Higgins and Clinton Make a Push for the Waterfront
Senator Hillary Clinton has partnered with Congressman Higgins to lead an effort in the Senate to approve a bill--passed on the House of Representatives yesterday-- which includes $3 million toward a plan to expand public access to waterfront land currently occupied by the Buffalo station for the United States Coast Guard.
The additional funding would bring the total federal commitment to this project to $6.1 million, paired with $3.1 million secured in a bill approved in January.
“This new federal commitment sets this project on course for funding to proceed to construction,” said Congressman Higgins. “We bring Buffalo closer to reaching its waterfront potential through projects like this which expand public access and incorporate Buffalo’s unique history ultimately leading to increased regional economic development and tourism.”
With 31 acres on the City of Buffalo’s Outer Harbor, the Coast Guard Buffalo Sector prevents public access to a significant portion of the City’s waterfront, including the historic Buffalo Lighthouse. The Coast Guard acknowledges that the site is too large for its needs and drew up plans in 2003 to upgrade older facilities and consolidate them in a way that would meet its operational needs and allow for future growth, while remanding some of the land back to the public.
“This funding is a wise investment in the continued growth and resurgence of Buffalo’s waterfront,” said Senator Clinton, “In addition to opening up valuable green space to Buffalonians, we are also giving Sector Buffalo the means to evaluate how they can best maintain a strong Coast Guard presence in the area. I thank Congressman Higgins for his leadership on this issue, and I look forward to help in passing this legislation when it comes before the Senate.”
Ongoing initiatives include: construction of the Outer Harbor Parkway, a $70 million, and highly debated project transforming Fuhrmann Boulevard into a two-way road accompanied by pedestrian paths and boardwalks; and a study, led by the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, that will look at construction of a new bridge to connect the inner and outer harbors.
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Comment Options
bison716
GO BUFFALO!! I agree with the plan, we need to get better access to our outer harbor. As far as Fuhrmann... although I'm for progress (almost anything is better than what we have now), I personally would rather see the boulevard plan in motion. More space to develop, better access to the waterfront, and more pleasing to the eye. I hate to put my 2 cents in when the wheels are already in motion, but imagine IF Fuhrmann is made into a boulevard (possible "the fight continues"), the new connecting bridge is constructed to better connect our outer harbor (Higgins and Clinton have this in motion), and all the ramps connecting the Skyway are demolished and replaced with a simple street grid connecting Fuhrmann Boulevard and the "new" bridge (Hmmmm...). NOTICE I SAID JUST THE "RAMPS".
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onestarmartin
maybe higgins can work with the NYDOT to elevate the roadway to get to the waterfront as he did with route 5. otherwise great news should it happen.
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KenS
onestarmartin...maybe you would rather have higgins ignore the waterfront completely, like the political dumbasses of the past 20-30 years.
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flyguy
I would like to think that every single one of the dollars in interest earned by the federal government on this massive bailout loan to the financials be pumped directly back into our own domestic projects within our own boundaries to support and better our own cities. Enough money overseas already. We're talking a few million here when billions of taxpayer dollars we cant even afford go overseas.
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onestarmartin
hey , if he's going to get grants for the waterfront, do it all properly, not a good job on parts and hatchet jobs on other srea's. as it stands now the way route 5 is bing redone, we are losing miles of waterfront property and vista's. it's sorta like the city getting the innor harbour ready for residential use years ago, but selling out the largest chunk to a series of call center buildings.
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pier1sailing
In as much as I think the Coast Guard project is one of the best projects we have on our waterfront, I still feel saddened by the way we are paving away a beautiful boulevard into a high speed highway. The cause is lost, the law suit is basically dead-when the construction is over-there is nothing anyone can do for the foreseeable future; good bye boulevard, hello high speed transit!
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chrishawley
How about we free up the 77 acres that Route 5 unnecessarily takes up while they are at it?
The federal funding for that project is already there, but is now being diverted back to rebuilding the barrier this federal appropriation was originally designed to help remove...
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TheNextMayor
Higgins is more interested in ribbon cuttings than 77 acres of prime waterfront real estate.
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jackalope21
I appreciate Higgins' efforts on improving the waterfront BUT I can't look past this whole outer-harbor highway thing and why he is so hellbent on seeing it through!! In my book, this overshadows any good that he's done because the outerharbor is such a big part of rebuilding buffalo...and when the DOT even says a highway is not the best plan, why is this topic even up for debate? I know this topic has been talked about ad nauseum, but is there any hope for a blvd still? or is that just a pipedream?
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KenS
pier1sailing...what boulevard is being turned into a highway? The highway has been there for at least the last few decades. Don't make it sound like a 30 mph road is being demolished in favor of a 55 mph expressway.
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