There are real solutions that are being ignored.
I think that one of the most incredible moments that the group experienced while on the Essex tour this past Saturday was seeing this house. It was located just a couple doors down from the upscale restaurant, Prime 490, and a few doors down from Left Bank restaurant and Richmond Avenue. What a sight to see. The amazing thing about this house was the fact that it must have been such a wild looking house when it was in its prime. The unusual brickwork, the solid concrete surrounding the entrance, the tiered levels, the unusual transom-esque windows on the second floor. This house was an incredible find... and it was so sad to see it in this shape.
So many people on the tour inquired as to what could be done to save it. Nobody on the tour wanted to see any of the houses knocked down, but this one was inspirational to say the least. Right around the corner, within eyeshot, there stood a $600,000 home. Plus there were so many positive signs that could be seen on each and every street surrounding this house.
Harvey Garrett: The brick and concrete building owned by the city was on their demo list. We fought to remove it. People have made offers to The City, but the offers weren’t accepted. Even though the demo would have cost The City $15000 to knock it down, they turned down a valid bid of $3500 from someone who wanted to restore it. Then, another offer came through for the same amount ($3500). The person was going to put over $100,000 into it and he never heard anything back from The City’s Real Estate Department. Despite all the recent successes at City Hall we still have a major problem with their Real Estate Department. This happens constantly. It's the only problem... one department. There are real people making real offers that are being turned down or ignored.
BRO: Just a couple doors away sat another beauty. This one was a 3-storey brick structure that, from the look of it, had weathered the years fairly well. Some of the windows were boarded up... but the possibilities were endless on this one. There was even an abandoned storefront on the first floor. The tour group was amazed that this building had not been snatched up by someone who would want to convert it into large living and working spaces. Remember, the tour was only a block or so from Richmond Avenue when seeing these buildings.
Harvey Garrett: The brick structure is privately owned. He's a good guy, but he has no real resources to do what is necessary to restore this property. There is currently one good, valid offer on the property. We're taking the offer to show housing court that he has an offer to sell the property. He is currently doing some brickwork on the building, but we've given him years... and a little brickwork is not going to turn it around. These are the opportunities that we continually see being wasted.
What Others Have To Say
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Comment Options
Hopeful
The real estate department at City Hall is understaffed to the point that it's miraculous that they're able to function at all. The staff, when they're first hired, start out really friendly and helpful, but over time, they become very cynical and testy. It is physically impossible for them to keep up with the work that's required of them.
Of course, this is not an excuse, but an explanation of why offers to buy real estate fall by the wayside. The question is what do we do about it. The politicos first have to know that voters actually care and want change. If it isn't challenged, they think that no one cares. Civics 101.
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Jefferson
Sorry but there's no excuse for the city to ignore legitimate purchase offers. Kudos to Harvey Garrett for continuing to keep at these issues.
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scooter
The city should remove itself from the real estate business and hire a real estate firm!
No salesman would ignore a purchase offer or allow it to unresponded to.....
It might even create a handful of private sector jobs and less government jobs.
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ash
Thanks for bringing this into the light. Hopefully it is the catalyst for change. Both of these structures are diamonds in the rough...one can visualize an overlay of what they could become once again. What can the citizens do here to help turn this problem around? Emails to City Hall? What else?
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Hopeful
I would contact the Council member, newly elected David Rivera, in which the property is located and request a meeting to discuss this. Make sure that the Director of Real Estate is included. Bring along as many interested people as possible, then tell them what's happening and make them fix it. The squeaky wheel theory works.
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ali
What's the group that's touring, and what's the Essex tour? I'm new to Buffalo, and (as an urban redevelopment junkie) love the old buildings and spunky neighborhoods, and I'm amazed by the interest and activism that I see highlighted on this website. But--asides from renovating an old home or starting a business (both under consideration)--I'm having a hard time figuring out how to either learn more or get involved. Can anyone advise? Thanks!
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Joshua
I just drove past this house today and although this house probably needs some work, I think it's doable. I feel a really positive vibe in this neighborhood.
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bfloBR
"Thanks for bringing this into the light. Hopefully it is the catalyst for change. Both of these structures are diamonds in the rough...one can visualize an overlay of what they could become once again. What can the citizens do here to help turn this problem around? Emails to City Hall? What else?"
I would think a web question to CitiStat might be a good way to bring this issue to light.
http://city-buffalo.com/applications/AskCitiStat/default.aspx
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WestSideLonghorn
Hopeful- David Rivera was actually on the neighborhood tour and he lives close by, so I'm pretty sure he's aware of the situation. Fixing problems like this was part of his campaign platform so his attendance at this event is a good sign that he's interested in working on solutions. Let's hope so.
ali- The Essex tour was an event sponsored by the EssexCorners Neighborhood Association to market & promote the neighborhood. Find out more in these articles: http://www.buffalorising.com/story/essex_corners_arts_district_wa#sca http://www.buffalorising.com/story/essex_a_three_hour_tour
Also thanks to queenseyes for all the great coverage on this tour and the highlights/issues surrounding it.
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MasterofUrbanPlanning
Abandoned, Do you know how silly that sounds? People only truly abandon property when it becomes a liability. Do you all not understand that the City has 'abandoned' it duties to its citizens, and you think this 'overworked staff' has an excuse? They take a paycheck and provide you with excuses. In the private sector they'd be shown the door. Why not in Buffalo? Because they are there NOT TO SELL THE BUILDINGS!!!
Let me tell a story. I went to the Division of Real Estate to try and purchase property. There are 30 buildings on my street. I am willing to purchase any of them. These 30 are the only buildings in Buffalo that I am willing to look after, that I am willing to invest my sweat in, care for, and invest $,$$$,$$$ in. I am interested in spending the rest of my life preserving a working class street, cause I think, that kind'a hero is somethin' to be.
When I went to the Buffalo Real Estate Department I was told a story. It goes like this.... Mr. Real Estate would like to tell you how much this or that building is. He would very much like to sell me what should be for sale. But he cannot, the assessment department is behind, and they set the price. Mr. Real Estate told me he had never worked in such a "%^&-ed up place" in his career. He told me he has had people walk into his office with $15,000 cash, asking to purchase a small lot on their corner, [they liked planting tomatoes he thought] and he could not sell it to them. He also said, that another man and his wife walked in with "a bag filled with money". Seems they went to the bank that morning, after getting sick and tired of the 'mayor's hotline not keeping the house next door boarded and the noise of destruction caused by teens keeping them afraid to sleep', and figured they had the capacity [and the grandchildren to live there]. Sorry, cannot sell it to you, I don't have the current price. Mr. Real Estate, says of the 20,000 empties you hear about, he has a list with about 40 on it. Any on my street? No, sorry, I am only interested in what I can manage. I explained I do not overextend my resources beyond the problems I can successfully address.
After being able to secure two buildings of the thirty on my block through private sales, I can give you this insight into the 'real estate department' in Buffalo. This city has determined to do that thing, called 'right sizing'. Right sizing, to the Mayor and all those other hapless, helpless overworked employees, means bull dozing working class houses in mass. Do any of you really think after trying to secure prices for 5 years, on 9 working class homes on my street that the 'sellers' (the city of good neighbors) are even interested it actually offering them for sale? At un-inflated auction starting prices? Other people checked, [for me and on their own] they like my street also. And I was beginning to think my breath was bad, or dollar not long enough, so let somebody else see what they could find out. No, they will not sell property on my street to anybody. For 5 years I have tried to get prices, no deal, no sale, they simply are not for sale.
But every year they offer them at inflated prices at what the city calls, the auction. The auction where you have to bring cash, a %, but you are not able to inspect the property via prior appointment, nor be informed of the opening bid (starting bid for you Ebay flippers) so you'll know how much money % to bring. Then you have to sit and listen to them try and talk you out of buying the houses, with promises that the 'back bills' are all going to be your responsibility if you 'win'.
This is perhaps the best kept joke at the Real Estate Department. The personnel spend months telling people they cannot do anything 'because the auction is coming up', then they keep the 'results' unpublished. Ya, I needed the results of a few past auctions for research and was once told they "don't keep the results". To know how the auctions went, you'd have to sit there for three days each and every year, otherwise go on a Cindy Cooper PhD search of individual titles on housing court computers.
No my friends, you cannot buy anything in Buffalo if you don't have $1,000,000. And if you do, they want to pretend they are the IRS, and expect you to start forking it over in back 'bills'.
Another true story before I go, and then I will leave you to your day dreaming about 'saving the buildings'. I have kept detailed notes (somewhere in my notes) of who moves in and out, and if I see something, when. I know of two CITY OWNED buildings on my block, one with a $3500, and another with a $4500 back water bill. It is claimed that these bills are 'prior owner debts', and were run up by the previous owners. What kind of utility lets you get $4500 in arrears with no shut off? You will have to trust me, the amounts are seriously in error. Neither of these buildings has a meter, so the water company cannot prove the accuracy. I know when the previous owners 'abandoned' them, for want of 'garbage fees' , and the amounts are simply both fictions. On both of these buildings I called to have the water turned off and was told, only the owner can do that. [The capacity to shower in them was attracting the drug dealing women].
So, eventually I check because maybe they could take my money at the auction. Then I found out the garbage bill amounts was probably just as invented. [Ya, I know, you believe those people]. The point is, there is no way for a potential purchaser, or auction winners, to challenge the amount you 'assume’ if you win. It is in this atmosphere of 'buyer friendliness' that the city tries to peddle its housing. No, truth is, they would rather see the history of working class Buffalo, landfilled, so a nice pile of bank financing can put up some 'model apartments'. "Public Housing" will replace the capacity of middle class home ownership, because otherwise the money will would stay in that working class equity? We couldn’t allow that could we? This is NOT a conspiracy theory; it’s simply an economics lesson.
I think several of you need to do some serious home work, gain some valid understanding of the interests involved, before you defend the Real Estate Divisions practices. B. Brown, his education, and his staff of 'planners' coupled with 'developer interests' are behind this insanity gentlemen. It ill serves the working class, and slowly growing working underclass, of this GREAT CITY.
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xmissanthropic
MasterofUrbanPlanning's got it dead on; you should write for BRO. The outrageous starting prices at the auction indicates an inappropriate attempt by the city at trying to make back lost fees and taxes rather than selling these houses at what the market will bear. So instead they sit and rot. Anticipating demolition they cut the utilities creating more damage for the potential purchasers than the vandals.
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ash
It's very simple. Citizens. History has proven that if you get enough people behind a leader and cause, there is change.
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AtwaterLouse
The number usually cited for vacant houses is 10,000. Sometimes 20,000 is cited when referring to vacant "units" (accounting for some houses being doubles, triples, or multi-apt).
Now, it wouldn't be possible for the city to offer all of those 10,000 for sale since for one thing it does not own every vacant house. Also, even some they own might be way too far gone in terms of safety, etc.
But how many does it own that are in decent enough conditions to offer for sale? Good question. It should be a hell of a lot more than the 40 that MasterOfUrbanPlanning was told are currently available.
That question and a general explanation of all this should be answerable by any of the council members. If they're not familiar with this, they should be. They've all been in office many years (not counting councilman-elect Rivera) collecting full time salaries.
Perhaps could QueensEyes or somebody at BR phone up any of those they have on speed dial (Golombek, Kearns, etc.) and ask them to confirm or deny the details in MasterOfUrbanPlanning's comment and to discuss what improvements the council could force? Could the council hold a public committee hearing about this to question the Real Estate dept in public and on the record?
This is exactly the kind of issue our council members should be spending hours and hours of their full time year round job focusing on understanding, providing oversight about, and writing legislation to improve -- compared to many of the things they seem to find more fun and popular to talk about.
And if money is needed to upgrade the Real Estate dept operations, that's exactly the kind of thing our Albany legislaors should be getting the city money for compared to... some other things.
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ash
OK Newell, Harvey, let's get this party started. Essex Corners will stand behind you.
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RaChaCha
Ali, to your question: in addition to getting in on a future Essex Corners tour, you may also want to check out David Torke's revitalization tour of the Midtown neighborhood around the new ArtSpace project. He's been doing these tours regularly on Saturday mornings, with a meetup at the DeltaSonic cafe across the street from ArtSpace. For details, best bet would be to check in with the Landmark Society office in the Market Arcade downtown, at 852-3300. You can also check out fixbuffalo.blogspot.com.
With you being, as you say, an urban redevelopment junkie, perhaps we'll see you standing proudly in front of one of your projects in a future Buffalo Rising article!
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westsider
I am dumbfounded at the gravity of this article. Analytical by nature, I question the real reasoning behind these un-developments. First and foremost, who is set to profit the most from keeping things from progressing on a monumental scale. Some clues have been offered in previous posts which seem to point the fingers in the right direction, is it true the Division of Real Estate's overwhelmed with the task of regulating their directives. Hmmmm I am certain a volunteeer force of concerned citizens could help them out of their slump at no cost to the city, county or state. Would'nt that be a welcome proposal? Unless they have another agenda that superceeds their excuses, I know of at least tweny other hands that could be put into this task.
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11111inBlo
I am completely amazed by this too. This completely undermines everything that this website and the greater movement is striving for. Who is the boss who is in charge of staffing this department? Does this person have an education or were they simply GIVEN the job because they spent enough time in some lower job?
Really, the economics are easy. If you use the house in the article as an example:
$15k to demolish
$3.5k to not
--------------------
$18.5k to put towards hiring more staff.
So multiply this by the potential number of properties that this applies to and you suddenly have quite a budget.
This was like when they closed the golf courses due to budget problems, but they actually MADE money.
It sounds like the bottle neck here has been identified, it is not the real estate department, but the appraisal department. How recent does an appraisal need to be to be used? Can we hire some temporary people to get this glut of work done. I would guess that this is not an on going work load.
Can we get some competent management installed here?
I would love to see a BR interview with the managers of these two departments. Can we PLEASE bring them onto next weeks WBFO show?!?!
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al-alo
now on top of those 10,000 buildings abandoned homes in our city, there are blocks and blocks of homes that cant sell for 20k. these are the blight of the future.
now when the owners move on, and the kids inherit the home, what happens? the kids cant sell it. they cant rent it. and they dont want to pay to maintain it. they dont want to pay taxes, or water, or heat the house. so what happens? taxes end up in arrears. the water goes unpaid. the windows get broke. the pipes freeze. maybe a homeless guy moves in. maybe a drug dealer. maybe theres a fire.
now you have bigger blight. and the property around the burned out hulk depresses property values. it spreads.
without real reform, better marketing and cheap homesteading, the road to buffalo's recovery will continue to be artificially and needlessly obstructed.
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al-alo
how about a program like this:
Military Homestead Act
A Plan for Giving Honorably Discharged Veterans with a Home in Buffalo.
Creating a public nonprofit corporation to manage the acquisition, inventory, marketing, and awarding of property to honorably discharged military veterans who promise use the building or land as a primary residence or business and to bring structures into code compliance.
Potential sources for property allocation include: • Outright donations • Outright purchase • Donations in lieu of tax or user fee forgiveness • Properties that fail to sell at foreclosure auction
Small scale programs would likely have many positive impacts: • Infuse a new skilled, young, motivated and capable population to Buffalo. • Stabilize neighborhoods • Reduce neglected, or potentially neglected structures in the city • Returns property to City tax rolls • Increase owner occupied units in City housing. • Potential to ensure the long term stability of the Veteran’s Administration hospital • Generate construction spending • Create national attention and community goodwill
Despite probable hurdles, the project’s target beneficiaries would likely facilitate any required changes to existing statue.
See a similar concept at: http://www.operationforeverfree.org/
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Harvey
It is a very serious problem. Urban Roots has been trying to buy a couple of vacant lots for several months now - they can't even get a price.
The number of stories out there of people who tried for years to purchase something from the City, until the property got so bad it had to be demoed are numerous. How many of the properties that get demoed every year had valid offers at some point that weren't considered?
As I told Newell - City Hall functions a thousand fold better than it did a couple of years ago. We have professional commissioners that care about their jobs and work together, there are accountability controls, and far more visibility. The Real Estate Department is the hold out. And with all the vacant properties we have to deal with, especially properties we work hard to drum up interest in, it's more than a shame - it's travesty.
We are making tremendous improvements all across the West Side - but as soon as you have to purchase a property from the City things slow right down. And I'll say it again - this is the only department in all of City Hall that I have this problem with.
Something needs to be done soon. I've submitted quite a few cases (including the brick property above) that provide enough detail to make whatever changes need to be done. I imagine they are working on it - I just wish they would work a little faster. Until then - we don't let it stop us as anyone who made the recent Essex Corners tour can attest to.
Harvey
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AtwaterLouse
Who is the boss who is in charge of staffing this department?
answer to 11111inBlo from city's web page, and related info from there:
http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/Home/Leadership/City_Departments/Office_of_Strategic_Planning/RealEstate
Real Estate Division Head: John Hannon, Director Phone Number: (716)-851-5261 Address: 901 City Hall, Buffalo, NY 14202
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AtwaterLouse
Excerpt:
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AtwaterLouse
Sorry, link to above should have been this:
web page re. purchasing city-owned properties
Looks to me that the council's Community Development Committee would have oversight over the Real Estate Div. Membership: Golombek (chair), Russell, LoCurto, Smith, Fontana
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WESTSIDECHIC
We have purchased 3 separate houses under foreclosure. All through private sales and were able to close on the sale of the properties in less than thirty days. We have tried to purchase vacant abandoned properties through the real estate office and we have never been able to work anything out. Obstacle after obstacle always more red tape, always more bureaucratic BS. Byron Brown needs to clean up this office.. They are the main reason why there are so many vacant houses in the city. This office has prevented us from trying to make buffalo a better place
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RisingDamp666
Perhaps the city is holding out for something more: Maybe they think Toll Bros. or Hovnanian will ride into town and swoop up all these distressed properties, or the vacant lots after the houses are demolished. Wouldn't your typical city bureaucrat rather deal with a few parties ( that have private jets and skyboxes at the Super Bowl ) than deal with scores of grubby sweat equity pioneers? This so-called "red tape" seems more like a stone wall.
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platt4
This thread has made me sick. The city is burdened with tens of thousands of vacant units but only sees demo as the way out? Buyers for some of these properties inquire only to be turned away or are given the run around, grow frustrated, and walk? What the hell is going on here and why aren't the elected officials reforming the department AND the system? Master of Urban Planning's experience is scandalous. David at Fix Buffalo has been calling for 'for sale' signs on city-owned properties for years. If this is the system in place to get vacant publicly owned properties into capable hands- why bother?
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AtwaterLouse
This sounds like something over which the Common Council should start exerting some serious oversight and monitoring.
As with the 48 hour pot hole fixing turn-around time the city started promising last year, there should be some reasonable time frame that a citizen can expect for being provided a price tag on any city owned property. Say one or two weeks maximum or something like that.
The city web site excerpt pasted above implies there's no delay in this ("The purchase price is established at the time of application using current market data"), but from what people are writing here it seems that's not even close to what really happens. If having some delay is unavoidable (and I suppose it would be unless they priced each of the 4000 houses it says the city owns, which probably wouldn't be a good use of time for most), then the delay ought to be short and within some promised limit following a citizen's serious inquiry.
Once they determine the price for any house, that info ought to appear on the city's web site.
Putting "for sale" signs on these houses should also be a no-brainer, as well as web listings of addresses even when prices aren't yet determined.
None of this incompetence should be used to deny the reality that there really are thousands of houses that should be demolished, and some blocks that should be land-banked even though that's not something any politician here will admit.
But fixing this mess could make a real difference for the many neighborhoods on the edge or on a slippery slope to the edge.
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Seamus
I'm really glad our little tour could be a catalyst for such a passionate thread.This house had fallen off my radar screen long ago.I had no idea the city rejected/ignored that offer so I assumed it was a done deal.Well we did have our new Council Member David Rivera along so if nothing else he certainy has first hand knowledge of our frustrations with this matter.I think anybody's help with expiditing the proccess would be welcome at this point.Perhap those most familiar with this situation can get together and try to refocus the effort another way.
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KernwatchMN
The new energy to address housing issues generated by this neighborhood is exciting to see.
However, it is important to recognize that there is a steep learning curve for anybody entering the realm of low income housing in Bflo.
The City Real Estate office has long been a major problem & needs massive reform, especially as the city is taking on ever more derelict properties & is embarking on the immense plans to accept about 1400 blighted MBBA properties, as well as attempt to demolish 5000 buildings in 5 years.
However it is also important to reform WSNHS (WS Neigh Hous Service) which has six full time staff & an administrative budget of approximately $1/2 million but has been incredibley unproductive.
WSNHS' mission as found on http://nfs.nw.org/report/nworeport_print.aspx?orgid=8133 :
"Founded in 1980 to stop the decline of the West Side of Buffalo, New York, and to rebuild housing stock and promote reinvestment in the neighborhood. Primary objective is to promote home ownership"
As WSNHS should be a major ally in battling blight & fostering falling home ownership, in the past year WSNHS has rehabbed merely one house (116 19th for $55K) while finally demolishing their long blighted house at 931 Prospect (gifted to them by HSBC Bank 6yr ago & never touched).
In addition, another costly $85K WSNHS rehab at 134 16th was lost in foreclosure & resold to a NYC speculator for $19K. That is NEGATIVE PRODUCTIVITY as the WS desperately needs aggressive neigborhood-based rehab. Too often WSNHS-owned houses have blighted neighborhods instead of providing hope.
A second concern is that newly elected Naigara District Councilman David Rivera has been very ineffective on the housing front. He lives on perhaps the most-flipped & blighted block of the WS. He lives at 362 14th, directly opposite 7 boarded-up houses.
One of the board-ups at 377 14th was rehabbed by the same carpet-bagger scammer (Ray Osland) who I battled at illegally mold-abated 101 Chenango as well as at vacant & flipped 89 & 91 Chenago. The notorious local flipper Adam White, who dumped 89 & 91 for Osland to a "foreign" speculator, also flipped 364 14th, next door to Rivera.
The most recent sale of one of the blighted 14th St houses opposite Rivera was #371 from HUD for $5555 to an unknown buyer two months ago.
There are housing policy challenges everywhere on the WS. Hopefully some new leaders in the Essex neighborhood will join the battle.
Dick Kern
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Digginit
Why have posts that were on last night been deleted?
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benfranklin
Masterofurbanplanning describes the situation as it exists. City Hall is in over it's head, between trying to figure out whether you have enough capital to do a proper rehab, and being sure that you're not going to 'flip' the house, God forbid anyone make a profit. Didn't anyone look into what was required at the last auction? For those that didn't, you needed to describe how you would upgrade the property (all of the mechanicals) and where the money would come from. Yes, a plan for a property you've never been in. It's been pretty clear for some time that they've put the majority of their resources into tearing down houses. Bureacracies aren't great at being able to take multiple paths (some buildings could be saved, some can't)... City Hall is just proving the point.
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benfranklin
One possible solution would be to offer all city owned residential property at a percentage of the assessed valuation (or some other previously and available valuation). Hold the price for a month. Reduce the percentage each month, (lowering the potential purchase price) until some minimum is reached. (No hidden back bills).
A small amount of code could be written that would calculate the prices, generate some html, and put it on the web (I'd do it for free). Give a preference to first time home owners. Have volunteers put together a free class for first time buyers on getting through the city hall maze. Have city hall put together some fast track program that gives these owners sufficient time to bring homes up to code.
But again, the decision from City Hall has to be that they are interested in seeing these homes lived in. This doesn't fit with 'rightsizing'.
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wunder_y
It think Mr Garrett is off a little on this issue. The Real Estate Department is not "the only problem". They are part of the Office of Strategic Planning and cross over to the Department of Economic Development, Permits and Inspection Services. They have bosses who aren't doing their jobs either. Watch some of the Citistat show. Real Estate takes its lumps, but no one seems to be doing much to improve it. Maybe Mr Wanamaker needs to pay more attention to the workings of his department instead of grilling every other commissioner on how they work, or don't. The Real Estate role needs to fit into an overall strategy, plan and process for vacant property management and that comes from higher up, and that direction it not apparently forthcoming yet.
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ElmwoodBoy
The City needs a DRE director whose job is to sell the real estate that the City owns and doesn't need. The first step is to get a list of all the City owns and its assessed value. Then, put a for sale sign on it and take offers, sell to the qualified high bidder and transfer the property. Require a claw-back provision if improvements / code compliance is not made within six months.
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BROKEEPSBLOCKINGME
WANNAMAKER IS JUTS TRYING TO BUILD HIS [deleted] LITTLE RESUME BEFORE HE TRIES TO GET TO A BIGGER CITY, SO HE REALLY COULD GIVE TWO [deleted] ABOUT WHAT IS ACCOMPLISHED HERE. BROWN, DAVIS, WANNAMAKER THEYRE ALL JOKES, ACCOMPLISHING NOTHING BUT TERMS ON THEIR RESUMES... NOW WONDER THE CITY IS BROKE [deleted]
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AtwaterLouse
Mr. Kern, what's meant by your statement that
Jan 1 2008 will be his first day in elected office. What's "ineffective" about a private citizen having neighbors who vacated their houses? I must be missing something there.
benfranklin - I agree with almost your whole comments here except for the attacks on right sizing as a concept. Seems ot me it's possible to favor right sizing to demo and landbank blocks saturated with vacant houses and lots (such as streets near Koons Ave and others) and at the same time to say many city-owned houses on blocks not as far gone (such as many in Essex Corners, Hamlin Park, and others) should be offered for sale easily at fair prices.
Extremism either way, "demo all vacant houses" or "demo no vacant houses", are both short sighted. The population hemmorage is reality. Arson dangers to firefighters and neighbors are reality. Some demos are needed especially in the majority of Buffalo seldom discussed on BR, and for too many years very little was done. Despite other failings, the Brown admin deserves credit for their goal of 1000/yr over the next five years. In 2013 even if the aggressive goal is met, it would still leave 5000 vacant houses standing plus those vacated between now and then.
It sounds like a big problem how difficult they're makiing it for people to buy city owned houses, which is inexcusable and needs fixing asap. But that doesn't discredit right sizing as a concept. Did Masiello who did much fewer demos have a better record of how houses were offered for sale? Doubtful. These are two separate issues.
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Olcott_Beach
Last summer, during the garden tour, a friend and I walked past this house and I could not help but notice the elaborate sandstone entrance. It is a second generation from the original Victorian and I would suspect that from the entrance, it must have been used as either a doctor’s, lawyers or some type of professional office.
Unfortunately, the kiss-of-death “Gas Cut” spray paint has been applied by the city so this buildings fate has been sealed.
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benfranklin
The 'gas cut' tag, in a larger sense, is unfortunate. City hall tries to say it won't stand for grafitti, but when it's convenient for it's operation, go ahead, and scribble on the front of the building. In this specific case, it's invited other grafitti (see the door), by letting everyone know the building is unoccupied.
I realize in fighting a fire, or for other reasons, the tag may be helpful. But across the city, the cumulative effect of marking what buildings are free to be explored by less desireables... well, I think it's clear that those spraying 'gas cut' don't live next door to the soon-to-be-vandalized building.
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Joshua
ben - it is probably easier to sandblast or presure hose that paint off the bricks than to return service back to the house. With some love and care this house could be a home. From the outside, needs some windows and possibly a new door. I can't imagine what it needs inside. I was imagining myself actually purchasing this house, (don't have the money yet...). :-(
I drove to Johnson Park to take a look around and I noticed that the house that was saved there was getting some work done. The paint was coming off and it was getting some TLC.
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benfranklin
Joshua, "Getting service back" (gas, electric or water) is it's own individual nightmare. Once the meter has been disconnected for over a year, National Grid will want a licensed electrician to give his stamp of approval. Basically that means that 'the guy' giving you the estimate for the work that needs to be done, is the one making the decision whether or not the electric can be turned on. Talk about conflict of interest. Just one of the 'grab your ankles' moments in rehabbing a building downtown.
The gas company will want to be shown that you can pressurize the lines without losing pressure, which makes sense. My dad came up with an interesting aparatus that used a hose, and some water, to show that the system was airtight. The uptight neighbors couldn't figure this out, and thinking we were stealing gas from National Fuel, called the police. Rehabbing in Buffalo is not quite like "Flip that house"... and, oh, by the way... that 'gas cut' tag will garuntee that the building is stripped of anything valuable, and that someone will use the living room as a bathroom.
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KernwatchMN
Atwater:
I have known David Rivera for many years thru his leadership with Andy Garcia of "Hispanics & Friends". I had also watched his 350 block of 14th St closely because it was another painful example of the failure of WSNHS' practice of 'scattershot rehab', making no visible impact on struggling neighborhoods.
At the end of the 7 board-ups across from Rivera at 362 is a $76K WSNHS rehab (10/01) of 385-87 14th. It is next door to a longtime derelict 383, awaiting taxpayer funded demolition.
The WSNHS client at 385-87 is assessed at $39K, but unlikely to be able to sell it for $30K.
I always left information of new neighborhood developments at Rivera's house when in the neighborhood, offering to help . . . he being one of few home owners left . . . in the best house on the block . . as the neighborhod steadily worsened. He never responded in any way.
Dick Kern
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Seamus
Joshua and Ben Franklin, I was inside this house 3 years ago,surprisingly there was a fair amount of woodwork intact but little else was salvagable.Make no mistake it needs a total gut rehab which will only get more difficult in time as this home suffered a fire approx. 4 years ago and the roof was gone on the rear section.The longer a building remains exposed to the elements the less chance it has to be saved.Hence the neighborhood frustration. Ben,the national electrical code is the reason you must get the electrical inspected before resuming service after a building is unoccupied for one year with no service.Barring a miracle an older building will almost certainly need a new service.Any good electrician can get you set up with enough power to start working once the new service has been inspected.That's just the way it goes in rehabs. Here's a tip for dad,it's relatively easy to make a fitting for an air compressor to test gas lines(very low pressure 10lbs.),I've even seen it done with hand pumps.You can then use soapy water on all the joints and test for leaks.Less chance for mess and damage and a good idea before calling Nation Fuel and wasting time.
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AtwaterLouse
Mr. Kern - Thanks for the reply. Your first sentence makes a case that WSNHS had failures, but was he an officer/leader of WSNHS or just a member or neither?
His leadership of Hispanics and Friends doesn't sound housing related. Again, most of your critiques of him in this comment too are really critiques about houses near his. How it it reasonable to blame a private citizen for what happens to other people's properties. I realize some private citizens take extraordinaty steps to solve problems with other people's properties but that's very rare. For you to say he's "very ineffective" because he didn't seems like a charge that could be applied to almost anybody on those blocks.
To attack his record as a private citizen seems pretty lame, unless he was falsely claiming any specific accomplishments that never happened, and you haven't cited any of those.
Let's see what he does in office. I don't think a council member can be expected to work miracles, but it will be reasonable to expect him to promptly respond to all citizen complaints about particular houses, and in the bigger picture push for more effective council oversight of the Permits/Inspections dept and Real Estate div, and to work with other members on legislating some big overhauls and policy changes regarding how city owned houses still in decent condition are offered for sale. Probably a bunch of other things too. I'm no expert.
You could suggest some specifics here of what exactly he should do when in office about these matters. That could be constructive. How about some of those?
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benfranklin
Atwater - I did not intend for my post to be an attack on 'right sizing', just that it should be easier for the market to determine which buildings are rehabilitated. Yes, there are good reasons for some to be taken down, but where possible, an efficient market should exist to bring marginal properties back on line. If a farsighted investor is willing to put his money down on a property that all others have turned their back, let's err on the side of the citizen taking the risk, and not the bureacrats bulldozer. Anything that makes the potential transaction less transparent (price, questionable back utilities/water/taxes, etc.) keeps the demolition crews busier.
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AtwaterLouse
Ben - we agree totally. There's no excuse for the Brown admin not having a much more transparent and efficient system for this. It shouldn't be complicated at all to straighten this out. And I wish our full-time year round council members would push for this kind of improvement instead of some other things they like to spend time on.
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