Buffalo's Pebble Beach
If you ever head over to the NFTA Small Boat Harbor during the warmer months, you will find that it has become a destination for walkers... but not necessarily on the beach. People mostly stick to the boardwalk unless they're down by the water launching a jet ski. It's unfortunate really. Here is section of our waterfront that has made enormous strides forward. There are places to fly kites, take the dogs, rollerblade, and bike... yet when it comes to using the beach, not many people do. As long as The City is looking into new sand for the new Erie Basin Beach, it might be wise to order an extra few loads for the small boat harbor.
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datyslttam
this beach was very heavily used by jet skiers and wind surfers BEFORE it was 'improved' since then it's barely used. I've lived on Tifft for over 25 years and what they did to the beach is by far the worst thing they could have done.
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sbrof
it also is south of the Small Boat Harbor and is called Gallagher Beach. I don't want people to confuse the two since they are near one another but not the same. Isn't it also owned by the NYS Parks Department?
What happens to the sand that is piled up on the eastern side of route five along the city ship canal. Might be a good local supply of what looks like very nice clean sand. I heard they pump it out of the river / canal to keep it navigable. I could geologically believe it considering the way the currents flow but seems tough to imagine anything that clean looking coming out of the Buffalo River. Either way its nice looking sand.
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RisingDamp666
Eeeeuuuuwwww, I hope you're not talkin' dredge spoils, sbrof. Even if it appears to be "nice clean sand", what's underneath could be nasty and possibly toxic...depends on what got dumped in the river. Best to import that sand, even at the extra expense.
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sbrof
and maybe it is toxic and can't be used but with the amount of sand that they pull how often it seems that they rebuild those piles, the polluted sediments could have been drawn out long ago from the area where the sand is dredged. Who knows.
Maybe this is a good excuse to get people behind cleaning up the waters to begin with. Doing so would pay for a new sandy beach here and at Erie Basin after the work was completed.
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datyslttam
considering its delivered by ship and its for construction use, it definitely does not come out of the river/canalway
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al-alo
im not sure how sand really improves a beach other than for sand castle derbies. ive been to lots of beaches with pebbles and stones. no matter what the beach is, the water is still wet.
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chris69
you can plan for sand you can plan for picnic tables you can plan for boardwalks and 4th of july fireworks
but the truth is that downtown isnt going to absorb and integrate this area until there are pedestrial and auto lift bridges connecting the FIRST WARD to the INNER HARBOR (KELLY ISLAND) and to the OUTER HARBOR.
Instead of thinking of sand...you should be thinking of lift bridges!
PS it would also help if someone started demanding the skyway access ramp that consumes Seneca, Swan and Church be closed, as well as the access ramp to the niagara expressway at Erie Street.
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magnum
Great idea! I actually went to check out Gallagher Beach a couple years back soon after Higgins promoted the recent improvements. My first thoughts: why is this called a beach when I can't put a towel down and relax. After all that moeny was spent, it wasn't a true beach so naturally it has sat empty for the past couple of years. Put some sand down plz. I will admit, who ever designed the improvements totally missed the boat(money wasted again). The new board walk is too close to the water to build a nice sloping wide beach. Just look at the picture above, this would be a very small beach.
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Sobojoe
From the "virtual tour" animated video of the waterfront project, it looks as if this area will be "rewatered", with an additional, lower walkway eliminating the beach. Looks nice, but a full-fledged beach would be great!
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metrobflo
Besides needing quality sand, which it desperately needs. I would like to see parking along the length of the boardwalk along the side of Fuhrmann Blvd. Often on my way out to a real beach out in Grand View Bay, Angola on the Lake, I like to just take a quick stop at the pier, and must park illegally now to do so. Often I see people down at the far end-parking ramp, usually windsurfers, but rarely see people in the center of the boardwalk area. Right now there are “No Parking” signs along the entire stretch. Having diagonal or even parallel parking spaces along this stretch would promote the use of the pier and the staircase in the middle of the boardwalk more.
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completelyoverplayed
What makes you think the sand will stay there. Those rocks have likely been moved around there by the water.. the next time the water comes in over the rocks for any reason.. there goes your sand. Seems like a waste of money.
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magnum
completelyoverplayed - what makes you think there isn't away to make it stay? I do not know for sure, Chicago seems ot keep their beaches with sand.
Regardless, my parents live in Venice, FL and the beaches get re-sanded every 15 years with Federal funds. I love how us Buffalonians help pay for hurricane damage, considering we don't get hurricanes. I don't know how the insurance industry asses risk, but I'm sure we are also paying for earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and hurricanes. Back to the point, downtown Buffalo is a viable location for a beach and we need to find a way to make it happen. A nice swim able beach would definitely help attract people to the area.
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enrique14150
RisingDamp makes a very good point about the quality of the earth/sand/rocks already there. Another consideration if you want a beach is the water quality. Though it is probably much cleaner than it once was, I hardly think the Buffalo River or the harbor are clean enough for much swimming.
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carl
Pebble's? Gravel? Looking at that photo i see a lot of Low Ash Coke, iron slag, concrete chips, and brick shards.....even some coal by the looks of it. Most of it probably came from the gigantic piles of this crap laying just a mile down shore.
Did they do any environmental cleanup studies of this site? I'm guessing it could use one.
the pebbles of de-industrialization i guess.
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magnum
The Buffalo river flows north from Erie Basin Marina, so anything south should have decent water. Another possibility is the land adjacent to the Coast Guard light house.
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