Matthew Ricchiazzi
Guest column by founder Matthew Ricchiazzi (PAC-authored)
A deliberately provocative idea: a Bills stadium built over the Bird Island sewage treatment plant, paired with turning the I-190 into an at-grade boulevard and reopening the West Side waterfront from Front Park to Riverside. The underlying goal of reconnecting the city to its waterfront carries through to the PAC’s Black Rock Waterfront plan today.
Photo-Op Economic Development and My Discontent
Buffalo Rising · November 28, 2013 · By Matthew Ricchiazzi
Guest column by founder Matthew Ricchiazzi (PAC-authored)
Criticizes subsidy-by-subsidy, “photo-op” economic development and calls instead for a long-term strategy that grows specialized industry clusters. It urges the state to “reform, retool, and retask” the region’s industrial development agencies around clear goals. That argument is an early form of today’s One Region, One IDA initiative.
Imagining a Post Industrial Niagara Falls
Buffalo Rising · October 30, 2013 · By Matthew Ricchiazzi
Guest column by founder Matthew Ricchiazzi (PAC-authored)
Proposes a large state-backed matching investment fund, removing the Robert Moses Parkway, and environmental cleanup of Niagara Falls’ industrial land, with the goal of making the city North America’s leading tourist destination. The specific dollar figures are aspirational. The regional, cross-border ambition fits the PAC’s One Region, One Economy agenda.
The Albright Knox, a new convention center, and other musings on Niagara Falls
Buffalo Rising · October 22, 2013 · By Matthew Ricchiazzi
Guest column by founder Matthew Ricchiazzi (PAC-authored)
Suggests putting an Albright-Knox expansion gallery on Goat Island and a new regional convention center in Niagara Falls rather than defaulting to a Buffalo site. It also calls for better public access to the Niagara Gorge. The Albright-Knox (now the Buffalo AKG Art Museum) ultimately expanded at its Elmwood Avenue home, but the case for thinking about major facilities regionally still stands.
Reroute the trucks!
Buffalo Rising · August 12, 2013 · By Matthew Ricchiazzi
Guest column by founder Matthew Ricchiazzi (PAC-authored)
Part of the debate over the Peace Bridge and the West Side. It argues that international truck traffic should be routed elsewhere and that “international trucking tolls should pay for initial construction costs over time – not taxpayers.” The author bio identifies Change Buffalo PAC.
Canalside: Vision 2.0
Buffalo Rising · August 8, 2013 · By Matthew Ricchiazzi
Guest column by founder Matthew Ricchiazzi (PAC-authored)
Credits Canalside’s early success but argues “two blocks is not good enough.” It calls for a dense, mostly residential neighborhood around restored canals, and says the Outer Harbor should be kept as “a massive Harborfront Park with maximum waterfront access.” Both ideas carry into the PAC’s Inner Harbor and Outer Harbor plans.
The Peace Bridge, our waterfront, and billion dollar dreams
Buffalo Rising · August 3, 2013 · By Matt Ricchiazzi
Guest column by founder Matthew Ricchiazzi (PAC-authored)
Sides with West Side neighbors in the Peace Bridge plaza fight and proposes shared border management, a waterfront parkway in place of the I-190, and a “broadly participatory planning process” for the waterfront. Participatory planning is still at the center of the PAC’s Citizen Power agenda.
Matthew Ricchiazzi Bows Out of Mayoral Race
Buffalo Rising · September 8, 2009 · By WCPerspective
News item reprinting the founder’s statement (tone: neutral)
Reports that Ricchiazzi, an Independent hopeful for mayor, ended his 2009 campaign after learning his nominating petition would be rejected, and publishes his letter in full. In it he pledges that “our efforts to change Buffalo cannot–and will not–end here.” He also promises to turn ChangeBuffalo.org into a forum for urban policy and to keep the Agenda to Change Buffalo going as a vehicle for recruiting reform-minded candidates. That is the clearest public record of where today’s PAC came from.
Buffalo, Meet Matthew Ricchiazzi
Buffalo Rising · June 1, 2009 · By Buffalonian4life
Independent profile and interview (tone: positive, with reservations)
Introduces the then-23-year-old mayoral hopeful, whom the writer first found through “his website, Change Buffalo.” The writer says “the more I learned, the more I liked what Matt had to say,” while noting that “a few that appeared to be a bit radical needed to be fine-tuned.” The Q&A covers I-190 and Skyway removal, regionalism, lower property taxes, mayoral control of schools and Toronto ties, and points readers to changebuffalo.org. Many of those themes are still in the Turnaround Agenda.
Seen us in the news?
If you’ve seen Change Buffalo PAC or our proposals mentioned in a story, column, broadcast or post that isn’t listed here, please let us know through our Get Involved page. To see how our ideas have grown since these early pieces, read The Turnaround Agenda and Buffalo’s Turnaround Story.
