Buffalo Rising Online

you give 'em hell Carl. why are'nt you you mayor then things would get done round here. the only one that says it and does it like it is. you crzy others here open up your treasure chests and give this guy what he needs to hget us to places.

Great interview. Interesting to here his explaination. I still don't understand why the city has to buy and pay for the demolishion vs. a developer who sees value in the building. I would like to here Carl's opion on that. Im sure he would be at the front of the line to jump on the RFP. Also I do not agree with his view of the Canal from the interview.

And these ideas are coming from a guy who lets his own properties sit and become neglected! That bum Paladino wants to demolish all of downtown.

Im kind of disgusted that Buffalorising would post Paladino on a demolition....its little more than propaganda for people who are in the business of letting buildings decay, demolish them and either use them for parking or leave them fallow...as so called shovel ready sites.

Its equivalent to letting a rapist time to give his perspective on why he sexually abused someone....well they looked neglected..and sexually frustrated people arent good for the community...and its not good for their health..it was a community service and an act of compassion...I thought I was doing a good thing...

well these so called developers are in effect rapists....they arent providing a public service by building residential, office or industrial space...they are performing a public violation by neglect and demolition.

I didnt need to here the interview on demolishing aM&As thank you!!!!!!!

Demolish.. demolish.. demolish... its not always the answer Carl.. level Am&as for a shovel ready so we hope someone will build there... and on the 10,000 other shovel ready sites downtown... Love the ramblings abouut China and the talking with the hands.. this guy is something else. I like the canal idea.. this guy knows nothing about tourism and visistors..just parking and waterfront condos

I still don't understand why a solution cannot be designed for the interior of the AM&As building. His explaination of the Tishman Building makes alot of sense unfortunatly and hopefully traffic on Main street wil eventually make that situation better in time. Paladino is a rational person and it always nice to listen to people like him.

I like his idea about putting building owners in jail who neglect their property. Let's make a list of the owners who have neglected their properties to the point they become dangerous and unusable. Who would be on that list?

As far as demo of the building goes. Why demo it before you have a plan for reuse of the property. Doing that just removes one potential reuse. If you think this empty building is an eyesore wait until you see the parking lot that would replace it following demolition.

I love these guys who point the finger all the time at people doing basically the same thing as they do. Maybe some of his points are valid about investors and flippers, but how does a guy who readily admits that he bought an old building for virtually nothing, then gets the city to pay for all of the rehab preparation so he can sell his high priced condos for profit, any different than the guys he wants to throw in prison? Is there a threshold of money out of pocket to improve the property, that determines the difference between a savvy business man and a scammer????

Silly canal project?? I guess he isn't making any money on that one. The Tishman building needs updating on mechanicals and parking is a city-wide issue, not exclusive to the Tishman. It is not even 50 years old and is structurally sound. I work in the Tishman and it needs some tlc to be great building for work. Some of us still believe this corridor is ideal for Byte Belt companies as opposed to more downtown housing. I park a block away, like I have done in every other downtown office I have worked in.

He did sell the Webb to someone who is doing something with it. He also did make an attempt at Graystone too if I recall. Not that Im a Carl Paladino fan or anything just don't think calling him a neglect property owner is fair. Lets hope he can find a buyer for Graystone who will do something with it. I would be interested in knowing what he does or does not do to keep the building from getting any worse.

Question? Is Buffalo better with or without Carl Paladino's development successfull and failure projects??

Maybe he is getting a cut from the Long Island investors if be can get the city to pay the outrageous sum they are asking .

...How about the Rich's Coffee Building?? That vacant one greats me every evening as I drive by on my home from work

When will Buffalo take a cue from philadelphia.. That city turned its downtown around thru a tax abatement program on new builds and restorations that kicks in gradually over a 10 year period..

So the demolition and construction of a new building is going to be less cost prohibitive? Show me numbers about it being infeasible to rehab the building. If the land was so valuable then the developer would tear down the bld and build new. You cannot compare rehab costs with new build without including demolition costs. So it is myopic to want to not tear down a building? Isn't it a little short sighted to tear down a building when there is no plan to build on the site, especially when there is not an emminent public danger, and if there it becomes a nuisance it is the job of the developer to resolve the situation. Also, I've said it before but some writers continue to say things such as "architecturally hideous landmark," unfortunitly he has no basis for the comment as it was designed by a famous design firm that specialized in department stores, though I'm sure these individuals are art historians and know that already. If not, then their opinion is just as baseless as everyone elses so they should "shut the f__k up and get a life.

I do admire BRO's free speech ethic.

Do ALL scumbags get to come in and get videotaped, or just some??

RPreskop <--Never met a bulldozer he didn't like. Must be in the demo business.

http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/everybodyscolumn/story/86330.html

I enjoyed Carl's insight into the situation. I understand why he is rich and successful while the wannabe architects and johnny come lately preservationists are expressing their ideas and visions on an anonymous message board. There are talkers and there are doers, Carl puts his money where his mouth is and his mouth where his money is, here he is, in an impromptu interview telling it the way that he sees it. The difference between him and the rest of us is that he will do something about the situation, right or wrong, he will act. Most of the rest of the pos(t)ers on this board will just sit back and bitch no matter what happens. I am glad that I stopped in for this worthwhile interview, it has been a long time since I felt like visiting the same old, same old on Buffalo Rising, looks like things haven't changed much in a month.

I hope the developers open up this area of the city to enable free flowing traffic and sensible buildings. It is going to take a few more years before anything of value happens in this section of Main Street. I know that my co-workers and visitors to Buffalo would rather see an empty lot than the decrepit AM&As building. Good luck Carl, you have my vote!

Paladino should be giving the interview from his jail cell for his portfolio of neglected and deteriorated properties. The Berger's building had the same problems (asbestos, etc.) as AM&A's and was successfully converted to housing and office space by Paladino so his rationale for demolition is baseless. If the AM&A's complex should be demolished for a "shovel ready" site as he claims, then why haven't the countless number of "shovel ready" surface parking lots downtown seen development? I could walk a two block radius and find 50 parking lots that have been "shovel ready" for 30 years or more. I say keep hammering the owner with fines and pursue jail time at every opportunity. If the Warehouse Lofts a block away can be converted to housing, then AM&A's is sure to follow.

Steel...

One of the most iconic and totally neglected structures on the City's East side is Transfiguration Church at the corner of Sycamore and Mills, just east of Fillmore and owned by Paul Francis and Ass. Inc. (aka - local Buffalo attorney Bill Trezevant).

His mother - an officer of the corporation - has an active housing court warrant from September of 2002. Should she be in jail? or just her son?

The fire dept. was out there recently removing slate shingles, at tax payer expense, from the crumbling church? He's failed utterly in securing the premises. Place is wide open. Bill Trezevant knows this and does nothing. Should tax-payers be burdened with the cost of demolition?

Seems like this is going to happen.

To Nick. The dollar amount you could get back from what you build on a empty lot I would think could bring in a higher dollar amount than what limited uses rehab would. Plus the pain it is getting additional permits as we saw with the webb building. So it's not so much the cost of the project as the return on the investment. All said I think that Biniszkiewicz has had many of the best posts on this topic.