If you never saw it, there’s a pretty awesome new version of a Paget video floating around that discusses the implications of how Buffalo’s highways disrupt the natural flow of city. The video presents a commentary between filmmaker John Paget and former president of Congress for the New Urbanism, John Norquist. This particular version of the video (the original was featured on BRO in the past – see below) is a voiceover conversation that discusses the video in a candid urbanist light.
Commentary soundtrack version of “Buffalo: America’s Best Designed City” featuring filmmaker John Paget in conversation with John Norquist, President & CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism and former mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
This commentary could not have been presented at a better time, since politicians and planners are finally starting to realize the potential of reversing some of the harrowing urban planning mistakes that befell this great city. Many of the questions posed in the video are finally being answered.
Now that the conversations are being struck, and all eyes are on the Scajaquada Expressway and the Kensington Expressway, there could be no better time than to study what it’s going to take to remove the grade separated highways that separate the city from the waterfront. You want to see this city become truly great again? Then we have to open our eyes to the 800 pound gorilla that sits along the Niagara River.
Take the time to listen to Norquist’s words of advice. He tells us that we can follow the precedents being set by numerous other cities around the world. Buffalo needs to figure out how to best free itself from the shackles of the oppressive waterfront freeways. The private development that would ensue would be truly remarkable.
To watch the original video, without the audio commentary from Norquist, we have uploaded the video below: