The cars (there may have been 10 or 12 all told) were built by Pullman in 1947 for the Milwaukee Road's "Hiawatha" passenger trains, which ran west from Chicago to Minneapolis & Seattle. This was the Milwaukee Road's equivalent of the New York Central's 20th Century Limited; luxury accommodations. In the 1960's, as US rail passenger service was in decline, the Milwaukee Road sold a number of the cars to the Canadian National, which used them into the 1990's on overnight passenger trains operating between Montreal & Halifax.Been down to the river a few times this year always different. McArthey's - nearby, great place for lunch or Friday nite fish fry. Live folk music Friday nights, too. And what trip to the "womb of Irish Buffalo" wouldn't be complete without visiting Mazurek's Bakery!
If Youngstown has made peace with its smaller self, however, its policy makers are still grappling with the key question: What does it mean to manage shrinkage in an intelligent way? Volumes have been written about how to implement “smart growth.” But what about smart decline? read the rest
Welcome to the Internet's most active urban/town planning-related bulletin board! Cyburbia Forum members include planners, students and others from around the world who are interested in the built environment.At the top of the pile right now is a post about HGTV - which I've written about before in a post called, Byron TV as a future episode relates to Artspace - and urban revitalization, right here.
Sustainability strategies for cities take many forms. This week, our guests will tell us about two of the most interesting.
Charles Loomis and Juliet Geldi are two members of the design team that conceived Waterwork for Philadelphia. They won the international competition, Urban Voids, staged by the Van Alen Institute and the Philadelphia City Parks Association to develop a compelling vision for the city's vacant lots. Also on their winning team in the competition were Gavin Riggall and Chariss McAfee.
Kenneth Yeang is determined to make high rise buildings green. His new book, Ecodesign: A Manual for Ecological Design, promotes deep green strategies for cities. Ken is a principal in the architecture firm of Llewleyn Davies and Yeang, headquartered in the U.K.
Sustainability is our topic this week on Smart City.
...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...read the rest, 2/13/06 Wide Open...Only in the 'Hood.
As Eliot Spitzer visits Buffalo to celebrate the victory of his reformist agenda, residents of Coe Place in Buffalo and other concered citizens from neighborhoods across Buffalo will begin their effort to save two historic properties from the vicious neglect of a state agency--the MBBA--charged with helping streets like Coe Place turn around. Neighborhood residents will be joined by members of community groups including PUSH, friends and readers of Fix Buffalo Today, local preservationists and Michele Johnson - East Side Housing Advocate to initiate a housing "strike" against the agency and to demand action by Governor-elect Spitzer and Mayor Brown. The action will begin at 5 PM at 28 Coe Place.
People often ask me, "So, you really think this building can be saved?" Two words roll off my tongue. Granite Works. It's my mantra.
Transfiguration would have been one hundred years old this year and was a featured stop of the recent Tour dé Neglect. I've stopped thinking about trying to save Transfiguration. Now, it's a protracted battle over who is going to front the demolition cost. Tax payers or local attorney? And get this, the guy's mother has an outstanding Housing Court warrant, four years old. He named her president of the corporation. Wonder if she knows? Since starting in Housing Court, Judge Nowak has not seen the file in his court room. Really beginning to wonder why?
It's a lost cause and sad reminder of the deep structural issues facing a weak market city with a declining population. Mix in some Diocesan malfaesance, a Council President living close by who supports Casino development while simultaneously abandoning the unique urban character of his Broadway Fillmore district's heritage buildings - remember the Wollenberg, burned down just six weeks ago - and a floor full of lawyers at City Hall working with an Inspections Dept. that can not seem to locate the responsible party (local attorney, living a few blocks away from City Hall) well, you get this, a photograph taken Sunday afternoon.
Sean (check out his site, wow!) from Toronto's most progressive urban exploration and visual documentary heritage group - DK PhotoGroup - was in town with a few photographer friends over the weekend and went inside.
Here's the flickr slide show: Inside Transfiguration.
The Transfiguration Church, three miles from Elmwood, was first written for Housing Court on March 13, 1997. In the last 8 years Transfiguration has journeyed through Housing Court 61 times and the file, case #869/97 has seen four seperate Housing Court judges. Judge Broderick passed the file to Judge Devlin who tossed it to Common Council President David Franczyk's brother and finally Judge Fiorella issued a warrant for Pauline Nowak [no relation to Judge Nowak] on September 25, 2002. She's an officer of Paul Francis Associates, Inc., the party that bought the crumbling church from Bishop Mansell in October, 1995.
Here's that post from December 2005 - Sign of Things to Come - contains pertinent background information regarding the Dept. of Inspections attempts to nab the perp. You won't want to miss this lovely e-mail exchange between said local attorney, William Trezevant and moi.
Really zen about losing this one. It's the 400-500K demolition bill that Buffalo residents will have to fork over when the place is written up for an emergency demolition at some point that I'm pissed about. Bill, what say you? I'll be here, every Saturday morning. Just love your campaign slogan when you ran for Ellicott District Councilman a few years ago.
For additional background on Transfiguration see the following posts:
Journey to Avoid Housing Court - Part III • Addtional photos • DK's Sattler Theatre
DK's Orphaned • Saving Transfiguration • Imagine this?
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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 • my flickr
buffalo olmsted parks conservancy
