Herrera-Mishler Calls Press Conference Over Growing Parks Concern

if we continue to allow the conservacny to run the parks, where will byron brown place all of his patronage jobs???

the conservacny is doing an excellent job....it would be foolish...and clear, disgusting politics if the mayor attempted to change that.

Oh Oh... The Mayor heard they had 8 million and his palms are itching.

I don't understand the city's motivation to remove park maintenance from county hands. Where's the benefit?

When the transfer of maintenance responsibilities originally occurred, the intent as I understood it was to bypass city unions and get the job done cheaper by the county. It also happens that the county maintains other parks (county facilities) which are similar to Buffalo's, so it seemed like an easy way for the county to share some of the load which was crushing us.

How can the city insist upon return of the parks' maintenance responsibilities before it has even hashed out any arrangement whatsoever with the conservancy, which has been doing an impressive job? Is this really about the parks? Or is this just about turf? Brown continues to underwhelm.

"I don't understand the city's motivation to remove park maintenance from county hands."

biniszkiewicz, mostly the county just wants out. it was ill planned and not thought out move when it took place a few years ago - just an attempt to balance the city's books during a shortfall.

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"Until the City and the conservancy have a chance to sit down together to hash out a plan. . ."

so isnt this a bit premature? if there has yet to be any real negotiations, no real city position - this seems an awkward way to begin talks.

just a point of order, but these WERE city jobs until just a few years ago. im not saying one party did a better job than another, im not suggesting ones more efficient than another, and i dont know what the economic impact of having city residents working for a good wage is - those are different issues. im just saying that that having city employees work in the parks is not unprecedented.

Regionalism in reverse. Not surprising.

This could be horrible... I will leave it at that till more details come forth. It does throw up some red flags though especially because of the Administrations tendency to micro-manage everything to death.

It makes sense. You have an enthusiastic group doing most of your work for you free of charge and they are doing a great job. The only obvious course of action to to put an end to such activities.

The county has a very poor record of maintaining the parks outside of the Olmsted system. The Riverwalk in Black Rock is overgrown and unattended in sharp contrast to the Isle View Park section that always receives attention.
Neighborhood residents continue to mow and weed the Market Square Park at Amherst and Niagara despite repeated calls to the county to fulfill their responsibility. County government has a long record of being unresponsive to the needs of the city and instead caters to suburban residents while all but ignoring the one third of taxpayers residing in Buffalo.

I’ve lived in the Parkside area for over 48 years and it has NEVER looked as great and as cared for as it does now thanks to the Conservancy. Any change to the status quo would be a major blow to the city and county. For an area that seeks to grow its’ tourism industry – not a good move.

So with the City already spreading itself thin on similar projects, turning the parks over to them from an organization who has maintained them best in recent years is good for who? This spells disaster for our beloved Olmstead parks, let's just hope the administration doesn't give it the "get it done to get it done" mentality versus the "do it right the first time" mentality

Although the historic Olmsted system is within the city, it's still a COUNTY asset. People from outside the city use the parks. And Brown's charge that some of the workers do not live in the city, ignores the contract was with the county and is his weak excuse for meddling.
Brown wants 3 things:
1) To take credit for Olmsted's success
3) The ability to give out patronage jobs, and to build his base of those beholden
2) To punish the council and board members who supported Kearns.

But I, for one, can't wait to see Brown try to justify this on paper.
With the Conservancy, it costs the city $3 million. But for the city alone, it'll cost $11 million.
That is, until they cut, cut, cuts service and quality of life issues to get down to that number.

It's about whats good for Brown, NOT what's good for Buffalonians and their parks.

RE: Chenango's observation that the Olsmted system appeals to users countywide, not just city wide: agree wholeheartedly.

We should transfer ownership of the Olmsted parks to the county of Erie. They ARE regional assets, unlike most of the other city park properties. I'll bet more suburbanites use Delaware Park than use Chestnut Ridge or any other county park. By transferring ownership to the county, the county would be obligated to pay for maintenance without any subsidy from the city. They do this every day in the burbs for county parks. Why would this be any different? What do we care whether the city owns the land or the county does, other than figuring out who pays the tab? These are a regional asset (can you say, Zoo?). They should be paid for by regional taxpayers. Transfer the ownership.

The city could then redirect the money it currently pays the county for parks toward the maintenance of all the smaller city parks which the county seems to be ignoring.

Olmsted's top-heavy staff looks great on paper and does well in the publicity, marketing and development areas, and in marque park spots, but does very poorly in maintenance and repair in smaller neighborhood and pocket parks. Their staffing has no contunity nor institutional memory that a "Park Dept." whether City or County run has had.

Olmsted is squandering $1.3 Million in Niagara River Greenway funding to repair the Scajaquada Trail from Elmwood to Niagara Street. The project was approved with contract commitment for community consultation to planning and design preceding any construction. Inexplicably, the project started this summer with no planning nor design, and with poorly supervised Americorps staff hacking away at "invasive vegetation" that really turned out to be fruit trees and habitat planted by McKinley High School over the years. The gross results can be seen at the 198 W entrance off southbound Elmwood at Nottingham.

Even after community concerns were raised, Olmsted continued its clear-cutting of understory vegetation from the curlicue pedestrian bridge at Lincoln west to Elmwood through to Peter Street, resulting in loss of many trees and shrubbery that provided habitat to our essential species.

Olmsted professes to care but fails to plan and design. They are losing community support and must make steps to regain it before taking on more commitments.

The Scajaquada path is not in Olmsted's parks so I am unsure if you are mad at the right people there. They are concerned with the pathway because it acts as an entrance to Delaware park and a connection to Front and Riverside.

Was what they removed indigenous or not? If the shubbery was killing mature trees and native species... bye bye! It shouldn't be there to begin with. I assume once they clear the area of problem species they will follow their master plan to 'thicken' the edge naturally and sustainably.

The Olmsted Conservancy has planned and are following through with the plan. That means some things will change and in the end, for the better.

I also think it is suspicious that Brown waited until after the election to throw this out there... convenient.

The worst thing that could happen to the Olmsted system is to have the City take it over. It's a large and complex system, and it has never looked better than it does now, thanks solely to Herrera-Mishler's leadership at the conservancy.

This is a perfect example of why regionalism is not going to work in WNY.

We are in one big pissing match between the city and the suburbs, the city and the county, the city vs the city. It is a freaking joke! No wonder nothing gets done, yet the politicians keep patting themselves on the back for the little that they do accomplish.

I agree we both suffer from the division and I agree our politicians are more interested in protecting their fiefdoms but most would agree the status quo absolutely benefits the suburbs.

BOPC does maintain the Olmsted parks. From their website:

"Through a City-County-Conservancy agreement that became effective on July 1, 2004, it became the first not-for-profit organization in the nation to manage a park system."

It may receive some compensation from the city or county (or both) for doing so. Those of you who are adept at budget-searching can confirm.

On an unrelated note, has everyone forgotten about James the ice cream vendor? He couldn't sell in the Olmsted parks unless he bought pricey permits. Everyone howled in outrage. We can't have it both ways, folks. If we like privatization of the parks because ducking union wages balances the city's books and lowers our tax burden, we have to accept some kind of fees to cover park costs. Labor and materials aren't free even when they're non-union.

Would you libertarians please explain it to everyone?

Unfortunately based on the Buffalo News article linked in Elena's first paragraph, it sounds as though the city is considering stupid changes in the Olmsted arrangement. It hints at possible residency requirements, diversity quotas, and demanding higher pay for Olmsted workers:

'...Peter K. Cutler, the mayor's chief spokesman, would not speculate Saturday on whether the Olmsted group's role will continue.
...
"All the issues will be brought to the table, including the job they have done in managing the parks, and the mayor's concerns about diversity in the workplace, paying employees a living wage and residency," Cutler said.

...Brown discussed the conservancy's hiring policies in a letter Thursday to Erie County Executive Chris Collins. ... "My administration intends to bring labor representatives and other relevant stakeholders to the negotiating table," the mayor wrote. He also said only two of the conservancy's 14 senior managers live in the city, while 55 percent of the administrative staff live outside Buffalo. ...'

unfortunately whatever is right on. This is going to be horrid for the city to get Brown's hands on the conservancy... I just wish I really knew for what.

If he was so worried about residency.. what about the teachers, fire and police?

If he is so worried about hiring policies, maybe he should be investing in horticultural training programs or landscape architecture.

As for the comment that not all the administration live in the city.. ok? 60% (if my memory is correct) of the users of the Olmsted parks are NOT from the city. That was the purpose for transferring maintenance to the county to begin with...

The more I think about this the more annoyed I get.

Everyone, please call 311 (mayor's response line) and demand that the Conservancy maintain the Olmsted parks. Call your council member too. We just did.

Contact info. for all council members here:
http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/Home/Leadership/CommonCouncil

Someone needs to take control of the parks, for a city that is so proud of the Olmsted Park system, Delaware park is a disgrace, it should be the crown jewel of the city but at the moment is just a hot mess.

There's a very clear reason for why the Mayor would like to take control of the Olmsted Parks. Isn't he in favor of expanding the truck plaza at the Peace Bridge. It'll be much easier without these preservationists interfering. Because, you see, what Buffalo should really aspire towards becoming, is a glorified truck-stop.

I live on a pocket park in Allentown long enough to have seen the maintenance switch from the City to the County. When it was the City's responsibility it was terrible. It was mowed a few times during the summer and that was it. The neighborhood residents did the leaf raking and tree pruning. Once the County took over, which placed the care in the hands of the OPC, that all changed. They mowed almost weekly and took care of the fall clean up as well.

With the mess city hall is in I can't see Byron's "people" being able to run a park system. Especially if the way city hall is run is any indication. Let Byron put city hall in order first then we'll talk about the parks

From the Snooze:

Some pathetic numbers, which explain much:
http://tinyurl.com/y9h8grz

Per capita annual spending on city parks. Highlights:
San Francisco: $300
New York City: $142
Cleveland: $80
Detroit: $40
Buffalo: $12.

TWELVE DOLLARS PER PERSON. The 2 poorest cities in the USA spend $40 and $80. No wonder our parks look the way they do. It's time to start spending at least $60 per, and funnel most of that through the Olmsted people.

Brown is erroneously confusing his recent primary victory with some misguided sense of mandate from the voters. He needs to answer the question: "Who is best suited - as determined by objective performance criteria - to assume the responsibility for one of the City's crown jewels - the Olmsted park system?"

I think answer will be evident to all.

The Common Council may have no choice but to dust off the replacement of the Mayors Office with the City Manager if this continues.

Obviously it would be an enormous loss to the city if it lost the Olmsted Parks Conservancy, their restoration plan, the millions of donations they bring to our city and the national prestige they bring as part of their efforts. The Olmsted Parks Conservancy complements our culturals and our recognized architecture.

Buffalo cannot afford to let Brown play politics and risk driving them out of the city.

This is the Brown/Hoyt battle of the westside community organization to restore buildings

This is the Brown/Pitts battle with the common council over the waterfront hotel

This isnt managing the city for the betterment of all its citizens. Buffalo needs a mayor that concentrates on running the city not entrenching his power, patronage and politics at the expense of the city.