Buffalo Rising Online

Was down there today and it looks GREAT. I cannot wait for the restaurants and some stores. This could be Buffalo's single, biggest development. The potential reminds me of "Downtown Crossing" in Boston. Of course, i do know there are a few more dollars in that town.

Incredible to think the State was going to simply put a sign in the ground instead of resurrecting the canal. Thank you Tim Tielman.

And thank goodness BassPro is not going on the Wharf.

Get the lift bridge built from Erie Street and/or Pearl Street and/or Main Street to the Outer Harbor....first....

Its wonderful that the Aud and Donovan are nearly ready to come down but there has to be a simultaneous project....getting those lift bridges to the outer harbor at the same time!

Once those lift bridges get built then the entire dynamic changes for Furhmann Boulevard and the Skyway/Route5 expressway.

one other thing, extend the light rail further south and put a park n ride there.

There is a big problem that every downtown development needs a multi-story parking garage. Its not true...these parking garages need to be built at light rail parknrides with moratoriums of parking garages built withing 2-3 blocks on either side of light rail's downtown core.

A light rail extension into south buffalo with a parknride would do wonders for commuters in south buffalo, lackawanna, blasdell and hamburg that work downtown but dont want to work downtown because of the huge monthly parking bill for downtown garages.

the same can be said for the potential parknrides on the eastside at the larkin district, central terminal, galleria area, airport and lancaster areas.

Beluieve it or not but using the light rail with cheap parknrides may be just the recipe to promote downtown growth.

I know people who work downtown and pay monthly reserved spots in parking garages $30, $50, $75 a month....now imagine downtown shoppers who want to frequent downtown who dont get discounts by purchasing a parking spot monthly.

What downtown may need is more light rail and parknrides and less parking garages.

Parking garages may be exactly whats holding downtown back.....instead the constant mantra from Palladino and friends that downtown needs more parking and insufficient parking is what is holding the city back

Think about it. If light rail parknrides made working and shopping downtown as cheap as suburban shopping (with the minor inconvenience of a light rail ride), then the entire dynamic might change.

so thats my take....lift bridges and light rail....and canals....oh my...ahahahah

buffaloweiner- great post, Buffalo needs real public transportation to grow. 4 dollar gas has finally changed the dynamic to make this possible.

blackrocklifer.....if your from black rock then you should be screaming at the top of your lungs for the Beltway to be reactivated for lightrail.

reactivating the beltway would completely change niagara street and amherst street

now put a parknride in blackrock and your have completely changed the definition of black rock back to the community it was originally built....and made viable the retail districts and the industrial brownfields for redevelopment.

If your a downtowner, west village, westsider or a blackrocker, kensington eastsider, central terminal eastsider, larkin eastsider then you should be screaming for the beltway to be reactivated......the growth main street is experiencing would be brought to your struggling communities. Think of your community finally being approached for an industrial/office park development.

Does this place still smell like sewage?

Should be cool when it is complete, right now there is really nothing to do there.

Buffweiner - cancel out lightrail extension, this city barely has enough money to clean the streets

buffaloweiner- We would certainly benefit from the reactivation of the belt line here in Black Rock. Removing or relocating the thruway from our waterfront would make the biggest impact. Black Rock/ Riverside would become desirable with direct access to the water.

gaustad...the kelley island pumping station(I believe this is what you are asking about) which is located under the skyway just west of the arena has not been relocated as far as a I know. Whether temporary measures have been implemented to reduce the odor, only they(ECHDC) know since it is rare for any public updates to occur.

gaustad...i was down there last weekend. it was clean. i think the poop only comes when it rains alot.

There always seems to be an issue with large chunks of wood floating in the water. If that gets cleaned up once or twice a week than thats what needs to be done. The sewage issue is something that needs to be fixed much further down the system; that was determined by the City a couple of months ago. The major problem is not at the Commercial Slip, it is in another place.

Joshua...My main beef with debris(not the storm overflow problem) in the canal is that $$$ were spent on a pump filtration system to keep the debris out. Instead it pushes the debris about halfway out of the canal before it loops back in again. Whomever engineered this should be forced to fix the problem.

I hate when money just gets pissed away. Is anyone held accountable anymore?

light rail expansion?!?!? dream on.

Rydog- call the Ship's Store at the Erie Basin Marina (851-6503) for information about transient docking at the Erie Canal Harbor.

They need to add more day slips along this area, in fact a floating dock near the Hatch would be great also. This area is attracting a lot of boaters on event nights which is great to see.