Medaille Partnership At McCarthy Park
Next spring Buffalo can expect to add a heaving hitting park to its roster of public amenities. A $625,000 facelift at McCarthy Park is just now being completed thanks to Medaille College, in partnership with The State, The City and Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency. Medaille is investing nearly half the required money needed to ensure the addition of nearby NCAA regulation athletic fields. The park will be available for use by Medaille students, the Buffalo Public School system and the entire community.
Some of the new amenities for the park include a men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse field (newly constructed), along with baseball and soccer (upgrades). This is the type of partnership that we will hopefully see more often, as many of our land-locked colleges look toward public parks. Many people support the symbiotic relationships that the parks offer the colleges and the colleges offer the parks. A similar arrangement could be exercised where D’Youville College and LaSalle Park are concerned. Can you imagine if D’Youville were to take a vested interest in LaSalle Park? The benefits would be enormous.
So many times we see our park system in need of caretakers. If we looked around at the right partnerships, I’m sure that there are plenty of schools lacking the ability to offer their students proper athletic fields. Look at the case of Canisius High School? Didn’t that school spend a lot of time looking at property to purchase in the city? I wonder if a partnership such as the one that Medaille just struck up was ever considered?
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sbrof
This is a great partnership. The improvements and the influence that Medaille could bring to this neighborhood are significant. This is right at the end of the Stockbridge neighborhood and could become another asset to help stabilize the neighborhood.
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peripatetic
While this is exciting news more information would be welcome. This news should be on the City website. From the Buffalo News - “Medaille, meanwhile, invested $300,000 in nearby McCarthy Park.” “Medaille, in partnership with the city and state, upgraded baseball and softball fields at McCarthy Park, and added a new soccer and lacrosse field at a cost of $625,000” Did Medaille invest $925,000 or $625,000?. The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency just approved $80,000 for the project. How much did the State invest?
What work was done? The playfields already existed. It looks like lighting was added and a new building (Lockers, rest rooms?).
Is there a contract between the City and Medaille about usage priorities and maintenance? Will Medaille have free use? Will residents have restricted use?
Hopefully this project was coordinated with Buffalo United Charter School on Manhattan, Bennett HS / All High Stadium, Bennett Park Montessori, Gleasner (Manhattan) Playground, Shoshone Park, Linear Park, and the proposed greenway / bikeway to Tonawanda and the Erie Canal.
One of the proposals for Central Park Plaza has been to convert it to parkland. All these entities could easily be connected to create a terrific asset.
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peripatetic
Just a thought. Is this a quid pro quo for theMain Humboldt BMHA senior Housing switch to 47 East Amherst Street to make room for Medaille residences?
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PressPR247
I often refer to myself as a "child of privilege" because I grew up in that area and some of my fondest childhood memories are from McCarthy Park. I am an avid Buffalo Rising reader and you can imagine my shock when I read the feature article on Stockbridge Avenue from some days ago and discovered by parents home (green and white) featured on the website. I loved the street so much that in 1995, my parents assisted me in purchasing my very first home next door and now, my sister-in-law, neice and nephews reside there. As for McCarthy Park, my family's love of baseball rescinated in that park as I spent entire summers watching my brother play peewee baseball through junior high on those diamonds and onto high school and college ball on a baseball scholarship. I fondly recall the "father-son" pep talks my dad and brother shared in that park during the playoff, championship and all-star games as I ran off to buy freezies, pizza and popcorn at the red snack stand whose proceeds supported the leagues. (Someone on this blog has to remember the snack stand! LOL) I'm absolutely thrilled that Medaille College has made the investment to upgrade the park's amenities and delighted to hear that a soccer field will be constructed. My agency, the Community Action Organization of Erie County, Inc. has partnered with Algonquin Sports Foundation to sponsor the Buffalo Soccer Club and currently, we have 115 inner city children playing soccer on various fields throughout the city, but mainly at JFK, whose field is somewhat overrun and neglected. Well, guess what we're currently searching for...a BUFFALO SOCCER CLUB HOME! As you can imagine, It would be a sheer delight for me to see these young boys and girls share the same childhood experiences that I had in McCarthy Park some decades ago. If anyone has a contact for this wonderful Medaille College Initiative, please feel free to forward my email information, croberts@caoec.org or call 881-5150 ext. 4338. And as for the blogger that highlighted Stockbridge Avenue, THANK YOU for acknowledging a little known street on the East Side that is doing its very best to hold on and maintain the neighborly principles, stability and quality of life that made my childhood experience one to remember. My parents, now in their 70's and 80's, have lived their now for nearly 40 years and has witnessed the decline of the community before their very eyes. But they, like many others, will not give up hope on their street, their block club and surrounding neighborhoods. At one time, it was an absolute "privilege" to live there and it has definitely helped to shape who I am today. I can't wait to see the excitement in my parents eyes when I share the great news of Medaille's partnership with McCarthy Park and what this will do to bring new life to an increasingly blight and crime-ridden community. Thanks for sharing Buffalo Rising. Now on to Bailey Avenue!
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pegger
Oh. Is that the final outcome of that BMHA Senior Housing sale? I remember that it was up for about a $17,000 per unit price. Gee, did this one get by me? I recall the sale being reported right here on Buffalo Rising, but never heard about the final outcome.
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Joshua
Wouldn't it be nice to have some access to that pond?
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sbrof
well.. that pond isn't a pond at all. It is an old quary (one of many in that neighborhood). Originally used to harvest the stone for foundations around the city \ county there were was another one where the central park plaza is today.
Now this one is used as a part of the sewer system. I remember it used to be mostly empty as a kid.. looking down over the edge on what seems like a hundred foot hole (might be less, might be more, I don't really know) with only a little water is the bottom that would pool from rain. In those days it wasn't uncommon to see people swimming in the water. But I think at some point the sewer authority hooked this into their system so that during storms it overflows into here before going through their system. This is all conjecture but there are sewer authority signs along the fence and it is labeled retention pond on maps.
There are also stories of kids who used to roam through the cave sized sewer pipes that you could get access too at the base of the quarry. Now those seem to be totally submerged.
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Dan
sbrof> well.. that pond isn't a pond at all. It is an old quary (one of many in that neighborhood). Originally used to harvest the stone for foundations around the city \ county there were was another one where the central park plaza is today.
Someone's one-starring a lot of good posts, like the one sbrof made. It seems like it's reaching a point where if the content of a post isn't glowing praise of Buffalo, it's one-starred.
Anyhow, until the 1950s a large portion of the neighborhood was part of the massive Bennett Quarry. The DL&W railroad that used to pass through the neighborhood even had a spur into the quarry. Since the 1920s, there's been a lot of development on the old quarry site: All-High Stadium, residential development in the triangle between Main, the DL&W ROW and Central Park Plaza, Central Park Plaza itself, McCarthy Park, Camelot Court - the list goes on. The quarries were huge, and I wonder what was used to fill them up and reclaim the land ... (coughlandfillcough)
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sbrof
From what I heard growing up just a couple blocks from the central plaza was that garbage was used at least as a part of the fill for the quarries. I am unsure of the truth of this as the plaza was already built by the time I was born but my parents and relatives talk about going there to catch rabbits, snakes and the other types of fauna that used to live there. Truth? Dunno, but that is what I have heard over the years.
As for the one stars.. yea I am used to getting those.
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