Last November, we questioned the Public Bridge Authority's position as slumlords in the Columbus Park neighborhood due to the disrepair of 7 PBA-owned homes there.
As a result, the PBA's general manager, Ron Rienas contacted BR and requested an interview to dispute the claim that the PBA was being neglectful. During the course of the interview, Rienas said that it in the original "ratified documents" - agreements made with the PBA under the Masiello administration - it was the city's due to raze the buildings. Rienas said that as a show of good faith, the PBA would secure the houses, but they had no intention of fixing or keeping them. "They're not historic," Rienas had said at the time. He promised to send the ratified document along.
After receiving the document, and not seeing any verbage that would corroborate Rienas' statements concerning the City of Buffalo's responsibility for removing the homes, we contacted James Comerford, deputy commissioner of inspections and licenses for the City of Buffalo. When asked whose responsibility it was to take down the houses, Comerford said the answer was "sketchy," but didn't feel it was the city's responsibility. As long ago as last November, Comerford said, "It was more an agreement about a series of improvements. Our objective right now is code."
At present, the Peace Bridge community is divided between those who would like to see the badly decaying structures come down and others who feel they would like them to be fixed, especially the 3 that are pending placement on the historic register. Rienas, however has reiterated his statement from last year, that the PBA had no intention of sinking money into structures that would eventually come down anyway, in Rienas' view, to make way for a newly expanded Peace Bridge truck plaza and eventual companion bridge.
Then, in March of this year, after the department of inspections cited violations on the PBA owned properties, Rienas wrote: "Your letter directs the Peace Bridge Authority (PBA) to address the violations cited by May 1, 2009. We intend to do so by demolishing all of the PBA own structures except for 783 Busti Avenue which is occupied by the Department of Agriculture and provides services to the PBA Customs plaza." Shortly after, Mr. Rienas announced that demolitions on Busti would be "forthwith."
Now, according to neighborhood spokesperson Kathleen Mecca, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) have recommended that the PBA not demolish the houses, as it could jeopardize federal-aid funding for the project because a completed environmental and historical review has not been conducted as of yet.
In a letter sent out late last week by Kathleen Mecca, she stated, "We are very pleased that FHWA and the ACHP took such swift action in protecting the Prospect Hill historic district from further destruction by the Public Bridge Authority."
Mecca went on to say that since the summer of 2008, the FHWA has
issued 3 findings against the Public Bridge Authority's plans; the
first-dealt with the rejection of the cable stay bridge design on the basis of
DEC standards; the second - in October, determined that the proposed 45
acre (currently17 acre) plaza footprint would have serious direct and indirect
negative impacts on the historical neighborhood and now the declaration that
not enough research has been done to weigh the impact of the house demolitions.
"These rulings, said Mecca, are what give the community the
teeth to reign in a Public Bridge Authority that is determined to circumvent
and violate Federal, State and Municipal rules and regulations in order to
force this poorly conceived project through."
Mecca goes on to say that contrary to Mr. Rienas' opinion that
the PBA is a "sole" authority not subject to City ordinances or laws, the
FHWA decision indicates that there are legal, environmental, historical and
ethical obligations and responsibilities that the PBA must adhere to.
The Olmsted Conservancy has it's opinion also
about the PBA's presence in the neighborhood, and not without some of the same
disdain Mecca feels for what she perceives as a PBA that runs roughshod over
quality of life issues in the Columbus Park - Prospect Hill neighborhood.
Assemblyman Sam Hoyt and Councilmember David Rivera have done their part to stop the PBA from tearing the houses down also, sending a joint letter to the FHWA two weeks ago. "These properties have been languishing for years under the ownership of the PBA," Hoyt contends. "Instead of tearing down a huge section of this neighborhood, I urge the PBA to become good neighbors and responsible property owners by fixing up these seven homes on Busti Avenue. Councilman Rivera and I are asking for nothing more than what is expected of every other home owner in Buffalo."
According to a Buffalo News article, Rinas said that the
authority would not fix houses "that are never going to be occupied."
I can't wait for the massive new truck parking lot. It will be such a great asset to Buffalo. What a stroke of genius to locate it on the waterfront too.