This was Buffalo's year of change.

Residents rejected the status quo and welcomed new faces and ideas.

They voted out incumbents and showed the combative Buffalo Public Schools superintendent the door.

They nixed notions of how to fix Buffalo and found new ways to make the City of Good Neighbors shine.

The region played a pivotal role in giving gay New Yorkers the right to marry and became ground zero in the nation's conscience about bullying, particularly of gay youth, when an Amherst teenager took his life after being bullied at school and in cyberspace for his sexual orientation.

These are the top 10 stories of 2011 as voted on by the newsroom staff of The Buffalo News:

1. Poloncarz beats Collins: In a stunning upset, underdog Mark Poloncarz hammered out a surprisingly convincing victory over incumbent Chris Collins in November to win election as the eighth Erie County executive. The former county comptroller is only the second Democrat in predominantly Democratic Erie County to win in the 51-year history of the post.

Poloncarz's victory showed that voters, particularly those in the city and first-ring suburbs, rejected Collins' approach to running government like a business. Collins' cutting funding to arts and cultural organizations also struck a nerve with some voters.

2. Lee resigns amid scandal, and his seat goes to a Democrat: He was a rising star in the GOP, but Amherst Republican Chris Lee's promising political career came to a crashing halt when he emailed a shirtless photo of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist -- and it ended up on an online tabloid site. He resigned just three hours after it went online, prompting a special election for a congressional seat that had long been thought safe for Republicans. Kathy Hochul, the Democratic Erie County clerk, beat Tea Party candidate Jack Davis and Jane Corwin, a Republican assemblywoman from Clarence, whose support for overhauling Medicare cost her votes.

3. Bullied teen commits suicide: Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old freshman at Williamsville North High School, committed suicide after being bullied at school and online for his sexual orientation. His death started a national dialogue about bullying, cyberbullying and the struggles of gay, lesbian and transgender youth. Politicians called for changes to legislation, and Lady Gaga, Jamey's idol, vowed to meet with President Obama about the issue.

Locally, Amherst police investigated the incidents leading up to Jamey's suicide but, in the end, said no crime was committed. Police, school and legal officials said the issues leading to Jamey's death appear far broader than a simple matter of bullying by classmates.

4. James Williams resigns: After a tumultuous six-year stint as the superintendent of Buffalo Public Schools, James Williams was allowed to resign just as school was starting. The move spared him the embarrassment of being fired, which was all but certain in the weeks before he relented to resigning.

Williams was brought in because of his brash style and his willingness to take on the teachers' union. He was also criticized for low test scores over the last two years he was in charge, his handling of a student's unusually harsh suspension at McKinley High School and his refusal to move principals from three low-performing schools, which would have brought millions in federal funding to help those schools.

5. Buffalo preservation gains national recognition: Buffalo's rich architectural heritage took center stage this year as the National Trust for Historic Preservation held its annual conference here in October. More than 2,500 people from around the country delighted in all that the Buffalo Niagara region had to offer, from its turn-of-the-century architecture to vibrant, walkable neighborhoods.

6. Mo Hassan convicted of murder: The strange and sordid trial of Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan -- who beheaded his wife in the Muslim TV studio they started together to try to improve America's perception of Muslims -- captivated the region for weeks. Hassan, representing himself, tried to portray himself as a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of his wife, Aasiya. But in the end, the jury took less than an hour to convict him of second-degree murder. He was later sentenced to 25 years to life.

7. Grisanti votes for gay marriage: State Sen. Mark J. Grisanti defied his conservative backers and Catholic heritage to cast the 33rd vote in favor of extending the legal right to marry to gays. The vote, signed into law by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who had championed the bill, made New York the sixth and largest state to allow gay marriage. Buffalo activists Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd exchanged vows at 12:01 a.m. July 24 on Niagara Falls' Goat Island, becoming the first couple to exercise their right to marry under the new law.

8. City Hall plagued by scandals: City Human Resources Commissioner Karla Thomas was fired after an audit discovered that 170 dead employees had continued to receive city-paid health insurance, costing about $2 million. Former development czar Timothy Wanamaker pleaded guilty to billing some $30,000 in personal hotel and travel-related expenses on his city-issued credit card. A Cleveland developer filed a $1.4 million lawsuit against the city, alleging a pay-to-play scheme by Mayor Byron W. Brown and others at City Hall. Former Common Councilman Brian C. Davis was indicted by a federal grand jury on four felony counts in the theft of more than $40,000 in city funds intended to help his impoverished district when he served on the Common Council.

9. Lighter, faster, cheaper approach to waterfront: After Bass Pro decided not to build a store on the waterfront, many feared the area would never get going. Instead, developers embraced a new approach -- "lighter, faster, cheaper" -- of doing relatively simple things to attract people to the waterfront. They created a boardwalk, built a beach, set up a concession stand and brought in water taxis. This summer, the waterfront was a popular destination and a step forward in the redevelopment of downtown Buffalo.

10. Statler reopens and wows: Businessman Mark D. Croce bought the Statler Hotel this summer after it had been mothballed for more than a year. He is on track to spend $3 million refurbishing the historic towers. In August, the hotel hosted its first wedding in years. Last month, a nightclub opened in the lower level. Croce is in negotiations with a local community bank and a fitness center to open locations in the 1921 landmark.

mbecker@buffnews.comnull