Buffalo Rising Online

Sorry, to clarify---- The $40 million ALSO includes the rehab of 170 existing units, the new construction (20 for-sales homes, and 110 new rental units), and community facilities.

Regardless of the lack of any merit to the front yard parking, these revised plans highlight once again the complete disconnect between the on-the-whole decent planning/design guidelines adopted by the City and the laissez-faire attitude agencies and review boards take when the pencil hits the drafting paper.

It's really high time to end the 'Do as I say, not as I do' approach to urban development on the part of the City.

The 40 Mil woulda been spend better trying to *intelligently* lure new business here instead.

Authorities were implemented to separate specific public needed services from the corruption of public government. Transportation / Sewers / Public Housing were all seen as susceptible to political will and full of patronage so the authorities were to bring about an independence from public servants in order to focus on their own jobs better...

Well that independence 30 years and counting has created it own problems and needs to be addressed. We as citizens should have the power to vote these idiots out of power if they are not doing what we feel is appropriate for the city. But then again that would mean American's would have to vote.. and as Tuesday showed we are probably the worst "democratic" nation when it comes to active participation in government.

As for the project itself I totally agree with al-alo. 40 million dollars put into giving and rehabbing existing homes would go a lot farther in raising property values and tax roles than a new public housing project. Cause in the end NO ONE is going to want to live next to or near this thing. There are TOO many bad memories and stigma's associated with them, no matter how nice they look. Concentrating poor in public housing is a problem that other cities have moved away from, WHY are we still trying to dress up a bad idea????

So, once again the people that feed off the system get the big breaks, when this project is finished, take a photo of it and then another one in 10 years, bet you it will look as it does now!

Compart_lws wrote....... Hmmmmmmmmm… maybe it's time to get rid of all agencies ending in the word "Authority". Seems all they do is self-perpetuate without regard for the city as a whole (fiscally or strategically). Is there something in NY State charter (or something) that requires "Authorities" or, is it a governor-level thing?

Just wanted to make sure we all read this twice...........dead on!!!

This goes for all the IDA's we have in the region as well......

RE: Authorities Here is a great NY Times article from May 2007 that validates your concerns with the authorities and lends a ray of hope that there may actually be some degree of reform (we can all hope). (http://tinyurl.com/247ffh) NYTIMES!

On a somewhat related note; the Mayor is looking to expand the current need for police officers in the city to rehire BHMA officers who lost their jobs when the city determined that the Buffalo Police could handle policing the BHMA properties. There are currently 14 BHMA officers in need of a job, the city is considering bringing them on, not as part of the original 60 officers that the BPA / BPD insisted that they need, but in addition to these 60. At an average salary of $71,000 per year, this is an additional $980,000 per year expense (unladen and before overtime) with benefits and overtime we are looking at spending an additional $1.5 Million per year on officers who weren't factored in to the original plan and who we claimed we did not need 4 years ago.

The city is looking to reverse course on the 2003 decisions by adding 74 new officers to the ranks, at the cost of about $7.4 Million per year. The funny part of this is that they are using the inflated $200,000 per week ($10M per year) overtime figures to justify more officers. I would be on-board with this if the BPA and BPD can provide absolute assurance that there will be no overtime offered after the 74 new officers hit the streets. The sad part is that the last three times we have gone through this exercise OT has returned to pre-hiring levels within 6 months of the new hires hitting the streets. Is it any wonder that the City's finances are in trouble? This is going unnoticed and unchecked by the majority of Buffalonians.

Final note, the Mayor and residents of Buffalo should demand the same level of policing that the suburbs receive, after all we are now paying more than 25 times the amount for police in the city than our suburban counterparts (when adjusted for population and size of the police district).

Knock them down, land bank the vacant property and build the new units out in Lancaster, Amherst, Clarence, Cheektowaga, etc where the residents will have some hope of finding jobs, getting a good education and ending the herding of the metropoliton area's poor in one location.

We are demolishing homes in Buffalo because we have no property owners and no tenants!

Morons!

Buffalo should not be in the business of municipal housing! Give them vouchers of Bus tickets!

Demolish the municipal housing...the neighborhood will only be that much better for it.

Well it is the BUFFALO housing authority because for some reason we were the only municipality that actually tried to provide for the disadvantaged peoples of the region while the rest of the burbs grew up with the explicit purpose to get away from and keep "undesirables" out. The American dream and all.

Maybe if more people actually cared about poor people instead of running away from the problem in the first place we wouldn't be in this situation. The poverty rate in buffalo is 29.9% now, but the unemployment rate for Erie County is about 4.9% in Buffalo is a bit higher at 6.6%. Meaning many of these DO WORK... the problem is the jobs they work at don't pay them enough to actually live in our overburdened society where people spread out more and more and therefore increase the burden of infrastructure on those they left behind. Rich create their own elite enclaves, poor are left behind to "get their act together." But too bad all the social networks, jobs, access that actually HELP people to get out of poverty followed the rich people away from those who need it.

Concentrating poor people into dangerous housing projects run by political hack pocket-lining patronage buraucracies was supposed to HELP them? Wow who knew?

it is the BUFFALO housing authority because for some reason we were the only municipality that actually tried to provide for the disadvantaged peoples

For all its problems, the voucher apporach is much better than housing authority projects - at least allows for some free choice and mobility.

Why does it appear that I "hate" the suburbs? I'm just asking that people be honest with the situation. If they went that far, I'd at least have some respect.

Why is it that it is the BUFFALO municipal housing authority? How did the suburbs get a free pass on having to deal with metropolitan area's poor? It should be the ERIE COUNTY Municipal Housing Authority. I'd be all for it. As our populations grew outside our cities' borders the cities were not allowed to annex the new growth, yet they remained the ones responsible for housing the metropolitan area's poor.

All I ask for is to share the responsibility. Either a) house the poor equally instead of herding them in one municipality, or b) go ahead and continue to just throw our tax money at that municipality in State and County subsidies, but at least admit to what we are doing in the latter option: subsidizing keeping the poor out of our municipalities.

Or is it just a coincidence that every city has a municipal housing authority while being surrounded by more prosperous municipalities without any? I guess every city has just had the fate of "bad leadership" and nothing to do with having to care for the area's poor while those with money moved over the tax/school border while taking the money with them?

As I pointed out in other posts, Albion is not sitting out there all by itself with 100k+ residents, great schools, no poor or crime and any other attributes of Amherst. Society does not work that way. Any society will have its poor, criminals, etc. our society just prefers to keep them in one municipality while the others around it pat themselves on the back for the greatness they accomplished.

People will just move onto the next adjoining town (or school district) while still proclaiming there greatness while the decay starts to creep into their old burbs (neighborhoods). The wave of disinvestment will continue outward regardless of municipal borders. We as individuals will ensure that happens.

I have no problems with "the suburbs". I have a problem with people who choose to keep moving outward and running instead of sticking by one another and trying to make (save) something great and worth fighting for. All while pointing back like it is somebody else's problem and that they have no role in it.

FYI - I don't live in the city of Buffalo. But I can acknowledge the role we all play in it's current state and any chance of it, and our area as a whole turning around. I was raised by a single mom who worked three jobs to not have to take public assistance. So I too know hard work and expect people to do the same. Be it those getting subsidized or those who are currently just throwing tax money at the problem.

hey Sbrof, if you cant make a living in Buffalo where food and housing are the cheapest in the nation then you can rule out making it in 90% of the country. So I dont have alot of patience with that argument. Heck you can buy a house off the city for $50k...and your mortgage would be cheaper than an apartment or the cost of municipal housing......so giving the poor housing in Buffalo is just bull manure!

The rest of the country may have more jobs and growth.....but you have to pay for it in cost of living. Plus I would not call housing vouchers NOT caring for the poor....

Not everyone can aford the so called "cheap housing" in your city,,,,,isn't Buffalo the 2ND. POOREST City in the U.S? So just who exactly is moving in?

Its rather easy to statistically be the second poorest city in the US when you leave the poor in it and pull all the money to the towns that surround it. How does Erie County stack up in the list of "Poorest Counties" in the country? The metropolitan area is the true indicator of the areas standing, not sampling the poorest section of it. Go back 100 years ago. A majority of the population was in the invisible borders of Buffalo. It had its poor sections, middle income sections, and rich sections. Just like any city. Now I guess a national source could have wrote an article that the "XX Ward" of Buffalo was the poorest ward in the country. I guess everyone would have just pointed fingers to those in the XX ward for being lazy and voting in the same old councilman. And they pry would have made sure that all new municipal housing would be put in the XX ward to ensure nothing ever changed. But as a whole Buffalo was a power house and considered such through out the world. One area, one shared tax base, everyone in it together. The best or worst as a whole.

Now we have just conveniently moved most of the middle class neighborhoods and wealthy neighborhoods a couple miles away into areas that happen to be a different municipality just because that is where a line was drawn there 150 years ago. We put all the money into one and left the lack of money in another and act like they are independent of each other. It's not that simple.

I do not totally disagree with you chikinlil. My biggest issue is how we all walk around like our s1ht don't stink. Every contiguous developed town is Buffalo whether they like it or not. It was a natural growth that would not have been there otherwise. Picture a beautiful tree canopy with an old rotting trunk. The canopy can try to say how great it is and dillusion itself into thinking the trunk has nothing to do with how it got there. It can keep trying to grow away from the trunk. But as we can see the growth for the tree as a whole becomes less and less, the rot keeps creeping up the tree in an overall downward cycle.

We do deserve to have a nice neighborhood. Even if part is subsidized. I've been to subsidized complexes in Ontario in the suburbs of St Catherines and Hamilton. They were spread out. The cars weren't as nice as neighboring developments, maybe the clothes weren't as name brand, and yes there were a few slackers in the complex that had to be constantly reminded to keep their stuff up or lose the privilege. But overall it worked. People played in the same playground, jobs were closer to those who needed them etc. A much better solution than putting all the poor in one area and then wondering why nothing ever changes. People should have to put in hard work to get the privilege and to work their way onto something better. But at the same time we should not make it a tough as possible for them to do so. From an ethical point or from a god use of our tax dollars point.

Take a ride down Genesse from downtown out to Alden. See what our current way of doing things, especially in an area with negative overall growth has gotten us. See the wasted infrastructure abandoned property and clusters of poor. See the wave of disinvestment creeping across the Cheektowaga and Amherst border as individuals keep choosing to cut their losses and move farther out. How is this a good thing? Are we content to just keep moving every 10 years father out while complaining that everything is going down hill and our taxes keep going up? It seems that we are.

The mess we left behind (or our parents/grandparents) is our trash. Don't blame those left behind for not reinvesting. They are not stupid. They have seen those there before them that kicked off the cycle of disinvestment. If those with money weren't willing to stick it out or fight for the neighborhood and reinvest, why should we expect those without a lot of money to do so? The high and mighty couldn't live up to those lofty goals yet they want those who they consider lesser than them too. Quite the double standard if you ask me. The good old "do as I say, not as I do."

I'm rambling now so I'll get on with my day....take care and enjoy....

Well said MJWorthington, if there were more people who understood the consequences of their actions like yourself in and outside of the city we would have a much better region.

Also Chris69, I wasn't saying that you can't make a living in Buffalo and totally agree with you. I was saying that just because they are poor doesn't mean they don't work or have a job. I was arguing against the "get a job you lazy bum" argument that people always proclaim as the end to the poverty problem and why those who are poor don't deserve any help.

sbof, your very correct....many of the poor do work...and many work illegally and dont claim their earnings to the department of social services....do you see how many from the projects are spending their welfare checks at the casino.

sbrof, what you fail to consider is the social norms of grouping people by income in municipal housing. These people never or rarely meet anyone who succeeded in life through education or work....they meet people who are irresponsible...have contempt for education, contempt for work...they embrace addictions, unwed pregnancies. Few have any concept of paying rent or the social contract of being a tenant or a homeowner....they dont understand banks or savings because they arent allowed to have them or they will lose their social services.

housing vouchers would distribute the poor throught wny into any school district, integrate the poor in numbers society can accept into the larger community (I say this because a community will oppose a 150 low income housing units but they will not oppose 10 low income units out of a 100 unit apartment complex), it would put property back on the tax roles and kids would be raised with completely different expectations than ghetto housing.

ghetto housing just doesnt make sense for a city with low property values and declining population.

Ron's comment comment above is good, but something that should be clarified is this:

It is STUPID to think, let alone ask, the residents of Erie County to take an equal share in the burden of the poor who reside in the city. They city created this mess from YEARS of poor judgment, lack of vision and even less action.

Most fundiing of the very wide range of "anti-poverty" govt programs in Buffalo (including most of what BMHA does for better or worse) are not funded by Buffalo city taxes. It's mostly money flowing from from Albany and D.C., so as NYS and U.S. taxpayers, the residents of Erie County burbs are already funding a good share of this money spent in Buffalo. One could even agrue a disproportionate share. And that doesn't even consider that a good chunk of the county budget is spent on entitlements moslty for city residents.

And to MJ, you'll probably never accept this but the choice to live in the city is in no way morally or ethically superior than choosing to live in a suburb, or an exurb, or a small town, or a rural area. Likewise, there's nothing wrong with a decision to move away from a city to one of those places. You condemn people moving from Buffalo...

I have a problem with people who choose to keep moving outward and running instead of sticking by one another and trying to make (save) something great and worth fighting for.

... but when more and more Buffalo neighborhoods for whatever reasons start to exhibit and tolerate more violent crime than many are willing to stomach, then it should be no surprise when those who can afford it will put distance between themselves and rising violence they see with their own eyes. (oh wait, that's all a media haox - yeah right). Humans have internal desires to be safe, and although some portion of the population can choose to bravely stay and "fight for" change, many others don't want to take that risk if they can avoid it. The story of human history is populations over time move toward places they feel safer and/or perceive greater economic opportunity. For Buffalo to ever reverse the trend, more of its poor people would need to stop behaviors that cause violent crime and reduced opportunity - mainly having so damn many fatherless kids. All the social programs in the world won't make real improvements in conditions for the poor if they keep clinging to the same behaviors.

what would I do if I had 140 million to spend anywhere I wanted? Id pay 140 million illegal workers $1 for 1 hour to grab a pick and break NYC off of NYS. That would solve tons of problems instantaneously.