Talk:Lafayette Square (Buffalo, New York)

Lafayette Square (Buffalo, New York) has been listed as one of the Geography and places good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
April 1, 2008	Good article nominee	Listed
November 9, 2024	WikiProject A-class review	Not approved

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on March 12, 2008.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ...that Grover Cleveland laid the cornerstone of the central sculpture at Lafayette Square (pictured) when he was Mayor of Buffalo, and dedicated it when he was New York Governor?

Current status: Good article

This article is rated GA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
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GA Review

Thank you for all the hard work you have put into upgrading and maintaining this page! This article will go on hold pending some suggestions I have made. As you know the GA criteria are as follows:

  1. It is well written. 
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable. 
  3. It is broad in its coverage. In this respect, it:
  4. It is neutral; that is, it represents viewpoints fairly and without bias.
  5. It is stable; that is, it is not the subject of an ongoing edit war or content dispute. Vandalism reversion, proposals to split or merge content, good faith improvements to the page (such as copy editing) and changes based on reviewers' suggestions do not apply. Nominations for articles that are unstable because of constructive editing should be placed on hold.
  6. It is illustrated, where possible and appropriate, by images.

Well written

Overall, the writing works. Here are a few pointers:

Your lead is concise and hits points that are expanded upon in the article. Good work.
Table of Contents and section titling briefly name each section. Good work.
The detail section seems to focus on location, so I would suggest changing the title to location (unless there is a template you are following that contradicts what I am saying. Disregard if so.)Y--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 21:52, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
At the start of the "detail" section, change "it" to "the square" or "Lafayette Square." You may want to state again in the section that the square is in downtown Buffalo.Y--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 21:52, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Pay attention to passive (is, are, was) versus active (regular action verbs) voice in the article. Active voice makes for better reads.Y--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 21:58, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Accurate and verifiable

I like your sourcing and how you cite in line. You include a number of sources and quote them often.

Broad in coverage

Your history section is comprehensive and educational. Good work.
The "Today" section needs more substance. Other than Thursdays at the Park, are there any other events that take place annually? Festivals, Saint Patrick's Day parades, Fourth of July parades? Are there any other rallies of note? Does the Square have an everyday culture, such as daily merchants, activities, or reputation?
- I have not lived in Buffalo since 1990. The downtown has not been vibrant for a generation or two before that. I believe that more of the cities current culture occurs around Niagara Square, but I am not sure. I see nothing in the square at 10best.com. I believe that since the Buffalo St. Patrick's Day parade was moved from Main Street to Delaware in 1881 this also suggests Niagara Square is more important. I don't think it is much more than a monument of a past era now. However, I think it passes breadth for its rich history.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 22:38, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Geographically speaking, does the park serve as a focal point for the city or one of the focal points for the city? How does the park fit with the rest of the cityscape? Answering those questions should make the detail/location section more substantive.
- I think when the county court and county jail were moved nearer to city hall on Niagara square this was symbolic of the movement of the focal point.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 22:38, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Neutral tone

I like your mostly neutral topic. The only thing I can pick out as not neutral comes from your Today section where you are talking about the schedule for the Thursdays on the Park series. The detail there is a little too much for this article.Y--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 22:01, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Stability

Article activity has been minor and has stopped for at least a week.

Images

You have a lot of images on the page. Would it be possible to reduce the number of images? Should you not want to reduce the number of images in the article, I would encourage you to create a gallery below the Today section. The photos of the people (General Lafayette, Joseph Ellicott, President Cleveland, John Hartranft, and the Emancipation proclamation) do not belong in the article. Everything else fits as it provides views of past and present day Lafayette Park.

The General for whom the square is named probably belongs in the article as does President Cleveland who makes the square notable, IMO. I would argue the park's notability also stems from Ellicott's inclusion of it in the urban plan. This leaves two images Hartranft and the Emancipation proclamation. When extremely significant things occur Governors from neighboring states attend (See David Patterson). This is a town square for a city that was a prominent American city from 1850-1950. The city has evolved so that the downtown is not its focus and the city is less important. Thus, the history is what is important. I would keep Hartranft to document that this square was once a significant enough Civil War monument that neighboring Governors attended its formal occaisions. I could be convinced to remove Hartranft, but would prefer to keep it. The final image is the Emancipation proclamation. I guess I will remove it.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 22:09, 27 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If another editor would like to provide suggestions, that would be great. I am going to place this article on hold and review it in a week. Please contact me if you need any more clarification. Chrisfortier (talk) 16:34, 26 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The final push

Great work, Tony. In my opinion, the article is almost there. My apologies for not thinking of this earlier. The article needs an infobox on the side, similar to what you see at Cathedral Square (Mobile, Alabama) or Franklin Square (Philadelphia), though you do not have to follow the exact format. Finally, placing the Template:Buffalo(NY) at the bottom of the page makes it feel more integrated with the city itself. You may want to add Lafayette Square along with Niagara Square to the template as they seem to be important parts of the city.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Chrisfortier (talk • contribs) 16:14, 28 March 2008 (UTC)--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTD) 22:23, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations, It's GA

You have worked on the major concerns and I like the product. Therefore, I am passing this article. The article provides a great depth of history and imagery into the Square. My only suggestion for future progression to FA would be to find more material for the today section including possibly some of the more notable concerts on the Square. Congratulations and thank you for your hard work! Chrisfortier (talk) 00:28, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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