Regular readers of Buffalo Rising have seen articles from time to time about efforts underway to improve the Niagara Street corridor from Busti Avenue up to Black Rock and Riverside. From upgrades to Broderick Park, to efforts to improve the waterfront and Riverwalk, to business development ideas, to revitalizing the outstanding concentration of historic building stock in Black Rock, there is great potential in this corridor which knits together Buffalo’s waterfront communities.
In large part, these efforts have tackled the need to overcome a number of challenges that the corridor has faced in the last half-century or so, such as disinvestment in our urban neighborhoods, and the Niagara Thruway both cutting off neighborhoods from their waterfront, and taking customers away from streetside commercial districts. The most recent body blow to the Niagara Street corridor came a decade or so ago, when the street was widened almost insanely–sadly, even the trees were removed.
Fortunately, organizations with a stake in
Last summer I sat in on a public meeting held by these stakeholders on street improvements, looking at what might be done within, say, a year, and without huge reconstruction funding. And I’m happy to say that as a result of those discussions, heavily influenced by the new philosophy (backed by legislation) of Complete Streets, there are now some proposals for what they’d like to implement.
Justin Booth, who has been heavily involved with the City’s Complete Streets program, aptly characterized the planned improvements as putting
You can find out all about it tomorrow at the Renaissance Atrium at Rich Products at
For more information, please contact Barbara Rowe at 882-7914 or Rich Mack at 877-8400.