fixBuffalo reader tipped me off to the following article inthe latest issue of one Buffalo's coolest weeklies - The Downtowner.
Update...11/20/07...931am If you're arriving here because of a link in the comment stream of a recent Buffalo Rising story - make sure to click through the Sycamore Village Archive and here or here, too. Some chilling foreclosure action in a few blocks adjacent to the Sycamore Village site. Like who wants to spend 180-200K and be saddled with a big mortgage when you could scoop up a new house for 13-20K?? Further signs of a stable neighborhood, huh?
Here's the Sycamore Village archive to bring you up to date!
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7 comments:
Funny, I'd never call the Downtowner "cool." It seems unoriginal and lacking in any kind of distinctive voice.
What the hell is Mayor Moron smiling about? Build more cheap housing in a city that has too much empty housing already? What a joke. More funny is that he gets paid and seems to be proud of the little he does.
Listen, for better or worse, at least this new development is something happening in a city where the common belief is that nothing happens because of all the constant in-fighting and political bullshit.
If you live and/or work in the City of Buffalo make an attempt to be positive because we get enough negative publicity as it is from the rest of the state.
I lived and worked in upstate New York for eight-months, it felt like eight-years. There is nothing in Watertown and it is a shit-hole ~ they made fun of Buffalo; everything from politics to snow simply based on our constant negative news releases and a media that exaggerate every fucking snow storm that hits the area!
I can write this without any exaggeration; with the exception of New York City, every other city in this state is a depressed dump.
Rochester, Utica, Rotterdam, Watertown and even Albany are nothing in comparison to Buffalo; little to no culture, negative employment in most of these townships ~ Watertown would dry up and blow away if not for Fort Drum. If not for the war in Iraqi, Watertown would be a back water shit hole and, even with the money being pumped into the area, it is still a back water shit hole!
So stop the negativity and support the developments that actually slip through the cracks and actually happen.
wow, every time Lord Byron seems to put his face on something it just makes me shake my head. I mean come on!!!! how many DECADES must we try to be like the suburbs. Get a clue we can't win that battle! I for once would like a mayor who sees buffalo for what it is and to build on its strengths. Makes one almost wish for Masiello again, but without the patronage jobs of course. ;)
This development is NOT a positive step for the city! These are cheaply built homes that will be falling apart in no time. Restore what we already have is cheaper and makes more sense. If Buffalo is a joke in the country there is good reason for it. Look who runs the show.I'd be ashamed to show my face if I did the job that schmuk does.
I am open to see what happens with these. They are dense, small lots with drive ways off of alleys for most of the houses. They are all grouped togehter yet are integated into the street grid (unlike Walden Heights, LaSalle, etc)
They are not the cheap infill that has been stuck in with the abondoned houses on the side streets. These have higher quility features and materials. The porches are a very nice touch too. The "pedestrian way" I'm not fully sold on though.
Look at the houses built on the block bordered by William, Pine, Clinton, and Michigan as one solid block. I don't ever recall seeing one bordered up and hardly ever see for sale signs and they are not as high end.
A large block like this is how these should have been from the start. They are better than what was starting to go up at this location before the contamination issues were found. The forge block lays waiting to build off of this if semi-succesful. The near east side is prime for new builds along with the rehab of some existing notable houses. For example the one brick house at the corner of Mortimer should have been spared, gutted and incorporated into this plan as part of the development deal. It would have only added to the neighborhood.
Not many people are pining for the 8x10 bedrooms in the double flats and telescoping singles on the east side. My heart pounds nostalgic for the entire east side as I grew up there and walk and explore it regularly, sometimes with David searching for a place to rehab. But if there is any area of the city that is best for this type of new build it is the near east side. North Buffalo and other stable areas only have so much old rail area to infill. The product needs to be offered and in these areas it will initially require subsidies.
The important aspect is to have a plan so these pay off down the road. Majority low income scattered cheap new builds were destined to fail as we have seen happen. If done right, there should be long term planning to puch this type of development back torwards the core. Infilling the exsiting brick new builds in the Pratt area. Creating streetscape improvements from Jefferson right into the DT core.
I could wander on....but I'll cut myself off here. ;)
Get over yourselves. Rrdiculous, it is going to happen, they are working out there now. Just get over it. People want this kind of house in the city, they are building houses like this all over, so why make fun or fight it? It's progress weather you like it or not. And the person who wishes for Masiello again should be sent to 400 Forest, what a stupid comment. This city has never been better and I have lived here my whole life.
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