A fixBuffalo reader sent this in the other day...
In July 2004, Buffalo News reporter Phil Fairbanks wrote...
Sickamore Village Slideshow...
Same fixBuffalo reader who sent me the WGRZ piece dropped this off the other day...
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__________________________________________________________________________- City Spent Millions... - Stefan Mychajliw, WGRZ
In July 2004, Buffalo News reporter Phil Fairbanks wrote...
These partially completed homes on Sycamore Street were constructed on land contaminated with lead, mercury and chromium. City officials say contamination levels exceed state standards for new housing...read the rest...Went over to take a look on Saturday afternoon...
Same fixBuffalo reader who sent me the WGRZ piece dropped this off the other day...
The goal of this project is to create a neighborhood that would incorporate the advantages of both city and suburbia...read the rest!Here's the plan!
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Riddle me this...the City is losing population at the rate of 50 people/week - see Ouch! Why are we spending money and resources building new houses? No matter what the design - even new urbanist best practices - the location is a primary commercial street stretching the length of the City...not to even mention the fact that we still don't know what was "capped" underneath the site.
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5 comments:
This is...disgusting!
I think parts of it are kind of cool. The rear garages off alleys, especially off of Sycamore.
Although these were commercial strips in their heyday, the density won't be there for a long time to fill them all back in as commercial. Just like when some of the blocks originally grew out of houses to combine store front additions at the street.
I don't like the pedestrian walkway. They never seem to work out well in execution. There is life in street traffic (cars).
New builds should be grouped in "neighborhoods" like this or grouped on existing streets. They will have their best effect when they are not plopped down all scattered along side old houses where they just don't fit in. This also builds off the existing Pratt and Jefferson new build developments.
Areas that will lose some people to this (Hamlin Park) need to keep the designations and enforcement to keep those areas intact. Areas like Lovejoy which are still mostly intact need something to to ensure they remain that way.
There are people that want to live in a new house. They should not be neglected as a source of growth. At the same time, rehabbing/ continued upkeep need to be set up as a viable option to for those who prefer that option (like me).
The other areas which are mostly empty (near east side) or mostly vacant/burned and awaitng the demolition wave (broadway between Memorial and Bailey)need to be land banked with the mothballing of notible structures.
To see a truely comprehensive plan well thought out and followed would be a dream.
It will be interesting to see how Cheektowaga, etc. handle the wave of disinvestment and abandonment now that it has finally reached their borders. Without any county wide development plans, we will only perpetuate this self destructive wave.
Yuck indeed.
1. I'm surprised the neighborhood kids haven't torched this one yet.
2. Sycamore is no longer a commercial street. It's not much of anything anymore. The economic and social conditions that once enabled it to become a lively bustling street is ancient history.
Sycamore was NEVER a commercial street. Save for the odd corner store here and there.
i see they're still in the "welcome to my garage" school of architecture mode.
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