fixBuffalo

8/04/2005

We've been Duked, Really!

This could very easily be called be called "Save our City" from the elected and anointed running the show. Former Erie County Executive Dennis Gorski is one of the primary players in a drama that resulted in Duke Realty being handed 6.5 acres of ultra-prime city property right at the backdoor of City Hall.

I first wrote about this last week, Get Ready to "Duke" it Out...

***Update***
August 4, 2005 4:15pm

Reliable sources tell me...

This is turning out to be more significant information than I originally thought. I mean, Duke Realty is clearly in the land-banking business. 4400 acres in metro areas all over the country. There is a New York state law that forbids the selling of public land to private parties who intend to maintatin it for speculative purposes. Stilllooking into the effect of the law with regard to so-called interim uses, covering up clearly speculative intents, like the surface parking lot or the mere "daycare center" which likely will never be built. This issue not only applies to 43 Carolina, but also the parcel next to their 1400-car parking ramp they say they'll use for a "surface parking lot." It was explained to me that Duke Now wants this lot set aside for visitors, which begs the question, why wouldn't they simply use the parking ramp, which will be Free, is just as convenient, and is sheltered from the weather?

A high ranking BURA official says... "Why should we care if Duke Realty wants to use it for speculation? It's none of our business."

Probably posting a FOIA request soon re: the Land Disposition Agreement (LDA)for 43 Carolina. They won't even send it to the Council. I had ___ request it almost two weeks ago. Oh, recently learned that Duke actually *doesn't* have the deed to the property yet, which is perhaps the reason BURA is stonewalling on the LDA as the deal is being finalized.

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Here's the plan to radically alter the streetscape and urban fabric of Buffalo for generations to come. Scrapping a number of critical elements of the Queen City Hub Plan, that up untill a month ago embraced the re-connecting of Court Street, the new plan is to rape the streetscape with a cul-de-sac and a surface parking lot. Shown below in "yellow' the former Court Street was an essential component of Ellicott's radial street plan. It once connected to the river. Where is the review, public debate and opportunity to comment on this proposal? Mr. Gorski, where is the oversite? Is your compensation for Blue Cross Blue Shield Czar of Governmental Affairs tied to Duke Realty's completion of phase II - Developing 43 Carolina Street?

The "Rape" of Court Street

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Here's a glance down Court Street today, right behind City Hall.

Court Street, looking West

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Here the other necessary photographs. #1 -Site of new Altanta style suburban office park. #2 Waterfront School and new terminus of Court Street in a cul-de-sac and surface parking-lot for 150 cars. #3 43 Carolina Street - 6.5 acres - transferred to Duke Realty with no public in-put!

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As vast areas of Buffalo's east-side continue to be engulfed by the ever increasingly larger "urban prairie" our elected and anointed simply give away assests just sitting at their backdoor. No oversite or public debate. None.

No new jobs at this location. Just moving jobs from the city's east-side to a new office park. It's not tied in any meaningful way to the downtown core and decimated retail and restaurant district. 75% percent of the 1200 employees at Blue Cross Blue Shield are union employees. They are re-locating to this new Atlanta-style suburban office park and their contract stipulates between 30-45 minutes for lunch. Go figure. The entire day, downtown and no chance to set foot on a city sidewalk. Go figure.

Oh yeah...as part of the deal, the City of Buffalo is responsible for any future environmental remediation that may have to be completed when Duke Realty fully developes the property. There's a metaphor. The property is at the City Hall's back door...go figure...

And so it goes...
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Related Post: 1300 Health Care Workers via BuffaloRising
Get Ready to Duke it Out via Fix Buffalo
Duke Realty (NYSE- DRE) shares closed down slightly on Monday at $33.10
Look at all the beautiful "suburban style" office parks Duke Realty has built.

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Artspace Archive • Annals of Neglect • BAVPA • Where is Perrysburg? • Broken Promises...
Writing the City • Woodlawn Row Houses • Tour dé Neglect - 2006 • faq

More new Buffalo blogs on the radar...

Looks like the good folks over at Buffalo Spree Magazine are getting things rolling in the local blogosphere. My parents always had this on the coffee table and I remember reading an article from just a few years back featuring Buffalo's Chief Building Inspector Lou Petrucci. I know he co-sponsored that Byron Brown fundraiser a few weeks back... Check it out...

Buffalo Spree Blog

Another recent additions to the local blogosphere...gardening and music!

8/03/2005

New Blog in Town...

I thought that BuffaloFlickr was pretty cool when I first noticed it last week. They just put up this insane east-side view...from the Terminal.

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The blog is updated on a regular basis and has some Flickr tips, too. They credit everyone whose pictures they post. No blogroll yet...

Figmo is BACK...

I just finished posting this...about missing Figmo...and a few hours later I get an e-mail from him along with this story that is central to long-term stabilization of our schools and community.

I've been a huge supporter of school choice and I think the best thing ever to hit public education here in Buffalo, NY is competition. Check this out...Phil Rumore and the BTF just got Figmoed...big time...

Union leaders are, predictably, protesting. The Buffalo Teachers Federation and three smaller unions will see changes take effect Sept. 1. Not deaf to their outrage, Williams suggests the unions come to the table and work out a compromise on this thorny issue. Given the contractual context, this is probably the best solution. BTF President Philip Rumore's claim that the unions were not surprised by Williams' move is suspect. The superintendent chose an ambitious and creative option and then announced plans to meet with those 88 teachers and 26 administrators he had to lay off.

I know this is way off topic...yet as Buffalo continues to hemorage with dozens of people leaving the city every week to pursue economic opportunity, Williams message couldn't be more on-point. Rumore better take the medicine and get out of the way. Same hardline "Mullah"-like orthodoxy as McGurn...

Here's the On-line Petition Figmo is helping to circulate.

To: Buffalo Teacher Federation
We the undersigned, call on the Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF), its officers and members to immediately accept the single payer health insurance plan proposed by the Buffalo Board of Education. Covered employees will not lose a single penny or an ounce of coverage with this plan, yet it will save the Buffalo City School District millions of dollars. With 75% of 8th grade graduates not prepared for 9th grade and 60% of 4th grade students not prepared for 5th grade, the time, energy and resources of the District and the BTF must be focused on turning this travesty around, not for the sake of negotiations�.for the sake of our children.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

btw...did any but else hear about our new Superintendent "crashing" a neighborhood meeting over at Kenfield-Langfield last week? Proactive and in-your-face...what Buffalo needs. Thanks George and Florence.

Make sure to check out Florence Johnson's blog, Fix Education. The only elected local official I know of that has a blog...

Bored yet with Blight?

So school is just around the corner and these three houses sit less than a block away from the temporary home of Waterfront School located here, see cool google map. The plan is for Waterfront to stay in this little corner of Masten untill the site remediation and building renovation for their downtown location (cool pic) is completed. So the former Buffalo Traditional High School is designated as a "swing-school" under the Joint School Reconstruction Project and will undergo a $32 million renovation next year and re-open as Performing Arts High School.

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This is what the places looked like 8 months ago.

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Can't quite figure it out why the sidewalk gets repaired before the house gets demolished. Anyone want to venture a guess? Vacant properties here on the city's east-side are an enormous public health issue. I've written and documented the pervaisivness of the problem in relation to several Buffalo Public Schools that were just renovated at a cost of $100 million. My preliminary report about this is called School House Project.

The related posts are a good jumping off-point to begin understanding the "thirdworldization" of Buffalo and the ever expanding "urban prairie." Check out especially "Vacant Houses, Broken Promises."

Related Posts:

Gehry on The Simpsons...

I get called out at times. NGD got under my skin when she posted this comment on Buffalo Rising's story about what's shaping up as a debacle behind city hall, An Atlanta-style commerce park...in the heart of downtown Buffalo.

So, I push my aesthetic and architechtural criticism to the limit sometimes and recently called Gehry's Disney Center in LA, "ugly." NGD, shot right back with alittle venom reply.

ngd said...

David, about Gehry's WDCH, you really should just stick to talking about things you know. At the end of the day, who cares whether or not you find it "ugly"? It's a stunning piece of architecture that succeeds on many counts as a building and as an object of civic design. The auditorium is just one of the building’s many achievements--one of the most intimate and egalitarian public spaces ever crafted.

Stop googling for other people's opinions of the building. Stick to photographing blight and decay and leave the architectural criticism to people who have a clue.

7/24/2005 02:32:43 PM

On Sunday night FoxTV reran The Simpson's episode featuring Frank Gehry. John Hill via A Daily Dose of Architecture (totally awesome blog, btw) captured some of the screen shots of Gehry's latest concert hall in Springfield.

Ok...back to photographing blight and decay...

Where's Figmo...

Seems like a few changes going down over at Buffalo Rising. Figmo hasn't posted his pith in a week.

Figmo we miss you...maybe just some needed down time.

7/27/2005

Going, Going...

I first started writing about 2 Girard - google map over here in March, and later in May. The place always catches my eye while driving along the "scar" that never heals. It's right across "Humboldt Parkway" from Deaconess Hospital.

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Look how close to perfect the neighbor's place is. I'm sure they are just as interested as dozens of my blog readers have become in the future of 2 Girard. I'll make sure to let the neighbors know the owner of 2 Girard has a court date with Judge Nowak.

Buffalo Housing Court Case #868/2005 on August 2 at 930am.

When I stopped by to take pictures today I noticed that the back door was wide open. I knocked and since no one was home, I decided to venture inside. This is what I saw...

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If there ever was a candidtate for "Reclamation and Re-Use" this is the property. Most of the interior moldings are gone. I suspect the curved window moldings on the first and second floor to disappear soon, too. I've written about "Reclamation and Re-Use." It's called Deconstructing Buffalo. It's also part of the Judge Nowak's Neigborhood Preservation Collaborative.

And if you are interested in getting this place properly secured and some justice for the owner, please contact Masten District Housing Liaiason Mark Boyd. He is heading up Antoine Thompson's office.

Mark Boyd's email. His office number is 851-5145. Please call, we need all the help you can spare.

Am I expecting too much?
Remember this post with these photographs. The accident here was 4 weeks ago.

Yesterday afternoon I snapped a new pic of the "bench" along Jefferson Avenue. Getting a bench repaired or properly located in the first place is just way too difficult it seems for us here on the city's east-side. I imagine Tops Market does more buisness than every other business on Jefferson Avenue put together on a daily basis. So it's not really representative of what's happening over here yet the indifference here is glaring.

How 'bout getting a house boarded up, into housing court or a city owned house that has been abandonded, boarded, derelict and vacant. I mean we can't even get a bench fixed. Phone calls, stopping in and talking with the manager on duty. Any other suggestions? Please let me know.

Four Weeks Later...Still Nothing!

Here's the other "Tops" bench. Again, was anyone thinking. The pic below on the left is at Jefferson and Best. Looks like another accident waiting to happen with that too close to the street placement. So why put a bench here in the middle of a sidewalk? No bus stop on that corner. Why not in the grassy area underneath a tree. Oh, that's right the city own's that.

Heading over to Cafe Aroma later in the afternoon to meet up for coffee I saw this bench on West Ferry properly located, away from the street. I often see people sitting on it...imagine what a good location will do.

I re-read Craig Reynold's piece "How Buffalo Get A Warhol" this evening. Post-modern reflections on life here in Buffalo. I'd suggest it for anyone thinking about the future of this place. I mean I feel like Sisyphus everyday. Do you think Sisyphus was happy? Maybe I'm mistaken. Tops might be waiting for big trash day.

I'll call Joe Golombek in the morning...

About Hamlin Park...

Figmo via Buffalo Rising just put up The Other, Other Side of Main Street. A most excellent post about his attitudes and reflections about a place he calls home. A great slide show about the neighborhood, too. The cool thing about this post is that all the pics were taken by Figmo's dad.

For those of you who don't know where Hamlin Park is located, here's the map. Think pretty much between the Kessler Center on Main Street going east to Humboldt Parkway. That map is a google satellite map focused on School 74. Look at the density of housing...wow, just like the west side! Yet if you scroll down, crossing East Ferry Street...look again at the density of housing...it's called the "urban prairie."

Buffalo's very own Mark Goldman wrote the history of Hamlin Park for Spree Magazine back in the summer of 2000. The full text of Mark's article is still available.

While we ponder what our own elected and annointed approve and build for us today...there seems to be a lesson in Mark's writing about developments around Hamlin Park.

Deeply etched in the historical consciousness of Hamlin Park is the tragedy of Humboldt Parkway, destroyed by state and city planning officials during this period of misguided "urban renewal". No one who remembers or who has even heard about the serene beauty of Humboldt Parkway can understand how public officials charged with protecting the public trust could have conceived and then executed a plan that was so devastating in impact and scale.

Check it out and you will quickly see what it was before it became known as Hamlin Park. Various links about the history of Hamlin Park and its designation as an historic district are available to cruise thru.

On a personal note, I grew in Hamlin Park, too. My best days as a kid were spent in the village park way out there just south of the Roycroft in East Aurora. I never knew there was another Hamlin Park right here in Buffalo until I moved next door nine years ago. And I'm reminded again looking thru the history of the place the ties between them. East Aurora was full of horse racing, covered-tracks the Jewett Farm...ok another blog, I know.

7/26/2005

A Tale of Two Cities...Chapter 2 - Follow up...

We all know about the burned out house located at 60 Brantford in the heart of the Elmwood Village. I wrote about it, A Tale of Two Cities...Chapter 2 , last month. It's in Joe Golombek's North District and he's all over it. Concerned neighbors on Brantford tell me that Joe Golobek showed up in housing court! This is excellent stuff...

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This is a letter he sent out to residents living near the burn-out.

Please be advised that I am actively working on a problem property located at 60 Brantford. I appreciate the phone calls and email messages that residents have sent to me. It is my understanding that this case will be before Judge Nowak on July 25, 2005.

Please fill out the enclosed form and send it to the GNPA, P.O. Box 382, Buffalo, NY 14207.Please send this in as soon as possible. This form has proven to be a very effective tool in the Black Rock/Riverside area of the district. All forms will then be forwarded to judge nowak for further action by volunteer court liasions.

I thank you for your attention to this matter. If you have any further questions or comments,please feel free to contact my office at 851-5116.

Sincerely,

Joseph Golombek, Jr.
North District Councilmember

The fire at 60 Brantford was Friday May 13th. A friend of mine, now living in the neighborhood again, told me recently that she used to live in the third floor apartment where the fire started. Everday she still smells the fire. It permeates the air.

I tried unsuccessfully for weeks calling Carol Holcberg from Holcberg Realty to see the place and to find out what the status was. Never did get a call back from Carol after 5 messages. Seems like the owner of 60 Brantford, Jeffrey Sawyer of 79 Amherstdale, Snyder 14226 has a few more pressing problems than just a burn-out on his hands.

He's got several pissed off neighbors. Over at his vacant rental property at 24 Cottage Street neighbors are furious about exterior repairs that are being done in the Allen Town Historic District with out the required building permits or Preservation Board approval.

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Well Jeffrey Sawyer has two dates with Judge Nowak scheduled for August.

Housing Court Case #817/2005 is scheduled for August 1 at 930am
Housing Court Case #319/2005 is scheduled for August 9 at 200pm

Meanwhile... over in Masten District ...three years later...still nothing at 198 Glenwood. Like 60 Brantford, 198 Glenwood is just a block away from a city school, the future home of Performing Arts Academy. Check out this map!

I've made a ton of phone calls...anybody else wanna take a wack at it...anybody wanna venture a guess why 60 Brantford gets all the attention and 198 Glenwood, well...sits and rots?

If you live here in the city please call Masten District Councilman Antoine Thompson and express your concerns about the condition of 198 Glenwood Avenue. It should have been taken care of years ago.

Antoine Thompson: 851-5145 or at home 881-0945.

Ok...I'll call Joe Golombek in the morning...

Driving Perrysburg Crazy...

If you ever see a brand new silver-grey Ford Thunderbird in Perrysburg, NY...find a spot, sit back and laugh. Last Friday morning two of the city's best and brightest attorneys (think slick and slicker...) drove to Perrysburg, NY for the first time ever. Top down thru the country. I think it's probably the last, too.

Let's call them "Tim and Pete." They were sent to investigate and gather potential witness information for a law suit that Tom Trathen, Trathen Land Company, LLC is bringing against the City of Buffalo. Frequent readers of this blog fully understand the lunacy behind this lawsuit. I've been writing about "the deal" for the past seven months and you can get up speed with all sorts of background information.

The lawsuit comes about as a result of our elected and annointed officials not minding priorities and attempting to save a few trees down in Perrysburg as the forest here in Buffalo (Broadway Fillmore District) is engulfed in a raging fire storm.

I heard thru the very reliable "grape-vine" that "Tim and Pete" experienced the sort of culture shock that turned John Boorman's Deliverance into a cultural icon. Word is they turned pale despite the heat as a local guy they were interviewing offered his pool so they could cool off. "You can just borrow those bathing suits over there on the shelf." Turns out the pool water next to the trailer wasn't cool, I guess.. All this happened mind you while the guy they thought they were going to depose just really wanted to make a beer run back to town.

Safe and back in the T-Bird...they sped back to Buffalo to catch the first round at happy-hour on Chippewa. Another source, hearing their happy-hour field report, told me that they quietly hope the city is going to lose the case. This according to the cocktail waitress friend of mine who told me all about their lack of respect for people who live 40 miles away. She knew about the case and has taken an interest in it as her mom used to work at JN Adam Developmental Hospital and still lives in Gowanda.

But wait...you gotta see this...

"Hurry...stop the ax wielding Tom Trathen if you love mother nature!"

I first got a glimpse of it last week. Two signatures on the petition. The next court date is August 18, 2005 down in Little Valley. Cattaragus County Supreme Court Judge Larry Himelein will hear Scott Cannon, attorney for Tom Trathen ask the court for judicial relief against "us" and the "city slickers." Once the case is wrapped up, Tom get's clear title to the property and he'll start paying property taxes to the Town of Perrysburg and assist them in getting their new water district up and running. Tom Trathen is the good guy in this drama. Four people in Common Council President David Franzcyk's office...self proclaimed "citizens of the world"...think otherwise. They've told me.

This is what we know of Judge Himelein. Courtesy of Linda D. via SpeakupWNY.

Finally, I have to laugh that this case is being heard by Larry Himelein. I went to school with him at Gowanda Central back in the 1960s (he's older!). Larry's family has been in Gowanda for several generations and his parents (maybe even his grandparents) owned Himelein's Department Store which was a fixture in downtown Gowanda. Since Gowanda is the biggest village in the area and includes parts of the towns of Collins (Erie County), Perrysburg, and Persia (Catt County), Larry knows knows very well what JN Adam meant to the communities in northern Cattaraugus County. He also knows that the "Perrysburg Forest" is just a figment of a handful of city slickers' vivid (and ignorant) imaginations. It will be interesting to see how the City's lawyers make their case for "saving historical JN Adam" to somebody who knows far more about it than they do. In fact, I might take the day off from work and check it out, especially if it's during fair week.

So, stay here. Bookmark the archive city hall denizens...this is going to a wild ride. Oh, by the way who is paying the legal fees? And so it goes...

More Bandaids or Surgery?

Join the rapidly developing conversation about race, neighborhoods, property values and the Calcutta like chaos of some east-side neighborhoods. The Buffalo News, (main stream media) gets it all messed up...again about the recent violence in Lovejoy.

What is to be done? Check out the following posts on the local Buffalo blogosphere.

Lift Up Rug...Sweep Race Under via Craig at North Coast Online

It's just blindness to deny that that a destructive black underclass exists in Buffalo. And while we can debate the reasons for it, we have to admit that it exists. The residents of Lovejoy have had front-row seats to the decline and fall of Broadway, Genesee, William, and Kensington. It's facile to say that they're simply reacting against "blacks." If a solid middle-class, property-maintaining, gainfully-employed black family were attacked in Lovejoy then the News story might make sense.

Race and Class in Buffalo via Alan at Buffalo Pundit

...What I’m always struck by is the complete lack of parental supervision. Even with little things, such as naked toddlers bathing in the Gates Circle fountain. No parent around....So what do we do? We can tout “New Buffalo” all we want, but there are a lot of people in Buffalo who have bigger problems than what to do this weekend...And I’m no sociologist, so I’m at a loss as to what we can do as a wider community.

Related website: Booker Rising

7/25/2005

New Blog in Town...
Make sure to check out BuffaloFlickr when you have a chance. Lots of Buffalo area stuff. I saw this pic and just googled the saying and found this from Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. The United Nations thought it was good enough to be designated a World History Site. If it's good enough for the UN...

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Writing the City...

I first started collecting this writing over the Winter and placed it over on the left hand side of my blog for reference. I had occassion this weekend to sit and chat with Megan Weaver from Revitalize Buffalo a few times and thought it might be helpful to republish this post from last February...

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I'll archive writing about Buffalo and keep track of it here. I'd like to feature local, regional and national writers presenting creative, critical and thoughtful insight into the problems that we face as a city and region. Feel free to comment and suggest articles, books and essays that hit close to home, stuff you think other people should be reading.

How Buffalo Get a Warhol 1997 Craig Reynolds
Conversation with Jane Jacobs July 27, 2000 - Interview with Hank Bromley and Tim Tielman
The Incredible Shrinking City January 2, 2005 - Buffalo News Charity Vogel & Jay Rey
Leaders Set Course for Region's Destruction February 8, 2005 - David Staba
Endangered City of Buffalo March 2005 - Paul M. Bray
A Letter from Jane Jacobs April 2005