Buffalo Rising Online

Too bad about the Davidson House. A group of narrow minded neighbors had to ruin a great project for the City of Buffalo... Thank goodness the neighbors of the Darwin Martin House didn't do the same thing...

Too bad about the Davidson House. A group of narrow minded neighbors had to ruin a great project for the City of Buffalo... Thank goodness the neighbors of the Darwin Martin House didn't do the same thing...

Fortunately Mayor Brown has rid the city of Commissioner Tobe.

So now the new Commissioner, Brian Reilly, can answer the question of whether or not a single-family residence can be rented out on a daily basis as a single-family residence.

I say it's legal.

This is just pathetic for Buffalo...just pathetic.

The Davidson House is not in danger of demolition and its exterior can easily be viewed on an FLW Tour.

Meanwhile the missing piece of FLW's Buffalo legacy "The administration building" still sits an empty lot. Isnt it kind of pathetic to put so much energy and visability into something that exists while no attention is given to the administration building or the hundreds of historically significant buildings that are being allowed to decay into demolition in this city (lafayette, graystone, adjacent to redjacket, st vincents, german roman catholic orphanage, the aM&As complex, etc)

lets also not forget the invisable issue of all those streets closed to traffic or built over (am&as has closed streets, main place mall has closed streets, city court has closed streets, etc)

lets also not forget all the waterfront village construction and none of the streets east of Niagara are being allowed to cross under the Niagara Expressway and connect to the waterfront village and LaSalle Park.

The Davidson house....its kinda pathetic to put somuch time and visability into something so trivial. So a B&B didnt make it in the house....on the scope of things...it shouldnt even be on the radar.

Converting the Liberty and the Hyatt into residential and mixed use should be on the radar.....demolishing the atrium and reopening the street should be on the radar.

Constructing a pass thru main place mall to allow pedestrial and car traffic thus reopening the street grid across main street should be on the radar.

Building parking garages further away from off downtown business and government districts should be on the radar

Davidson house.....not so much!!!!!

lets

@ DanielSack... yes don't see the problem with monied people willing to pay extra money to stay in a historic house. These are not going to be Motel 8's and draw in a crowd that the neighborhood is fearful of. These are going to be rich tourists that want to spend the extra money to stay someplace special. Buffalo can and should offer them that kind of extra services because we have the history and architecture to do it. Plus any money going into these homes only insures their longevity and security for the future. Which helps the whole city because then the owner of the original building now has extra income to help renovate or maintain another property.

DanielSack - you're missing my point. I'm asking what is a legal use with a single-family dwelling and is there a minimum time limit . I'm not sure if your question is rhetorical or not but to answer it - yes, the single-family dwelling at 152 Lincoln is already in use for visitors of Buffalo State College. 111 Penhurst is a two family residence also, but only used as a single at this point.

There are several single-family houses today being used for multiple tenants. My earlier examples are 208 North and 79 Oakland.

Queenseyes, two questions:

1. Your article implies that the neighbors on the street are a "self-interest" group "miring" Buffalo's progress. Explain that to me, and explain how a city can evolve and grow from the grass up without neighbors believing they have a say in what happens to their residential street?

2. What happened to the small hotel/B & B plans at the Coit House? Was there great reason to feel hope for the Davidson House after what has happened to the poor Coit? How can one think about the Davidson and not think about the Coit?

I agree that it must be done properly and a B&B would probably be ideal. I just don't understand the put off that the neighbors have about the project just because the owner isn't on site all day. What would really be the difference between this project and a B&B.

It almost seems that those against this project are putting forward the PC / legal argument but the reasoning behind the fight is still lacking.

The city's zoning laws are horribly outdated and are from a time and mentality of total separation of all uses. What we learned was that this has destroyed what people and cities need to survive. Mixed used, vitality. Not street after street of the same house without any commercial. That development schema which we followed to a T for 40+ years now has produced a society were people are isolated from one another, lazy because of a lack of recreation and damaging to environmental social and physical health.

Sometimes it isn't a bad thing to have new people come into a neighborhood, they can offer insight to something someone who lives there takes for granted or doesn't perceive. They could become new friends or business partners. Who knows, but the random crossing of paths and ideas are what drive and fuel new ideas and economies, something Buffalo has been missing because of our homogeneous separation of people and uses. It is what makes NYC, Chicago, San Fran these melting pots of people and economic prowess.

I would love to fully understand the neighbors side better because it is a mentality that is widespread and I feel more detrimental than good.

DanielSack - the owner, Maxwell, doesn't want a Bed & Breakfast because that would require an on-site person 24 hours a day. His proposal was to rent the house and leave the tenants to enjoy the house themselves.

The city has a law, albeit an older one from what I remember, where a homeowner can rent out 2 rooms without restriction. 338 Summer was rented out for years using this law. This is different than the city's silence regarding short-term rentals of single-family residences.

A debacle caused by narrow-minded self-interest groups? Details please...Please? To start with, what was the "debacle?" Second, who were the groups?

Queeneyes, this "story" just continues to support the notion that 1. you have a financial interest in this project, or 2. you have some sort of personal grudge against the residents of Tillinghast Place (thus the repeated name-calling). I don't see how else this "story" continues to be of interest to you.

Not to repeat the comments of one kfitzgerald on a previous discussion, but for a site that promotes community activism, this criticizing this seems to be strange. I guess activism is good if you're in favor of the goal?

Sbrof: Your comments about the zoning laws are partially correct, but incorrect about their application to cities. Zoning laws have been abused in suburban development, allowing sprawl to occur and promoting a car-centric life-style. That is not true, especially in cities like Buffalo. Zoning has been used in the city, not to promote sprawl, but to ensure quality living areas in the city and popular commercial areas. We have walkable/bikeable communities in Buffalo, and I live in one. The premise that zoning has "killed' this in the city is incorrect.

BuffaloDrift, so you admit that you think Delaware Ave near Hertel is a great walkable area or Jefferson Ave., Baily Ave. and other major streets that are looking alittle more SUBURBAN these days. Not very walkable in my eyes. And this is because the CITY allows it.

Sal:

152 Lincoln is listed as the residence of the president of Buffalo State College. Whether or not the president chooses to host her guests there, I do not think that it is being offered to the public at large, as a pay-by-the-night hotel or vacation accommodation. Implying that this is equivalent to the Davidson house proposal is simply misleading to readers of this site.

aaa - my point is that there are single-family residences being used for rentals and other uses aside from a single-family owner-occupied dwelling. The resident of 152 Lincoln is not the owner and pays rent as part of her employment contract.

Commissioner Brian Reilly has been staying in a short-term rental of a single-family residence up until yesterday from what I've seen (welcome to my neighborhood, by the way.)

Newell, let it go. Your friend tried to establish a business, went about it clumsily, and failed. It happens. Your continued whining about it does nothing but undermine the credibility of this site. Buffalo Rising regularly celebrates involved citizens who challenge commercial interests that threaten the character of our city's neighborhoods. What's different here?

Newell, let it go. Your friend tried to establish a business, went about it clumsily, and failed. It happens. Your continued whining about it does nothing but undermine the credibility of this site. Buffalo Rising regularly celebrates involved citizens who challenge commercial interests that threaten the character of our city's neighborhoods. What's different here?

Hmmmm, let's see. Because it interested me and I had something to say about it?