Author: JohnInCambridge

Yesterday, new bridge designs came out in the media, while a pdf for the truck plaza proposed for the Columbus Park neighborhood has quietly made its way online. More than anything, residents of the neighborhood that would “host” the truck plaza, worry that plans to demolish more than 80 homes in their neighborhood will be overshadowed by the public’s zeal for a “Signature Bridge”. Get the masses excited about the bridge end of the project, and maybe they’ll fire up the bulldozers themselves, or at least label as obstructionists the people who want to stay in their homes versus hosting 40 acres…

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It’s true – our growing season is short, and that’s what makes the fact that we’re becoming known nationally for our Garden Walk Buffalo even sweeter. Buffalo expatriot Andrew Sprung guests on Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish blog, part of The Atlantic Monthly Online, to extoll the more beautiful aspects of Buffalo, which includes our outrageous zeal for gardening. In the blog, Sprung writes: But Buffalo has elements of beauty dear to a few doughty hearts (e.g., my wife’s – she’s a native). These include Olmsted-designed boulevards radiating from an Olmsted central park (Delaware Park); a number of early twentieth-century architectural…

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A press release from Governor Paterson’s office, that also quotes Congressman Brian Higgins and Public Bridge Authority General Manager Ron Rienas, announces federal approval of 5 new bridge designs (below). Open houses to further describe the five possible bridge design concepts will be scheduled for Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario in January and February, 2010. The open houses will also show modifications of the U.S. plaza that the project sponsors have been working on since the public last commented on the plaza design in March of 2008. The release called the announcement a “significant breakthough in moving forward the long-stalled Peace…

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Imagine our sorrow to see Setel Wallpapers and Paints gone from Hertel Avenue after decades of business; imagine our delight when we discovered that “room,” the delightful furniture and accessory store from Elmwood Avenue will be moving in!”baby room” will remain on the corner of Elmwood and Potomac, offering an expanded line of baby furniture and melding with an accessory and gift store that will carry room’s current line of pillows, fruit bowls, candles, vases and various other pieces with panache the store has become known for.In the meantime, the new 6,000 sq. ft. location at 1400 Hertel will boast…

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In a USA Today article titled “Buffalo charges ahead into past,” the first line states: “This onetime “Queen City of the Lakes,” now known mostly for the snowy “lake effect,” wants to use its fine old buildings to improve its image. Problem is, it has old buildings in two different conditions.” We wonder if Buffalonians, particularly those who have been paying attention to the good press we’ve gotten in the national media of late, will immediately take issue with the reference to snow. Haven’t we gone beyond that? And as for snow, which has been late and mild this fall,…

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In this week’s podcast of the Buffalo Rising Roundtable on WBFO, David Colligan, chair of the board of directors for the Olmsted Parks Conservancy, joins News Director Mark Scott and me.As Mark says at the onset, the clock is ticking down to the December 31st deadline, when the City of Buffalo will take over operations of the parks from Erie County.Colligan is nervously optimistic that a partnership of some sort will be set in place by the City, but it’s a long time coming, and somewhat shrouded in mystery. The City, though they’ve collected data from the Olmsted Conservancy, has yet to send…

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A previous BR story and subsequent poll* gave BR readers the opportunity to vote on one of four possible scenarios of mixed-transportation bridges that would connect the inner and outer harbor. As a result of further plans and studies on the part of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, that choice is down to two. The Michigan and Ganson Street bridges have been tossed, leaving the Erie and Main Street choices, a subject that will be put to further public review in a 5:30PM meeting this Wednesday at the Waterfront School, 95 Fourth Street. Erie and Main are seen as more…

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In what may be looked at as the conflict of interest of the year, BR was told by reliable sources that Congressman Brian Higgins “has appointed” Eugenio Russi to the PBA Board of Directors. Russi is a Columbus Park resident, and supporter of the development efforts there, including a truck plaza that would take 80 + properties from the historic neighborhood. There has been no confirmation from the congressman’s office yet. [See update below.]Russi can be seen in this October 6th Buffalo Common Council Legislation Committee Meeting video, at around the 45-minute mark. The issue being examined here is the…

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Consider what happened with this New London community, when drug giant Pfizer took over a neighborhood–after a long, hard fight by residents–only to abandon their facilities when hit by the recent economic downturn. Next, take note of this quote, written in an email to BR by Ron Rienas (top image), general manager of the Public Bridge Authority, in reference to the PBA owned homes in the Columbus Park – Prospect Hill neighborhood: “If the capacity expansion project does not proceed the houses will still be demolished. If the capacity expansion project proceeds the houses will be demolished. Either way the…

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The Packard Building has been awarded the 2009 NYS Historic Preservation Award for “Outstanding Adaptive Reuse Project of the Year,” by the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Completed by Regan Development Corporation (RDC) in early 2009, the original Buffalo Packard showroom and garage was converted into 40 units of fully rented workforce family housing. Each unit has been successfully rented to families earning up to 80 percent of Erie County median income ($50,800 for a family of 4), with 7 of the units reserved for individuals and families with developmental disabilities.The additional 8,000 square feet of first floor…

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