fixBuffalo

Revitalize This?

I pass these "urban-monsters" a couple times a week on the Kennsington and finally explored them the other day. I've placed a few pictures on a Google Map to help orient and locate this city owned complex. Make sure to click the "satellite" link and play with the slide bar to see the proximity of these poverty palaces to ECMC. The brown area just to the south of the BMHA property is a baseball and football field. It was in great shape last week, well kept and as I left the place I was wondering if the broken fences are going to be repaired anytime soon.

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As you can see the place is wide open. The buildings all face "in" towards each other and there are a few benches that still line the walk. The place reminds me in some respects of Peter Cooper Village & Stuyvesant Town in the city.

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I first started writing about BMHA over a few months ago when we learned that Sharon West, the former Executive Director finally left town, A Legacy of Vacany & Waste. Dick Kern and Jim Ostrowski have been some of the harshest critics of BMHA, there are all sorts of links there to their critique.

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BMHA is still building. Last I heard they had contracted with Rocco Termini to build on 217 West, the site of a community garden. Let's hope it doesn't look like one of Rocco's first projects over on Emslie Street.

I've been in touch with one of Buffalo's best research librarians and I'm looking for some history and pics of the construction and when it was in use. Any leads? Let me know.

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