fixBuffalo

5/30/2007

St. Matthew's Watch...Week #3

Visited St. Matthew's on Sunday afternoon. A neighbor told me that the grass had been cut earlier in the week for the first time in years. I've been playing phone tag with the building inspector all week.

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Heard from one fixBuffalo reader that the ministry that seemed to vanish from St. Matthew's - after stripping out the architectural detail, pews, alter and stained glass - has set up shop just north of Atlanta - Vision of Faith International

Spoke with a neighbor on Moselle Sunday afternoon. She recounted attending mass twnety five years ago when St. Matthew's was still open and from her second floor porch has watched the Church descend to its current state. She smiled when she'd heard that the church was no longer being flipped on Ebay.

Here's the expanding post regarding - St. Matthew's History

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From the 12th Floor...

I've been spending considerable time downtown in the past few months. Was recently introduced to the cafeteria on the second floor of the M&T Bank at Main and Chippewa. I returned the other day to M&T's 12th floor and grabbed these shots of the City's near East side.

And a close up of West Genesee Street...that is actually more secure than it has been in a long time.

5/29/2007

Down By the River...

Memorial Day river trip...

We put in down on Ohio Street and paddled to the recently re-watered Commercial Slip. Perhaps the first canoe in the slip since 1917.

Here's the slide show - Memorial Day 2007

Labor Day 2006 was the last time - right here and a few days later here. Some similar views in 2005, right here. Great views of the Canadiana's wheel house.

Say What?

Remember 2 Girard? Visited the place several times over the past two years. Showed up in Housing Court, too and asked Judge Nowak to spare this City owned house a demolition order. He didn't.

Rather confusing situation now. It's City owned and despite the demolition order somehow someone somewhere has stepped to the plate. We learned last month - City Property On-Line - that a sale is pending for 2 Girard.

Still no sign of anyone taking possession. High grass and totally open. It's still on my watch list. You can see it just before the Science Museum on left hand side of the 33 on your way downtown in the morning...

5/27/2007

50 High Street...Gone!

Last weekend Aaron Ingrao and I toured the 50 High Street demolition site on the City's near East side [google map].

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Chris Byrd was there on Saturday morning...

Remember this from last October's demolition nearby by at the Hamlin House. Loved this pic!

See - Kaleida Archive for additional information.

How Others See Us...

Remember Woe is Moi? from January 2006? Love knowing how others see us here in Buffalo.

This morning woke up to this article - Buffalo Bets on its Waterfront - from Sean who observes Buffalo from his perch 100 miles away in Toronto. Frequent fixBuffalo readers also know him as the founding member of DK Photo Group.

Some of the lines in Buffalo Bets on its Waterfront just sort of jump out grab hold.

As Toronto continues to creep steadily forward on its waterfront redevelopment plan – the master scheme for the foot of the Don River and Portlands, released just a month ago, is still several years away from starting – Buffalo has already begun building what it hopes will be the anchor of a reinvigorated waterfront.

Robert Shibley is the director of the University of Buffalo's Urban Design Project. The city's wounds may have been cauterized, he says, but it's not done bleeding. "We're still losing population. We have a huge infrastructure of vacant land and weak neighbourhoods. And the demographics aren't great."
Shibley was courted from Oregon in 1982, when Buffalo was bottoming out. "The pitch to me was to come here because it has every problem in the world you'd ever want to study. It's small enough to get your arms around and you're only an hour and a half from Toronto," he laughs.
"Every day you'd pick up the paper and there'd be another insurance fire on the east side. We were losing housing stock, and population, very, very quickly. It was grim. It was very grim. But at the same time, it was challenging."

Here's the link to Canalside and some recent links - Role Reversal and (B)ass Pro

BAVPA Reconstruction - End Week 47

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May 26, 2007 - Day 339

The dumpsters have been removed, windows are in and the finishing touches are being completed on the third of the three major new additions to this renovated City high school - the Art Wing - shown in the banner photo above, over on the right.

Chatted with the building's custodian who was working on Saturday afternoon, first pic below. He thought the schedule was going to be really tight getting everything situated for opening day in September.

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See BAVPA Reconstruction Archive for additional details and updates.

5/25/2007

Elena's "Death and Destruction Tour"

Elena Buscarino just posted this over at Buffalo Rising - LISC Tour of Abandoned Houses.

Make sure to check out - Undeliverable - the preliminary analysis of LISC's investigation into abandonment and vacany issues here in Buffalo, NY using recently released Postal Service and HUD data.

Very unsettling...

Smart City...this weekend

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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...

It's a question Steve Babitch and Clint Barth have been wrestling with and they'll tell us what they've learned. Both gentlemen just earned Master of Design degrees from the Institute of Design in Chicago. Steve's area of focus is innovation strategy and planning, and his work includes a stint at Doblin, Inc. Clint is a designer who has worked with small start-ups, nonprofits and Fortune 100 companies and is currently a consultant for Gensler.

Also with us is Dr. Heather Weiss who founded the Harvard Family Research Project to support the successful development of children from birth to adulthood. Heather is also Senior Research Associate and Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Listen to host Carol Colletta - list of additional stations/times - 7pm Sunday on WNED - 970 in Buffalo, NY. Past Shows are archived and the newsletter is published regularly.

5/24/2007

Role Reversal...

In today's Buffalo News, Cynthia Van Ness has a piece about the Erie Canal site, Bass Pro and Florida residents Bob and Mindy Rich.

It was 2000, and in a breath of fresh air befitting the new century in a city long suffering from a stale, crony- based political culture, the Preservation Coalition of Erie County led a passionate grass-roots campaign to develop a historically sensitive Erie Canal district that honored the archaeological remains of a site known the world over.
Our vision seized the imaginations of 15,000 Buffalonians who signed petitions calling for restoring the Commercial Slip and unearthing the original street network of Buffalo’s birthplace.
Out of this participatory process, a consensus plan emerged with design - read the rest...

MJ recently flew over the site and submitted this picture.

And the good folks at Flynn Battaglia have provided a sketch of their work.

Seems like the waterfront is a rather large place. Plenty of room for Bass Pro, just not here! Gotta agree with Cynthia on this...

But in this case we bow our heads to Larry Quinn, Bob and Mindy Rich and everyone who gave away our place in history to Benderson and Bass Pro. In the “obstructionism” game, they make us look like rank amateurs.

Remember this? Too funny!

5/23/2007

Queen City Farm...

Monday evening, the folks at the Greater Buffalo Savings Bank helped out with Queen City Farm's first fund raiser. Here's the cool graphic.

We were introduced to a short film by John Paget - John Paget Films - and heard speak passionately about the connection between sustainable neighborhoods, the farm - which will be one of North America's largest community gardens - and people's lives. Very compelling narrative provided by Cynthia Van Ness and Samina Raja. The 12-minute film is available on the Queen City Farm site.

Here's a few pix and link to a slide show from Monday's fundraiser. Make sure to check out Harold McNeil's piece that appeared in Tuesday's Buffalo News - here.

Here's a few additional links to 194 slide shows - interior pix and exterior pix. An earlier post - 194 East Utica...On Life Support - from last January, with plenty of links to additional posts.

Suburban Streetscape...

Once you start seeing this splendid suburban stuff in the 'hood, suddenly it's everywhere. This one's somewhere on Sycamore Street.

I know, awesome use of of a corner lot.

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. Mcguire: Plastics.

See My Vinyl Collection for additional inspiration.

Air Buffalo...the return

I rarely repost, yet this set from MJ is really amazing. Very cool views of downtown, the urban prairie and Steel Winds.

Here's the link to the slide show in case you missed it last month - Air Buffalo

5/20/2007

Trailer in the 'hood...

Spotted another trailer on the ever expanding urban prairie the other day.

This one is located along Genesee Street. Here the other ones I've seen recently. If you've spotted any additonal trailers just sort of parked in out of the way places, like to know...

St. Mattew's Watch...Week #2

Weekly St. Matthew's Watch photographs...on Saturday we investigated, again!

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As you can see the church is still not properly secured. I've asked Scott Weinstein on numerous occasions to use something other than scraps of used plywood and church pews to secure "his" church.

Mowing the lawn and cutting the shrubbery would go a long way towards building some good-will in the neighborhood.

Here's the expanding post regarding - St. Matthew's History