Along Michigan Avenue

I'll be in Housing Court on Wednesday morning - 2/27 - asking Judge Nowak to stay the demolition of 1325 Michigan Avenue, a spot that I posted about last month and one that Chicago based architect and frequent Buffalo Rising contributor David Steele wrote about, too - Where is the Plan? - in January.

Well, last weekend I took a closer look at 1178 Michigan Avenue, a few blocks south. It was wide open so I decided to poke around.

1178 Michigan Avenue - front

Sure it needs work and the wooden shed structure (last pic) along the Dodge Street side has to go. Yet, on a cold and wet day in the middle of February the place was dry on the inside. I saw no evidence of any roof leaks. And wouldn't you know...the City of Buffalo has owned this building since November 2005.

1178 Michigan Avenue - rear

Very cool spot as it's just around the corner from Artspace and a few blocks north of the medical corridor. Always thought it would make an amazing live/work space. Here a few more images.

click image to enlarge

Interested? Let me know. I may be able to help negotiate the maze down at City Hall.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Another Save!

Rod McCallum invited me over to 195 Glenwood Avenue on Saturday morning. He'd recently purchased this structurally sound 3/3 Buffalo double at the City's tax sale last Fall. I first met Rod and his family during the first scheduled Artspace Back Yard Neighborhood tour in November 2006. He'd learned about 194 East Utica - future home of Queen City Farm - from this post, Saying Goodbye. Since then Rod and I have spoken at UB and in front of a number of community groups about un-locking the potential of the City's near East Side.

During the past 12 months Rod has identifed numerous homesteading opportunities on what everyone is beginning to call the farm block.

I first mentioned 195 Glenwood two years ago - Wide Open in the 'Hood. Rod has spent considerable time and effort recently cleaning out and securing the house. His plan is to make this place home.

Rod's decision to move his family from the City's West Side should come as no surprise to fixBuffalo readers. 195 Glenwood is located - see map pic - directly behind 194 East Utica and his decision to fully renovate and invest in this property testifies to his commitment to greening and growing this emerging near East Side neighborhood.

I'll make sure to post information here about a series of 'work days' Rod is planning this Spring. There are a number of fallen trees from the October Storm that are still strewn about and of course, crops to plant. This is going to be amazing.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Developing Jefferson

I spotted this sign the other day on the sw corner of Best and Jefferson.

That's the Stanley Makowski Early Childhood Center - report card - on the right and the crumbling 'Rock Pile' on the left.

If anyone knows more about this project, please let me know.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

McBride's Update...

Just in from Cynthia Van Ness...

Research I did at the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society suggests that McBride's (115-117 Chicago St.) may be too young to have served as a Fenian site. Recall that the Fenian raid was in 1866. However, it should still be considered landmark-eligible.

The full text of Cynthia's update is available, right here. If you're interested in learning more about Buffalo and the city's buildings make certain to visit Cynthia's site - Buffalo Research.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

City Planning...

I've had a few recent requests to re-post some of the most intelligent analysis of our current dilemma here in Buffalo, NY - you know the problems presented by abandonment and vacancy. fixBuffalo readers may remember - Getting Smarter about Decline - from November 2006. I've archived Blueprint Buffalo, both the action plan and policy brief.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC-Buffalo) and The National Vacant Properties Campaign have collaborated and presented a compelling set of documents that need to be critically read, examined and absorbed by the elected, annointed and community leaders in Buffalo and across the region. Moments ago I received e-copies of both reports from the folks at LISC.

• Blueprint Buffalo - Policy Brief [.pdf]
• Blueprint Buffalo - Action Plan [.pdf]

The Blueprint Buffalo uses James Q. Wilson's work as a point of departure for this analysis. The full text of Wilson's article Broken Windows appeared in Harper's, March 1982.

...if the first broken window in a building is not repaired, then people who like breaking windows will assume that no one cares about the building and more windows will be broken. Soon the building will have no windows...

A friend of mine, Lisa Schamess - post to Lisa's blog - was the project editor for Blueprint and works at The National Trust for Historic Preservation. She's currently managing the first-ever State of Preservation in America report.

In the next few days I'll be collecting a number of the other planning documents relating to various urban planning issues confronting our City.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Buffalo, NY - National Spotlight, again...

Abandonment and vacancy issues in Buffalo, NY were shared with the nation again today in the following AP story that appeared in the New York Times - Cities Fight Glut of Vacant Houses.

photo - Doug Benz

Rust Belt cities, already beaten down by a miserable economy before foreclosures began spiraling nationally, are moving to cut the number of houses left vacant when the mortgage can't be paid. At stake are valuable tax dollars and the survival of neighborhoods...read the rest.

Details and stories from Cleveland and Baltimore are included along with Mayor Byron Brown's 5 x 5 demolition scheme. Buffalo's own Cindy Cooper is quoted in the article, too. She made the front cover of Business Week last month in a story about what happens when banks walk away from foreclosures - Dirty Deeds and Toxic Title.

fixBuffalo readers may remember a New York Times article from last September - Scourge of a Beaten Down Buffalo that showed Buffalo having more vacant houses - on a per capita basis - than any other city, except St. Louis. I first wrote about Cleveland's Housing Court in 2006 when local housing activist Michele Johnson visited Judge Pianka with über City Inspector, Tracy Krug and Judge Nowak - Housing Court in Cleveland.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Shrinking to Suburbia...

A number of very cool late 19th century buildings are ready to disappear in this ever amazing shrinking city of ours. All four of these buildings are viable and located on major public transit lines and next to existing assets in Buffalo. These four places go and you have to wonder what are we fighting for...more vinyl victorians, I know.

1610 Main Street has seen an endless stream of activity in recent years. A neighborhood resident purchased this late 19th century spot five years ago for $12,000. A fire ripped through part of the structure two years ago and recently Housing Court Judge Hank Nowak has approved an order for its demolition - index #380-2006.

1610 is located near this wide open lot, that seems to be shovel ready and is very close to one of the coolest lofts on Main Street - In the Springs! - that I posted about a year ago.

1610 in the background, just north of AutoZone

115 Chicago Street - aka, McBrides Irish Bar - was the recent focus of a story by Geoff Kelly over at Artvoice - Silver Lining, last week. I first wrote about it in September 2006 - Historic Buffalo on Ebay. Another very fast moving case of 'demolition by neglect'.

1572 Jefferson Avenue is almost gone. The City of Buffalo has owned this since October 2006 and the demolition order stapled to the boarded front window is dated August 13, 2007. I've shown this house to at least three interested individuals in the past two years. I first wrote about it in August 2006 - right here about the same time I was reacquainted with the fascinating terra-cotta tile house at 16 Harwood Place.

If I were starting over, I'd begin here at 1572 Jefferson Avenue. The adjacent houses are very well cared for, you're a few blocks from Canisius College and the back square addition with a flat roof would make an amazing deck.

Then there's 1325 Michigan Avenue that I wrote about last week, again - Last Chance.

Four very cool places that will no doubt disappear from the streets of Buffalo very soon, from our consciousness abit later. Interested...hurry! Once these are gone...you know what's next, the continuing suburbanization of our city - aka, Sycamore Village. I know, some people call his progress.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Bethel's New Barn?

I've been following the construction of the home of Bethel Head Start for the last few months at the corner of Woodlawn and Jefferson Avenue. Yesterday I noticed that the steel sides of the building were in place. Two recent posts - December 2007 and November 2007 show the site's development.

Any one know of other buildings here in Buffalo that have gone up in the last few years using similar materials and construction techniques? Looks more like a pre-fab dairy barn, if you ask me.

Please, if Elmwood Avenue - think Lexington Food Coop - has design standards, shouldn't Jefferson Avenue? Think the new Jefferson Market Place - June 2006 - and the Merriweather Library - April 2006. Come on, this would never pass on Elmwood or Hertel. Why here?

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Last Chance...

I've been following the plight of 1325 Michigan Avenue for years. This past week Houseing Court Judge Hank Nowak had a demolition hearing for one of the most amazing properties in the Artspace backyard neighborhood. Here's the case - index #1250/2007.

A year ago I posted about 1325 - Along Michigan Avenue - and brought hundreds of people by the place on the Saturday morning at 11am Artspace tours of the neighborhood. The property was just brought into Housing Court in November where the owner plead guilty and agreed to the demoliton. Rather sad as the place has been languishing for the at least the past 12 years.

1325 Michigan Avenue is the most unique building - besides St. Vincent's - between Artspace and the new Arts Academy. Behind the roll-up garage door thing is a very cool retail entrance. Two years ago, Chris Hawley identified this location as a former tavern, back in the day in his Midtown: Poised for Renaissance.

There's still time...if you're interested in bringing this building back from the dead, let me know. Hurry!!!

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Sticking Together...

I've been interested in the intersection of certain emerging cultural and policy changes that are beginning to slowly shape the dialogue here in Buffalo, NY with regards to the City's long term economic development. I've been looped into a number of conversational threads, classroom presentations and panel discussions this past year about rust-belt revitalization. I see the Shrinking Cities exhibit that's been making its way across the country and the path breaking work of Buffalo LISC, especially their Blueprint Buffalo as central to the critique about the possibility of the city's future vitality and possible long term viability when we ask the question - What is to be done?

GLUE Co-Founders Sarah Szurpicki (Harvard 03) and Abby Wilson (Columbia 02) are young urbanists who recently returned to their respective hometowns: Detroit and Pittsburgh. They developed the concept for the Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE) during the summer of 2007, as an outgrowth of comparative conversations about their experiences coming home to similarly challenged post-industrial cities.

After posting about this weekend's Smart City programming, I noticed some traffic pouring in from another rust-belt blog, Burgh Diaspora, right here - Rustbelt Network: Critical Mass. So rather than wait 'till Sunday afternoon I listened to the podcast - right here, a very cool conversation between host Carol Coletta and Sarah Szurpicki and Abby Wilson, GLUE founders. They discussed their take on the meaning and importance of the Partnership for Public Good here in Buffalo, NY.

I checked out the entire GLUE site and especially the links to Brookings Institute. Scrolling through their site you'll find the Great Lakes Economic Initiative. Seriously, some good material and policy initiatives impacting our City and region.

While we're thinking about enlarging and shifting the dialog and finding emerging points that intersect beyond our neighborhood, rust-belt city and region we certainly should be looking across the river or lake to a few other places, too. I mean, this is cool!

Looking forward to a Rust-Belt bloggers meet-up, too.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

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, Create Documentideas 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...

• In this primary season, change seems to be the word voters most want to hear. Networking is the foundation of trust relationships that make change possible. Our guests this week are deeply engaged in understanding and building powerful networks for change.

• Abby Wilson and Sarah Szurpicki are the founders of GLUE, the Great Lakes Urban Exchange, an online networking and journalism effort to build regional identity and share information among young urban leaders in the region. Sarah and Abby are urbanists who have recently returned to their respective hometowns: Detroit and Pittsburgh.

• Dr. Karen Stephenson is a world leader in analyzing networks for corporations and communities and putting their power to work. Her project for Leadership Philadelphia led to uncovering surprising new sources of leadership in that community. Karen is a corporate anthropologist who has been lauded as a pioneer in the growing field of social-network business consultants. Her consulting firm, Netform, was recognized as one of the top 100 leading innovation companies by CIO.

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.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Dirty Deeds and Toxic Title

As the mortgage meltdown continues a Business Week cover story focuses on the crisis here in Buffalo, NY and what might be done when the bank walks away.

Buffalo City Court Prosecutor Cindy Cooper

On Dec. 17 in a windowless Buffalo courtroom, Cindy T. Cooper, a prosecutor for the city, buzzes among a dozen men in suits, cutting deals. "You've got to unboard [the house], go in, and clean it out," she tells one. "If all the repairs are done quickly, I wouldn't ask for any fines." To another, she says, "the gutters weren't done right," and asks to see receipts for the work. It's "Bank Day" in Judge Henry J. Nowak's housing courtroom, more typically a venue where landlords and tenants duke it out read the rest...

Here's a podcast between Business Week executive editor John Byrne and senior writer Michael Orey. Sound track courtesy of Radio Head - House of Cards - here via YouTube.

A couple related posts - Scourage of a Beaten Down Buffalo from a September 2007 New York Times article, where we learn that Buffalo has the second highest per capita rate of vacancy in the country. Housing Court in Cleveland from September 2006 where local activist Michele Johnson and Housing Court Judge Henry Nowak visit with Cleveland's Housing Court Judge Pianka. Last year Judge Nowak presented at the National Vacant Properties Campaign first annual conference in Pittsburgh - Reclaiming Vacant Properies.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Failing the Grade?

Frequent fixBuffalo readers have been seeing some of the amazing dereliction here on the City's east side that co-exists with the largest construction project in the City's history - the one billion dollar Joint School ReConstruction Project. My first attempt to address and understand the the complexity of this phenomenon was here - School House Project, March 2005...

The public health and safety problems confronting BuffaloPublic School students and neighborhood residents surrounding recently renovated Buffalo Public Schools is extraordinary. In public health terms it would be called an epidemic. Here, very little attention is paid to the role of abandoned, boarded, derelict and vacant houses. From an effective and smart urban policy perspective the continue reading...

From my office window I still see this house at 1466 Michigan Avenue.

This is the view from the front porch, looking towards the new Arts Academy, less than 100' away.

The City of Buffalo has owned this house for two years. When you click through the archive of posts/pictures about 1466 Michigan Avenue you'll quickly see that the Dept. of Real Estate has missed an amazing opportunity. I remember when the house got a new roof seven years ago - like what ever happened to an effective marketing strategy. Lots cheaper than the eventual demolition of a 3/3 double that is now going to dust and will end up in the landfill over the line in Lewiston, NY.

Posts about this 1466 Michiagan Avenue include: October 2007 - February 2007 - April 2006 - and this picture from January 2005!

Just a house, or a pattern of neglect and missed opportunity? Like to know...

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

Photography and the City

I've been interested in the work of Camilo Vergara and the how he's documented subtle and dramatic shifts in some of our most desperate cities. First mentioned him in October 2006, here a few months later and recently here while thinking of St. Ann's over on Broadway.

Just learned via MIT OpencourseWare, in the Urban Studies and Planning section that a course - Sensing Place: Photography as Inquiry - has a selection of eight videos. The second one features Camilo Vergara.

Same guy suggested back in the 90's that 12 square blocks of downtown Detroit be converted into an 'American Acropolis' and be presereved as a skyscraper ruins park. Interesting guy and take on industrial ruins as we continue to struggle with our own 'shrinking city'.

Follow that October 2006 link for additonal material about Vergara's work or follow these links on my delicious.

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • my flickr
the creativity exchange • latest blog comments

City Honors - Reconstruction

I'll be tracking the reconstruction of City Honors on a regular basis. fixBuffalo readers may remember my weekly series involving the reconstruction of the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts - see archive. Both projects are part of the largest construction project ever undertaken in this City - the one billion dollar Joint School Reconstruction Project.

Here, I'll be posting pics and presenting various issues involving this amazing project, two blocks east of Main Street. I've always viewed these decisons - Merriweather Library, Artspace, Performing Arts and now City Honors - as part of a $100m investment in the arts and education; an intelligent and necessary string of projects that are essential in reconnecting and revitalizing the City.

• June 30, 2008
• September 12, 2008
• October 30, 2008
  
• November 14, 2008
• January 13, 2009
  
• March 13, 2009
• May 11, 2009
• June 2, 2009
• September 11, 2009
  
• November 6, 2009
  

____________________________________________________________________

Artspace • BAVPA • Woodlawn Row Houses • fixBuffalo flickr
Creative Class • Shrinking Cities • Saturdays in the neighborhood