Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

Buffalo stuff today:

:: Michael Niman is a professor at Buffalo State College, and a writer of left-wing political columns for ArtVoice, Buffalo's main alternate weekly newspaper (their site may be down). Lately he's been writing a lot about Buffalo as a cycling city: Niman is a very avid cyclist, and his columns about biking in Buffalo have been even angrier and more provocative than the normal tone he brings to his political commentary. Over the weekend, he managed to get arrested in an altercation with police during a big cycling event. Being a walker, I know some of Niman's frustrations -- people in cars these days tend to be a little more unaware of anything on the road other than other cars each year, if they're even aware of those -- but judging by the tone of his recent articles, I can't say that his arrest comes as much of a surprise.

:: AmericanStyle Magazine's annual ranking of the Top Twenty-Five Arts Destinations is out.

1. Chicago
2. New York City
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Boston
5. San Francisco
6. Santa Fe
7. Philadelphia
8. Buffalo
9. Los Angeles
10. Milwaukee

11, New Orleans; 12, Columbus; 13, Pittsburgh; 14, Cape Cod, Mass.; 15, Cleveland; 16, Saugatuck, Mich.; 17, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.; 18, Asheville, N.C.; 19, Athens, Ga.; 20, Albuquerque, N.M.; 21, Sedona, Ariz.; 22, Corning; 23, Baltimore; 24, Seattle-Tacoma; 25, Atlanta.

Buffalo moved up, after being ranked ninth last year. Huzzah! Now, the city really needs to get going on taking advantage of this. What's more likely to draw people to Buffalo? Our arts institutions, which are some of the finest in the country, or a casino? And setting tourism aside, which is more likely to get people to want to move here?