Early last February I explored the Wollenberg Grain Elevator for the first time with Craig, my urbex partner. We had just explored the J.N. Adam TB Hospital site in Perrysburg a few weeks before. That's a long and unnecessairly complex story of municipal malfaesance that requires some time to fully understand. Required reading if you want to know just how f***ed-up things can get here in Buffalo. Anyway...
The Wollenberg Grain Elevator is located just 500 feet away from the recently renovated Harvey Austin School. Frequent readers of this blog may recall that I first met Michele Johnson, Artvoice Hero of The Year right here on Koons Avenue while trying to get the house demolished - a $7,000 demolition that Buffalo residents paid for - that sat just 50 feet away from the main entrance to the Harvey Austin School. Here's that story. The house is down...and the City of Buffalo still hasn't collected a penny from Hamilton and Lydia Woods of Redwood City, CA. Go figure...
Just over the tracks and 500 feet away is the Wollenberg Grain Elevator. It's the fourth stop on a Preservation Coalition sponsored Bicycle Tour - dubbed by some as the Tour de Neglect - that I'll be leading this summer. As you can see, the place is a total mess and under the City of Buffalo's ownership the place has continued to deteriorate. Last year there was only one opening that my urbex partner and I could access, yesterday there were two additional openings, one that you or any school kid mesmerized by this structure could simply walk into.
click to enlarge
The Wollenberg Grain Elevator is located just 500 feet away from the recently renovated Harvey Austin School. Frequent readers of this blog may recall that I first met Michele Johnson, Artvoice Hero of The Year right here on Koons Avenue while trying to get the house demolished - a $7,000 demolition that Buffalo residents paid for - that sat just 50 feet away from the main entrance to the Harvey Austin School. Here's that story. The house is down...and the City of Buffalo still hasn't collected a penny from Hamilton and Lydia Woods of Redwood City, CA. Go figure...
Just over the tracks and 500 feet away is the Wollenberg Grain Elevator. It's the fourth stop on a Preservation Coalition sponsored Bicycle Tour - dubbed by some as the Tour de Neglect - that I'll be leading this summer. As you can see, the place is a total mess and under the City of Buffalo's ownership the place has continued to deteriorate. Last year there was only one opening that my urbex partner and I could access, yesterday there were two additional openings, one that you or any school kid mesmerized by this structure could simply walk into.
The City of Buffalo is the legal owner of this place. And according to Stan who spent 5 years in housing court dealing with relatively minor code violations - peeling paint and a roof for his shed - he's lived in his home for 35 years and works part time and like many of us money is really tight (his case was dismissed in a jury trial!!!) he was quick to point out that the city of Buffalo also owns the house adjacent to The Wollenberg Grain Elevator. This house at 122 Koons Avenue.
click to enlarge
Make sure to click on these two pictures in this row on the right. That's 122 Koons Avenue. It's just 550 feet away from the Harvey Austin School and like the Wollenberg Grain Elevator it's owned by the City of Buffalo. Wide open...
Remember? This was last year...same place!
Remember? This was last year...same place!
While Fillmore District Councilman - a.k.a Council President David Franczyk, Buffalo's number 2 guy, has been spending time, money and squandering City resources to "save" a forest down in Perrysburg, NY 40 miles from Koons Avenue...the residents of Koons, like Stan and the students attending the recently renovated Harvey Austin School are all joining in unison with a few rounds of... WTF...
Read all about David Franczyk's dereliction of duty over here...Perrysburg Follies!
Oh yeah...almost forgot. The Wollenberg Grain Elevator is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Read all about David Franczyk's dereliction of duty over here...Perrysburg Follies!
Oh yeah...almost forgot. The Wollenberg Grain Elevator is on the National Register of Historic Places.
__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace Archive • Annals of Neglect • BAVPA • Where is Perrysburg? • Broken Promises...
Writing the City • Woodlawn Row Houses • Tour dé Neglect - 2006 • faq
Artspace Archive • Annals of Neglect • BAVPA • Where is Perrysburg? • Broken Promises...
Writing the City • Woodlawn Row Houses • Tour dé Neglect - 2006 • faq
No comments:
Post a Comment