The other day I received word from Marilyn Rodgers of The Johnson Park Association (JPA) that there were going to be some pretty exciting changes taking place in and around her neighborhood. So this morning I decided to go over to Johnson Park and see for myself what the little community was up to. After paying a visit, the question is, what were they not up to?
It turns out that all of the hard work that the JPA has put into their community over the last few years was being somewhat overshadowed by nefarious activity taking place at the western end of the park where the West Side Market stands. Right next to the market sits a little boxed in lawn with a couple of trees planted in it. Now, normally trees and a lawn are good things. Unfortunately it was too much of a good thing for certain folks that like to drink and loiter, etc.
Itis activities like this that gets city neighborhoods riled up these days. When I arrived at the park this morning, Councilmember Brian Davis, the City of Buffalo Public Works Department, Buffalo Police B District, the Johnson Park Association, and the West Village Renaissance Group were already in action. The neighborhood was there as well. There were even folks there from outside the neighborhood who had heard that it was eSmack Down Time.i What was happening? A court order had temporarily shut down the West Side Market, the boxed lawn was being replaced with vintage iron fencing (fence donated by Bob Biniszkiewicz and remediation by Gerry Standard; both local homeowners), and a group meeting was taking place to ensure that all the hard work would continue into the future. Its people like Marilyn Rodgers (donning Michael Morgulis Buffalo cap and heavy locking chain in photo) that you donit want to mess with these days. In the past three years, the Johnson Park Association has single handedly turned around one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the City of Buffalo.
This coming weekend is The Garden Walk, and I urge you to pay a visit to this West Village Historic District, designated by the City of Buffalo, New York State, and the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It is one of the few historic districts in the United States that has this triple designation, and is the oldest continually occupied neighborhood in the City of Buffalo.