Buffalo Rising Online

Jul 12th, 8:46am By Steve Stipanovich

On Thursday night, July 10th, the Black Rock – Riverside Good Neighbors Planning Alliance was the recipient of the 2008 Planning Excellence Award for Grassroots Initiative from the Western New York Section of the American Planning Association. The award was presented to the GNPA at the 2008 Annual Business Meeting and Awards Presentation for the WNY Section of the APA held at Chef’s Restaurant.

Accepting the award for the Land Use, Zoning, and Urban Design (LUZUD) Sub-Committee was Margaret Szczepaniec, who brought along the original brainstorming drawing from the inception of the plan 5 years ago. “Its been 5 long years in the making, but we are finally starting the feasibility study hopefully by the end of the month, so that we can start moving this project forward” said Szczepaniec. A local planning firm has been chosen by RFP and as soon as funds are transferred from the state, county, and city, the contract can be signed.

Recognized by the APA for their work on the project were Szczepaniec (chair of the LUZUD sub-committee), members: Stevan Stipanovich, Sharon Czajkowski, John Bauer, Warren Glover, Caleb Basiliko, John McKee, Margaret Faircloth, Joanna Dickinson, Walter Wrzesinski, Al Szczepaniec, Robert Niemiec, Paul Leichner (Emeritus) and Business Partner Gary Hall. Also recognized were Black Rock – Riverside Chairperson Richard Mack, North District Councilman Joseph Golombek, Jr., and Community Planner Bill Parke from the City of Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning.

The Black Rock Canal Park plan could not have made it this far without the expertise, professionalism, and commitment of Bill Parke who helped guide the community members through the process of taking a radical idea and moving it towards reality. For his help on this project as well as his work on the East Buffalo Community Plan, Bill was awarded a special award jointly by the East Buffalo GNPA and the Black Rock – Riverside GNPA.

The Black Rock Canal Park plan and the East Buffalo Plan, both award recipients Thursday night, are excellent examples of how community based planning can bring together government, community, and business in a rational planning process to better the City of Buffalo. The lesson to be shared: work together, with plenty of community involvement on the small incremental projects which will truly revitalize the neighborhoods they exist in, versus the over the top silver bullet projects that almost always in Buffalo divide the community and never come to fruition.

Special thanks should be given to the Western New York Section of the Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association for recognizing, honoring, and encouraging planning in Western New York.