Moments ago, The Preservation League of New York State (PLNS) announced that the Columbus Park-Prospect Hill neighborhood has officially been added to the league’s 'Seven to Save' list. A crowd met at the Connecticut Street Armory to receive the news about the latest effort to thwart the Peace Bridge plaza extension. Leading off the series of speakers was Jay DiLorenzo, President of the PLNS, who recounted the city’s past struggles in maintaining many of its formerly-vibrant neighborhoods. He mentioned the vast swaths of parking lots and roadways that have laid waste to our parks and our architecture, as well as the city’s struggle to maintain its urban population. By doing so, he sited the Columbus Park-Prospect Hill neighborhood as one area that has already taken enough disastrous hits over the years. He pointed out that another one could be devastating.
By designating the Columbus Park-Prospect Hill neighborhood as a 'Seven to Save' (in 2008) project, the PLNS has offered legal services, media relations, grant provisions, along with technical services to the consulting party that submitted the distress signal. Today’s message rang loud and clear – thoughtful and considerate project planning are not complete… and though the process has lasted decades, a decision to move forward with the plan in its current form would be an irreversible mistake with repercussions lasting an eternity. Houses that tell a story of the city’s history through architecture dating from 1850’s to 1950’s would be replaced with parking ramps and surface parking. Also, the decision to prematurely connect the plaza with waterfront freeways would prevent potential roadway downgrades along the waterfront (a City Masterplan would sure be handy at a time like this).
Executive Director - West Side Community Collaborative, and Board Member - Preservation Coalition of Erie County, Harvey Garrett, was one of the last speakers at the announcement. Here are excerpts from his speech:
The question isn't whether the proposed plaza expansion is what's best for this neighborhood - the question is whether it's what's best for Buffalo. I would argue strongly that it's not. Buffalo needs more strong neighborhoods, especially waterfront neighborhoods that can attract home ownership and investment. The West Side is coming back fast and strong and we shouldn't be risking it's resurgence by allowing a 45 acre truck plaza to be built here in our historic waterfront neighborhoods. Strong waterfront neighborhoods will attract people back to this area - 45 acres of paved transportation infrastructure will not.
We need to look at what is best for Buffalo as a whole. Although we still have to figure out how to tackle the East Side of Buffalo we already have a successful plan on the West Side. For the first time in decades we are seeing significant increases in property values, decreases in vacancies, more homeownership and less crime. We are now on a path to having strong viable neighborhoods from Main Street all the way to the waterfront - from Allentown and Elmwood to the waterfront parks, the Yacht Club, the new FLW Boathouse and rowing club, etc. This has to continue if we wish Buffalo to start regaining population and a strong tax base - strong, livable neighborhoods should be a priority for regaining Buffalo's resurgence.
The WSCC has been working hard at improving the West Side of Buffalo for over 5 years. We are now seeing significant progress in housing values, homeownership, vacancy and crime reduction, and new hope. Our successes have gained national attention and even national awards for crime abatement work. We've planted hundreds of trees, tens of thousands of dollars in community gardens - and have become a garden walk destination in the process. We've created several new parks - in fact we are building another new park at 18th and RI this spring.
-We've started our own community garden center that is attracting business from all over the City and tapping into the millions spent within the City on Garden Walk every year
-We've seen significant progress on our business district (Connecticut Street) including tremendous investments to the D'Youville campus and a new $11 million dorm and another planned $20 million dollar building
-We've rescued over a dozen formerly vacant houses from demolition and put families into them
-The West Side is now attracting new homeowners from all over the country
-We've driven property values up from $2,000 - $80,000 on some streets
-We've taken streets with a dozen vacant houses and improved them to the point where one has 7 rehabs going on with an average investment of $100,000 each
-We've driven crime down on others on other streets by over 90%
-We are starting up block clubs and working collaboratively across the entire West Side
-The police, DA’s office, Courts, etc. - are all working closely with us and we have partners coming in from outside the area
After decades of decline the West Side is finally experiencing feelings of ownership and optimism
The proposed plaza expansion puts all this at risk. We have been working block-by-block from Richmond to the river for the past 5 years. We are currently half way to the river and can show property values increasing, for the first time in decades, on almost every street we've tackled (every street but one in fact that we are still working on). The Columbus Park / Prospect Hill neighborhood has always been one of our strongest neighborhoods and we have been looking forward to bridging the Elmwood Village to the waterfront through the West Side and into this beautiful waterfront / park community We are making tremendous block-by-block progress and plan on reaching the Columbus Parkway / Prospect Hill neighborhood within a couple of years - when we finally get there, after all our years of effort, we need to see a waterfront - not a 45 acre truck plaza.
Official 'Seven to Save' Press Release can be found here.