I thought this project was dead!
Talk about sanitized journalism in western New York…shame on the Buffalo News and, I hate to say it; Artvoice…
Where is the monumental publicity that this type of project would be stimulating elsewhere?
Great News!
Great Project!
This involves federal gov'ts, border guards, highway connections/extensions etc.
I do not believe it to be the rosy picture they paint it to be right now in regard to "moving along"
yeah there are serious issues with setting up and International Border bridge by a private company. Not that this would be impossible just as MJW said. it isn't probably as rosey as a we would be told.
I see this as a good alternative IF and ONLY IF we can't have shared border. If no shared border this bridge would allow use return the Peace Bridge to private traffic that gracefully enters front park and the city. Give us the beautiful FRONT or FACE that Olmsted envisioned. IF we get shared border then this ambassador bridge isn't needed and would cut through a newly created park and create another tangled mess of highways in our city, which really wont serve anyone any good.
Notice how they conveniently don't show you the landing area on that render. Makes it seem much nicer that it would be. and to have the same standard plaza and crap in blakc rock would do nothing but shift the asthma problems north. Brownfield or not a giant plaza in the middle of our city is BAD any way you look at it or any place it goes. We have a better solution, we have a better option. I just wish we would fight for it more.
The Ambassafor and PBA plans both involve the same thing: "federal gov'ts, border guards, highway connections/extensions". Difference is the PBA plan includes taking down your home and eliminates any opportunity to develop Buffalo's gateway for the next 100 years. Look what's happened in Fort Erie! The plaza that just keeps on growing into a major parking lot where trucks can idle during inspection before they come through and contaminate your neighbourhood. Not one single gov't agency in either country has given unconditional support for the PBA but you sure wouldn't know it from the 'rosy picture' their thousands of dollars are buying in PR. If their plan was so good, they wouldn't need PR! Or the fake-smile support from politicians convinced (by the PR!) that this plan will get them re-elected. Ambassador is spending its money on relevant research instead of PR - their money, their decision. And by the way, with all the PUBLIC money they've spent on PR, the PBA hasn't even started the air quality studies for the Fort Erie side.
Looking at another map - would this some how link up to the 198, using the Tonawanda, Amherst St "empty" area? This might be a better option and place for a bridge as it will eliminate the destruction of homes on the Lower West Side.
The Ambassador Bridge Group (ABG) paints picture they want you to see, but if you want reality look anywhere else but them for the truth. I agree, NO neighborhood should be destroyed or torn down for the sake of a bridge AND that includes the Black Rock neighborhood as well. The ABG wants to put 6 millions trucks a year , yes folks 6 million, on 44 acres of land in the middle of a neighborhood. They want those 6 millions trucks to use the 198 then move onto the 190. Did anyone ever see the problems cars going to Buffalo State make, can you imagine trucks in the 6 million volume? Folks, let's not destroy any neighborhood. The BRRGNPA has proposed the idea of making a port, remember why the Queen City got its name? Councilman Golombek has been a strong supporter of moving the 190 off the waterfront and onto the rail corridor. When that happens make a dedicated lane for trucks. Trucks would have to use the dedicated lane off the Peace Brdige out to the port, north of Buffalo where the waterways allow. Intermodle of rail, water and truck can be developed. Ports are need in the northeast. Ports bring strong, good paying jobs!!! We have been toting this idea but we need a politician to run with the idea. This would be HUGE economic development for Buffalo and surrounding areas. Instead of pitting neighborhood against neighborhood let's think with vision and foresight.
New York Times had an article about this group and their Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, just last week. Seems it is one of only two private bridges between U.S. and Canada. It seems to me unlikely that they could build another privately owned bridge here.
And, if they're really serious, I don't understand what is taking Ambassador so long to do something.
What approvals have they gotten from either the US or Canadian governments to create a new border crossing between the countries?
According to the presentation Ambassador Bridge would build this in addition to the Peace Bridge, not in lieu of. This way traffic would be diverted to two crossings in the city. Thye make a good point of 3 crossings in the Niagara Falls area and only 1 in Buffalo that serves more traffic. By expanding to two bridges, you would have two smaller plazas that would have less impact on surrounding areas than one giant plaza that will destroy a neighborhood. They also make the point that in 10 years or so, the new plaza would most likely need to be expanded again. More homes to be destroyed?
The presentation shows the footprint of a plaza at the International site and how they would minimize neighborhood impact there. I do see some major flaws though. As sbrof pointed out it would run over a newly created park and as thinkingwithvision stated the traffic would try and divert onto 198.
I've lived in Knoxville, TN and they have a beautiful waterfront park (Volunteer Landing) along the Tennessee River that has a bridge running along part of it. It isnt a deterrent for people visiting the park. As for 198, they would need to force all truck traffic North on the 190 in a dedicated lane to ensure there would be no congestion on the Scajaquada. I also like Councilman Golombek's push to divert the 190 off the waterfront and use the railway corridor.
Overall this project has bonuses and flaws, but is something that should be looked at. Shared border management is the best option at the Peace Bridge.
Why does the U.S. belief it can force Canada into making Constitutional changes in order to accommodate a very, very bad plan!!! SBM will destroy Fort Erie. Why is that OK? Let both sides get a SBM-size plaza by taking the trucks off the Peace Bridge. Those 6 million trucks Ambassador says will cross their bridge? Well, they're going to have to go somewhere. And if you put them in Fort Erie with SBM think about the air quality that's going to STILL come to Buffalo on the prevailing winds and think about the view from Front Park. 'Thinking With Vision' should be official bumper sticker for this campaign. Just don't wear blinders when it comes to the other end of the bridge.
Hopefully they work on the aesthetics a bit more. The Niagara deserves more than a viaduct. Also that 198 interchange will have to be expanded.
They say that in small town politics you have to pick your fights. People in Buffalo's high places are told not to go near this fight.
And yet anyone who actually sits down and listens to the Ambassador Bridge project knows it's the best solution.
However, this town is veritably conscience-led and owned by the Peace Bridge Authority.
UB, Harvard, Clarkson and McMasters' Universities have all labled the West Side from the Peace bridge to Elmwood as Ground Zero for asthma and the co-related 24-7 five-miled backed deisel trucks spewing the fine deisle particulates from idling trucks along a southwesterly wind and into the lungs of the community.
There is a directly linked presence of 100% respiratory malfunction among the west side community-- a guarantee of respiratory decline if you move there, and an extremely high set of odds that one or more members of your household will have deadly asthma and other issues.
People in business and government are aware it is taboo to utter the subject. Gotta pick your fights and this osn't one of them.
I've always likened the otherwise sincere folks at the PBA to the sheriff in the movie Jaws who says: Don't tell me about any sharks. This beach will open tomorrow and My Kids will be swimming. This is tourist season!"
Shame on the Buffalo News for reporting on the destruction of the Columbus neighborhood while the Ambassador location is still available.
Id rather let these people keep their homes and let the ambassador bridge get built...and perhaps another bridge on Grand Island to Canada.
why cant a plaza be built on squaw island south of the international crossing??? i would think that would be common sense.......
Zimbudda -- Be careful! It may help to know that the "public" bridge authority's gutless general manager also calls everyone who dares exercise their free speech rights and threatens them libel and slander lawsuits...a real profile in courage he.
is buffalo rising protected? I am sure they already got the call.
The bridge as shown is massively over-proportioned and plummets into a plaza that extends from Tonawanda Street to behind the Grant St. Tops. Ambassador continues the folly that their project is in an industrial area and will not impact any neighborhood. That is patently untrue; the plaza is within 150' of residential and the bridge will overwhelm Squaw Island Park. IF the plaza was down the railroad tracks towards the 290 and the 190 could move off the Riverside Waterfront, the neighborhood would consider supporting it.
elmwoodboy is right... the best option is the south grand island option that connects directly into the 290 and could permit the eventual downgrade of the 190 to a blvd along the river... is that realistic? I think so...
Weeks ago there were surveyors on Dearborn Street. When questioned, they told residents that they were surveying for the re-routing of 198. Why would destroying Black Rock be less of an impact than the proposed Peace Bridge area? The homes in this section of Black Rock are older than those on the West Side. BR/R GNPA has developed plans for the expansion of Ontario St. Boat Launch and have plans for BuffState expansion. Not a hard choice.....growth or 6 million trucks?
Weeks ago there were surveyors on Dearborn Street. When questioned, they told residents that they were surveying for the re-routing of 198. Why would destroying Black Rock be less of an impact than the proposed Peace Bridge area? The homes in this section of Black Rock are older than those on the West Side. BR/R GNPA has developed plans for the expansion of Ontario St. Boat Launch and have plans for BuffState expansion. Not a hard choice.....growth or 6 million trucks?
And here comes the Ambassador Group promoting their idea again. Coincidence. They do not want a bridge build here period. The group wants traffic flows to contiue at the current volume to Windsor/Detroit. They are all smoke and mirrors. The whole intention of the group is to derail the project or any bridge between Buffalo and Canada.
I can't beleive people buy their BS, just b/c they bought some parcels on the cheap. Great strategy and I will say it again they are very effective carrying this out, but why do they always raise themselves out of their ashes when a bridge is mentioned? Could it be self-motivated?
On a related thread, PBL wrote this today:
… Not all of the homes on Columbus Pkwy are undesirable. Take a drive down the street and see the properties they are planning to destroy. Look at the others the block before them and picture what a bunch of concrete and ramps will due to deteriorate the rest of the neighborhood. Truck traffic is down! Western New York's economy only benefits from a small percentage of this trade. Other communities are looking to move trucks to different locations away from any residential areas. There are alternatives that were not appropriately looked at or fully studied because the authority just wants what it wants. The Black Rock area that the Ambassador people are looking to develop for a plaza is not a neighborhood, but Brownfields. …
That sentence I bolded above has always seemed to me a very important point that too often gets glossed over.
Here’s a link to a Google Map satellite picture showing the large amount of currently-vacant brownfield land around the IRR rail bridge site:
http://tinyurl.com/2lpuhz
Where does the bridge land in Black Rock? How does it connect to the 190? Why doesn't the picture show how it would rip through established neighborhoods in Fort Erie in order to connect to the QEW above-grade which would literally divide a neighborhood. Talk about impacts!!! Great planning. Must be a bunch of UB planning alums. Ye gods.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm… it's a real eye-opener to walk the B1-R3 area where the PBA wants to double their footprint. Maybe there could be a bus tour set up to show people the outline of that area and then, that of the IRR proposal on both sides of the border. Sundays are good for me.
i wonder if the truck drivers would even notice what creek they were swimming up? there is so much garbage near and around the peace bridge that someone should call in fema.
The PBA has always claimed that the Ambassador people are only going through the motions on this project. According to them, the Ambassador group's efforts are all a ruse intended to prevent the PBA from doing anything at all. The alleged motive: to direct increased traffic to Detroit instead of Buffalo; if the Ambassador group can somehow prevent expansion here, Detroit will allegedly benefit. This allegation by the PBA seems ludicrous for several reasons:
1. Adding eight hours of drive time (Detroit and back) on shipments traveling from Eastern Ontario to the east coast of America is nonsensical. Shippers won't bypass Buffalo via Detroit; at worst they'll go to the Falls.
2. Traffic at Detroit's bridges already exceeds capacity and requires augmentation. Ambassador is competing for the ability to construct another bridge there. They hardly need the distraction and financial drain of buying up property here in Buffalo in order to help their cause in Detroit.
3. At the public hearing in 2002, in which the public's clear preference was for the international bridge crossing, the PBA insisted that the crossing was fatally flawed environmentally and fatally flawed because it would be impossible to connect to the highway grid at this location. Yet the connections proposed in the Ambassador presentation, with some simple ramp expansion, would work easily. It was ONLY after convincing the public that this location is untenable that the PBA was successful in redirecting public attention away from the railroad crossing. Their outrageous cost estimates for this site were their prime weapon in getting the public off the idea of a crossing here. But so long as it's all private money, wtf does the PBA care HOW much it would cost Ambassador to build?
4. The Ambassador people are BUYING land, real land. Someone above dismisses this as disingenous, buying up land on the cheap for no real reason. But I'm in commercial real estate. This is most unusual. They're paying relatively high prices for that land, too, and they are buying a lot of it: more than 100 acres on each side of the border (so far). Ordinarily a company will put options on land. They'll agree to buy ONLY if and when their project is greenlighted. This is very different. Moreover, the PBA has bought land directly in the way of the Ambassador project in an attempt to physically block their competitor from completing the project. IF the PBA were truthful, IF they believed what they told the public, then there would be no point in the PBA acquiring land that Ambassador needs for its project.
Shame on the Snooze for not reporting more on the Ambassador plans. Shame on the PBA for failing to address the Ambassador's real plans except to threaten lawsuits.
For the record, I live not far from the proposed Ambassador plaza. I am strongly in favor of this crossing site, as opposed to expanding the current site. The councilman, Joe Golombek, is strongly opposed. He's a generally great councilman, but he is dead wrong on this issue. I've also spoken with one of his political counterparts in Fort Erie. That Canadian politican believes that Fort Erie residents would easily switch their focus to the IRR crossing if they believed Americans would allow another bridge at this crossing.
Cheers to BRO for this article. It's high time the mainstream press and other alternative press in Buffalo and Fort Erie did a little more investigation. The PBA has the local politicians and press bamboozled. Everyone's terrified of being labeled an obstructionist.
I'm so adament about this mesage I will repeat it-- sorry--but Buffalo suffers from severe myopia at its theatened thread of life in this issue:
They say that in small town politics you have to pick your fights. People in Buffalo's high places are told not to go near this fight.
The West Side isat Ground Zero Epidemic Levels of Asthma....it's a fact. PBA lobbies to quell that fact. Buffalo kneeels to PBA. Period. Damnit.
And yet anyone who actually sits down and listens to the Ambassador Bridge project knows it's the best solution. However, this town is veritably conscience-led and owned by the Peace Bridge Authority.
The Peace Bridge folks are our goodneighbors, but each and every single one of these good people are so sadly blinded to lead us and their own children to asthma death.
Asthma kills.
The PBA veritably and vigorously and knowingly promotes asthma more than any entity in WNY.
The most poisonous element on Earth in man-made distribuited quanitites is idling deisel trucks' particulate deisel fuel particulates.
These flow topigraphically over the geograpghy of The Peace Brisge to Elmwood Avenue and kills kids and old folks scientifically verified --quantifiably-- monthly, like a ticking clock.
Harvard, Clarkson, McMasters, and UB knows it. There's medical journals around the world that focus on the Peace Brisge as GROUND ZERO for Deisel death strikes that take area lives monthly.
I spoke to a woman today who lost her child recently to asthma on the West Side.
The university studies say: if you move to the West Sidem you WUILL have respiratory problems, joinin the other 100 %, and you WILL be sick.
That's serious. What's more serious is this: Buffalo is not supposed to talk about it.
Buffalo News does not talk about it. Warren Buffet won't let them.
I repeat from earlier: I've always likened the otherwise sincere folks at the PBA to the sheriff in the movie Jaws who says: "Don't tell me about any sharks. This beach will open tomorrow and My Kids will be swimming. This is tourist season!"
Buffalo -wake up-- breathe life into this breath of life concern.
so the Peace Bridge causes asthma... ok got it, read the reports... but shifting the problem into black rock doesn't solve anything, shifting it to grand island doesn't solve anything. Unless we fight for a shared border option and put the problem where there are the fewest people (Canada) we will never win this fight.
My two brothers both grew up along the 190 and they BOTH got athma... and both were minutes from Dying because of it. I grew up on the east side far away from and highways without any problems. I know this is an issue but truth be told unless people stop driving their cars along traffic sewers, or support rail transportation instead of Mac Trucks, we are not going to solve this problem. I wish we could but that would involve you and you and you and you to NOT DRIVE SO MUCH... truth hurts, everytiume you start your engine you are polluting the air all of us breathe causing incalculable amounts of health and environmental problems.
..End of rant..
Totally different note.
The distance along the 190 from the 198 to the the 290 is 6.5 miles along the railroads would only be 4.6 miles. Google Earthed it this evening.
2 miles less to build, maintain and 2 less miles of impacted properties and dragged down values.
Are there any volunteers to drive a car (labelled no plaza expansion) to the peace bridge access ramp and then stop the car, put the parking brake on, get out, lock the car, slash the tires and walk away.
let this happen during rush hour, contact the news
do it randomly....multiple times a day....multiple times a week
heck, shut down the Niagara Expressway
heck, shut down Niagara and Porter access to the Peace Bridge
That wont have to happen to many times for Higgins, Brown and the PBA to back down.
LOL C69! Until there's a volunteer, how about a daring editorial cartoonist at the Snooze willing to draw the scenario? Label the abandoned car "TRUCK OFF AT THE IRR" (we're not obstructionists, after all!)
Chris69....thats a brilliant idea al queda...maybe you shoud volunteer for your own stupid ideas. What would your little terrorist actions accomplish? Your are an idiot.
Remember Donald Rumsfel after we invaded Iraq? The world would respect the U.S because of our military might. The "shock and awe" of decimating Baghdad? Weren't the Iraqis suppose to throw roses at our feet and worship George W. as their new king? After all, America was giving Iraq the greatest gift the Western World has to offer - democracy. Even if they think they don't want it, they're getting it anyway because George W. in his infinite wisdom knows what's good for the rest of the world.....my point is the same scenario applies to the PBA and the countless assaults on my community to force a bad plan down our throats for two decades. We don't want it. We never wanted it but we're gonna get it anyway. two days ago we all received a letter from Comish Wanamaker and PBA Gen.Ron R. soft selling the fine points of a wonderful and unique neighborhood redevelopment plan. By gosh, our neighborhoods will be elevated to a new and improved standard of living. Unfortunately, they gotta all get demolished first before we can fix the real problem. (does absentee blight ring a bell?) Lucky us...they're going to bestow upon us a "multifaceted revitalization strategy. " that's a euphemism for taking your property by eminent domain and bulldozing down your home. Wow.....and the big bucks that are pouring in from the fat cats is in the millions. It's a real pissing contest here on the West Side. Deals are being cut all over the place. But the little people have not been cooperating with the PBA war machine. Like the Iraqi's we don't want to be occupied by Gen. Ron R. or trucks. Higgins and Brown are not happy with their little tax payers either. They just want us to play nice. Embrace the gift of concrete, steel, diesel fuel emissions, cancer, asthma, air and water pollution and so much more. They know we'll like it if we just open up our hearts and minds. After all, Gen. Ron R. knows what this community and city need to earn it's place in the "global" world. 45 acres of concrete and a steady stream of monster trucks 24/7. Niagara street gets the best out of the deal...a ginormous duty free shop. I think I would prefer the roses. Has anyone seen my inhaler?
Chris69: You are an idiot. Why don't you finish your thought properly "and walk away, then be arrested by federal officers and brought up on multiple felony charges reulting not only in jail time but a loss of any meaniful life afterward. I guess the upside of your juevinile thinking is at least with a felony charge you never will have to deal with crossing the bridge.
On a different note thi sarticle regarding Buffalo is very good: http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=64879&v=4326882911
Zimmerman,
You actually gave Jim Kane of the Ambassador Bridge a soapbox to spout off. That being the same Ambassador Bridge that in Detroit:
- destroyed the vibrant Mexicantown neighborhood by indiscriminant expansion of its plaza.
- sells Duty Free gas costing the National Higway Trust Fund and all of us millions of dollars every year, money that should be spent on maintaining our highways and bridges.
- ignores City of Detroit zoning by-laws, builds on property it doesn't own, and builds without building permits.
- wants to twin its bridge in Detroit and do exactly what the Peace Bridge is proposing here.
- took $200 plus million in federal tax funds to construct a "gateway" to its bridge in Detroit.
- charges $7.50 per round trip, almost triple what the Peace Bridge's E-ZPass toll is.
It's amazing what a little research can uncover.
You say it wold be "important and helpful to hear from both sides". I for one would be interested in what the PBA has to say. Will you give them the same opportunity you provided Jim Kane?
$300 million to build the IRR crossing?? Two completely new plazas?? A bridge that is two times as long as the Peace Bridge, a five mile long freeway in Fort Erie, and a maze of elevated ramps in Buffalo?? Give you head a shake!! In Detroit the twinning of the Ambassador Bridge according to the Ambassador Bridge ITSELF is $1 billion dollars.
The bottom line is that the Ambassador Bridge is full of (you know what) and would be a disaster in this area.
How will the ABG be able to pay for this project without charging at least what they charge for tolls in Detroit? Are people ready to pay $7.50 or more to cross the bridge? Who would stop them from charging this? They would have to answer to no one because they are a private company.
The ABG project is not going to happen anyway as they have no support from any forms of government nor have successfully applied for any permits. They'll be hard pressed to do anything at their own Detroit location as they aren't even wanted there.
How is it that the PBA can complete a DEIS for three different options but the ABG can't complete a DEIS for one option in the ame amount of time? And with all of their huge piles of private funds!?!?! If this is the kind of effort they will put in for us, THE PUBLIC, then do we really want them here?
Here's a link to an interesting article everyone on this site should read today. www.politicswny.com
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