Buffalo Rising Online

The Cazenovia Park Casino really needs help. The columns are deteriorating along with a lot of the brick facade. Hopefully this will help out! It would be nice if they could figure out a use for the casino other than a place for kids to hang out because it really holds a lot of history.

What is the story with the Olmsted conservancy? I thought that they were overseeing the management of the park, while the City of Buffalo was ultimately responsible for the operations, maintenance, and development.

Does the conservancy actually maintain and operate the parks? What is the City's role in the parks? I have tried to find more information on line, but there is little out on the conservancy. Was this board always in place, or was it recently created.

I apologize for my ignorance on this subject, I haven't paid much attention to who is responsible for the parks.

It sounds like a lot fo money but not something that we as a community couldn't do if we wanted.

If all of Erie County decided this was something it wanted to do, in FULL. it would require what.. about $950 dollars for everyone in the workforce. 453k people. Spread that over 10 years since it all can't happen at once anyhow that would be 95 dollars / year. Not that big of a lift... If we wanted to do it we could and I feel most people in Erie County and even in the city could afford 95 dollars a year for 10 years to fully restore ALL of the Olmsted parks and reconnect them all together into a system again.

Einstein.. it is a strange three way between Erie County, Olmsted and the City.. each of them are responsible for different things. Olmsted and the County Maintain the parks. The city is supposed to pay for capital improvements to the parks that the County Maintains and I think Olmsted + City work on capital projects for the Olmsted parks but more weight falls on Olmsted's shoulders than the city.

I don't know the exact details but from what I have heard (maybe true or not) it is something like that... give or take an organization.

Pretty Lofty dreams here....where on earth do they think the money is coming from?

Well it is a scratch our back we will scratch yours. 10 years the region now has a real world class park and parkway system.. something to draw tourist.. while yes they are all located in the outdated and obsolete city boundaries they are the regional assets especially when you look at what is IN the parks.The Zoo, Botanical Gardens, History Museum. Albright Knox, Kleinhans Music Hall + others are ALL IN the Olmsted parks.

I think the fact that these invisible and really useless boundaries are still influencing what gets done in the region is most of the problem. The fiefdoms they create.. why should I support anything outside out my little square.. it somehow doesn't affect me. Well not really true or important in a globalized world / economy.

But if we have to deal with these boundaries then we can continue to raise money for something larger, more regional. how about the Niagara River greenway project. That would affect everyone along the Niagara River to Lake Ontario. How about more bike paths and transit into the suburbs. Fine. Just saying that if we actually ALL got together and pooled our resources we could easily raise the kinds of money to pretty much do everything we wanted..

But instead we would rather keep our fiefdoms and in fighting about what I get. All anyone gets in this world are well pay politicians and supervisors instead of actually doing something constructive with it.

It all makes sense except fo South Park. Is anyone else shocked that $500,000 is all South Park needs....will $500,000 dredge the lake and get rid of that golf course?

As far as the money, its not to manage and maintain the parks, but to restore the parks to their original oldmsted design.

Wonderful...now when exactly will the projects start. I was hoping since they announced this in the spring that they would have started the restoration efforts this year while fanfare and accolades were done in situ.

The answer to the zoo is simple and Im suprised that no one will even consider it.

They should look for a new home for the Buffalo Zoo and simply turn the current zoo into a petting zoo which would complement the park perfectly. Petting zoos are quite profitable and would be especially so for Delaware Park. If they did that then the neighborhood would drop their objections to the full zoo relocating to a new location.

I agree that the golf courses must go....they belong in the suburbs where there is land anyway....and with the decay in the 1st and 2nd ring suburbs....something tells me that there will soon be more than enough room for them.

There is only one thing that will bring Humboldt Park (MLK) and I understand its in their plans. They are going to rebuild the Calvert Veaux Parade House to rent out as a community market which the eastside desperately needs and which I think would be incredibly successful if they got rid of the roads and started treating it like a real park...perhaps even connecting it in a creative way to Masten Park and City Fields which are just a few blocks away.

Now looking at our beautiful homes surrounding Delaware Park, I would say to a real estate developer that apartment buildings/condos/townhomes are an excellent investment surrounding/bordering olmsted parks. Yes, I think that a near billion dollar investment in olmsted parks would make real estate developments with $250,000 condo's quite well....even surrounding Humboldt, South Park, Cazenovia and Front.

But then I have been saying for a while that I think that the area surrounding Masten Park, City Fields, Masten Armory, City Honors, Art Space, Packard, Our Lady de Notre Dame.....has enough density for major residential real estate redevelopment.

As I have suggested to olmsted at their last meeting....remove everything not in the original plan for Humboldt to Masten Park and then integrate them creatively. This whole corridor between Main Street and Fillmore is ripe with enough anchors to redevelop itself with similar momentum to the Larkin District (just down Fillmore/Smith)

Having a master plan in place is essential for fundraising. It gives donors assurance their money is being used to accomplish a specific vision and not just scattershot.