Buffalo is now officially part of the Yahoo News Cities Rising: Rebuilding America series by Katie Couric. Just a handful of years ago, Buffalo would not have been considered a rising city by anyone but some hopeful locals. Now it's a come-back poster child.

Although the jury is out until January 15th when the spot will debut, I am impressed by both what Couric showcased about Buffalo and what she apparently chose not to feature. And slightly stunned by a what seems to be a glaring omission and lost opportunity.

To her credit, Couric did not do the typical "wings and winter" fly by. No Anchor Bar shots, no manufactured six foot snow drifts and howling winds. Whew. She gets an A in my book simply for getting past the cliches. WNY Media captured a bit of her fresh take on Buffalo. Hopefully this will carry through to the final product.

The stop at 43 North on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus was a given. It clearly illustrates some of the key ingredients of resurgence: entrepreneurism, investment, innovation, infrastructure and millenials. It apparently also was the bright banner that drew the attention of Cities Rising producers in the first place, a very valuable by product of this critical Buffalo Billion endeavor.

And Canalside is such lovely eye candy; the ice bikes, Shark Girl - there are photo opps galore there. And the waterfront really does symbolize the great strides we have made in taking our city back (remember the Bass Pro battle?). Less apparent to the Yahoo crew but something that we locals need to recognize: the waterfront is neither east nor west in this unfortunately still divided city of ours.

But the West Side Bazaar? What an unexpected and very welcome addition to the itinerary! The City of Buffalo is now growing rather than shrinking due in no small part to these industrious refugees intent upon making a go of it here. Just as beleaguered Irish, German, Polish and Italian immigrants built Buffalo more than a century ago, these new immigrants from Somalia, Myanmar, Bhutan and beyond will play a pivotal role in rebuilding this great city.

But in the midst of the international controversy over immigration, showcasing our New Buffalonians was a courageous decision. It was also a good decision because it is people who will rebuild our cities; not just the coveted millenials and the affluent power brokers and those who have the luxury of hanging out at Canalside on a Tuesday afternoon, but these less visible but no less invested stakeholders.

"...it was a very moving experience for me to see so much multiculturalism in Buffalo... Couric is quoted in The Buffalo News as saying.  "...at a time when there is so much negativity about immigrants and refugees, Buffalo should be very proud of the way they have welcomed and embraced immigrant communities..."

In addition to providing great visuals (and being a great place for lunch), the West Side Bazaar is also a business incubator. Its inclusion helps position Buffalo as a growing multicultural urban center with growing opportunity.

So I'm OK with no wings and no winter, but no architecture? Maybe they slipped some in. But wouldn't the Richardson Olmsted Complex have been a perfect fourth stop? It's huge, historical, and rising. Its transformation from a remarkable structure by a world renowned architect to an abandoned, derilect behemoth traces the trail of urban decline in America. It's restoration and transformation into a boutique hotel, conference center, and architecture center parallels the rebuilding of Buffalo. It's a perfect architectural allegory for the series. Seems like a lost opportunity.

But there will be many places that we will wish had been included once the spot goes live.

And then we get to the "so what" arguments that popped up like bedraggled daisies on social media. So what Katie Couric came to Buffalo? So what Yahoo News is including our fair city in a positive, upbeat series on urban rejuvenation instead of in a pessimistic whine about urban decline? Well, there you have it. That is why it's important. Not because Couric came. Any news organization that can get past the hackneyed view of Buffalo and present the city in its current, emerging, resurgent state is a boon.

It's not enough to do the hard work needed to rebuild a city, it's just as critical to talk about it, shout about it, tell as many people as possible about it. If we fail to get the word out, we run the risk of losing momentum and squandering the opportunities it represents. We are a city with twice as much infrastructure as the current population requires. Infill can't happen without people.

"I really didn't realize the renaissance that is happening in Buffalo until I started to look into it. I think most people are unaware, and that's why I'm excited to bring the story to a national audience," said the Yahoo global news anchor and former CBS News anchor. "...I think that Buffalo could be used in many ways as a model for other cities dealing with some challenges." Indeed.

Yahoo News reaches a larger digital audience than CNN, NBC, CBS and Huffington Post,   and the Yahoo Bing Network demographic, skews sharply to college graduates and graduate school students, the 35+ crowd, households with children and with incomes of $75,000+.

Sounds a lot like some of the folks we'd like to introduce to Buffalo as a great place to live.