Buffalorising has been redesigned.

I've lived in the suburbs all my life and I know what you mean. My only advatage is that I live in Kenmore, so its more urban and Buffalo-like than, for example, Wheatfield. The suburbs are ugly, comformative, and banal. Think of Issa's tower or the loft and condo projects downtown. Someone had to actually design the buildings. In the suburbs, you simply build a cinder-block wall and paint it. There, a strip-mall. I prefer a downtown setting.
Its intresting though, but it was in the paper a year ago that the new design more buildings is a "Main Street" apparl. This may have positive effects downtown where such a design is prevalent and traditionial. With the downtown Renissance, this I believe will come to pass! Only time wil tell.

Steel --- As much as I love your BRO articles and admire your wealth of knowledge and insight, please recognize that not every place in this community has to have the requirements of a quaint urban community with tightly wound streets.

The area you describe is here in my town of Cheektowaga, and by nature and design is a suburban commercial corridor. Nobody ever purported this to be a pedestrian friendly environment, and quite frankly it shouldn't be.

You describe this area as being ugly and you may be right, but incredibly, we have made great strides in recent years to improve this area. What was once an ugly mish mosh of manufacturing, a steel plant, some retail and car dealerships has been slowly transformed into a state of the art retail corridor. Granted, much of this has been spurred from the success of the Galleria Mall, but nonetheless, new construction of plazas, national chain restaurants and local businesses are supplanting what used to be vacant lots and empty warehouses.

Do we have more to do? You bet! Our town's commercial property landscape ordinance has not been adequately imposed, in my opinion. The Thruway Authority has been negligent in maintaining and upkeeping its maintenance yard and the off ramps in that area. The Galleria detention basins could be better maintained and dressed up. And we need to do more with sprucing up that entire corrdior from Harlem to Union - center medians with trees and greenery; mosaic brickwork at intersections - signature lighting. There's a plethora of ideas out there.

Cheektowaga is the epicenter of retail in the Buffalo region. Some may decry that, and I understand it. We will never have the chic of Elmwood Village or downtown Williamsville, nor should we. But Cheektowaga is no longer the land of taverns, bowling alleys and pink flamingos either.

Being involved in the Democratic political community here in Cheektowaga, we have a tremendous opportunity in a few short weeks to install a new Town Supervisor, hopefully he or she will have the vision and the mandate to address some of the ills you describe in your article. We are very much aware at Town Hall that there is work to be done.

This is why I avoid the suburbs. I don't own a car, I walk. I wouldn't want to risk walking in an area such as photographed above. It's not pedestrian friendly at all and people tend to drive too fast to care about people like me who are trying to walk. I prefere the city life too and would love these big named stores to locate downtown to cater the regional Market. Till then, I will not support the suburban malls and plazas no matter what stores are located there. If they cannot support my city, I will not support their business.

Steel hit the nail on the head, most America doesn't even know that an option exists. People assume the suburbs are the only way of doing business and therefore think they must be good places

thesportsroadtrip - ARE YOU ON DRUGS? The entire purpose of this article was to lambaste Cheektowaga. It wouldnt matter if you lines the streets with gold paint, THIS AREA IS UGLY. AND... its not condusive to walking. Cheektowaga has NO redeeming value, NONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ITS THE WORST PLACE ON THE PLANET, BAR NONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, great, knock down the bars, and bowling alleys (ya know, the places people meet for socialization), and give yourselves a hand. You've created a faceless society! I dont think people have given names in Cheektowaga, people are known as Ford Explorer, or Saturn Vue, or Chevy SUBURBAN. Its all about what kind of car you drive. So, congratulations once again for having the blinders on, you Cheektowagans really live up to the tackyness you portray.

And furthermore, Cheektowaga is the KING of pink flamingos, did you happen to read the BUFFALO news a few months ago? Ya, there was an article about how the last pink flamingo manufacturer was closing up shop in the united states, and good ole cheektavegas was looking to open up a pink flamingo shop for nostalgias sake. GIVE ME A BREAK! Its time to accept the fact that cheektawaga is a cheap, tacky, worthless venture that will not improve anyones life now or in the future. GIVE IT UP ALREADY, ACCEPT YOUR FATE, STOP TRYING TO FIT IN, CHEEKTOWAGA IS USELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What would have been so hard to place the buildings maybe 30 ft from Walden, with a pedestrian walkway/green space along the street connecting them all and supply shared parking hidden behind all the buildings?

With all the new builds there, some real planning could have made something unique, new and special. Except we end up with what almost every where else in america gets: little one-trick islands surounded by a sea of parking.

Brings to mind BIlly Joel's "No Man's Land"

"There ain't much work out here in our consumer power base
No major industry, just miles and miles of parking space"

There's no soul or display of human achievement or expression in anything out there. I felt it when I was five when we took trips out the burbs to shop, and I still feel it today. Its a shame when state of the art has sunk to disposable cinder blocks and asphalt...

You guys are really being rather pathetic. You can walk from Borders to the Galleria easily and without harm. The traffic light turns red, the cars stop, you cross, you're at the mall. Just because they don't shine a spotlight on pedestrians and bow as they pass, acknowledging the superiority of their mode of transportation, it doesn't mean the intersection isn't pedestrian friendly. You can walk across safely when the light changes. It doesn't have to be anymore friendly than that.

Another thing. Not everything has to be a work of art. Sometimes a bland building does just as good, if not better, job than a finely crafted, ornate one does. Maybe people see the suburban shopping mall for what it is; a place to buy the things you need or want. Judging from the prevalence of such shopping centers around the country, it is safe to conclude that many people, probably most, go shopping to buy things and not marvel at architecture or the environment.

One more thing. This idea that the suburbs are bereft of neighborhoods, or a sense of community is the height of arrogance. People who hold such thoughts either have never left the confines of their urban "fiefdoms", or are just so intellectually weak that they have to close their eyes to what's really there in a vain attempt to make their argument stronger. There are plenty of suburban neighborhoods with beautiful homes, trees, and wonderful neighbors, with as much character as any city neighborhood.

When I worked at the Galleria a few years ago (Glad I work downtown now-thank you), I tried to cross the street from the mall to Border's and those lights are very confusing for pedestrians. The cross walk does not last long enough for an average person to walk, you literally have to race across the street as cars in different directions want to turn onto Walden Ave...so to say it's easy is totaly false.

I've made the walk plenty of times, so no, it isn't totaly false. It's perfectly safe to cross and people do it all the time.

Um, sure buddy.

This stretch of strip malls is by no accident. Unfortunately, it is exactly what the Cheektwaga zoning code demands. The code is restrictive and does not allow for the mix of uses.

Mixed-use structures built to the sidewalk with parking in back is simply illegal.

In response, the DOT has built a giant automobile sewer (Walden) to accomodate the car based development (and has recently undergone a $30 million reconstruction that has added no value.)

It's a vicious circle of bad development that will never be put on the front of a postcard.

Cheektowaga would be wise to adopt a SmartCode, which is prescriptive and incorporates the community's vision. It would allow for building places of lasting value.

I would gladly trade the beauty of my Snyder neighborhood for an address on, say...Ohio Street. Such splendor in that area!

Look, I love the city and most things about it, but please don't state your opinions as fact ("the suburbs are ugly"), because that's your opinion (and likely others' as well), and this is mine. We all have our personal preferences, and should not be persecuted because of them.

BTW, I find it interesting that you are impugning the retail wasteland along Walden Avenue while contributing your no-doubt hard-earned money to its advancement.

Memo to Baith -
Please don't hold back your feelings and emotions. Let it all out... truly express yourself!

You can pile on Cheektowaga all you want, roll out the ethnic stereotypes and whatnot. But there has to be something going on that's right here... our stores and restaurants are packed, there is traffic and hustle and bustle everywhere, and not a week goes by where another development proposal for that area or the airport vicinity doesn't come through the door. If Walden Avenue was really some wretched hellhole, consumers would be taking their dollars and their shopping elsewhere. Clearly we are doing something right.

Downtown Buffalo would be lucky to have just a piece of this action.

I never claimed that this strip was some garden spot --- there is work to be done. But compare this to 20 years ago - the rusting remnant of Ernst Steel, a Thruway Plaza on the decline, and lots of tumbledown warehousing and manufacturing uses, and you will have to acknowledge that we have come a long way.

Thank you Steele and Patrick. "How did we get to this" is well documented in plenty of books. Books on the shelf even at Borders!

Unfortunately many people posting here don't believe in reading those books. If they did they may be labeled a "pinhead" by Sandy Beach who apparently doesn't believe in an informed public.

I hope "thesportsroadtrip" and town supervisors everywhere will read a few books on planning, understand the costs of the sprawl they might like to protect, and reverse the terrible trends of the last fifty years.

It is sad and hilarious that the Galleria Mall owners are building a section of the mall to resemble buildings on Elmwood. Even they realize that what is there now is hideous. Disney figured this out decades ago and created their faux "Main Street" to "look" like real Main Streets - but without cars!

I agree totally with Steele's take on sprawl.

I believe that the monetary, health, and social costs of sprawl is one of the greatest threats to our country. Perhaps a greater threat than terrorism.

Judging from my own personal experience, and the dearth of pedestrian related accidents at the corner, I'd say you're inability to cross the street is a you problem.

"Cheektowaga would be wise to adopt a SmartCode, which is prescriptive and incorporates the community's vision. "

The community already has a vision, and that is the way the Galleria is currently situated. If the people of Cheektowaga wanted Smartcode, then they would have implemented it. Cheektowaga sems to be doing pretty well, as developers always seem to be knocking.

Couple points, there certainly is a distinction between suburbs that were pre and post WWII. Most of the villages around Buffalo are actually nice places... The ugly suburban sprawl that is mentioned in this article is all the crud that filled in between all of these areas ruining their identities.

People still like most of these sprawled reasons for several reasons

- They are new and there is a lack of consequences associated with them. How many people know that obesity for cul-de-sac neighborhoods are double that of gridded streets? Or that type II diabetes caused from this obesity barely existed 40 years ago. (pre-sprawl) Now it is one of the highest threats to our children's health. Certainly higher than terrorism but yet we humbly continue to live in our subdivisions ignorant of the problems it causes.

- Most people live in these areas so no one wants to say the tough facts about their own area. Politicians fight to protect their property values and heart disease and obesity spread and kill like a plague. We blame food, carbs and genetics but refuse to think that the place we live effects this. Well it does.

- Everything I have stated has been supported in several social science studies of recent years. Nothing is proof and there are always exceptions but another reason suburbs continue to thrive in our culture is because we have this disdain for education. Most people are content watching Friends and American Idol rather than read the news paper and even then the news rarely tries to educate you instead it tried to entertain you will stories about blood and violence.

"I believe that the monetary, health, and social costs of sprawl is one of the greatest threats to our country. Perhaps a greater threat than terrorism."

Please. Don't be so melodramatic

I happen to know for a fact that this particular intersection has sidewalks, crosswalks, and pedestrian signals. While it may not be friendly, it is functional.

You Cheektowaga guys with all your "retail" and "shoppers", you think you're SO cool, ya well just remember who's gonna have the casino! Yeah that casino you were gonna get, but we went to court and snatched it back from you, so In-Your-Face-Cheektowaga! We're gonna...
uhhh...
oh umm ya wait that's right... casinos are bad... gonna ruin us
D'OHHH!!!!!

I think that thesportsroadtrip is making a very important point. I live in and support the city but we have to admit that this suburban model is a valuable piece of the american lifestyle. Many americans embrace and celebrate this type of environment. When I discovered the Wegman's on Alberta Drive in Amherst I was thrilled! We should stop being so closed mindind on this web site. Between this post and the comments about the Buffalo Travel Lodge on Main Street, I see this blog becoming a haven for a very elitist viewpoint. I'm disappointed that Steel claims to see little beauty in the suburban environment and for sborf to suggest that the suburbs exist because of a lack of education is shocking.

I don't think Daniel Sack's comment is melodramatic at all, but in fact underscores the extent to which, for decades, the primary concern of our national policies and international politics has been the sustaining of a very wasteful and destructive way of life-- namely, the gas-guzzling, nature-wasting, anomie of sprawl.

Yes, there are many beautiful suburbs-- most of those, though, in my opinion, tend to be the older railroad suburbs of places like Philadelphia's Main Line, Boston's South Shore, and Westchester County and parts of Long Island, and those where some semblances of town centers exist, or did. The newer suburbs, which comprise most of the worst sprawl, have no identifiable centers or architectural focus or any qualities that breed loyalty or sense of community. Mortgage-loan statistics show that many of the houses in vast areas of suburbia turn over every few years.

I have been asking myself Steel's question for 50+ years-- since I watched road crews take down a mile-long row of 250+ years-old cherry trees along a road near our family's place on the North Shore of Long Island. It turned out that the highway engineer who made the decision had never even been to the site-- it was a just a curve in the road on the map, but shopping center and subdivision developers wanted a wider, straighter highway. It only got worse-- immeasurably worse-- there (and everywhere else) since.

No one believes we can or should house 300+ million people and the facilities such a population demands within the historical boundaries of our older cities, but it's hard to defend the current predominant development patterns.

The Asphalt Desert. Cheektowaga is probably the worst in our area, but the commercial strips of Tonawanda and Amherst are close behind. Even the residential areas near this mall, after over 40 years, have only stunted trees & few of those. Whether because of the poor soil (wet clay, mostly) or the residents' attitudes toward trees ("trees are dirty") , it is a bleak place.

Do we have the ugliest 'suburbs' in the USA ? Sometimes I think so, though of course I've not seen them all. Maybe I just HOPE these are the worst, and not so widespread.

I just returned from the Utica, NY area where they are just now having this kind of suburban development. If you dropped me there blind-folded I would swear I was in Cheektowag or Amherst, etc. There is no soul.

Wow, anyone in defense of this particular suburban landscape should be embaraced and deeply ashamed.

I guess people forgot about this. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_1_97/ai_58170457

Remember Cynthia Wiggins, the young woman without a car that worked at the Galleria? That's evidence enough that a change needed to be made. Not nearly enough has happened though.

Admit that this area is ugly, that it is completely nonfunctional, and stop being so closed minded.

Anyone in defense of this area should be embarrased and deeply ashamed.

You want evidence for how unfriendly this area is, I guess everyone forgot about young Cynthia Wiggins.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_1_97/ai_58170457

Just admit that this area is ugly and that it is not functional. Some research would have been useful before making your sweeping statements on the ease of pedestrian acess. Also, try being a bit less close minded.

There's no reason that an area has to be ugly, gray and desolate in order to function as a busy retail corridor. It just takes a bit of concern on the part of those planning it. Failing that, we have to collectively demand it. Ultimately, we get what we settle for.

Very interesting, Sissy.

I have clients, a couple in their 60's, who just retired here, where I live. She (originally from Eastern Europe) was very reluctant to leave the Utica area, which she said was being gentrified. Is sprawl what she meant by the turn in Utica's fortunes?

STEEL - yes, this is reversible and it is not "too late." If it is in fact as wasteful as it has been portrayed, one day we will pay the ultimate price for this type of living (early death, global warming, completely depleted resources.. whatever you want), lest we in some way curb this habit.
More likely is that, as we consume all of our resources to do this, one day it will actually become less expensive to use recycled materials than raw materials, and buildings and other products will be designed with longevity in mind and a reduction in use of natural resources. At this point however, this is not the case, and it likely won't be for quite some time.
Trust me, without at least some cataclysmic event, you will never wrestle the car keys out of most peoples hands.. either that, or if it suddenly becomes economically impossible to own and drive a car. We're getting there. Who knows, if we're lucky, if the prominence of foreign auto makers leads to the death of the American automobile , suddenly walking or biking might become a matter of national pride, or national "security".. not to rely on foreign goods. You never know what ridiculous BS people will come up with.

My God in heaven, is this ponderous. How many places do you think I could find within Buffalo's city limits that look just as ugly and grey in the early WNY winter as that K-Mart Plaza in Cheektowaga?

There are beautiful things and places that are meant to be beautiful. There are useful things and places that have a more utilitarian purpose.

Let's not pretend that Walden near the I-90 was every supposed to be pretty or quaint.

That said, I second what thesportsroadtrip says.

Buffalo isn't going to rise a whole hell of a lot if we just have city folk coming out to the suburbs and posting about how soulless and ugly they are on a grey pre-winter's day. Seriously.

But Cheektowaga thanks you for patronizing Border's and Krispy Kreme.

Reinmoose,

You are right that unless there is a total breakdown of things as they are now, nothing will change. And when that change comes it will indeed be "cataclysmic" (good term).

No sea change has ever occurred in America unless there has been a total breakdown of the status quo. That's why the 1930's were a glittering, fabulous moment, artistically and culturally.

I think we are very near a similar moment. But it will take the energy and ideas of a committed younger generation to effect the change. I still believe in that Amerixa, because I meet so many younger people every day who re-assure me.

Mel: ...Just admit that this area is ugly and that it is not functional. Some research would have been useful before making your sweeping statements on the ease of pedestrian acess. Also, try being a bit less closed minded.

"less closed minded" = "must agree with Mel"

Mel = great example of open mindedness ...@@rolling eyes

Why can't people just explain their own viewpoints without rudely demanding that everyone must agree or else their closed minded?

Better watch out. In 50 years Buffalo may be a suburb of Cheektowaga.

By the way you don't have to go to Cheektowaga to photograp a transformer hidden by raggady ass shrubs. You have plenty of opportunutues to photograph raggady ass shrubs in Buffalo!

Hashma
I consider Kenmore to be more city than suburb. I was saddened to see that Kenmore is also succumbing to this ugliness as an urban corner has been removed at Delaware and Kenmore for a suburban style development

thesportsroadtrip
Tanks for the compliment. Why can't we do better than this? Why do you accept this? I am not asking for a quaint village but have we been brainwashed into accepting trash? By the way the Cheek is only a convenient example and this crud in not unique to your fair town.

Balth
See above. Cheektowaga is just an example of what is wrong across the country. This ugly suburban development is particularly bad, however, In Metro Buffalo including the north side of the city too.

BenMcD
You can also walk the same distance on the Moon and remember we are all pedestrians at some point or other. And you are right...not everything does have to be a work of art nor does it need to be to be pleasant or attractive to the human spirit. In the case of these types of environment pretty mush everything is hideously ugly. That is the problem.

malooga
I guess I was wrong when I said that even the most die hard suburbanite could not proclaim this place beautiful. Perhaps you see beauty in everything. Help us to understand the positives of this place. As far as contributing to this wasteland with may hard earned $$. Guilty! Unfortunately the tremendous sucking of wealth and business out of the city has left me no other options in some instances.

SteveO
The area can hardly be described as functioning for the pedestrian experience.

Peter
I am not sure what is so elitist about discussing the ugliness of this environment. Are you suggesting that this is actually a good model to follow? That there is no alternative? Please please tell me what part of this environment has any beauty? ? ? ? ?

ZAP
Unlikely Cheetowaga is losing population. Unfortunatlley for the town it will not have the gift of great architecture to lean on as the bad times roll in. And yes there are environments like this in the city and the threat of their spreading is a constant danger to its precious urban fabric. We need to all fight it vigorously when ever it shows its ugly head

I don't know why my comments are getting moderated, but not everything has to be beautiful. Sometimes, things need to be utilitarian. That's why there are 8 lanes of traffic and lots of signage. Because the Galleria attracts people off the highway to come and shop. Cheektowaga builds the roads to encourage that traffic, because of the tax revenue it gets from the properties' value and sales.

Please also remember that there are many degrees of "suburbia."
Geography also determines what happens with sprawl and commercial districts.

Steel,

Why go to Borders anyway? It's ironic that during Buy Buffalo week there's a post by one of the most urbanist BRO contributors talking about how he was waiting to get into Borders. While Talking Leaves, Rustbelt, Old Editions, (or even the Waldenbooks in the Main Place Mall) might not have everything you want on their shelves, they could get it for you.

Next time save yourself the anguish of going to Walden Avenue and support a locally owned and operated business in Buffalo.

That's what I do.

Are you freakin serious?? Grayness beyond gray? In December? In Buffalo? Oh the pain...

Dude, Your in Western New York. At the beginning of Winter.

The entire city looks like that. The usually colorful greenery in the front of my house looks just like the picture you showed. Is my house ugly by your standards? (don't answer that ;-)

IT'S CALLED W-I-N-T-E-R!!!

Did you just move here? Gray, drab and dreary is in the weather almanac under "winter in Western New York". Again its something you BRO people don't live in... reality!

Not to mention your trying to walk around an 8 lane highway less than 500 yards away from the NYS thruway...That's brilliant.

And then, Industrial power lines next to WNY's biggest retail outlet? How dare they!!

I wasn't aware suburban shopping in the dark was an issue BRO was really pushing for. Dude, look up.. Power lines are everywhere!!

I'm with Charger on this one. What are you doing in Cheektowaga in the first place?

Next time, do everyone a favor, just stay out of the suburbs..

Steel,

yes, I do see beauty and exciting urban experiences and relationships in the most suburban environments. Have you ever been to the Super Flea? I know that sprawl can be ugly and unhealthy but we are only scratching the surface with these comments. I'm sure you've read Learning From Las Vegas blah blah blah complexity and contradiction blah blah blah. You know?. Its just a little too easy for me to dismiss suburbia as ugly or soulless. There may be something to gain from approaching this issue of sprawl in a slightly different way.

Typical. Very typical. Let's denounce negative attitudes by being negative.

Is the lack of sunshine as a result of the upcoming winter solstice responsible for all the bitter exchanges on this site?

BRO should use more discretion in the posting of articles. The "us versus them" or the "we are better then them" attitude does nothing to spur the redevelopment of Buffalo in particular or WNY in general.

Yell at the suburbs all you want. However, the current economic epicenter of this region lies in the suburbs and not the city. This article reads more like penis envy whereas the author views Galleria economic activity and is green with envy that no such similar commercial hub exists in the City of Buffalo.

Furthermore, please do not forget that those "banal" and "ugly" suburbs pay the city's bills via hefty taxes (sales, property, et al.) and charitable donations to various cultural institutions. Ask any of the major City cultural institutions fundraisers where the bulk of their donations come from and the plurality of said donors will not have City of Buffalo zip codes.

Buffalo is a beautiful and interesting city. Steel does not have to insult Buffalo's sister communities to enhance the Queen City's charm.

In sum, Buffalo needs the burbs more than the burbs need Buffalo. Its a sad sore fact. However, its the bitter truth. Drop the insults and encourage constructive dialogue where competing ideas can be both expressed and responsibly debated.

As I said on my site, this reads like an English explorer in the 17th century writing about the savages he meets along the way. When all of the City of Buffalo is an urbanist's wonderland of tidy Niagara-on-the-Lake-esque streetscapes, then I'd say it would be quite appropriate to spew venom at Cheektovegas - an easy target if ever there was one.

If Buffalo was an "urbanist's wonderland of tidy Niagara-on-the-Lake-esque streetscapes" I would probably put a bullet in my head.

Its funny how defensive you are all getting except you really have not refuted anything I have said. Why are you defending this putrid environment. It is not an us against them issue. If we are going to have suburbs and sprawl does it really have to be so GD ugly and inhuman. Are you guys really saying that this is the best that can be done ? ? ? ? ? ? ? You defend the status quo of the lowest common denominator? Is this crap really something to stand up for? If so WOW ! ! ! ! !

If you want "us against them" here you go. Its funny how all you suburbanites love to throw stones at the city but whoa, don't you dare point out any problems with the suburbs. Guys, take a look around. This and much if not most of the suburbs IS ugly! and I don't care how blue the sky is on the warmest July day, the concrete and asphalt at this intersection will look no less gray.

Steel - you started the "us vs. them" hectoring patrician tone of this post. Since when does BRO cover the suburbs, anyway?

No one suggested that this is the best that can be done, but it's most likely the best that could be afforded. If you don't like it, I'd recommend staying the heck away.

As a matter of fact, on my site I readily acknowledge that that corner is ugly, but so what? The only people who can really do anything about it are the residents of Cheektowaga, and you and the commenters just got through calling them imbeciles (without using that term - you danced around it).

"This and much if not most of the suburbs IS ugly!" is not only gramatically shameful for a regular poster to the City's premier weblog, but probably the most ignorant piece of drivel I've read today. And I had the whole Buffalo News competing with you.

"If we are going to have suburbs and sprawl" its ugliness is really none of your concern, since your only foray thereto seems to be the Galleria Mall and environs, which you use as a broad brush to indict all of the suburbs. Plus, sprawl is in itself a word connoting something negative, so it probably doesn't get nice under any circumstances.

So, Steel - are you going to take up a "Cheektowaga beautification" collection? Who will pay for the beautification you dream of but don't really seem to define.

We heard how gray and "GD ugly" that busy corner is. What, pray, would you do to it, and how would you go about doing it?

Otherwise, it was a throwaway post just to start a flamewar and express how chic and cool your hatred of the suburbs is. After all, the cool kids seem to agree. Why, Daniel Sack thinks that the cul de sacs are going to fly planes into some buildings.

Your sister publication is trying to distribute in the suburbs you so detest. Is this the beginning of the marketing strategy?

BP

Why so defensive. You have agreed with the premise of the piece. This is an ugly place and its not the only one like it. Its not just Cheektowaga either, its suburbs everyplace and many city landscapes as well. It is a plague on our country. Is this really the best that can be done? $100's of millions of dollars trade hands at this intersection and your defense is that they can not afford better? What? Are you serious?

What would I do to improve this place or what would I have done differently in the first place to make it better, two different questions that would take a lot more space to answer. Maybe at least plant a few trees that are bigger than a twig or two.

I'm not being defensive. I'm being offensive in response to what I found to be an offensive post. Because you equate that corner with all suburbs. I'm pretty sure that East Aurora is as beautiful, if not more so, than even our precious Elmwood Village.

The point is that sometimes beauty loses out to utility. It just is so. The airport is ugly, too, but it has to look like that to enable planes to take off and land, and for people to embark and disembark. The Thruway is very ugly indeed, but it allows me to drive at ungodly speeds across our great state. Duke and Walden in Cheektowaga is an ugly intersection, but it keeps the traffic moving at a busy crossroads.

This isn't about trees. Go back and read your post and subsequent comments. This was condescension, and you should not at all be surprised by people's "defensive" reaction. Loads of suburbanites love the city and appreciate what you write, but we don't need to be insulted with nonsense; we don't need our neighborhoods equated with 8-lane swaths of Walden. (Oh, but Kenmore's ok.)

We could plant a couple of trees, sure - and then you'd have a gray streetscape with a few trees. What's funny is that when suburban malls go for the urban-lite "lifestyle center" look, and when suburban communities adopt new urbanism, they still get shat upon by the cognoscenti. Because it's make-believe or something.

$100s of millions of bucks trade hands at that mall, maybe. But the merchants in the Galleria don't care what the corner looks like. The drivers who go to shop there don't care what the corner looks like any more than they care what the 290/90 interchange looks like. We could plant some begonias at that location, and drape them with fairy dust and it wouldn't make it any prettier.

Those trees might be absent because of traffic regulations, for all I know. Do you know? Have you checked?

We all get that sprawl is bad. Sprawl is evil. Sprawl makes us drive nasty cars, gets us fat, and makes the baby Jesus cry. Point taken. That corner is gray on a gray day and ugly on any day. (You haven't denied its utility, though). The City of Buffalo, however, has loads of fugly intersections, too. But you didn't highlight those. You picked a flamewar with the suburban readers of BRO by painting them all with the broad brush of Walden & Duke.

(Incidentally, moderating my own comments is getting to be a bloody drag).

Steel is right - this is not an attack on the people of a particular place - the names of the town, road, and mall could be changed hundreds of times & still apply.

I see no "us versus them" here, despite what ClarencePundit claims.

BP

You ARE getting defensive. You are agreeing with me and getting all hot and bothered about it at the same time.

East Aurora is Beautiful as is the old center of Hamburg and many of the town centers. The sprawl (commercial sprawl in particular) is what is ugly. If it is true as you claim that people just don't care what their physical environment looks like then we are in a truly sad state as a society.

I am still not seeing where your beef is with me. I went back and reread my post. In it I noted that we no longer expect our urban environments to be beautiful and that is what you have just reiterated. I personally find that trend to be troubling.

It is funny how suburbanites feel it is their duty to point out all the negatives of the city but oh don't you dare say anything bad about our towns. It is not a personal attack PB just an observation about something even you have trouble disagreeing with. I just don't think we need to settle for this kind of crummy environment.

Let Cheektovegas be Cheektovegas. The ugliness of this commercial node should be no surprise.

You think residents will ever demand anything in the way of improved aesthetics? Take a drive around the residential areas and it becomes quite apparent the locals having a f@#$ing blatant lack of anything resembling taste.

When poverty spreads into this sorry town (and it already is), they won't have any great architecture, park, or cultural institutions to fall back upon. Cheektovegas will be no better than the Siberian waste it resembles in the winter.

By necessity I took a drive though the town the other day. Driving down Union from about Walden to French, the surroundings depressed the shit out of me. Bleak, sterile, cheap, tacky, and lifeless are some good adjectives to start with.

People can't logically respond now without being called defensive?

Your post sucked. It reads like it was meant to throw shit at suburbia and hope some of it sticks.

Its ugly. I can go to many a corner in Buffalo and say its ugly too. What is this Cheektowaga Rising? It works, It functions. It serves its purpose. Not everything needs to be "hipster pretty".

BRO's armchair architecting and petty knocks at suburbia is my issue, not "the corner is ugly". We get that. Thanks...

Balth was being defensive. Pundit was being "realistic". You on the other hand are being a moron. ( And so was that clarencepundit remark... what a petty shot)

Do you even live in Buffalo? Because your profile says you live in Chicago. If you want people to embrace Buffalo, do it as a whole, and stop drawing new lines between the people of WNY.

Were too factioned as it is. The last thing we need is a battle over architecture and aesthetics. On any corner.

The disconnect between suburbanites and "city people" in this area is mind-boggling.

Let's get a few things straight:

- We all live in Buffalo, even those of us in Clarence, Hamburg, etc.
- Yes, that corner of Cheektowaga is butt-ugly. So is a good part of Buffalo. Big deal.
- Buffalo is a great town, so-so city.
- Having said that, those of you who belong to the BRO hipster "we're cooler than you because we live in the city and you live in the suburbs" really need to get a grip on yourselves. Yes, you do live in the City. But, that city is Buffalo. With all due respect, it's not a heck of a lot to brag about.

Whatever,

This is not really a suburb v city thing. You guys are making it into that. Buffalo(city) has these issues too. Why does it make you so angry that name calling is required? Why is it acceptable to you that we make the planet look so ugly? Is it undesirable to have good looking streets?

By the way. I posted a few months back about some really bad stuff being built in (the city) Chicago.
http://www.buffalorising.com/city/archives/2006/05/the_darker_side_of_greene.phps

You guys really need to become a little bit thicker skinned and more self critical of your towns, and the ClarencePundit comment was someone else. Funny that you should bring that up though since you are offended by my own place of residence.

Steel: arrogance and indifference will only turn potential allies into certain adversaries.

You really need to rethink your approach. If you can not understand how or why a reasonable person would find this article an insult to those who live in the suburbs then you need to work on your people skills.

This article ranks as one of the most unfortunate articles published by BRO.

What part of it is unfortunate? What part of it is arrogant, What part is indifferent? (Indifference...Huh?) What part insults suburbanites? This is a commentary on our society as a whole and how we chose to build urban environments. As many of you have pointed out this crud exists in the city as well. I find it just as offensive there (if not more so)

Memo to Steel and Buffalo Pundit...

As the two of you hash out your debate, both of you repeatedly take veiled and not so subtle swipes denegrating the Town of Cheektowaga. Are cracks mentioning "kielbasa" and "Dyngus Day" far behind?

And as for the ambience of Walden and Duke, explain to me the explicit difference in the hue of the grey between that intersection and Elmwood Avenue between Hertel and Kenmore, or Transit Road in front of Eastern Hills.

I like Cheektowaga... for its safe and clean neighborhoods, convenience to everything, its colorful politics. It really is a nice place to live. And for all the ugliness that everyone seems to be reveling in on this thread, I can show you a different side - a walk through the beautiful Stilglmeier Park nature trails or a tour of the Reinstein Preserve; a visit to historic sites such as the Urban Mansion, the Bellevue Hotel or the Our Lady Help of Christians Chapel; unparraleled shopping choices at our Galleria Mall, with the state of the art lifestyles center addition set for completion in 2007; our ever changing airport area, with two gleaming new hotels on the drawing board to replace the shuttered Radisson; top notch school districts; cultural institutions including a terrific symphony orchestra; a brand new municipal golf course just opened and boy is it a beauty!; first class youth and senior services for our residents.

We're here to be ambassadors for our region, and that includes downtown Buffalo, the city neighborhoods, the inner ring suburbs including Cheektowaga, and the exurban outer ring including Clarence. Aren't we all in this together???

I am expecting respected internet journalists like Steel and Pundit to be raising the dignity and tone of this discussion. Repeated potshots against the Town of Cheektowaga is not the way to do that. C'mon guys, let's lighten up and keep our eye on the ball here OK?

It wasn't the post that made me angry and invoked the name calling (which I thought I had erased...sorry).
It was the comments afterwards with the accusations that fueled me.
And I don't think were making into something it isn't as others are chiming in with the same complaint.

Maybe its the line about you showing "contempt for the suburbs" and the "third rate" environment crack that set people off . People don't want to be told they live in a "third rate environment" just because they choose not to live in a city core.

Suburbia bashing is a running theme on BRO, especially from some of the commenters and honestly, people are tired of it. But it comes from both ends. I hear all the time, "well they don't even live in the district", or, "they live in the suburbs so why should they care about the city." Bullshit.

I'm not offended by your city of residence Steel. I was just asking. The way the bio is written sounds like you "worked" in Chicago (past tense) , but it didn't mention you still reside there...

Like a lot of the advertorial articles on this website lately, its a bit mis-conceiving...but your from here; so hardly offensive.

On a side note: Didn't the intersection in question just go through some sort of street construction or repaving project? I know the area was a constructional mess a while back. I don't remember what they did but maybe that could explain the lack of green in the area... oh.. and winter of course!!!

"- We all live in Buffalo, even those of us in Clarence, Hamburg, etc. "

No, absolutely not. Not

"- We all live in Buffalo, even those of us in Clarence, Hamburg, etc. "

No, absolutely not. Not

We all live where we live, and about 279,000 live in Buffalo. The rest of the County lives in Amherst and Cheektowaga and Tonawanda and a few dozen other towns. The outlying towns, which are now so eager to cut each other's throats to attract employers so they can be self-sufficient, are not Buffalo any more than Westchester NY or Clifton NJ are "New York City".

Having grown up in the very area commented upon by Steel, I know well that Cheektowaga is NOT Buffalo - and that's a good thing for one of them ...

The title of the post is " How did we get to this?"
WE!!!!

I don't find this devisive.

There is no one place that corners the market on ugliness.

But does this mean that "we" can't build structures that are functional and aesthetically pleasing?

I grew up in the suburbs of San Diego in a simple tract home that was functional but unfortunately looked like every other house on the street!! It wouldn't have taken much to have built a little character into these homes that would still be appreciated today, some 30 odd years later.

Function and beauty are not mutually exclusive.

Aesthetics DO have a profound effect on us as human beings.

What is offensive about craftsmanship or quality?

The sad reality is this: our Country as a whole seems to be accepting of mediocrity in all forms.

City or suburbs, we deserve and should demand BETTER.

OK, Steel - let me amend my comment. It's not the original post that is particularly offensive, but your comments are. Case in point:

It is funny how suburbanites feel it is their duty to point out all the negatives of the city but oh don't you dare say anything bad about our towns.

and

This and much if not most of the suburbs IS ugly!

I mean, will that make it to the masthead?

The reason the outcry is because BR never, ever, ever did stories about the suburbs before. With one exception - someone wrote a silly piece criticizing the planned lifestyle center that will replace the shooting range on Maple near UB. In other words, the only time BR breaks type is to heap derision on sprawlsville. Once is a fluke, twice is a pattern.

I cannot name one single, solitary blog within 100 miles of Buffalo that trashes the city of Buffalo or its built environment.

Calling me "ClarencePundit" doesn't bother me in the least. I'm proud of where I live, and it's common knowledge. But I spend most of my waking hours in the city of Buffalo, which I love, and I heap no derision on it. I work, shop, eat, drink, and work there. Quite the contrary, I'm accused of having the rosiest of rose-colored glasses.

I think the original post was a bit much. It's gray on a gray day. Lots of lanes. Leafless bushes. Transformer boxes. Parking lots. Power lines overhead. Traffic lights. Incidentally, there are crosswalks at that intersection, and you make it seem as if there are not. There are sidewalks, too.

I have nothing against Cheektowaga, sportsroadtrip. I frequent it. It's indeed no uglier than the entirety of Transit except for the stretch through Wolcottsville, or the Boulevard except for the brick part across Harlem. The towns of Amherst and Clarence as well as the County of Erie have been talking about ways to improve the look of Transit, including the installation of landscaped medians, requiring more outparcels in plazas, improving sidewalks and crosswalks, and other changes. Whether they get done depends on funding - it's not cheap to do that. I think people should be able to live wherever they want without some stranger telling them why it sucks so bad, or why they're evil or ignorant.

ChetMorton, I know there are loads of suburbanites who support your position on city vs. suburbs; they call in to Sandy Beach every single weekday. You and they are two peas in a pod and deserve each other's hatred.

We are all in this together. It behooves Clarence and Orchard Park to ensure that Buffalo grows and thrives, because it is the epicenter of our community. Suburbs and city alike have problems, but the prettiness of their built environments aren't the most crucial issue facing them. Beautifying Walden or Transit is pretty low on the priority list behind things like balancing town and county budgets in the midst of fiscal crisis and a net loss of population.

Had this post acknowledged that it's ugly there, and then went on to suggest how it could have been built differently, and what changes could be made now, after the fact, to make it look better, there wouldn't be this many noxious comments. Outparcels, new facades, stick the power lines underground, landscaped medians, larger crosswalks with better signage, more foliage. Instead, it took 5 paragraphs of hyperbole to say, "this is kinda ugly."

Incidentally, here's the other post I've been alluding to that broke BR's hyperlocal rule about the suburbs.

Taken in conjunction with much of what's been written in this thread, it's quite clear that the suburbs could literally emulate the Elmwood strip throughout and still be treated scornfully.

It is what it is. If they painted the streets something other than gray would you hipsters stfu ?

I think it's a great post. Open your eyes. Open your minds. Development, whether inner city or exsurburbia, can look a lot better than what's depicted here. And why such a dearth of trees and landscaping. Would help to mitigate the overall bleakness.

Maybe the dearth of trees has to do with the 18-wheelers who make their way down Walden to get to the industries and warehouses further out in Lancaster.

Maybe you guys could become like the guerrilla gardeners and beautify that corner on your own dime.

I must totally agree with BP. Steel's post was dripping with the type of false bravado that can only be brought to the fore by a deep seated inferiority complex and defensiveness about the City. As ususal his post was drivel. He is the most arrogant yet least knowledgable writer on Buffalo Rising. They would be well rid of him if they truly expext to receive suburban support for their publication. Support which by the way they will need if they are to survive.

Before you criticise The architecture around the galleria you should take a good long look at Elmwood. Fifty percent of the retail is located in sidewalk shacks stuck to the front of some old house. Is that architecture that will endure?

BP,

I would hardly call the comments on here an outcry against my piece. It is more like a few of your friends coming over to lob bombs before they even read the story.( Interesting how you and yoru friends need to toss in personal insults and name calling to make your point) As I have repeated and as you have agreed this is an ugly place. There are many others like it. I find our manner of building the majority urban spaces these days to be abhorrent. There is nothing about this intersection or transit road or even Schaumburg Illinois which is worth defending as a model of urban design. There is nothing about my comment that you should be taking personally (also again…I did not call you ClarencePundit …did not know and did not care where you hail from)

Again I reiterate, none of you have refuted my basic thought here. I asked “how did we get to a point where ugly places like this are acceptable”. You look at this environment and admit to its ugliness and say it can not be any better and then point out that it is ok because there are ugly places very similar to this in the city. I say YES there are places like this in the city I hate them and YES we can do better! Funny thing is when I post issues critical of the city you don’t start posting about how I have offended the people of Buffalo. For all the criticism heaped on the city from the suburbs (without any defense from you) it is a bit ridiculous that you would get fired up about me pointing out something that is negative about the burbs. My post never compares this place with the city. You have done that. My post is about the woeful state of today’s urban design (much of which happens to be occurring in suburbia)

Oh and also,

Since you keep bringing up the crosswalk, let’s take a look at a typical hypothetical stroll over to the Galleria. I leave the Borders and I want to go and get something across the street but don’t want to take my car (bad idea since leaving it in the Boarders parking lot will very likely expose it to being towed away)

1. walk across the parking lot to the sidewalk (it does not come up to the building) and up to the corner
2. Wait and wait and wait and wait for a signal to cross. Of course there are no signals that are really in view of the pedestrian since they are there for the cars
3. Ok so it looks like you can cross now. Cars are turning and crossing in front of you and behind you. The signal changes before you get across. (God forbid you are elderly and can not move fast)
4. Ok you have made it across. Now what? You walk through a dirt path to the hotel parking lot which you must now traverse. This is technically trespassing since you are not a guest of the hotel
5. You make it through the parking lot at which time you cross a grassy area to another road with a constant stream of cars. No signal, no sidewalk, no crosswalk.
6. You get across that road and start your trek through the Mall parking lot. Cars are passing all around you seeming to not care that you are in their path.
7. You have now reached you destination!

This is getting silly, don't you think?

Congratulations to all of those who succeeded in making the discussion about Cheektowaga and its wonderful qualities and completely diverting the discussion away from the state of design and our daily living spaces, the topic that is discussed in the vast majority of the original post. Don't fault STEEL for his raging lack of editing or his inability to reframe his argument in follow-up comments. Nobody here denies that commercial strips look roughly the same everywhere, right? My Ruby Tuesday's looks like your Ruby Tuesday's looks like the Ruby Tuesday's in Frederick, VA... WHOOPIE! Yeah, the building is constructed as an island of parking.. don’t you just LOVE looking out the window at all the pavement?
Honestly, shut up about Cheekto-freakin-waga, it has nothing to do with them. It’s the same commercial strip everywhere you go. You can argue a different point, saying that having spent less money on buildings affords more people a heightened rate of material acquisition than otherwise (whether or not that’s true, I don’t know), but that’s not a statement in conflict with the article that was posted. Please learn the difference or stop posting. Nobody wants to read 800-12 paragraph postings by the same person, saying the same thing, and bashing the person who wrote the article for having his opinion. This should be a discussion about the issue, not about who’s right and who’s righteous. It’s not like he’s freakin running for office or anything.

Steel, I get your point about the design, however, I think that Western New York (as a whole) has been more successful at urban and suburban design than some of the more up and coming cities, like Charlotte, or even the suburbs of Chicago.

Much of the outlying areas of big American cities are becoming genericized in look and feel, with chain restaurants and stores that are always placed in the same juxtaposition to each other. Charlotte's suburbs look like Atlanta's whose look like Chicago's.

40 years of decline has protected much of our urban architecture and lessened the impact of this problem in the suburbs. But, we still face the risks of making the same mistakes as these other cities.

It's free enterprise though and hard to defend against.

Make that Fredericksburg, VA or Frederick, MA.. sorry, but I'm sure both of their Ruby Tuesday's restaurants are the same as well.

and that would be Frederick, MD

Yikes! Too many of you are simply resorting to name calling. Unfortunately it happens all over BRO. It could stop if an editor stepped in. I don't know where it started but my take on name calling (even calling one "defensive") is that it is used when a person does not have a good arguement to counter what was written or they just love "labels" rather than discussion.

Peter wrote, "There may be something to gain from approaching this issue of sprawl in a slightly different way. "

Yes there is. Though I agree with Steel's subjective opinions about sprawl I also believe that one person's "ugly" might just very well appeal to someone else. Though I'll never agree that the Galleria Mall is a good model of architecture or that the recently remodeled Walden Avenue is the way to build roadways. I believe that the concentration of stores that no one can walk to begets Walden Avenues.

Though I like the looks of old villages throughout the world and also enjoy the denser crowded cities too, the "look" and "feel" of those places are not the main attraction to me. The important aspect of density is that it is environmentally and financially sustainable whereas sprawl is not.

Rifle Dude writes that, "Furthermore, please do not forget that those "banal" and "ugly" suburbs pay the city's bills via hefty taxes (sales, property, et al.)."
Actually I don't believe that. The sprawl in the suburbs is very costly for everyone. City dwellers pay taxes too. Walden Avenue improvements are paid for by NY State. And no, gasoline taxes do not cover but a fraction of the costs of building and maintaining such highway "improvements". It is a common perception that the City is subsidized by everyone else. Yes, more people that just Buffalonians contribute to some City projects. But we city dwellers also subsidize sprawl.

I'll use extreme but common examples to explain the relative costs of the density where I live (Lancaster Avenue in Buffalo) compared to typical sprawling suburban developments in Clarence.

Check the County property maps on-line. I find that in my neighborhood there are typically 10 houses with 15 households per acre. Zooming out to Spaulding Lake I see 1 household on an acre! The assessed property value in my Buffalo neighborhood is more than twice the value per acre as it is at Spaulding Lake!

Think about the costs for utilities and infrastructure. One homeowner on an acre in Clarence pays the same basic electric, gas, telephone, and cable rates for one household as 15 households on an acre in my neighborhood. Who is subsidizing who? Repeat this for sewers, water lines, and roadways - historically subsidized by all State taxpayers. Only recently municipalities insist the developer bear those costs.

People are defensve by nature. The above postings should be expected, its human nature. We don't take critiques well, no matter how generic of small they may be.

To go off topic a bit: Please don't make me laugh with the Cheektowaga/Lancaster/etc is not Buffalo statements. Please come back to reality, we miss you. If not for Buffalo, none of these suburbs would exist. If this wasn't the case, Middleport, Cuba, etc would be the location of Amherst. As we see, like lampreys, they are all attached to Buffalo. It is like the branches of a tree saying that the trunk is not why we are here, and we don't need it.

Unfortunately, state laws do not allow the cities to absorb outward growth, thus leaving them to be overly burdened with those below the poverty scale. Sorry, but this doesn't really allow you to earn those pats on the back you give yourself for living/moving outside the invisible financial border.

Allow housing for those below the poverty level to be redistributed based on census data until each locality in the metropolitan area has a theoretical equal average income. These outlying areas then can show us all how well their school scores, crime stats, etc are, because obviously, they know how to do everything better, even handling the "undesirable" aspects of society. It must require more than everyone with money moving into some invisible border?

And please keep an eye on the Pine Ridge area and most anywhere touching the east side of Buffalo. The boarded up houses/buisnesses etc have begun, and is is a shame. Because when it comes down to it, its not a locality issue, it is a people issue. Everyone will move to the 2nd ring suburbs now while still patting themselves on the back as they go. As a whole, we are selfish and we are runners. Unfortunately, the country has too much land and money at this time to stop it.

How did Cheektowaga get that way?

* Geographically, it's a very fragmented community, split up by railroad lines, railyards, high-tension power line easements, and more recently, expressways. It NEVER had a central core, a place that could be called a town center or downtown. Look at the location of Town Hall on Broadway; it's surrounded by rail yards and heavy industry! There is no "there" there.

* The town zoning code is very outdated. For commercial development, it regulates just the basics: permitted uses, building setbacks and number of parking spaces. Landscaping requirements, access management standards and sign regulations are poor, and architectural regulations are non-existent.

* As with so many other communities in the area, town leaders could not say "no" to poor quality development, nor did they say "make it better." Thus, Benderson-in-the-1980s style retail centers are the norm. Because it's a lower-middle-income community, and high quality design is not required, developers are less likely to willingly provide upgraded architecture or landscaping than for a project in Amherst or Clarence.

* People don't care. Judging from the stories in the Cheektowaga Times, volunteer fire department news and church parish events events are of far more importance than the quality of the built environment. It could be because residents have just grown used to it, and they don't know what quality development looks like in comparison. People care more about maintaining an immaculate front lawn than about what Union Road or French Road looks like.

Another reason why Cheektowaga is so placeless - the residents wanted it that way.

Let's take a family with lower middle class roots. The breadwinners may be children of the city; they grew up in Polonia, Kaisertown or St. John Kanty, a place that has its charms but which is more often than not gritty around the edges. All their lives, they've had images of the contemporary American dream as the ideal living situation; a house on a cul-de-sac in the 'burbs, with a two car garage, a big yard, and neighbors that aren't so close that you can see into the rooms of their house just as easily as yours. A NU community might not appeal to them, because it's not like their idea of the American Dream; it's a glorified version of the neighborhood where they spent their childhood, and the place their parents or grandparents worked so hard to leave.

In a region where the population is more educated, urban decline was minimal, and there are more transplants from outside of the area, the collective attitude is "suburbs bad," NU is wildly successful; Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Charlotte, Washington, and so on. In places where the suburban built environment is admired and sought after among the masses, and traditional urban neighborhoods are normally associated with decay and decline, like Buffalo and Cleveland, NU seems to have limited or no appeal.

Although it's never spoken, it's implied from time to time with the communities I often work with; urban design elements and density ... just like old neighborhoods in the city ... where a lot of black people live. NU = black people = bad. I wouldn't doubt the same sentiment is held among some in suburban Buffalo, especially in Cheektowaga where relations between Polish-Americans and African-Americans have been frosty for decades.

This sitation is not unique to Buffalo. Step a couple minutes outside Manhattan, and you find places in NJ that make even this corner look beautiful. Ever noticed the landscape between Newark and the Holland Tunnel? Ever looked at the area around the Palaski Skyway? It's not so unusual for an area around a city's airport (and yes, Buffalo's Galleria Mall is next to the airport) to be really ugly. Even Paris, one of the world's most beautiful cities, is not so great near Charles de Gaulle Airport. And it's an absolute dump between Heathrow and London. So I don't think this post was very necessary.

And so what if some people like this type of area? There is nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, in this world so bizarre that it's not appealing to someone. If you think there is, then you need to get out into the world a bit. That's why I say, "Hey, different strokes..." Read the name.

"how did we get to a point where ugly places like this are acceptable”.

I think this question has been answered numerous times over the course of these comments but for the slow people in the audience, allow me to reiterate....

Because they work, utility vs. beauty...Not every inch of land from sea to shining sea needs to be hipster friendly.

Were fat stupid americans.We drive, we consume, we go home.... and we want to do it quickly without the hassle of traffic, crime, violence and any other hinderince that will keep us from becoming fatter and spending our money. Which is why they build 8 lane highways off NYS thruways and giant retail outlets. So more fat, lazy, stupid americans can consume.

I live just a block off Niagara Falls Blvd. Especially now, the Blvd is packed with those fat, stupid american consumers I just forementioned.

If they could find a way to put two more lanes of gray pavement in each direction, Id support it, no matter how ugly it is.

Why? because Because right now, my 2 minute ride to the on ramp would no longer take 20+ minutes just to get on the damn thruway. Its called utility vs. beauty.

And your not going to change that "reality" by bashing the suburbs and calling them ugly...

We settle because it works. We don't have to sit in hours of traffic just to shop at borders. We can get on the thurway and head back to amherst, or tonawanda, or us braver suburbanites, the city...

Now on this absurdity:

"I would hardly call the comments on here an outcry against my piece. It is more like a few of your friends coming over to lob bombs before they even read the story."

Nice try...

Funny thing is that the more sprawl there is the more we need to drive for longer periods which means more traffic which is slower which means we need more pavement.

There must be a way to make this pavement heaven at least somewhat nicer. Why settle? This is a very large part of the place we live in to dedicate to utilitarian ugliness.

> Why settle?

Because local officials are afraid that if they demand quality, developers will drop their projects. Also, because local zoning regulations don't require quality development.

Regarding improvements in the pubic right-of-way: an overtaxed public would see amenities such as landscaping, textured pavement, public art, internally illuminated street signs, wayfinding signage, overhead utility undergrounding and signature overpasses as frivolous. "Why are they spending their money on pretty bridges, gutdemmet?" That kind of collective attitude doesn't exist in more progressive communities, where people care about the aesthetics of the community beyond their perfectly manicured front lawn.

"Whatever..."

You're not getting anywhere with this. Are you waiting for someone to agree with you? Is that why you keep posting the same comment over and over again? I'm not sure that anything as heavily subsidized as expansive highways that always seem to be at capacity are "utilitarian." I understand your point about function over form, but I'm not convinced it applies here. Think of all the waste and expense that goes into malls, big box stores, and the massive land-hungry transportation systems designed to access them. That (to me) can't possibly be very efficient, particularly in comparison to a few, taller, more concentrated buildings with only a few lanes of transportation because most people can walk or ride public transit. It being a matter of taste is one thing. Clearly the fat Americans you refer to are both a cause and a symptom of the current system. That doesn't make it more functional or utilitarian though.
You mention the state of society and our ultimate goals to consume, but that is not, in itself, an argument for this way of life. Why can't someone be permitted to critique this society or see faults in "reality?" That is how change occurs Sir/Madame. Also, without government subsidies to strip mall-style road building, a place like Borders may not even really be able to exist. The state of things is the way it is because we pay for it to be the way that it is, not because that is the natural state of the universe. Whatever.

STEEL:

Again I reiterate, none of you have refuted my basic thought here. I asked “how did we get to a point where ugly places like this are acceptable”. You look at this environment and admit to its ugliness and say it can not be any better and then point out that it is ok because there are ugly places very similar to this in the city. I say YES there are places like this in the city I hate them and YES we can do better! Funny thing is when I post issues critical of the city you don’t start posting about how I have offended the people of Buffalo. For all the criticism heaped on the city from the suburbs (without any defense from you) it is a bit ridiculous that you would get fired up about me pointing out something that is negative about the burbs. My post never compares this place with the city. You have done that. My post is about the woeful state of today’s urban design (much of which happens to be occurring in suburbia)

I'll break it down into numbered paragraphs, as you did.

1. Buffalo Rising is hyperlocal.
2. Buffalo Rising covers the city of Buffalo - not its suburbs.
3. This piece is the second piece ever on Buffalo Rising to even so much as bother with the suburbs.
4. Both such pieces were negative.
5. The mere fact that a post about Cheektowaga makes it to the city channel of BRO and is negative makes it, de facto a suburbs vs. city issue.
6. The chatter of the urban know-it-alls in comments who gave you an "attaboy" whilst maintaining how the suburban way of life will destroy the world didn't make matters much better.
7. I very seldom comment on BRO because I prefer to keep my thoughts generally to my own site. So, if people are trashing the city here and I don't defend them, permit me to give them a generalized "you suck" - and that's both pre-emptive and retroactive.
8. Because of the rarity of suburban posts on BRO, the critical tone raised hackles because suburbanites don't generally like city folk telling them how they're satan any more than city folk like suburbanites telling them how the city is a dangerous mix of black people and difficult parking.

it seems like plenty of people share Whatever...'s point of view

No actually... I don't need positive reinforcement (although thanks David).

Steel keeps insisting his "question" hasn't been answered.

It has. Ad nauseum as you as you were kind enough to point out.

Instead of armchair artictecting and bitching about its ugliness, why don't one of you do a post and include some renderings of what you would like to see in the type of situation you have on Walden and Duke.
It would be much more effective than just calling this corner "ugly"

This corner is just one example of many like it. I have an upcomming post on just one such corner in Buffalo and a possible solution. Stay tuned.

But no no one has said why this ugliness is acceptable. They have just made excuses for it.

A more attractive Walden & Duke would narrow both roads to no more than 5 lanes. 2 for traffic, 2 for parking, and 1 for turning. The sidewalks would be wide. 2 to 4 story Infill buildings would be located between the sidewalks and the buildings and mall set far back from both Walden Ave and Duke Road. All the buildings at the sidewalk would be mixed use. I believe the Wegmans is closing. That vast property would have a street grid for housing.

Most here on BRO will think I'm insane. Some of you who have read about such in-fill developments elsewhere will understand that it could happen here too if people educate themselves as to what really works rather than what works only because of the heavy government subsidies.

Does anyone else wonder why most people here use pseudonyms? Are most of the contributors and commentators in the witness protection program or do you fear that revealing your name will have negative repurcussions at work or from your family? Just curious.

Cheektowaga's commercial areas are like that because of antiquated, overly permissive zoning regulations, and because local officials blindly accept whatever plans are given to the for development, without demanding anything better. If you cook a recipe for meatloaf, you won't pull beef stroganoff out of the oven.

It's not acceptable, but it's accepted. Why? Because it's all relative. They think the crap is the norm, and don't know any better. There's very little quality commercial development in suburban Buffalo to compare the garbage on Union Road or Harlem Road against. People accept it because they just haven't seen what planners and architects would consider quality development in a suburban context. Benderson builds the good stuff in Florida, but they give Buffalo's burbs recycled plans from the 1980s.

The intersection is actually better than it used to be. It has sidewalks and the street isn't falling appart. There use to be two malls in that area until they tore the old one down and put in a plaza (Tops / Walmart). That may or may not be an improvement though.
This area was and still is a major industrial zone with a lot of truck traffic to to the factories and warehouses on Walden. Not to mention the high volume of rail traffic just south of Walden.

The high volume of traffic, not just for the mall, coupled with the snow being plowed onto the curbs and the salt and grime from the trucks seems to destroy most of the landscaping in that area. Come April 1st the area will be incredibly dirty and gritty. It seems hard to make something nice that will hold up.
Also the town is struggling financially and seems to be glad to have whatever development it can get to avoid raising taxes.

I can't stand the growth in the suburbs for a decreasing county population.
Buffalo closes schools and Lancaster struggles and debates building new schools and both struggle for funds to build new schools for dwindling numbers. But schools is another topic.

Phenominal article Steel. I work in the industry of development and I've begged some of the developers to do better urban design in their suburban developments but they just refuse. And if someone wants to live in those suburban areas then they get what they deserve.

Hi Steel,-- great article! Timely needed.

Your beautifully truthful article is making Robert Moses turn over in his grave, as it should be. He's the fatherly cause of this trend.

Robert Moses can be given equal status with Mussolini and Hitler, dictators all-- and yet New York's own Robert Moses never even had a driver's license. He was the guru of transforming communities into thoroughfares for commerce at the cost of expelling anything human or typified by village.

No Moor, Viking, Nobleman, Nazi, Boznian or Sudan-Darfurian ever transgressed a village more brutually than was historically exampled by Robert Moses .

Robert Moses was brilliant at eradicating existence of community, and driving traffic through at the best most inhuman manner for expediency. He murdered dozens of New York City neighborhoods and villages, then did same for rest of New York State.

Our abysmal design and treatment of murdering our entire stretch of riverfrom from Buffalo to Lewiston is gifted to his memory. It's causal factors are his imaginings and we may never uplift from such.

So...your article touches my heart... The NFTA had to grab "Johhny 'Fit-or Aquit' whats'-his-name" to defend them a couple years ago for a Buffalo girl getting hit trying to catch a bus there in Cheektowoga.

No sense of place or person... pathetic.

Sometimes the parochialism of this site surprises me. I know this site is inherently, and by definition, about Buffalo-- and thus somewhat parochial-- but Steel I believe is talking about a much larger issue than Cheektowaga, however much he chooses that as the subject of his railings.

One thing I think residents of non-growing Buffalo may fail to recognize is the extent to which in other metropolitan areas these patterns of sprawl stretch across hundreds and hundred of miles. Metropolitan Phoenix is larger than the entirety of the state I now live in-- Delaware. Delaware is a small state, but nevertheless, where we live toward the southern end of the state is still 100 miles from Wilmington, at the northern end.

Steel's perspective is somewhat more from the viewpoint of aesthetics-- as one might expect an architect's to be-- but there are much broader aspects of societal health and functionality that these patterns of suburban and exurban development threaten. Many Americans now live in places where, if there were a serious and prolonged disruption to energy supplies (namely cheap gasoline), they could not get a loaf of bread or a quart of milk. If one doesn't think that crime and violence would reach unimaginable degrees if and when people cannot get cheap fuel, then he or she is dreaming.

We cannot go on as we have been. Have we no remaining love for the land we were given?

As a person who has lived in the city for the better half of my college and post-college life and now has recently had a house in Cheektowaga fall into their lap, I figure I'd add my two cents into the mix.

I used to dislike our city. I thought it was bland. I thought growing up in Cheektowaga that this was where all the excitement was, which wasn't much other than Putt Putt and Zappers. When I got older, went to UB, moved into the heights with some friends, I got a fuller experience than simply coming to the city for a concert or food. Eventually, I'd find myself bouncing around until I ended up on the 700 block of Main Street. I also co-owned a former art space on Buffalo's west side. After my experiences with the space and living right smack downtown, it really solidified my experience in the city.

Did I get robbed? Sure. A few times. My car's been broken into too. But those are the facts of life. An unfortunate event left me with an obligation to become the caretaker of a house in Cheektowaga. It felt so weird to move back out here. My feelings for the city have changed drastically. My neighbors on both sides have lived here since the 50s and really don't have that same sense of building a community. After the work I've done in the space, it's hard to imagine ever getting that kind of great heart and spirit to any venture like that out here obviously. People stay in their