fix buffalo today

Remember the Hamilton Ward House? Last summer "friends of Coe Place" were swarming it, right here! You'll remember that the owner - Belmont Shelter, same folks who've been appointed property manager over at Artspace right next door - wanted to send it to a landfill and expand their parking lot.
Had a call late night call from a Coe Place resident last week. He was concerned that demo-prep might be going on, again. I stopped by about 7am and called City Hall to see if the demo permit Belmont Shelter had applied for last year had been re-activated.

Learned that an architect had submitted plans on behalf of Belmont Shelter for interior and exterior renovations. As you can see the only demolition that took place was the pine tree, right infront of the house. I think the entire street scene has been improved.
What a difference a year makes. And yes, the back door remains secure! Thank you again, Mike & Liz (Belmont peeps) for withdrawing the demolition permit and getting things done! Will be keeping track of the Ward House's transformation this summer...stay tuned.

May is preservation month!
Very cool links, here - in the advocacy section. And if you still haven't got turned on by the work of Jane Jacobs (1916 - 2006), you really should - right here!

Saturday afternoon while walking in the in the Jefferson/Northampton area we spotted these two signs, that I'd never seen before.
Any other ghost signs out there...

Interested in buying a City owned property? Make sure to check out these earlier posts...

• City Catalog of Residential Real Estate
• Results of the October in-rem 40 Tax Sale
  

Yet no where is the blatant neglect more visible than it is here.

Here's the front...
And around back, same house...no, this house is not located in Harlan County Kentucky!

From City Journal...

Twenty-five years ago, social scientist James Q. Wilson and criminologist (and Manhattan Institute senior fellow) George Kelling first introduced the phrase “Broken Windows” into the public policy lexicon. In a pathbreaking Atlantic Monthly article, Wilson and Kelling pointed out that people were likelier to vandalize a building with one broken window than a building with none, since a broken window sends the message that nobody cares, encouraging vandals to act on their destructive impulses. Similarly, they suggested, if a community tolerates quality-of-life offenses, such as drug use and prostitution, it signals to all potential lawbreakers that it doesn’t care what happens to it; more serious crime will soon result. read the rest...

Blueprint Buffalo uses this framework as a point of departure for kick starting the conversation here in Buffalo on abandonment and vacancy issues. Wrote about this way back, last Novemeber - Getting Smarter about Decline.

City Journal is a daily read. Free e-subscription, right here.

While I certainly wish these guys from Williamsville the best of success with their church, really got to wonder why they've waited so long to properly secure the premises. Part of my e-mail contained this advice...

I'm assuming your attorney does not live in the immediate neighborhood. If you are sincere and desire to move forward with your project and preserve what is still a viable structure, properly securing the building is a good first step. NO one will stop you from properly boarding and securing the site. Deeds sometimes take weeks to receive after they've been recorded. Again, you may be losing valuable time.

And like we're still waiting. Housing Court this Friday. Stay tuned...

I ventured out to the water's edge early Friday morning. Anybody know what's up with this project?
Last time I was here I explored the sand pile, right here.

Wonder what life was like here in Buffalo when the neighborhoods were full of life...

The Preservation Coalition held their annual meeting at St. Anne's in January, right here.

MJ passed along a number of air shots from his photo shoot above Buffalo.

Still fascinated by the ever increasingly larger urban prairie. Spotted this slide on Adams Street. Seems like one of those playground pieces that was removed from County parks way back.
Awesome vintage T-bird in the distance, too. On Peckham, tucked behind the "vinyl victorian."

Very few people were out yesterday afternoon...or is that very few people live here any longer.

Had an opportunity to spend a few hours behind St. Anne's Saturday afternoon. We spotted this place at 287-289 Monroe Street at the corner of Peckham.
The City took possession of this four unit building during the tax sale last October. It's clearly marked for demolition as the notice was stapled to the boards some time last week. Only one problem. The building is structurally sound. The roof is new and there's not a crumbling brick. The side door was open...so. Lots of cosmetics, mechanics and a dozen new windows are needed. The apartments are divided along very traditional lines with two bedrooms in each unit.

While I fully understand that the market may not be catching up to this neigbhorhood anytime soon, would'nt it make more sense to "moth-ball" a building like this...than send it to the landfill?

This City owned building is arguably in better condition than many of the City owned buidings listed in the City For-Sale Catalog, that I wrote about last week.

Anyone want to venture a guess as to how much we're spending on knocking this down? Plywood is probably cheaper...really!

So it goes...

Michele Johnson and I were comparing notes during the weeks and final days leading up to last October's City in rem sale, the auction. We poured over the list and never saw this. A month after the sale I posted City Sale which contains a spreadsheet documenting the sale's results. Sure enough, on the last day of the sale two guys from Williamsville, NY bought 1066 East Ferry Street, aka St. Matthew's. (Click through the spread sheet to find their names, which I won't mention here...) One of these guys sent me an email the other day and identified himself as one of the owners of Re/Deal Partners LLC, new owner of St. Matthew's. Same guy informed my that the deed was just filed by the City last Friday and he doesn't want to start any work at St. Matthew's 'till he gets the deed in the mail.

So...lots of issues here I know. Both St. Matthew's and Transfiguration were part of the same Diocesan deaccession plan back in the 90's. You'll remember that Transfiguration was sold for $7000 and now we see that empty churches continue to lose value.

Guy claimed no knowledge of the May 4th Housing Court date. I've spoken to the City's inspector who filed the Housing Court case. I've given him names and addresses that the purchaser provided the City last October as the successful bidder. Re/Deal Partners LLC has a different address which I've also handed over to the inspector. On May 4th I'll make certain to hand both addresses to Judge Nowak, too.

At this rate when the Bishop announces Diocesan Deaccession - Part II, guess you know what Selling Jesus is going to cost.

So it goes...

Smart City is a weekly, hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life, the people, places, ideas and trends shaping cities. Host Carol Coletta talks with national and international public policy experts, elected officials, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others for a penetrating discussion of urban issues.

This weekend...

• Why do great strategies fail? That's the question Michael Raynor asks in his new book, The Strategy Paradox. Michael says the job of leaders is to embrace the inherent uncertainty of strategy and recognize that the future can't be predicted. Instead of making choices, leaders create options. Michael is a Distinguished Fellow with Deloitte Research in Boston.

• Our second topic this week is a strategy critical to cities - how to leverage universities and other anchor institutions to contribute fully to urban success and, in turn, to their own. Dr. David Maurrasse of Marga is with us to talk about the challenges and rewards of these partnerships. David is on the faculty at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

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Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities

One year has passed since we learned about the death of Jane Jacobs (1916 - 2006).
If you haven't read The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) you should! Make sure to check out the Wikipedia entry for Jane Jacobs! Great links.

After reviewing the Housing Court case - index # 501/2007 - with a represenative from the Dept. of Inspections last week - it seems as though the summons was sent to the wrong address. It's scheduled for May 4, 2007. I'll be following this and report back.

I know, Bishop Kmiec has been laying low recently with the Diocesan deaccession plan. Any news about the pending fate of St. Anne's and St. Adelbert's? Let me know...

Had a chance to check out the latest listing in the Artspace Backyard Neighborhood the other day. Ryan Pierce from Polis Realty sharred the listing with me - right here. 10 Edna Place [quikmap] is right around the corner from Artspace and runs between Ellicott and Masten. Masten Park is at the one end and Osmose is at the other. Here's the view of Artspace from the second floor side window.

This two family home appears to be in structurally sound condition. We didn't see any structural problems. Lots of cosmetics, a few windows. Was very surprised to see both furnaces, that appeared to be newer, along with both hot water tanks. Couple sketchy houses across the street that need to be demolished.
Here's the interior slide show - 10 Edna Place

Edna Place is part of the North Ellicott Neighborhood Association (aka Coe Place Block Club, see here & here). With all the positive activity and attention in the neighborhood it's now only a matter of months before the eye-sores are demolished, not years.

Reach Ryan at 716.961.7632 to set up a showing. This won't last. Asking price $22,900...bet the first $15K takes it. By Memorial Day this place will be sold. Really...

I was joined by members of the Buffalo Flickr Group this morning and Amy from Buffalo At Home for the tour around the Artspace Backyard Neighborhood.
Jim Lindley's group shot! As pix trickle in, I'll post the group slide show here. Looking forward to seeing additional eyes on what's happening in Buffalo's coolest new emerging neighborhood.

Here's the emerging group show, check back often - BuffaloArtspace2007

Tour's every Saturday at 11am...leaving from the Sonic Café.

Smart City is a weekly, hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life, the people, places, ideas and trends shaping cities. Host Carol Coletta talks with national and international public policy experts, elected officials, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others for a penetrating discussion of urban issues.

This weekend...

• What would happen if every anchor institution in your city -- your universities, libraries, parks, major sports facilities, and museums -- were in perfect alignment around a few big goals, contributing their maximum to your city's success and their own?

• Our guests this week are leading anchor institutions with imagination and energy, and they are key participants in an upcoming discussion to take place May 1st and 2nd in San Jose on the topic of Leveraging Anchor Institutions for Urban Success.

• Paul Holdengraber is the Director of Public Programs and LIVE from the NYPL at the New York Public Library. Josephine Ramirez is Vice President of Programming and Planning at the Music Center in Los Angeles.

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Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities

Richard Florida's The Creativity Exchange shares the bad news. A recent post - By The Numbers... - has a link to the recent US Census Bureau's numbers about population decline in major metropolitan areas - right here.

Playing with the data sets is easy. Four easy spread sheets to ease the pain. Just drilled into the Buffalo/Niagara line. Between July 2005 and 2006 the area lost 7,276 people.

Do the math. 139 people every week or 20 people everyday!

Guess we are in better shape than Cleveland. During the same period Cleveland lost 10,983 residents, about 30/day! Wrote about Cleveland recently - Cleveland in Decline.

I'm at a loss for words...

Jim Lindley has organized the Buffalo Flickr Group to meet-up at the Sonic Café this Saturday for the Artspace Backyard Neighborhood (Photo) Tour. Last month Jim toured the neighborhood for the first time and had this to say...

I saw the area this morning, and it's weird because it's only 2 blocks from my house but the whole area is in a blindspot for me because it's on the other side of Delaware Ave.

I'll leave it up to Jim to designate a special tag so we can quickly assemble a slide show of the event. Should be way cool.

Jim was the guy who got the ball rolling on this recent story - Snapshots of Buffalo - that appeared in the Buffalo News recently and is now archived over at the BERC site.

In a recent Citistat update (March 2, 2007) Paul Wolf, Chief of Staff for the Common Coucil reported the following...

Marketing Available City Owned Properties

The CitiStat panel discussed the need to market the many properties owned by the City for new development opportunities. The need to establish a marketing plan was discussed. The idea of utilizing a real estate company or a private marketing company to market available City owned properties was also discussed as something to look into. At the very least Mr. Wanamaker stated that within the next 30 days an effort will occur to at least put photos of available City properties on the City’s web page.

Well...don't know if the deadline was met, yet here's the link and catalog [.pdf] off the City's site. See, prior to this link, the only way to know what property was for sale was to go to the 9th floor of City H