I met this gentleman on Saturday afternoon while he was waiting for the bus at the corner of Genesee and Herman Streets. He told me his name was Black Knight. I asked him what he thought of the $320,000 demolition of the Brecker Building less than 100 feet away from where we were standing. This is what he told me.
For more information about the Brecker Building and its storied past, please see this recent post Loft Living or Landfill from earlier in the month. Remember the Brecker Part I and Part II have links to demolition pictures.
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Black Knight for Mayor.
Before I saw your comment, Anonymous, I was going to write the same thing.
All of us with 'little voices' need to band together to become a big voice.
Thanks, David, for posting this.
Nancy
I was at the site watching the demolition for about 20 minutes today. Mr. Knight is right, they are having a hard time getting this building apart. A testament to the fact that it did have a future....that is now the past
I was sniffing around today at the demo site to see if I could get a load of bricks. All I got was a big NO.....I told the supervisor that In europe bricks are reused over and over for centuries... He shrugged it off with his back to me. I have to say his actions were rude but it is not his fault he can't donate a dump truck of bricks, it is against the law and is enforced with a 100,000 dollar fine....he says.
The wasting of assets is the sad legacy of a corrupt and inept system.
The public contract should spell out the labor, hauling, insurance, site remediation, etc... costs.
Somebody, anybody, like the Buffalo News, Artvoice, Investigative Post, UB Institute for Regional Studies, Buffalo State College Geography and Planning, HUD, LISC, ought to can-opener the waste, fraud, negligence, apathy, and failure of responsible entities and individuals in the case of the Brecker.
I can't help but think the Brecker would have been a fine candidate for an assisted living building. It was fire proof, elevator in place, excellent view of the city, plenty of parking...etc...Instead we get that rediculous looking place on Jefferson Ave(between Broadway and William). Looks like it was plucked from Williamsville, Sheridan Drive, and left somwhere it just doesn't belong. In fact that whole stretch of Jefferson looks just plain stupid. My favorite is all the crumbling asphalt driveways in front of the newly built "townhouses". Unfortunately the city had a chance to redeam itself over on Colvin between Hertel and Kenmore Ave. Where the railroad tracks once were. They approved a mini subdivision. I drove by yesterday and was so dissapointed, more vinyl, more OSB, more garbage houses. This was a chance to start an entire block from scratch, with some green, long term thinking. These houses could have been a showcase, full masonry with some kind of thermal mass, geo thermal pumps, something, anything different, just not what they have done there. The fact of the matter is it doesn't cost much more to build with concrete and cinderblock than it does with wood and vinyl.
The crazy thing about the houses off Colvin is that they will cost $215,000 each, AND the City is paying for the street, lights, sewer and water infrastructure costs.
Well the Colvin land was/is privately owned, by Dave Gordon, the owner of Dave's Christmas Wonderland in Cheektowaga. This is where their warehouse formerly was. I am not saying I like the plan, and frankly I wouldn't live in the houses they are building.
We know it is private land/development, but the city has final say to approve a project or not.