Buffalo Rising Online

If the auto industry goes, who is going to drive here?

once again Buffalo is late to the party...should have done this project years ago when credit was available and projects were greenlit

But what about the "Studies", we had to do the "Studies" on the land, the soil the roads, the birds, etc. ....Before we can do anything in this town.

Reading this Buffalo Rising just confirms what I think is personally wrong with the City of Buffalo's and our regional political leadership. Who is anticipating this is what I would like to know? Is it the developers who are going to receive borrowed cash from the local, state and the federal governments. Are they combined with the elected officials who are salivating over the chance to stand at one more PR event in which they will not be held accountable for the financial mess that results five or six years down the road? This is money that none of elected politicians have and will just be borrowed from people who are working, thus incrementally putting the who system more under government debt? The same elected officials who are pushing this project, are the same ones who have managed to take the Empire State and the federal government and bring them to financial turmoil. Years ago, I heard an economist from the University of Chicago speaking about sports complexes in which he concluded his talk by saying that in these public projects it takes only a basic accountant to total the liabilities but a creative politician to total the revenues. I wish that I was a intelligent person but I do not see any pragmatism in this plan except for getting rid of the auditorium.

it better happen or some people have alot of answering to do

I believe this project will come to fruitation, but the time frame will be several years longer than expected and some major changes will occur. In this economic climate, credit is tight for funding, stores like Bass Pro will be rethinking business plans, the state and county are announcing major cutbacks in funding and aid. It's a pity Buffalo did not start this plan years ago like other cities did. Even this article states the fact that the plan is "flexable" to accommodate market conditions and tenent interest which goes to show even the developers are hedging their bets on the project at this time. I would love to of seen this finished during my time in Buffalo to enjoy the waterfront even more than I have done in the past few years, hopefully, when I visit in years to come it will be finished and a great detination point!

hmm, spell check...deStination

"Studies" are necessary to do anything not just here, but anywhere.

the skyway looks pretty cool in the top picture.....I hope we keep it and just build another foot bridge for pedestrians to access the other side of the harbor....also, Bass Pro is coming.....just wait

The studies are already done. There is already an EIS approved and a plan in place to move forward. We'll be back to square one if Benderson flouts ten years of community planning and ignores the millions of dollars already spent on the Erie Canal Harbor Plan to make dramatic changes that suit them.

Haven't we already learned? How many more delays are we willing tolerate before storming the Bastille, so to speak?

would be nice to live in all the other cities in this country where all that needs to happen for development to become profitable reality is a nose twitch, blink & finger snap. too bad buffalo has to go through planning, studies, approvals, blah blah blah.

Back,

Government funded or permitted project has to go through planning, studies and approvals at any location in this country of ours, the problem is when the process is circumvented that delays inevitably occur due to lawsuits. These processes are law.

Over my dead body this project moves forward.

nice knowing ya carl......sorta

maxim, our housing market is slowing declining....Buffalo always lags the rest of the country....people are backing out of the new condo tower project left and right....prices have dropped on waterfront substantially, many foreclosures in Amherst, Clarence, and cheektowaga. Prices coming down, no financing available.

Its just a matter of time. Our economy is is very weak.

good thing we're all being positive...

The outer harbor has its own dynamic. Of course it would have been nice if Barilla Pasta came to Buffalo next to General Mills instead of Rochester but thats water under the bridge.

The Lakeside Commerce Park is growing, Nanodynamics is growing, the Freezer Queen plant has a new owner, the Bethlehem Steel Site has a something called Lackawanna Clean Energy, the Seneca Rail Yards that used to feed Bethlehem Steel are now the auxillary transhipment facility for the Port of NY/NJ, Riverwright is finishing up on its ethanol/biodiesel plant and the GBNRTC has consultants telling them to create a port authority to bring shipping back to the outer harbor.

The big picture for the Inner Harbor is as follows:

1) Get the Lift Bridge to Furhmann Boulevard

2) Get the Light Rail Extension to the Airport, relocate the NFTA maintenance bays from the DL&W to the Central Terminal and incorporate the DL&W into the Inner Harbor plants which would extend the Inner Harbor development all the way to Michigan.

3) Put the Convention/Conference Center at the Ohio Basin on the table.

All of which would enhance the dynamic of the Inner Harbor Wharf District, promote the regeneration of the First Ward Cobblestone/Warehouse District and the Outer Harbor.

This is a huge public interest project and it needs to educate our tastes and reinvigorate our history.

im pretty sure obama can change all of our problems away

"Benderson and a Canal Side committee formed by ECHDC have been working with Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn on project details. The planning and design firm has been under contract since early 2006 to create design guidelines for the Inner Harbor and Cobblestone Districts."

What does this mean?

stock market is crumbling because Wall St and big businesses are afraid that Obama will redistribute wealth to the poor.

All of you who voted for him, need to check your 401k statement or, better yet, your parents 401k statement....you may never see those retirement funds again

gaustad, Obama is NOT going to do s**t! Look at what Obama is doing. He chose Rahm Emmanuel who has dual citizenship with Israel and is rumored to be a former Israeli Mossad agent and fought in the Israeli Military and whose father was an Israeli terrorism to control the white house as chief of staff...the rest of the cabinet level appointments are former Clintonistas.

A replay of history....as soon as Americans reallize the Obama/Clinton plan the next 2 year election will bring back the Republicans.

(That is if the republicans have figured out who they really are because americans arent going to elect an Israeli warhawk like McCain or a warhawk fascist list BUSH/CHENY...the republicans have to go back to the NEWT GINGRICH and EISENHOWER and Ron Paul Traditions...they have to abandon free trade,open borders and deregulation for starters...moving towards school vouchers, bringing back glass steagal separation of banks and replacing production/investment taxes with consumption taxes)

That aside..I think the harbor project will get built and I think the light rail will get extended to the corridor....thus allowing the wharf district to extend all the way to Michigan. I think that the DL&W could yet again be a downtown train station. I wouldnt be suprised if plans to rebuild the passenger concourse were considered in the future.

onestarmartin -- Additional spellcheck: flexible

This would be a great location for Dinosaur Bar B Que.