Please Call!!!

Considering its location - one block from Main Street - I don't know of a house in the City that's in worse shape. Last month I posted about this house - 70 Riley Off to a Landfill - and spoke with City officials who told me that the place was coming down in the next few days. Well 6 weeks after the collapse of the exterior wall you can see nothing has changed. I took this photo yesterday.

Today I'm asking you for help. Please take a moment and call the Mayor's Call and Resolution Center at 716-851-4890 or complete the form available from that link. Or if you prefer, contact Councilman Brian Davis who represents the Ellicott District where 70 Riley Street is located. He can be reached at 716-851-4980. In either case please let them know that 70 Riley Street is clearly beyond repair and should be demolished immeadiately.

Kindly let me know if you've called by leaving a comment here. I'd like to think that together we can make a difference. Let's see if City Hall is listening and how much longer and how many phone calls this will take before we get action. Please consider emailing this post to your friends and family members asking them to call, too.

Thank you.

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16 Harwood - Still Available...

I learned last week that 16 Harwood Place - that I had previously thought was 'saved' - is now available again. Evidently the successful bidder at last September's special auction has decided to opt out and not pursue the deal. The City had agreed to sell this 'terra-cota tile' cottage for $3800.

16 Harwood Place has an amazing history and is closely related to the 'Luke Easter' House on Northland Avenue. I've compiled the house history here - Little House on the (urban) Prairie - which is significant architecturally and historically as one of two houses in the Hamlin Park Preservation District that contain structural elements and architectural detail that were designed and manufactured on the site.

It was one of 104 other properties that were on the block last September during a special city real estate auction. Interesting that only 31 of those city owned properties will be transferred to new owners. Here's that updated list.

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97 Dodge Street Gets Love...

This magnificant and formally city owned house at 97 Dodge Street has a new owner. It had been on the City's demolition list for several years and now has a new lease on life. A local woman was successful in wrestling the deed from the City's hands last week and will soon make this house - a block from Artspace - her family's home.

fixBuffalo readers may remember a series of posts from January 2007 - Biting My Tongue and Total Wow!! - Inside 97 Dodge. While a number of houses in the Artspace Backyard Neighborhood have been saved from the landfill recently there are a number of amazing places still searching for love - 94 Northampton is just one of these. If you're interested in taking a closer look and serious about making this place your home, let me know.

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fix index...

I've recently added an index to this blog - buildings & issues index - right next to 'home' and 'intro & contact' located in the above banner photo. In the next few days, I'll be adding additional content to this index. I hope this will assist my readers navigating around almost four years of posts.

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Bridge Construction - What's (not) Up?

I grabbed this shot late last month along Ellicott Street and while leaving Ulrich's earlier today after lunch, a couple of friends from Germany asked me about the bridge. I realized that nothing has happened at this site for at least 15 months. The bridge is supposed to connect the UB Bioinformatics (yikes...check out the video) building and Hauptman Woodward.

The bridge looked like this last March and in June 2007 - Bridge to Nowhere and ditto a few months later in October 2007.

So...anybody know what's planned and what the time table is for this project?

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Mapping Buffalo...

Ben from SeeClickFix shot me an email this afternoon and asked me to check out his google map mash-up and sort of test drive the new application. Immediately I found this so easy to use and it has a level of possibility for community organizing that I'm just beginning to get my hands around. So, I'm opening this post to fixBuffalo readers who may feel passionatly about a particular house or building in Buffalo and might want to share their interest(s) with others.

Though my focus is on Buffalo's East Side - I'm very aware that most of my readers live in neighborhoods on the the other side of Main Street - I'm curious to know where this might lead when you start placing additional points on the map.

So...drill down into the map, click on a location and fill in a couple fields. This could become very interesting.

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Bound for the Landfill...

update 10:38pm....here's a set of interior shots from September 2007
that might give you an idea as to the project's scope.

update May 13th - two additional neighborhood pics!
backyards -- 1566 Jefferson

I noticed 'asbestos' signs were posted recently, one of the final steps in demo preparations, here at 1572 Jefferson Avenue. It's a house that the City has owned since last October and was originally marked for demo last August. I first posted about it - here - in August 2006.

1572 appears solid, has plenty wrong with it yet would make an amazing project. It's located just a few blocks away from the new Merriweather Library and Canisius College. Here's the map.

As long as the building is standing there's time to act. If you're interested in taking a closer look at this property, please let me know. In a week or so I imagine it'll be in some landfill.

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The Greening of Cold Springs...

Volunteers from two of Buffalo's most amazing new organizations - Queen City Farm and Buffalo ReUse - gathered last Saturday to plant trees in the city's Cold Springs neighborhood. Here, one of the teams is planting a chestnut tree on Woodlawn Avenue alongside the new home of the Arts Academy. The trees were supplied by Re-TreeWNY.

According to Rod McCallum, project coordinator from Queen City Farm, neighbors joined in and a total of 150 trees were planted. Both of these organizations are helping to transform this neighborhood in ways that might have been unimaginable just a year ago. If you haven't checked out the ReUse store for your renovation and building needs you really should. And for the foreseeable future, every Saturday is a community work day at Queen City farm.

Come on over and get involved!

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Smart City - This Weekend

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...

• This week on Smart City, the wave of foreclosures hitting many American cities are challenging many communities to wonder, "What's next?" Can these neighborhoods be revived? And if so, what will it take? Those are questions we'll ask Alan Mallach whose new report on Managing Neighborhood Change comes just at the time when many communities are needing that help.

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.

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Woodlawn Row Houses - May 2008

Earlier this week I received an email from the new owners of the Woodlawn Row Houses. fixBuffalo readers may remember that the City of Buffalo sold this 'local landmark' for $8500.00 to the Urban Development Partners, LLC last September.

Buffalo's Common Council has approved their plans and with financing in place one of the partners told me that they expect to start work sometime later this month. I've been following the story of the Woodlawn Row Houses for the last four years - see, archive. They've remained a focal point of this blog since the beginning for a variety of reasons. Back in the day when neighborhoods were as tight as Brooklyn, there used to be 21 sets (see map) of row houses here in Cold Springs. Today, only three sets of these architecturally unique dwellings remain. I'll be following the project closely and hope to have an interview with the new owners very soon.

The Woodlawn Row Houses were one of 104 other properties that were on the block last September during a special auction. Ineresting that only 31 of these city owned properties will be transferred to new owners. Here's that updated list.

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Artspace - Inaugural Show

I just received this announcement about the first resident art exhibit at Artspace from Michele Pamer and the graphic from Katie Sehr. The opening is next Friday, May 2nd at 6:30 and the show runs through Saturday June 14th.

ARTSPACE BUFFALO INAUGURAL RESIDENT ART EXHIBITION

Resident Artists to Show Recent Work

Artspace Buffalo Gallery is pleased to announce the inaugural resident-artist exhibition Unpacking Artspace. An opening reception will be held on Friday, May 2nd from 6:30-9:30 pm at the newly completed Artspace Buffalo Gallery, 1219 Main Street, Buffalo, New York. This is the very first art exhibition held at Artspace Buffalo since the building project was completed in early 2008.

This exhibition is open to all residents of Artspace Buffalo, presenting a glimpse into each artist's practice. The work of over 35 artists from all ages, experiences and disciplines will be shown. Many Artspace artists are seasoned veterans of the art world, having shown work in galleries and art fairs from Buffalo to Tokyo over the past several decades. Other Artspace artists are just beginning to experiment with art making, having never shown their work in public.

Diversity in every area is the one common thread of Artspace. The mediums included in Unpacking Artspace -- painting, installation, drawing, photography, sculpture, collage, digital video, dance, music -- vary as much as the themes and concepts of each work. The show will also feature work of resident artists working on the design of fine furniture, graphics and jewelry.

Drawing inspiration from natural form and gesture for his exotic wood-designed furniture, Thomas Stender's Tension proves that emotions can be conveyed even through a object as ordinary as a table. Shondra Cabrera suggests a common ground exists between haute cuisine and fine art with her untitled "edible art" sculpture, surrounded by slices of cake. Katie Sehr records small rhythmic movements on paper, documenting a meditative, performative process and resulting in animated yet minimal landscapes. Isabella Luciano, a student at the Buffalo Academy of Visual & Performing Arts by day, will perform Fire Poi (fire dance) during the opening reception, creating visual patterns with ignited Kevlar wicks spun on chains. In the spirit of documentary and collaboration, photographer Michele Pamer's Isabella Fire Dances documents the fire dance through her cinematic display of nine 12 by 12-inch Giclee prints. Story Telling, a narrative in pen and ink by Atticus Pamer, represents the work of yet another young Artspace artist.

Complete list of artists included: Kate Bae, Amanda Beale, Malcolm Bonney, Kristin Renée Brandt, Shondra Cabrera, Tanya Chutko, Lukia Costello, Timothy Englert, Eric Louis Dates, Janice Davis, Hans Gindlesberger, Adrian H. Guadalpe, Selina Holman, Soyeon Jung, Brian Kavanaugh, Kyla Avery Kegler, Paul Kozlowski, Gregory Lawson, Joel Lewitzky, Justin Lowe, Isabella Luciano, Nathan W. Naetzker, Tim Newell, Kelly Metcalfe, Erika Mitchell, Renee Oubre, Atticus Pamer, Michele Pamer, Alex Park, Katie Sallander, Patricia Schraven, Katie Sehr, Altamese Steadman, Thomas Stender, Sandy White and Alex Young.

Exhibition on view from May 2, 2008 through Saturday, June 14, 2008. Artspace Buffalo Gallery is open Saturdays from 12:00 - 5:00 PM during exhibitions, staffed by volunteer resident artists. The Gallery is also open by appointment only Wednesdays - Fridays from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Please call 716-803-6205 or e-mail info@artspacebuffalo.net to schedule and appointment for individuals, schools or groups.

For additional background on Artspace and what this development means to the surrounding neighborhood, please check out some of these links.

Artspace Construction Updates • Artspace Buffalo • pix/Artspace

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New Business Incubator

While walking past the old North Jefferson Branch Library the other day I noticed these new signs for the first time.

This morning I called Councilman Demone Smith's office for details about this development. I haven't heard back yet, so if anyone knows more about this new business incubator, please let me know.

click image to enlarge

fixBuffalo readers will remember that the new Merriweather Library opened two years ago and replaced this building. The new library is named in memory of Frank E. Merriweather Jr. the former publisher of the Buffalo Criterion and founding member of the Buffalo Urban League.

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70 Riley - Off to a Landfill...

I've been following the long slow process of "demolition by negelect" of a number of properties in my Cold Springs neighborhood for the longest time. Time has run out for this single family home at 70 Riley Street, right around the corner from Artspace.

I heard from a few area residents last night that the side of the house had recently collapsed. I walked over to check it out this morning. The house is still privately owned and the City officials who've seen this picture this afternoon have promised to move 70 Riley to the top of the demolition list.

Here's what 70 Riley looked like a few years ago, August 2006. fixBuffalo readers may remember another single family home on the same block, 93 Riley Street from a post a few years back - Along Riley Street.

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Glaeser - Video Follow-up...

If you didn't have the chance to see Harvard University's Edward Glaeser while he was in Buffalo last week Marc Odien and the crew over at WNYmedia.net were there and have generously made the following video available.

One of the first public responses to Edward Glaeser's presentation last week came from Paul Wolf, lead counsel at the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority. He writes about Glaeser's time in Buffalo - How do you Measure the Success of a City? - from his Buffalo Ideas blog.

For additional background about Glaeser's take on Buffalo check out my earlier post.

update - 4/23/08 - from Richard Florida - Ed Glaeser on Buffalo.

update 3/5/10 - Paul's post is also available here - via Buffalo Pundit.

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1042 Ellicott Street - Saved!

The other day I stopped by 1042 Ellicott Street. It's located right around the corner from Coe Place and was owned by the City for the past few years. I'd always thought that the location and condition of this single family house would contribute to its revival and thought it was poised to bounce back from years of neglect. I had an opportunity to talk with the new owner about his plans for the place, too.

1042 is also right around the corner from Artspace where all sorts of additional rehab and development is taking place. fixBuffalo readers may remember what 1042 looked like in November 2005. It seems like the asphalt shingle siding did an incredible job preserving the house's original clapboard and detail.

In February 2007 I posted - 1042 Elicott - Just looking for love - with a set of interior shots.

I'll be checking in and keeping tabs on progress here at 1042 Ellicott in the next few months.

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