3/25/2007

What if...

...this chaos was located closer to Elmwood Avenue?
This is forgotten Buffalo, the Buffalo you see if you venture to the Galleria via Walden Avenue. Or, if you're a kid, it's halfway - five blocks away - between MLK Park and one of the City's newest schools, Harvey Austin School. Here's the map.
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Did a LexisNexis search and found a few sentences in the Buffalo News from November 6, 2006.
HEADLINE: Warehouse burns: Four-alarm blaze GRAPHIC: Derek Gee/Buffalo News Fire-ravaged: A four-alarm blaze Saturday night extensively damaged the Bandag Tire warehouse on Walden Avenue between Roetzer Street and Wasmuth Avenue. Officials reported that one firefighter was treated for injuries in Erie County Medical Center. The cause is undetermined.
So for the past 139 days this place has been wide open [see slideshow]. According to City records, Empowerment Temple is the current owner of this structure at 202 Walden Avenue. In the past five years it appears to have been purchased at the City's tax sale for 7K in 2002 and later purchased by its current owner in 2004 for $1000.00....And according to Housing Court records - index #1676/2005 - it's been in front of Judge Nowak 19 times since the Fall of 2005.
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This is about as bad as it gets here in Buffalo, NY. Can't really imagine things any worse. Even if you don't live in the City's Fillmore District, please call David Franczyk's office tomorrow and express your concern. Bob Sienkiewicz is David's chief of staff and can be reached at 851-4138.

Here's the slideshow...two and half miles from Elmwood...a world away!

Oh, and in case you are wondering - Tale of Two Cities - is a multipart series describing how we don't deal with fire damaged and burned out structures in the City, comparing the more prosperous areas of Buffalo and the poorer parts. Rather sad when you consider Walden Avenue is like a major street in "our" City. So, imagine the outrage if a more familiar two story structure burned on Elmwood - say where Louie's is located or the Lexington Coop.

This is day 139. Those buildings on Elmwood Avenue would have been demolished in 13.9 hours. I'll be checking on this property later this week, to see if there's any progress.
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3 comments:

fixBuffalo said...

ok...24 hours go by...and no comments from "new Buffalo"...wasup?

John from Buffalo said...

Ok. Fine. What about 365 days later. That make you happy?! :)

Anonymous said...

Who is going to pay for fixing these eyesores?

The people who are complaining?

Not a chance.

They think that it is somebody elses duty.

In this area money has been driven away by greedy tax hungry politicans.