Transportation systems in urban communities must provide the essential infrastructure that will establish comprehensive access for all modes of travel while recognizing the importance of cities as places for people. A city’s character, culture and charm are brought to life through its pedestrian environment. Successful cities have achieved this by developing lifestyle environments which people are attracted to. As momentum builds for the rebirth of Downtown Buffalo we must define our city and rebuild it around our people.
To accomplish this; community participation is sought for “The Healthy Infrastructure for Queen City Livability Plan”, which will be an infrastructure analysis, evaluation and improvement plan to support people movement in Downtown Buffalo. It will build upon the National American Planning Association award-winning plan, The Queen City Hub, and be utilized to define the issues related to bicycle, pedestrian and transit access in Downtown, create a shared sense of ownership and identify a range of actions that the public will support.
As this project and process begins the initial public input component is as follows:
Confirmed Workshop Dates/Times/Locations
- 7/24/07, 5-8PM, Buffalo Rising offices (26 Mississippi Street) fourth floor
- 7/26/07, 5-8PM, Prospect Avenue Baptist Church (67 Prospect Avenue)
- 7/28/07, 10AM-1PM, Market Arcade (617 Main Street)
- 7/31/07, 5-8PM, ECC City Campus (121 Ellicott Street, Rm. 304)
- 8/2/07, 4:30-7:30PM, Central Library (1 Lafayette Square)
These five (5) community workshops will be conducted with the purpose of engaging the audience in dialogue on the value of livable communities through quality-of-life enhancements such as bicycle, pedestrian and transit access; and how together we can best improve the livability of downtown.
Participants will be presented an overview of the types of enhancements that can be put into place to improve livability and foster a greater quality of life. Through new “eyes,” workshop participants will be taken on a walking tour in the adjacent neighborhood. Broken up into groups, they will record what they “see,” positive and negative, and report their findings back to the larger group.
In addition to the workshops we want to know what your impressions are of accessing downtown Buffalo by transit, as a bicyclist or as a pedestrian. Please take five-minutes to complete a brief survey on our project website which can be found at: www.city-buffalo.com/healthyinfrastructure
Everyone is invited and encouraged to participate in these workshops and to provide feedback through the survey. For more information and to keep track of the projects process please visit www.city-buffalo.com/healthyinfrastructure or call Justin Booth at the Wellness Institute (716) 851-4052.
Funding for this project is through a New York State Department of State Quality Communities Grant. Sponsored by City of Buffalo, Wellness Institute and Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council.