A fixBuffalo reader emailed me the following piece about Perrysburg, NY today - Costs Add Up for City-Owned Property Miles Away - that appeared on the WGRZ site yesterday.
I first visited Buffalo's former TB Hospital in Perrysburg in January of 2005. Covered it here - and began adding posts to the Perrysburg Archive on a regular basis.
And while Buffalo continues to lose people at a per capita rate faster than Detroit and Cleveland combined, one really has to question the legitimacy of the City clutching to a 600 acre liability 40 miles away. Not only is the City the largest owner of blighted and vacant property in Buffalo, you can add Perrysburg to that list, too.
This bungled and convulted project, worse than Sickamore Village, has fallen so far down the proverbial rabbit hole, that it's almost beyond understanding.
Two years ago, Craig from America's North Coast said it best...
I first visited Buffalo's former TB Hospital in Perrysburg in January of 2005. Covered it here - and began adding posts to the Perrysburg Archive on a regular basis.
And while Buffalo continues to lose people at a per capita rate faster than Detroit and Cleveland combined, one really has to question the legitimacy of the City clutching to a 600 acre liability 40 miles away. Not only is the City the largest owner of blighted and vacant property in Buffalo, you can add Perrysburg to that list, too.
This bungled and convulted project, worse than Sickamore Village, has fallen so far down the proverbial rabbit hole, that it's almost beyond understanding.
Two years ago, Craig from America's North Coast said it best...
...imagine that the tables were turned. Imagine that through some accident of history the City of New York held title to the Outer Harbor and refused to relinquish it unless and until it was developed in an environmentally-friendly manner -- oh, let's say a big park. The economic desperation of Buffalo would mean nothing, of course, because NYC rules.Can you imagine what David Franczyk (and the environmentalists in Buffalo) would have to say about that?
Free Perrysburg! from Perrysburg Held Hostage - Day 4496
I'll be heading down to Perrysburg again. I plan to talk with Mary Watkins, Perrysburg Supervisor and Tom Trathen, the logger from Livingston County who had planned to purchase the property two years ago. He'd also received kudos from various preservation groups in other parts of the state for his stewardships and selected harvesting methods.
We live in a shrinking city with very limited resources. The Broadway Fillmore area is the most blighted, and is experiencing the highest rate of abandonment and vacancy in Buffalo. Why spend resources 40 miles away when Perrysburg leaders are more than capable of managing Perrysburg. Imagine if the Town of Perrsyburg owned a large tract of blighted buildings in Buffalo. What if they were in the Broadway Fillmore District?
Stay tuned...
Stay tuned...
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
2 comments:
Fix Buffalo,
You need to run for Mayor. I am serious.
Keith,
Appreciate the kudos...yet at this point I'd still like to stay behind the scenes and help elevate the dialog and discourse about "decline" and somehow - not quite sure how - place the "shrinking cities" critique front and center in local debates...
Post a Comment