Buffalorising has been redesigned.

Correction:

I checked the City of Buffalo - Property Information website. The building was built in 1925 and its current owner is listed as ECKHARDT K L & OTHS. I believe at one time it was a Dept. of Labor office and that it may still be a state-owned facility. It is not on the tax role.

This building is kiddy-corner to the Broadway Market and in an area that is ripe for easy redevelopment. I heard an unsustantiated rumor that there is talk of tearing it down. I've already notified Scott Field of the Preservation Coalition of this possibility, so he can be on the lookout.

If anyone has any more information on this building, its history, its current owners or any plans for reuse, please let us know!

I would venture to guess that the respondants to the Chippewa article are more realistic than the intentions voiced here. While the Chip Strip could likely support Pottery Barn (or H&M) I would guess a number of factors would deter them from locating near the Terminal at this time.

Corporate retailers pursue expansion with all the glamour of a mathmatician. They look for local population density, prevailing income, and othe demographic information. They also look for indicators. For example: the presence of a Starbucks may draw a Baja Fresh, which would then attract a Sam Goody which would draw a Marshalls, which could then move an area towards the desired outcome of a Pottery Barn or H&M.

Do these companies rehab? Do they prefer new builds? These are some of the important questions New Buffalo should be researching.

I guess chains are a double edged sword. To get the one's you view as desirable, you must tolerate the less-sexy one's. But a little outside investment would nicely complement a downtown economy aimed towards greatness.

Ultimately, I hope one day the terminal (area) is as grand as it could be.....

Thanks for calling my attention to this gem. I really have to learn more about the east side.

These retailers are mentioned only to spark one's imagination and interest. Nothing at all is happening there now. I know full well all the reasons, but it is not as bad an area as you think. I'm there all the time and know exactly how it is.

All development possibilities, of course, should be entertained.

Guys, I really respect your en thusiasm but POTTERY BARN WILL NEVER EVER GO TO THE EAST SIDE! The area is scary and there is no money there. Elmwood doesnt even have the right demograpic according to their corp. communications director. Buffalo(Elm. VIllage) is too small of an area and it is shrinking. Let's shoot for some realistic goals guys.

Mo, it's not a "goal"... it's an idea... for an area who desperately needs ideas... The intention was to create awareness to a building that seems to have been forgotten along the way.

Insert any business you like into that building and I will be happy. But I bet you didn't know that it even existed or that it was vacant until now.

Here's some more East Side property up for auction on Saturday. 574, 578, & 582 Michigan Avenue (between Broadway and Sycamore in the block north of the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church) all go on the block starting at 10:00 AM on the 19th.

Cash Cunningham is the auctioneer. 885-2200

Great idea, that would be a fabulous building. I would love for the Broadway market area to have more retail and insure it's survival. It's such a part of Buffalo.

Mo,

You are wrong in your discouraging remarks about the East Side. Never is a defeatest's term. Some areas of the East Side have a lot of challenges and Mike understands them better than most (from your comments I'd suggest he understands them better than you).

The East Side of Buffalo is far more amazing than scary. The revitalization we have accomplished on the West Side (West of the Elmwood area) was deamed unrealistic by many for years. It wasn't until we started generating interest and vision that we began turning it around. We had to prove to people that it could be done - which we have.

It's unrealistic to think that we are going to bring Buffalo back without revitalizing the East Side. It's unrealistic to think that it's impossible to do so. I think Mike is being realistic and there are a lot of folks, like myself, that are looking forward to working with him to prove you (and others like you) wrong. It will be people like Mike that will bring back the East Side - discouraging him doesn'y make his difficult job any easier.

Buffalo has held itself back for years with such self defeating sentiments. No one thought Chippewa could come back, no one thought the Elmwood Area would become one of the most desirable housing markets in all of Western New York, no one thought that downtown housing would be financially viable, no one thought the area west of Richmond would rebound - but all of these things, and more, have happened or are far enough along that people now believe. A lot of these people, maybe like yourself, easily forget how unreasonable a thought these things were before they happened.

The East Side of Buffalo will rebound, the same way the rest of Buffalo is - through bright productive residents and businessmen ignoring all the negative nay sayers. You can be part of this solution oriented group - or you can be part of the problem.

No disresect, I understand how decades of decline can cause people to be pessimistic. I don't understand how it can make someone discouraging to others.

Harvey

Understood Harvey, just gets frustrating when we stay stagnant for so long and the same people are in power after all of these years. Really appreciate what you have accomplished...just wish there were more of us. gday all

Thanks for the encouraging words, Harvey, but don't worry... I don't ever stay too discouraged for too long. It's all a part of the process of staying in this game for the long haul. I've seen the enormous amount of damage to the terminal and I've gotten discouraged and thought "maybe this is just impossible". I've even attempted to resign from the board when it all got too overwhelming. But, this little voice in my head keeps repeating our unofficial motto: "if we don't do this, who will?".

We've all been called "crazy" and "dreamers" before... we're used to that. But, look what we've accomplished there in the past 3 years we've been reopened to the public: we've hosted over 50,000 people from the city, suburbs and from literally around the world. We've gotten the concourse clock back (now on display at M&T Center formerly Goldome). We've removed tons of debris and reopened several new rooms to the public. This is the work of a couple dozen unpaid volunteers who are crazy enough to have vision and passion. The more attention you call to a situation, the greater your chances for success become. That and a lot of elbow grease can change the world.

I understand your frustrations, Mo, they come and go for all of us who try to accomplish what seems like the improbable. But there are enough of us in Buffalo who've already given up. Don't allow yourself to be one of them.

In other news, Vince Harzewski from Buffalo Issue Alerts, another local forum, offers the following information on the old Sear's building:

"The listing is actually Eckhardt Kate L and Others as Trustees, with an address of S6152 Old Lakeshore Rd. Same ownership of the adjoining property at 740 Fillmore, although the mailing address is c/o Alice Becker. The city's data shows 950 Broadway assessed at $500,000. 6152 Old Lakeshore is owned by a Dean Becker, who happens to own 750 Fillmore, the property to the north of 740 Fillmore."

Thanks Vince!

For anyone who is starting to think : "wow that Rising Buffalo crew certainly isn't open to criticism!" I'd like to explain why I'm so (overly?) optimistic about Buffalo.

Certainly there are a lot of challenges, but I truley see the rampant pessimism in Buffalo as the biggest hurdle. It's why elections work the way they do here, it's why neighborhoods that have every reason for thriving decline under disinvolvement and disinvestment, it's why the whole city lacks a possitive productive vision - everyone is just so sure that Buffalo can't come back - despite all the signs of progress.

Even those who swell up in their chests with pride when they hear possitive things in places like Buffalo Rising, quickly shrink when they here a single negative (or even just recall one in their minds). Buffalo is holding itself back because we lack a shared possitive vision for what it could be like.

This is why negative comments are discouraged (at least by me). I'm not trying to shut down other opinions. I'm trying to chip away at some of the negaitivity that , in my mind, is holding this amazing city back. I'm not being naieve - I deal with the very real challenges every day in my work on the West Side. Our sucesses over here would never happen if we didn't dismiss all the "never happens" - we'd never even try.

People like myself, who haven't been in Buffalo long enough to have lived through all the decline (I've been here almost 10 years), or weren't raised to believe that Buffalo sucks - are mystified at the pessismism in this incredible city. We aren't nieave - most of us have lived in many places and have chosen Buffalo as our preference.

We just want a chance to spread a little realistic optimism in a city that needs it above all else.

Harvey

Well said.

If you haven't driven through the east side lately, I encourage you to do so. Try to see past the neglect and decay and imagine the potential and the history. Imagine what it can be. Then believe that it's possible. That's all that is stopping us from moving forward, not the politicians and not the taxes.

Then, drive through downtown... see the new developments... continue driving through the west side and see the revitalization there.

Be an advocate for change. Despite the work and frustration, it feels good.

Agreed fellas. My father owned a business on the eastside for 31 years and ive seen it go through bust and booms over the years...but it really is depressed right now...doesnt mean it cant revitalize. But the neighbors really seem to care less...very few places are kept up like the west side...each house has to step up...even if they just plants some tulip bulbs or slap on some paint trim. Be well!

I'd have to agree with Mo on this one. I think that the East Side just isn't the area for a Pottery Barn. And they already have one in the Mall. I think that maybe a clothing store or something like that might do well there.

Maybe even some sort of art studio. I think that people should really try to market the East Side to artists and photographers. There are so many rugged buildings and surroundings over there and in a way, it's pretty cool looking.

I drive by the building almost everyday and sadly until Mike called it to my attention I havent focused on it, Yesterday I went to take a good look at it and it is in amazing condition! I put several calls in to people in my distirct to get some info on it,
In regards to the East Side there are many of us doing the best we can to bring attention to the area and try to work on some ideas for revitalization of the areas that can be revitalized.
There are a great group of community actvists who are dedicated to working on some ideas.
I ask all of you to think back 7-8 yrs ago to the Elk Terminal perhaps one of the ugliest places I have ever seen and look at it now, ALL apartements rented( and not to cheaply either) Or think back to what Central Terminal looked like even a few years ago, It was a dumping ground for garbage and debris but because of some very dedicated people it is looking fabulous, I truly believe there are some areas that need to be landbanked, There are many areas we can and will revitalize, Never say Never especially to East Side residents we are a tough group

I've been fully invested financially and emotionally here on the city's east side for 15 years. I taught social studies at Turner Carroll HS before the diocese closed the place and live in a once neglected row house that happens to be on the National Register of Historic Places here on the city's east side. I bought another house in the row, also on the National Register, 2 years ago. I know these streets. I walk, ride my bicycle and drive them on a regular basis, here on this side of Main Street.

I must say that I am rather amused by the comments here regarding actual development and attitudes about future development. In a nut-shell, let me say that...Hope Is Not A Plan...never has been and quite simply, it never will be an effective plan. While it may make some people “feel good” to talk about the east-side being the lynch pin of Buffalo's future economic success and toss an occasional bone this way, the east side has been plagued by an absence of effective leadership for decades. Sure there are scraps of plans...I remember just last year abandoned houses around the city's schools here on the east side were supposed to be monitored on a monthly basis and moved to the top of the list in Housing Court...never happened. (I do some of the monitoring at www.fixbuffalo.blogspot.com)

A few simple requests...

1.Stop building subsidized houses.
2.Stop building subsidized houses especially along commercial corridors such as William, Clinton and Sycamore Streets. Commercial development will never take root on side streets.
3.Instead, invest in a revolving re-hab loan program to re-use existing structures.
4.Develop a comprehensive “Marshall Plan” for the east-side. Yes it's that bad. Pottery Barn will never open if successful residential development - with people who can afford their products – hasn't taken place. Fragmented development plans result in fragmented development that helps re-elect do nothing politicians. Remember before becoming a NYS senator, Byron Brown was Masten District Councilman.
5.Tax abandoned Catholic Church property. It's done down I-90 in MA...it has to happen here especially in light of the Bishop's decision to continue to reside in the most expensive house in the city of Buffalo as he closes – read – plans to abandon dozens of urban church properties in the next 18 months. We are still experiencing the negative impact of the 1993 church closings.

These are just a few points that must be addressed before any sane individual can consider including the east-side in the future economic development of Buffalo. The other point which most comments are not addressing here is the issue of “density.” On Buffalo's west side you've got it...over here you are dealing with large tracts of abandoned and vacant “urban prairie” that compare to war torn Sarajevo in the '90s or today's Detroit.

I have a post that demonstrates this point quite accurately and fairly over here: http://tinyurl.com/ckg9w This post contains two pictures of Utica one along Elmwood and the other along Jefferson Avenue. The best thing to do would be to walk this street and see the rapidly developing “urban prairie” for yourself, first hand.

The permanent long term economic and I would argue psychological “detroitization” of Buffalo's east side is an established fact. We don't need cheerleaders with hope and good intentions. Please stay away. We need something more concrete. We need the Marines...

If 500 people move down-town every year and 5000 people leave Buffalo...where's the trend?

Love from the 'hood,

David

btw...lots of love to Newell and George for stimulating the debate...don't stop...

Oh, I think its an incredible building with enormous potential.

I could very easily see a Borders or a Barnes & Noble or a Starbuck on the first floor, as well as, many other businesses.

David,

If you don't need cheerleaders with hope and good intentions then you need people just pointing out the problems even less. This isn't about hype - it's about identifying solutions & resources - and acting on them.

Instead of blaming everyone else, we need to be taking responsibility for the things we can do ourselves - thus identifying the areas we take the blame for not dooing sooner. Very empowering.

What every area of the city needs are less arm chair quarterbacks and more actual quarterbacks. It's time to pick up the ball.

Harvey

As I said, I'm fully invested financially and emotionally here on Buffalo's east side. I've identified 5 points that have to be integrated into a comprehensive plan. These points have been gathered from walking and talking with neighborhood residents for 15 years. The decline will continue and spiral needlessly out of control if these areas are not addressed in a comprehensive manner.

I've presented 5 points...for starters...which one represents arm-chair quater backing?

The west side has "urban-density" the east side doesn't. Among other things this may call for a different and perhaps non-entrepenurial based template...

love from the 'hood,

David

btw...Newell and George...great new post what looks like is becoming a series on this side of Main Street...thanks...

I agree we need to stop newbuilds especially on the East Side, We are simply emptying 1 house to fill another,
We need jobs! We need businesses to invest in the East Side,Without jobs the East side will continue to slip further away,People who are unemployed can not buy houses.The unemployment rate is about 50-60% in the Broadway Fillmore area.The East Side CAN be revitalized with some good planning,Landbanking certain streets HAS to be done there is no alternative,Some of the houses can never saved,And this is coming from someone who wanted to save everything!!
Sadly the East Side has not had the same level of "involvement " that the west side has,I know David had a petition to save the Woodlawn row houses and he got about 100 Signatures from people who agreed they needed saving,Panos had over 4,000+ signatures of people wanting to save the property next to it, But... I feel the East Sides time is coming, We will be working hard to try to bring businesses to Broadway,It would be terrific if the city would offer even 10% of the incentives it offered Bass pro to come to Buffalo! I am not counting on the city for anything, The people who will change the East Side are us pioneers who have the vision ( and the inability to take no for an answer anymore)

Go Michelle!

We are starting to draw national attention... here is an article that appeared in the September issue of Architecture magazine:

"It's Time for Preservation on the Wrong Side of the Tracks, Too"
Architecture Magazine
By Robert Klara

SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 -- On an afternoon's walk through downtown Buffalo, New York, an architecturally minded visitor should prepare for an accelerated heart rate. For here is beautifully restored and fastidiously maintained evidence of what happened when the City Beautiful movement waltzed with industrial prosperity. The concentration of monumental structures by the likes of Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan, and Carrère & Hastings-plus later twentieth-century works by Rapp & Rapp and Minoru Yamasaki-explain why historians hail the city as an architectural museum.

After decades of decline, Buffalo is proud of having found the wherewithal to preserve its built legacy, and rightfully so. Good thing, then, that one scuff on its record lies well outside downtown, where visitors are scarce: Buffalo Central Terminal, its windows replaced by plywood, casts its hulking shadow over the slums of the east side. The contrast between the terminal and its pampered brethren downtown is striking visually, of course, but philosophically, too, because it raises an unsettling question: Are worthy buildings preserved solely for their cultural and aesthetic merits, or because they're fortunate enough to be located in "safe" affluent areas?

Next Stop, Chicago

For the New York Central Railroad, Buffalo was the midway point for the posh limiteds sprinting between New York City and Chicago. In 1925, believing Buffalo would expand, the Central chose a parcel 2.5 miles outside downtown. Its station-a luminous chest of Gustavino tile, pressed-metal ornament, and four types of marble-became a talisman for Buffalo's economic might.

In a story oft told, passenger railroads began their slow roll into oblivion in the 1950s. Central Terminal saw its last train off in 1979. Subsequent owners pillaged the place. When an influential senator allotted $1.5 million in federal funds for the terminal in 1995, Mayor Anthony Masiello diverted the money to a building downtown. That seemed strange, because Central Terminal was quite the plum for any developer: 15 acres for parking, tower floors of 6,000 square feet each, all for the special, low price of $1. That's what the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation (CTRC) paid for the place eight years ago.

Thanks, but . . .

Why no takers for Central Terminal? It's not because the trains don't stop there anymore. Whistles haven't echoed across the concourses of the Union Stations in Louisville or St. Louis since the 1970s, either-yet both currently house opulent hotels and those cities' finest restaurants. Nor is it due to lack of effort by preservationists. The CTRC has spent its modest donations on patching the roof and sweeping up, and used $25,000 given by a local bank to repurchase the terminal's concourse clock, which turned up on eBay in 1999. Nor, apparently, is it due to a lack of change in the state coffers-which have coughed up $100 million for H.H. Richardson's Buffalo Psychiatric Center.

So what is it? In a word, location. East Buffalo is poor. Crime rates are high. Even though the terminal property has advantages undreamed of downtown (such as easy interstate access), it's a matter of how one views a half-filled glass. "It's not downtown, it's in the wrong part of town: We've heard all the flip answers," laments CTRC president Russell Pawlak. "There's this notion that you're going to die if you go there," says Tim Tielman, executive director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, another preservation group. "We have to keep plugging away," concludes the CTRC's treasurer Michael Miller. "Eventually the right person with the right connections will come along."

Really? Will Buffalo get a visionary who will take a chance? Because the persisting failure-of the city, of developers-to rescue the terminal isn't just a missed economic opportunity, it's an occlusion of the historic record. Much is lost when the architectural heritage that visitors are shown is limited to those buildings within a stone's throw of a Starbucks. But in East Buffalo, for now at least, a stone's throw only means another broken window.

The East Side will rebound, but only with determined advocacy and a few investors willing to take great risks.

We don't have to refer to hopes and dreams. Look across the street from the old Sears Building. E-Square Capital is renovating a mostly vacant loft-style structure into senior housing and revamped ground-floor retail space.

Who ever thought the Larkin R/S/T would become Buffalo's best Class-A office building? Why not extend the hope that's produced to the struggling Hydraulics commercial district along Seneca Street, which was Buffalo's first industrial district with buildings dating back to the 1840s?

Who thought the newly christened Midtown would be home to a 55-unit artist loft project? Now watch. The city is engaged in a planning process to re-do Coe Place in brick in a distinctive diagonal herringbone pattern. It will be the Little Summer Street of the East Side soon enough, with its quaint Queen Annes dating to 1890 and 1891. If the city follows through, a landscaped mini-traffic circle will be installed on the corner of Northampton and Ellicott streets. Commercial buildings, including the former Homer Tarbell livery stable on Riley Street and the old Joseph Denzel's Tavern on the corner of Michigan and Riley, could be receiving new investment as corner stores or galley space.

Imagine as downtown's loft building craze naturally leans closer and closer to the near East Side. I believe inevitably, loft housing will be popping up along Genesee Street as far up as Fillmore Avenue. Take the corner of Genesee and Michigan and tell me how that area is not the next place to be redeveloped?

If anything, the East Side is certainly poised for something great. Where the "determined advocacy" will have to come into play is around protecting the economic opportunity represented by great buildings on the East Side, many of which are little known and barely noticed, even by many people in the preservation movement, which is now beginning to cross over Main Street.

I doubt the revitalization of the West Side would be occuring with such rapidity without its wonderful stock of quality historic housing and commercial buildings. Let's face it. The empty lots, now numbering in the tens of thousands, spreading across the East Side like a wildfire will only serve to the detriment of the East Side's future.

We need to learn how to build stable working class neighborhoodsin Buffalo again. Not every neighborhood has to have a Starbucks or Pottery Barn for it to be successful. I live downstate and see many neighborhoods particularly in Brooklyn and Queens that are not particularly wealthy or hip but are stable and being invested in. This I think will only happen if Buffalo can somehow draw immigrants again. Immigrants will take chances starting small businesses in areas that native born people won't or can't. This is probably the only way areas like the east side will ever see large scale revitalization. Asking Pottery barn to move to Broadway Filmore is probably not realistic but getting fresh blood in the area willing to take a chance with smaller shops is a better bet and could jump start the neighborhood from the ground up.

Chris Hawley,

I do believe that the east side is poised for greatness and that it may just start near the biomedical corridor. Thank you for pointing out the great things that are already happening.

Chris McBride, the area has contained these small, immigrant businesses for years. Unfortunately, the Broadway strip was designed for larger retailers and much of that infrastructure is either vacant or demolished. Redeveloping the buildings that remain is literally a race against time. I personally wouldn't care if this building was a Pottery Barn, an artist's studio or office space, as long as it was being used.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why the owners are not even advertising it.

Sure there are long time ethnic businesses in the neighborhood but not on the scale that its needed to form critical mass that would then pave the way for major retailers.. Part of the problem is that the area's housing density has decreased to such a degree and the incomes so low that it no longer attractive on even a minimal level for retailers. Bringing in more immigrants would help bolster the area by having more persons per household and slightly higher incomes. This would then make the area more attractive to major retailers. Buffalo needs to do what Schnectady is doing. They are luring Guyenese immigrants to Schenectady from Queens by extolling that cities lower cost of living and slower pace of life. They are revitalizing long neglected neighborhoods and giving hope to the rest of the city. Buffalo could do the same with some other ethnic group.

I agree that its a race against time and these buildings are worth saving. However, I think that in order to solve the underlying problem Buffalo has to stem its population loss by bringing in outsiders that will bring new energy to neighborhoods they have no preconceived notions of.

Yes, that could work. I'm also hoping that Buffalo, once known primarily for its industry, now becomes more known as a region that excels in the medical/health care industry. That's beginning to happen and it's based on the solid foundation of international respect that Roswell Park Cancer Institute has provided for us for decades. I'm hoping that this will do much to stem the population loss and retain our younger residents.

Healthcare and Education are the two sectors that Buffalo can definately count on being here in the future and we should definately make sure that they are healthy and growing. However, I still think that Buffalo will have to attract outsiders in the long run in order to grow . WNY has a very low birth rate and the demographics do not favor natural population growth in the future. Yes, we need to first stem the losses of the young people that are leaving but we must also promote the area as a great place to live to the rest of the country and the world.

Or maybe we can start a new campaign: Have a baby for Buffalo!

I'm afraid we don't have 25 years for the baby campaign to become productive! :)

Amy Maxwell at Revitalize Buffalo has already started a program to promote Buffalo and its resources to college students. They've had guest speakers like Harvey Garrett highlight the benefits of staying in the area.

That's a good idea to reach out to college students at areas schools since they are already familiar with the area and don't have to sold on what's here..I think it needs to be stressed to them how affordable housing in Buffalo really is and how oppressively expensive it is in other places. They may make more money in a place like New York City but they won't get the chance to have a nice home and a balanced home/work life like they can in Buffalo. They should be imparted with the idea of Buffalo as a new frontier waiting to be discovered and reawakened and that they are lucky enough to be here before it really takes off. In other words they will be ahead of the curve by staying in Buffalo.

My wife and I are thinking of moving back after 6 years because we want our son to have the kind of childhood you can only have in Western New York.

I think it's great that there is some focus on keeping young people and recent grads in the area. I know from experience that it can be hard to find a job in the area, even with a grad degree. I can't help but think how a another large corporation locating a headquarters in the area, particularly in downtown, could greatly help. Not only would it be a source of jobs, but it would provide another potential sponsor for our many excellent events and venues. I think promoting and nurturing small local start-ups is great, but alot of people starting their careers don't have the capital and/or experience to start out on their own but want to stay in the area.

Chris, if you are serious about moving back, that's fantastic! You should contact Newell (queenseyes) or Harvey to show you around some of the cool new developments that are going on.

If you want to see what the Sear's building looked like in its heyday, check out Marty Biniasz's site: www.biniasz.com, click on the Polonia link and scroll down. You'll find scores of old pictures of the east side, including Sear's and Broadway.

Thanks, we are still thinking about it but it looks like it will happen in a couple years when my mother retires (free babysitter!) I do visit Buffalo frequently (5-6 times per year) so I'm somewhat aware of things that are happening but a tour would be great. I'll get in touch with them sometime when I'm up there.

I have to agree with the post by David regarding the building of "subsidized housing" (new little boxes, '50s suburban style, with vinyl siding on them, a driveway, and little front lawn -- HUD projects mainly, I am sure). This is being encouraged by the Center for Urban Studies at SUNY and really has an ideology behind it that I think is naive -- viz. keep the poor residents who wound up in the ghetto in place, keep the neighborhood segregated and even add rhetoric to the effect of having the East Side be a "bastion of African American culture." Insane in my view. --------- I don't see how much can be done with the East Side while the Downtown has no decent economic engine -- moving
SUNY to Buffalo would give it such an engine (when I've mentioned it on Buffalo Alerts there is lately no response to the idea at all, probabl because in the past it's been brought up and attacked as "un-do-able" in Buffalo. I recall that then the poster, Dr. Leitner, complained that one of the major problems in Bufffalo is this "Such a thing can never happen here" mentality, and he was then attacked for making that observation -- he was told that even though he's a Buffalo native with ancestors from the 1840s until his own generation on the East Side, since he "left" and lived in Arizona, he really didn't have any "right" to shoot off his mouth about the "attitude" there. -- That is the kind of insular, parochial thinking that causes well-educated people to leave Bufffalo in the first place! -- As an urban planner, I have been alerted by Dr. Leitner to the project being done in Phoenix, AZ, whereby the State University and the City of Phoenix and the metro cities are revitalizing downtown Phoenix by splitting up ASU in Tempe, putting major schools of the U downtown, and connecting the new developments downtown to Tempe and the East Valley by Light Rail transit. The President of ASU, Michael Crow, is on PBS in Phoenix with an announcement that the university and state and community together are committed to both a top-rate research university and to the social, cultural, economic development of the entire urban area. -- I don't think it's impossible, if Buffalo had a mayor as "with it" as Phoenix' current mayor, that a similar project could be brought to bear in Buffalo with amazing results. The East Side housing would be in high demand as the large university components and their staffs and students need housing and businesses to serve them. -- What it really amounts to is getting the larger community and Buffalo's (supposedly Buffalo's) major university to come together in a metropolitan vision. Surely now the East Side is dangerous-looking and forbidding to most people. The habit of throwing up these plastic "public housing" blocks amidst the rubble aggravates the entire possibility of restoring the East Side, so that it can come out diverse and historically restored and beautiful

Rocky, I have to agree with a lot of your sentiments. I've seen Dr. Leitner's posts on BIA and do agree that he's been shot down a few times, unnecessarily.

Let me attempt to give an explanation of why that might be. The CTRC has been accused (in the recent past according to an article by Mary Kunz-Goldman) of not being receptive to new ideas. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The dangerous thing about blog forums is that sometimes "members" get mistaken for members of the organization as a whole. And when those "members" express some negative opinions, it sometimes gets reflected back to the organization. It's frustrating to be misrepresented.

In the cases where we have "shot down" an idea, it's not because we think it's a bad idea, it's because we simply don't have the time or resources (or power to influence) to follow up on the idea. My position on presenting an idea is that if you don't have the wearwithall to act upon your idea yourself, or at least lend yourself to the cause, it's not reasonable to complain that nobody is listening. That concept of being shot down is most probably a reflection of the frustration of people who've been there before, heard it before and even tried it before, but failed when it became too overwhelming.

All of us non-profits that are out to help Buffalo do the best we can with the resources we have. With few exceptions, we are all volunteers with full time jobs and personal commitments. We've all been dangerously close to having our cause become our second full time job.

Ideas are great, but we need people who will be willing to put their ideas into action.

I don't "follow" your (Mike's) response about why Dr. Leitner's ideas have been "shot down a few times, unnecessarily." I don't see everyone making suggestions on this blog or on BIA or any other Buffalo forum "acting on" all or even most of them. Ideas are what create action. I found myself intimidated from even sharing opinions when I saw these "shots" at Dr. Leitner, as I'm not in Buffalo now. I saw these "shots" as parochial and inexplicable, and very discouraging. If people with generations of family and much of their own lives in Buffalo are told they have "no authority" to speak about their home city and all its issues -- and told so by some people who are recent residents from other cities -- I think that is nothing but a bully-pulpit , and such uncivil "discourse" pollutes the lists and/or blogs or whatever else the forum may be. I know that Dr. Leitner visits Buffalo as often as he can and has interests he plans to pursue there as soon as circumstances in his own life permit (I have corresponded with him), and I encourage him not to be discouraged by the petty sorts of put-downs that used to occur when he was corresponding. Since I agree whole-heartedly with most of what he said and think his experience with many cities, as a resident and traveler, can offer much to Buffalo, I feel hesitant to express my own views also -- and I'm sure others have had to have had the same reaction. You don't really think that movers and shakers in Boston or San Francisco or any other major city are only hangers-on from childhood or newcomers who want to enjoy the prestige of claiming superiority because they 'are there', do you? I'm sure.the idea of getting the SUNY 'Buffalo' campus into the heart of Buffalo is not any far-out notion that does not resonate with a huge component of current Buffalo residents. So what stops them from taking up a movement to work with the university and city toward this end? If Phoenix, AZ can do it, surely there are minds and creativity enough in Buffalo to do it. The shame of Not doing it is that the East Side continues to linger away, its housing stock to fall to the ground and/or to be replaced by this plastic subsistence housing David complained about. Like Dr. Leitner, I cannot conceive of any one venture that could as quickly and thoroughly transform Buffalo into an economically, socially, culturally viable, and completely lively city as well as placement of the SUNY campus downtown, with the East Side as its "outreach" -- restoring and rebuilding it; serving it with social services and new business, etc. And I do fear that with the huge "void" downtown and the condition of the East Side, "developers" with motives not anywhere near what those of a university can and will grab up major chunks and turn what's left of Buffalo into something not many of the same people who "shoot down" people like Dr. Leitner would not like one iota -- like the marvelous casino! Perhaps Dr. Leitner and I and others will be able to spend time in Buffalo in the future and work on this agenda (i.e. getting the campus to move to the core of the city) -- I hope so. But as a native of the East Side myself, knowing the condition of both downtown and the East Side, I don't think there's a whole lot of time.

Rocky, I was just giving a possible explanation, based on my past experience. I find that there are a lot of people who live to be negative in the Buffalo blogsphere. I agree with you. It's not right and it's very discouraging.

This area is has so much potential. As a bus rider on the #4 Broadway, I always notice how busy this area always is even on the weekends. The old Sears Building has crossed my mind as something like a FYE Music Store, Borders Books, or Marshalls. An Ikea would be great for this area as well. I would love to see Old Broadway (and Fillmore) become a retail hub again.
A perfect example is Elmwood and Hertel Ave.

John, stay tuned. A few of us will be trying to organize a team of east side non-profits to develop a comprehensive plan for Broadway-Fillmore. We are very excited about the possibilities and can't wait to get started!

Mike, This is a great idea. A plan like the Forever Elmwood organization would be something I'd like to be a part of for Broadway.

We're just beginning to brainstorm some ideas. So far, we've got Michele Johnson who works with the housing court for the east side, Harvey Garrett from the West Side Community Cooperative, Chris Byrd from the Broadway Market group, Yuri Hreschyshyn and myself from the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation.

Once we've gotten a little more organized in our scope and our mission, we'll start using BR for an open call for volunteers. We'd love for you to join us once we've gotten settled!

Update:

While doing some research this morning, I stumbled across the following link:

http://www.freewebs.com/buffalobuilding/

I am attempting to contact the owners to obtain more information. I also did some research on Bley & Lyman, the architects. They did some fabulous buildings in Buffalo, including the Saturn Club and 800 W. Ferry! Check out Chuck La Chiusa's architectural website for more details:

http://ah.phpwebhosting.com/a/archs/lyman/index.html

Another update on the Sears building on Broadway/Fillmore:

I am in contact with the owners of the building. The Broadway Fillmore Alive group will be working with them to further market the property. It is listed on Loopnet:

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Listing/Profile/ProfileSE.aspx?LID=14138017&linkcode=1070&sourcecode=1lww2t006a00001

Other architectural features include: 2 tone sandstone exterior facia - the darker color forms a line and an arch over the rounded corner entrance and on the Fillmore side, stainless steel canopy, marble lower facia, cast iron window sashes, one elevator, a central staircase and a 50' X 50' service garage. It even has a bomb shelter!

Stay tuned for more photos and information to come!

Mike, Why aren't you on the Board of Directors of the Broadway Market? We need more doers for that neighborhood instead of just talkers. Please stop by to see me at the Market if you are ever nearby. I would love to meet and talk to you. Janis from Traveling Picture show said you want to talk to me about my pictures. My name is Edwin and I own Jabco General Store and Marketplace Cafe in the Market.

Edwin, I would love to talk to you. I will stop by next time I'm in the area.

PS - I'm the treasurer for the Central Terminal Restoration Corp. and am also working on Broadway Fillmore Alive with Chris Byrd and Michele Johnson. BFA is going to actively promote businesses and opportunities in the area. We're not quite ready to launch the website formally yet, but stay tuned! Thanks for the comments. I will be in touch.

Stay tuned for updates regarding the Sears building at 950 Broadway!

Keep an eye out for new information and a host of pictures of this building on www.broadwayfillmorealive.org.

BFA is very proud and excited to be involved in the effort to find the right tenant for this fantastic building! Once our article is posted, please spread the word about this place to anyone who will listen.

Here is the latest news on 950 Broadway. Make sure you check out all the links on the side and in the building story. There are some great photos and a slideshow. Here it is!:

http://www.broadwayfillmorealive.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1141221521&archive=&start_from=&ucat=6&