Three words: Land Value Tax.

The current property tax system rewards neglect and punishes investment. The current owner has seen his property taxes plummet while he's allowed his property to rot away while his neighbors on Summer street have seen their taxes increase as they have improved and maintained their properties.

Buffalo needs to overhaul its punitive tax system and adopt LVT. Code enforcement by itself won't do it.

Just do what's safest for the neighbors and the residents, and do it quickly. It's easy for preservationists to get in a huff when there is no threat of a brick wall collapsing on their homes. Yes, it's an old building with historic value. That doesn't mean it needs to stay up at the risk of peoples' safety.

The neighbors want it to stay

Let's see - isn't Freudenheim the guy that owns 7 Wadsworth, lost 675 Delaware (Westbrook) to foreclosure, lost 140-150 North (Lenox) to foreclosure and lives at 1 Penhurst which is not even in his name? Yes, we'll get blood from this stone.

THANKS Commissioners, past and present, for ignoring my complaints on this building since 1992.

In any event, I hope we're allowed to salvage some bricks. The ones we got from 399 Franklin have worked well as a foundation wall for the fountain in front of 255 Huntington at Voorhees (Holy Cupola!) that we built this week.

Well, this neighbor (me) likes the IDEA of it staying, but only if it can be done safely.

The city should stabilize it and charge the owner for that rather than the demo

"After about an hour, he said he wasn't able to free up the resources and that he wanted the building to be demolished by the city, saying that he would pay the city back."

HAHAHAH. Right. He'll pay it back. LOL. Guess the city can put a lien on a vacant lot to try to recoup the $280k demolition cost. Great job City Hall. That's 14 homes elsewhere that won't be demo'd thanks to Freudenprick. Where was the City Hall pressure two years ago to get this building into shape? Now they call a press conference. Do us a favor- stay in the office and do your job.

Completely and utterly disgusting. These are the sorts of buildings that make up the architectural record of a once great city. A city that is now so impotent it is powerless to do anything but the dirtywork for neglectful owners. How does this happen? (rhetorical question) This should be a criminal offense punishable by jail time. Can you say reckless endangerment?

Robert Freudenheim, what a worthless sack of #*$@. "Impotent," well put Texpat10, how could the City sit by year after year after year after year knowing what a complete waste Freudenheim is and not work with Housing Court to throw him in jail?

He won't pay 10% of the demo bill. Is that house on Penfield completely without housing code violations? The City should go over it with a fine tooth comb. And any other property that he owns.

So does anyone know where Robert Freudenheim lives? My guess is at 1 Penhurst Parkway, an amazing Colonial home which the city lists as 5996' and assessed at $615,000. Let's see a person named NINA FREUDENHEIM took title by quit claim deed for $1 in 2002 from Robert Freudenheim and Nina herself.

Why doesn't the City of Buffalo take a lien on Robert Freudenheim's personal property? It seems logical to me.

this is absolutly disgusting , i think im gonna throw up! I am starting to hate my own city(government) more and more each day . I am so done with feeling this way , like i am screaming at the top of my lungs and not a single soul can hear me . Why do we let our government do these things to us , when will we say enough is enough ? We need to find a way to take our city back from these god damn urban vampires sucking our cities precious infrastructure dry . This is going to keep happening if we allow it to happen . We need action on a city wide level . We are all intelligent enough to start some form of grassroots citizens oversight group to make SURE this type of SHIT DOESN'T HAPPEN . If we don't do something than we have no right to complain . We can save this city , we just have to stop waiting for someone else to save it for us .

From a comment I made on STEEL's related article this morning:

This is simply unbelievable, and reading through the comments I could really feel reflected, in my own gut, the visceral reaction of anthonycapone and comptart_lws (and WholeLotta cuts right to the heart of it). Why would I share the outrage of the commenters, when I don't live in Buffalo--? Well, I came to care about this building, and the unforgettable gem of a neighborhood - 'Little Summer' - surrounding it after discovering it during some exploration of Buffalo's amazing west side. And that appreciation was cemented when I read - not long ago - Buffalo chronicler Mark Goldman's lyrical description of that neighborhood where he once lived in a house nestled up against the walls of the former livery stable. Goldman's account can be found here: http://www.buffaloah.com/a/summer/388/index.html

Here's an excerpt:

"To come home to Little Summer is to be embraced by place.

My house is more removed, still more rooted in the past than the rest of the street. More of an authentic cottage, it is the third of three identical one and a half story buildings joined closely, like pearls on a chain. All are on a tiny lane that runs off Little Summer. To get home, I walk down a narrow, secluded path, pass through a creaky wooden gate, admire the sun-mottled brick walls of my neighbor's homes, and pass through another gate, under an arbor of ancient branches, into my new home. The house itself is much like it was when it was built one hundred and twenty-odd years ago The floors are six inch tongue and groove, and the view outside my bedroom window is the leaf-covered brick wall of White's Livery Stable on Jersey Street. I hear no street noises, ever.

What I like most about living at 388 Summer Street is that, now, more than ever before, I have a sense of connection to the unfolding story of this city, its future as well as its past. Despite its age -- my house was already close to thirty years old at the end of the last century -- there is something about this house and this neighborhood that feels very contemporary, as if there are lessons of value in these historic stones. We can learn from Little Summer... ."

Yes, Mark, we can...but will we--?

After a little digging I found that White's Livery Stable was designed by one of Buffalo's most significant 19th-century architects, Richard A. Waite. Waite designed many significant Buffalo buildings, as well as a number in Canada, including the magnificent Ontario Parliament building in Toronto. Buffalo architect Louise Bethune, who would become the first woman member of the American Institute of Architects, and designer of the Hotel Lafayette downtown, had her first professional job as a draftsperson in Waite's office. More on Waite and his projects here: http://www.buffaloah.com/a/archs/waite/index.html

By any measure this is a building worthy of preservation, even if by extraordinary or creative means.

I created an event announcement on Facebook -- please spread the word:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=21688042925&ref=mf