A Village of Memories - Opportunities for Buffalo

Thanks for drawing attention to this cool little town. I share your frustration when I hear of developers wanting to build faux "walkable communities". Walkable places already exist in abundance in places like Albion or any other of upstates canal towns. Whenever I have to drive back east I try to take the old roads like 31, 104, 5 or usrt 20. They take you into these historic towns and villages. If you just use the thruway you see none of this.

These old villages are also a part of our collective and regional history. They are often have their own fantastic little urban spaces. Unfortunately all too many of them are now surrounded by the sprawled sub divisions strip plazas that diminish and strain the ability for the villages to hold their character.

I see at least a half dozen of these little villages each summer and the state many of them are in are dire. Everywhere from Perry, Springville or Canaseraga struggle to keep and grow their historic downtowns.

I agree, walkable and sustainable communities already exist in the small towns and in the old neighborhoods of the cities. These very places have been abused and neglected for years while public dollars have gone to subsidize the sprawl that has undermined these once vibrant communities.

I was so relieved to find out that this image was not a long gone Buffalo street scene. Too bad more people don't recognize the value of this over a Walmart parking lot

Might as well be a lost Buffalo St scene. Seing it used to be on all major streets and is now hard to find. Unfortunately Lockport too got a little drunk on the ferderal urban renewal clearing last century with no plan of what comes next. Though there is still a lot to appreciate and current projects have recreated missing blocks and perserved older ones.

I look forward to participating with the Lockport group once they are up and running. Best of luck to those of you down the canal.

> At a time when Andres Duany and his disciples espouse the
> creation of "New Urbanist" communities; the question remains
> why build new communities when there exists such a wealth of
> Villages throughout the region that represent all the
> fundamental principles of the New Urbanism. It should be
> about the sustainability of existing communities and not the
> creation of new faux communities.

Sigh. Just because a community is new doesn't mean it's "faux". All those "authentic, genuine, real" Buffalo neighborhoods? They were the suburbs of the 1880s, 1890s, 1900s, 1910s and 1920s, and the social commentators of the day were often far more critical of them than a Buffalo Rising poster is of "Amher$$$t" today. (Genteel dandys fleeing the Irish, Polish and Italian hordes and moving into neat, new houses built en masse from standardized plans by large developers at the outer edge of streetcar lines: scandalous!) Character often takes time to develop, both in humans and in neighborhoods.

As for slamming NU ... realy? Is low-density loop-and-lollypop sprawl and strict separation of uses really preferred? I know, Albion, Arcade, Perry, Warsaw, Wyoming, Danville, Mount Morris, blah blah blah, but those places also have no jobs, and they're between two metros that aren't exactly brimming with affluent yuppies looking to leave the city for an idealized life in a quaint village.

In arts of the country that boomed before the current recession, and are likely to resume growing again, there's often little in the way of traditional neighborhoods, and what little pre-WWII development that exists is usually priced beyond the means of middle-class homebuyers. NU may often be greenfield development on the fringes of an urbanized area, but it beats conventional subdivisions for many that want some urbanity but can't otherwise afford the real thing, provides a market demand for housing where the population is _growing_, and provides the best opportunity for emerging suburbs to evolve into timeless places like Albion, rather than Depew.

As for NU in Buffalo, it's a moot point. There's nothing on the ground, and it's unlikely to be built in the enar future, given the area's very conservative lending institutions, mom&pop builders, negative perception of density by suburban community leaders, dirt cheap land ta discourages compact development, and a land ownership pattern that makes lot consolidation for large NU communities quite difficult. Besides, the tradition of Everywhere But Buffalo needs to continue.

I'm really surprised that we don't see more development around these beautiful communities with walkable streets with small markets and specialty stores. It is my understanding that most people are begging for this type of living experience over the plastic suburbs with the mini malls and walmarts every few miles. The future is available in our past, why can't more people see that and move to places like Albion, Medina, and Batavia?

This town is not as sweet as this picture makes it out to be. I grew up a few towns over and this is not a place you want to live. This is a high drug area. It was either this town or the one over called Holley were the police chief and a few cops were in charge of selling the drugs in the town. Try Brockport as a model town. The only problems are drunk college kids but they have the same main street with row houses down main street. Very nice.

Drugs are not equally dispersed. The wealthy suburbanites may be using drugs, but they usually aren't drugs like highly addictive crack and heroin. There is more prescription abuse and use of softer drugs like marijuana in the suburbs, the cities have more crack, cocaine and heroin use, in addition to the pain killers and marijuana use. It is also more acceptable to be open in the cities, some say that they have less to lose and look forward to than the people in the suburbs so they quit trying a lot earlier in life. I know people from cities like Albion and Holley who grew up with drug use, it was more like the urban use though. These people had little to look forward to much like the people who live in the cities. It is just depressing and I cannot wait for Barack Obama to change the policies that only favor the prosperous. It is time that we restore hope for the future to the poor who have been warehoused in the cities for so long. Give them the same opportunities and wealth that the rich have been given for so many years. PEACE!

Albion.. the place of high crime and drugs. Sounds like someone with a country perspective. Anything resembling urbanity is obviously where crime and poor collect.

Like my high school classmates that likes to call their Tonawanda or Kenmore neighborhoods are ghetto.. because they have a black person living there.

And as BRLifer pointed out, drugs are EVERYWHERE. Those dealers are selling to probably every and township around them. So people buying are not seen by someone they might know. Same reason why people drive to the West Side of Buffalo from the burbs to buy their drugs.

Let's face it drugs in the suburbs are much better than you find in Buffalo. City drugs are usually cut up with so much crap you can't even enjoy them. Suburb drugs are usually of higher quality and not peddled by illerate thugs he don't even have the courtsey to "you're welcome."

Fred, it's great to see your byline on BRO. You and your colleagues at CPC have been unsung heroes of historic preservation in WNY, helping arrange financing for many adaptive reuse projects such as the Granite Works, Warehouse Lofts, and The Cooperage (to name just a few).

Albion is indeed a treasure undiscovered by many, so I couldn't be more delighted to hear about this initiative. For the very first annual cross-state trek on the Erie Canal Heritage Trail, I organized the events in Orleans County, and the "trekkers" couldn't stop raving about Albion -- the group was even invited to tour the dome of the county courthouse. Albion has great people, great architecture, and (as you describe) a charming Main Street commercial district with lots of potential. Great to hear about this initiative aiming to maximize that.

One tourism-related initiative that could benefit Albion is excursion rail along the old "Falls Branch" which runs through the western canal communities. Currently, the Medina Railroad Museum offers regular rail excursions between Medina and Lockport - and at Christmas time a few from Brockport - but Albion could benefit from being in the picture on this, as well.