Main Street sorely needs these improvements at the same time it was nice to feel like you were entering the University Heights be the change in road. Are there going to be any differences between the UH and the Parksides neighborhoods? Would be neat if there were.
A welcome improvement for Main Street, I can't wait until this extends all the way from the City line to the waterfront. I like SBROF's idea of distinguishing each neighborhood, hopefully it is done with something more than a colored banner or neighborhood sign.
yeah I fear that the only distinguishing factor between this section and the UH section will be the little tower on the road signs. Not that this isn't needed but for such a diverse street and really a cross section of the whole region if you think about it in and outside of the city it deserves to be a really great, unique street. One way to also bridge the divide between sections and sides of main would be to celebrate each as unique.
Granted this specific process was probably 'designed' by engineers more than planners so I assume it will look the same throughout the whole stretch but maybe for future projects of sections (from the 198 to downtown for instance) neighborhoods can get different lighting, benches, paving treatments, crosswalks etc...
Looks great, but trees planted in Islands are already dead/dying -
Main St, would look so much better with nice trees in the middle.
It all looks good on the surface in UH but please, please put more police on the streets. It seems (at least according to media reports) that there's a robbery/beating/out-of-control party every other day. Makes people think twice about committing to/investing in the neighborhood.
Great!...what we DO need now are more cameras throughout the UH district to bring down the on going crime. Beatings, stabings, shootings and other street crime that could be prevented or at the very lest prosecuted if we had cameras on many of these streets. Before anyone says that camers are "big brother" and that we need more police patrols instead, think of the cameras as nothing more than cops walking or standing on street corners. These cameras are not unconstitutional nor an invasion of privacy. They are placed in public places. If you want privace stay home...if you go out in public do not expect privacy. If you were walking on a public street and a cop was standing there and looked at you, you would not cry out that your privacy has been invaded....so same thing with the cameras, they are just cops standing around. Now if the cameras have x-ray vision, or stop you for no reason and search you, then yes that would be unconstitutional as it would be illegal search and seizure. However, cameras connected to local police are not illegal search and seizure nor an invasion of privacy if located on a public space. That is the constitutional and legal reading of the law...not the "big brother" conspiracy reading of it.
Volunteers (not the City, County or State) will be out tomorrow Saturday @ 8AM (Meet @ Gloria Parks) to work on the median planting. Feel free to join in. The City has not taken responsibility for maintaining the plantings. The winter plowing destroyed a number of street benches. The city had the opportunity to put in irrigation branches for the medians when it put in the new water line as part of this project. The city claimed it would be too much trouble to close off the lines for winter. Chicago didn't think so. So now the plants just don't get watered.
Some businesses did not want trees in front, so the city did not put them in. It's easy to spot where. There was an opportunity for the city to enhance the existing parking lots with landscaping (e.g. Wilson Farms, Main and Minnesota). But they didn't, even though it was so easy.
If you look closely you will see that the design of Main Street in U Heights left a lot to be desired. Speeding, running red lights. unsafe lane changing are still problems. Crossing Main on foot is still difficult. Some pedestrian crossing signals still don't work. The crosswalk markings at 5 feet are too narrow. I just was at Main and Winspear and saw a number of cars run the red light. There's a camera there. Wonder if they will zoom in on this problem.
Some businesses lost their little bit of on street parking. While the University Plaza in Amherst got parking area with a well landscaped seating area and a clock the Heights got a piece of asphalt with a few now dead trees placed on a berm.The railroad ties used as a fence by the previous owner were left in place instead of a real fence to reflect an appreciation for the neighborhood.
The signal at Main and Winspear during the last wind storm was out for a week. The city did not know how to repair it. I guess the state did not clue them in. Right now one of the signals is disconnected from its bracing and is hanging by its wires. The city was notified 3 weeks ago.
Try riding a bicycle on Main Street. Most bicyclists use the sidewalks. The street design has not slowed down traffic where it would help businesses.
The new light fixtures are taller than the old ones and out of scale. Why do they have to look like something out of the past. A modern sleek design with full cut off lamps (dark skys) would have been welcomed.
I could go on. But this is far from a :cmplete street". The second phase has a chance to correct a lot of these mistakes.Bike lanes could be put in. But they won't. Business as usual for the city.
Just a point. This project goes through Amherst, University Heights, Central Park (Depew Ave., etc.), Fillmore -Leroy, and Parkside neighborhoods.
BTW notice the old street car rails they are digging out. Contrary to what the city and DOT spewed forth, this was one solid roadbed.
...think of the cameras as nothing more than cops walking or standing on street corners.
Beethoven - Sorry to break this to you, there is a monumental difference between a remotely monitored camera and a police officer walking a beat or standing on a corner. The police officer will deter far more crime, if s/he is doing his/her job, than the camera. We need police officers on the street, in fact I believe that was the justification for hiring 100+ new officers in the City, has anyone seen them yet? I believe that the University Heights should be an enhanced crime enforcement area (does the City have these), with regular car patrols, community police station, and police walking the streets throughout the day and night. This has proven to deter crime in other cities, well at least for that district. Let's put some pressure on our common council and police chief to bring the new cops to these streets, because they are an embarrassment.
BTW, you should join the camera commentary that took place last week, we already discussed this under that thread.
Einstein....Sorry to break this to you, but the new cops that were hired are coming on the beat this summer..... It may be a little known fact to you, but cops have to be trained first before they can come on the street. How many thousands of cops do you think buffalo will need to have cops walking around or standing in street corners and regular car patrols and responding to 911 calls 24 hours/365. I think we have to be realistic and know that there would not be enough cops to fulfill those obligations. I'm ok with the cameras acting as the eyes of the police and the actual police respodning to calls, crime viewed through the cameras and car patrols. Much more efficient use of limited man power. The city spends about 60 million dollars a year on wages for police officers as it is now....I don't think the city can afford to spend much more to have a cop on every street corner too. Oh, and just putting cops on high crime areas, well..that would just move the crime to other areas...thats all.
BTW.....I do not sit around all day reading every thread posted on this site (job, school, life keep me busy), so sorry I missed the discussion on cameras that was already held.
I think the planters down the center of the streets are very good for the comunity and wished they had installed them on Hertle Ave.as per design with street lamps not cobra lighting as in the 70's also more of them you can't have enough lighting, it detures crime. Also when the contractor put the soil in the planters they used the clay from the street digging not organic composting soil which is needed for plant growth, I stopped to asked the men when they were filling the planters and they said what does it matter they are all going to die anyway and offered that if they had a fighting chance with proper soil they might live and he said take it up with the city. I then called the city department of public works and they said they were doing what was in the spec and I said I don't belive so and they said they would look into it but nothing was ever taken care of . It sad to see that they, public works employees who are the best paid it the nation can't read or do a proper job for there city they live in.
I hope they take the chance to straighten out the intersection(s) at Main and Amherst, East Amherst, Vernon, Parker, and whatever that other street is next to Rite Aid. There are so many side streets crossing Main at that place, and it makes it very awkward during rush hours. There are always people lined up to make turns around that Metrorail Station. It almost seems like there was (or should have been) a roundabout there at one time.
This segment of Main Street( NY Route 5) has been in desperate need of reconstruction for the longest time. Finally a new roadbed with new utilities and a smooth new pavement. I agree with the streetlights, lets get away from those tacky acorn lights and install something more modern and with the times. Those streetlights on the previously rebuilt stretch of Main look exactly like the old streetlights Detroit did away with years ago. Why are we copying Detroit with that streetlight design makes absolutely no sense to me.
Glad to see LoCurto is on the ball with this one. I've been really happy with him lately. He listens, and acts. Hopefully it's not to late to get bike lanes and boxes in the remaining Main Street reconstruction.
It is really sad that nobody is caring for the landscaping in the heights. It shouldn't be up to businesses weather they get a tree out front or not. It's the public right of way which is owned by the people.
Hopefully the retail stretch in parkside by the Lake Effect laundry, and Parkside Candy can bounce back a bit. I'm assuming the Parkside Community Association will be a bit more proactive in maintaining any potential landscaping in that area.
As for the camera thing, the stigma alone associated with them will do damage enough. In other cities, they are placed in high crime areas. People driving through can then know it's a bad area, and avoid it. If you are say someone visiting from Chicago, and you see the cameras while driving down Elmwood (or wherever), you're gonna assume it must be a dangerous spot, and choose to get your lunch or sundries elsewhere.
The planting islands are a tough place for anything to grow. I suggest we let the UB art students at them and see if we can grow a sculpture garden instead.
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