How sad is it that simple things like having permanent grills in the park is what people are talking about. these things should have already been in place. Why doesn't this park allow dogs? Why are there only a few people making the decisions for the entire city? Is Tim Tielman the God of Buffalo? lol

While we're on the subject, here's another idea. How about if we allow ... fishing? I was walking around down there yesterday and was surprised to be be greeted at the park entrance by a large sign banning fishing. I had to think about it for awhile, but for what reason would you ban fishing on the waterfront? Where else are you gonna do it? And, even more puzzling ... loitering is also banned! How do you ban loitering in a park? I'd love to hear an explanaton for that.

I agree with "VGS" !!! Just imagine trying to find a place to park "IF" reuions/gatherings were there.

Are we really talking about creating policies to discourage people from going to the waterfront and downtown. Parking along the waterfront is a problem on the weekends?! Anything that is inexpensive and simple - like game tables and grills, would be welcome additions. People selling hotdogs and clams will only be able to thrive if there are people to eat the food. If grills and tables help to bring people down to the waterfront, start installing them immediately.

god forbid we actually enable people to have such dreaded things like family reunions and get together on our waterfront. The sky would surely fall. Instead they can continue to congregate at Cheektowaga town park instead.. Way to go. Give people LESS of a reason to go to the waterfront. I like how people "taking up space' of the waterfront is a problem.. Isn't the problem that not enough people go to the waterfront as it is. We have miles of empty waterfront, just beautiful and shows a prosperous and fun city.. Lets put that on a postcard.

A group of my friends were actually discussing this exact thing. We wanted to go to the waterfront, bring some burgers and drink and have a BBQ on that gorgeous Saturday we had a couple weeks ago.. You know what the conclusion we had.. There isn't a single place to go on the waterfront here to do that. What did we do instead? Sat around the apartment building roof where my friend lives. Fun, sure. What we wanted.. nope. We need to provide and give people reasons to go to the waterfront.

Grilling + Water are a natural combination.

CAPTION: Seneca's new casino !!

Establish a larger park closer to the apartment buildings or in the green area adjacent to Shanghai Reds. I am not sure if this is feasible, or if the plot is owned by someone, but it is worth a shot.

LaSalle Park needs to be connected to the Marina. It's currently cut off by the condo sites. LaSalle suffers the same problem as the outer harbor: it's "right there" but nobody knows how to get there...

MikeJW:

"Is Tim Tielman the God of Buffalo?"

YES! That's what Tim likes to believe. I'm tired of reading about Tim Tielman in every post on this site. I read BRO daily and I'm saddened to see it has become largely a popularity contest for certain citizens. Tim certainly does not speak for all of us; clearly though, he thinks he is the self appointed ambassador for the good people of this city. Tim needs to focus his energy on one thing instead of looking for personal publicity with every project in Buffalo. His MO is clear: 1. I get my way, or 2. you get a lawsuit.

Many well intentioned residents in the city and area have wonderful ideas involving city development projects. A public process will always be flawed when project managers and city officials are forced to listen to one individual above the rest.

E.

The Basin park is very small and enjoyable the way it is now, no way could it handle multiple family reunions and still allow others to enjoy it the way they do now with a book or nice walk. Imagine dodging frisbee's and footballs. There are larger parks for this. Ever go to a park after a large group leaves and see the overflowing garbage cans [if they are even used]. How nice would that be? One reason Buffalo is in the state it is, is these "quick fixes". I have enjoyed the Basin Park for years now the way it is at least twice a week all summer, as have thousands of others. It's not broken.

The park may not be broken, but it can be improved. Grills, game tables and fishing would be improvements. Most cities try to use their waterfront to attract people and commerce, not so a few people can read a book in silence. The basin park is underutilized on many levels. Adding a few inexpensive improvements like these will not change the nature of the park, but it may bring a few more people down to the waterfront and eventually attract retailers and businesses that actually pay taxes.

@DJB Have you been to the marina a nice days? More than a "few people reading a book in silence" It already is packed...daily. There is plenty of under developed waterfront left [a few miles I believe] for grills. Gaming tables would be nice but other than that where is the room for large grilling party's? It is a narrow strip of grass. Also, where could one fish? On the new beach with people laying out? or would you prefer next to the hatch while people are eating? Better yet, how about along the promonade while people are strolling. All those hooks flailing about ...nice. I also do not think there is much room there for retailers in the marina. Again, lots of water front for that down the road a spell..

Who said "large grilling parties" and yes I was down on the waterfront last week enjoying it from my kayak. You are the one who stated you wanted it quiet so you could enjoy your book. Somehow, I don't think bringing families down to the waterfront is something we should discourage. But, this is not the point. The point is that if you want to go down to the waterfront and enjoy a bbq, or play chess, etc you need to bring everything. All I am stating is that there should be more infrastructure provided to attract people to the waterfront. The argument that there will be too many people at a public park makes as much sense as a retailer discouraging people from buying something because he doesn't want to be out of stock. As for the fishing, having a designated place where people can fish will not result in "fish hooks flailing about". I agree there are other, potentially better places to do these things. But, that doesn't mean they couldn't be provided here as well.

Maybe we have a different idea of what 'many, many people' is? All I know, is on weekends and evenings, whenever I've gone down there, there aren't many people. There are a few on benches and a few walking. I'm sure it is busy during lunchtime on a workday, but I don't see thousands of people there at any other time. I don't want it to turn into a Buffalo Bills style tailgating experience, but enough people to sustains retail in the evenings and weekends would be nice.

Last summer, during the Sabres playoff run, my wife and I grabbed some takeout Sushi and went down there to enjoy the view before we went to the game. There weren't a dozen people total, in either direction for as far as we could see. There were 18,000+ people within 250 yards, but no one was over there. During this great weather we've had, I was down on my kayak and again, didn't see many people. It was 1:00 on a Friday and the place was empty. It just seems in the other cities I've lived, along the water there are people lined up at times like these. There are retail shops, vendors selling wares on the street, street performers of all kinds, etc. It is exciting, interesting and cosmopolitan. Buffalo's waterfront has so much potential and anything we can do to improve it should be considered, especially if it is inexpensive and simple.

I agree that sometimes it has a decent amount of people and other times it is empty. It is far from capacity or saturation. In fact it is the most important part of the waterfront to improve upon because it is already where people go, perceived as safe and could grow rather fast into a truly lively place.

LaSalle park is considered west side and few people feel safe going there. I know how ridiculous that sounds but the truth is when I was trying to figure out a place to go have a BBQ last weekend on the waterfront. LaSalle park was ruled out by all the females in the group. Erie basin would have been fine but there isn't anything to do there but sit and stare at the water.

Benches, grills, chess tables would bring a larger segment than the downtown worker crowd to the Basin. It might be 'ok' right now but that isn't a good reason to not improve it.