Buffalo Rising Online

that will be nice, another puzzle piece coming together for an up and coming segment of the west side.

Personally, I am very interested to see how this neighborhood comes to life. This, possibly, is a part of the City I am interested in, in terms of purchasing a house, within 2 years.

Go Westsiders go!!! Awesome project that will enhance all the great things going on over there.

Awesome idea.....love the West Side...spent a lot of time at my grandparents down on Rhode Island and 14th St. Not to sound like Debbie Downer but....I just hope that the group is able to maintain the park once it is complete. I just worry about the disenfranchised youth in this area and there corresponding lack of regard for others. I just anticipate graffitti, garbage, etc being issues down the road.

It looks like a putt-putt course.

Wait a minute! A fence that people can't (or shouldn't be to) scale. Which people, and why? Whom, then, is this park for? Do the annointed cross these apparent rice paddies with pretty parasols?

"Plenty of viewing from one side to the other.? Huh? Who? What?

Creepy conception.

Sorry, meant "shouldn't be able to scale."

It sounds great, but I agree with pgf1498. Why the need for a concrete fence? Why not a wrought iron fence (if a fence is deemed necessary, at all.)

Appears to be typical bad architecture, in this case, landscape architecture. All form and no function. It looks interesting, but exactly how is this space going to be utilized. Its not like this is in the middle of downtown where thousands of workers are interested in a lunchtime greenspace escape. Exactly how is this park going to be utilized - how does it work for people who live there? Are they going to go and stand in the middle of the space for 15 minutes and leave? Cause there doesn't seem to be much else. Those silhouettes they throw in there....what exactly are those people doing, walking to the concrete wall?

And yet its the architects that write the hate-speach on the bathroom stalls towards the Planners in Hayes, miss those days...

The park could work well in a downtown setting and the design has some merit although i have to agree with Townline, much form, little function. However if its purpose is to become a showroom for plants, it should take that concept further and it could be a great resource for city residents. It shouldn't pretend to be a little oasis in a a relativily low density neighborhood but rather a city wide amenity...a botanical park where you get ideas for your own landscape. This will only fly if it has constant maintenance, a good size budget and has some level of promotion. Maybe it is tied into the annual garden walk. and does ub have landscape architects? I think the park design would benefit if a landscape architect was involved.

nyc - why should there be any doubts about good maintenance and budget? Buffalo already takes care of the parks it has SO VERY WELL, that it only make sense to add more. It would be stupid not to make new parks. And why stop at one?

This will only fly if it has constant maintenance, a good size budget

FrankyBlueEyes - "down the road" meaning the week after the park is opened? Or two weeks? How much damage can be done in two little weeks? You're worrying too much.

I just hope that the group is able to maintain the park once it is complete. I just worry about the disenfranchised youth in this area and there corresponding lack of regard for others. I just anticipate graffitti, garbage, etc being issues down the road.

I used to love these types of parks as a kid. They were a paradise for a skate board kid like myself. Add to it the fact that no other people ever seemed to be there or want to use it gave me and my friends our own little skate parks day in and day out. My fav used to be at the corner of Seneca and Cazenovia before the subsidized senior home went up there.

What are the most popular parks around here? The busiest always seem to be those focused on maximum green space and nicely sculpted minimal pathways.

What are the least popular? The emptiest always seem to be those built around concrete with planter beds.

To me this appears to be the latter. I am envious of the west side skaters. They will have a cool new park to play in.

Seriously, it's another feel-good pork project whose long term upkeep will be another mouth to feed every year at budget time. Yeah I know money comes from various Santa Clauses, but to some extent it has to take away from existing needs.

Meanwhile, we have ongoing problems at existing parks, insufficient funds to open LaSalle Park pool either of the past two _years_, or to keep MLK park sprinklers working safely, community centers closed because no money to pay utilities or other expenses the city forgives, numerous cultural groups with declining funding, the United Way getting fewer and fewer dollars per year around here... on and on. Shrinking population, second poorest city, American Axle Closing, GM plant laying off, blah blah blah....

Shoudn't be adding more and more stuff that comes with yearly upkeep fees. It just doesn't make sense. Why not direct the efforts toward existing playgrounds or parks? Why keep adding more?

What should be built into the walls to prevent graffiti. Walls that spray red paint on those trying to deface the wall. This would catch those bad people quickly.

There should be walls that spray red paint on those trying to deface the wall. This would catch those bad people quickly.

exnilhio - No, this does not sound like a private project of community members. The NYS money and grant from the city council member are both taxpayer public funding, and those are only what the article mentioned. Who knows if there's more. Then to keep this going year after year forever will very likely involve further spending from taxpayers for maintenance and diverting money from other public needs.

It's anyone's business who wants to comment on any aspect of it, pro or con.

I am astonished at the level of hate here . . . well, really, I am not. ...The opinions of the folks here at BRO mean nothing; this is their little corner of Buffalo. ...a community got together and moved on improving their corner of Buffalo!

Btw, all viewpoints that strongly differ from yours are not an intelligent definition of "hate".

I wasn't spewing hate for the project and find the local effort great. As I so with any. I bought my house with the one two doors down vacant with the front door wide open. I appreciate like minded people with the dedication to make things better.

But please point me to a park set up like this that has a high user rate. These concrete parks look great and pretty on paper/model but I rarely see any that suceed. Especially those located outside a dense downtown core environment. Those in the core may attact buisness people looking for a hard surface under some trees to sit on during lunch or a break, but those users in a neighborhood would most likely be looking for grass for the kids to run and play on or for themsleves to spread a blanket over for a soft spot to relax.

Of coarse this is just my opinion of 1)what I like and 2)what I have seen around me all these years. Modern concrete parks with only raised folliage beds are usually way underulitlized and look dirty which pry feed off each other. Looking at this model I see a park that one may walk through out of curiousity but does not lend itself to sticking around and interacting with it.

It is a pretty form, but I question its function as a neighborhood park.

ex - It wasn't intended as patronizing/condescending. Some of people's earler critical comments were very strong, even scathing, but looked to me based on ideas not personal attacks that could reasonably be called "hate". Seemed then the only reason you'd discredit them as being hate was because they differred from your viewpoints. Hence my pushback in last sentence. I agree anyone who posts should accept rhetorical slings and arrows. Hopefully those are usually based on substance. For sure it's never intended as personal when I write something, and I think that's true for most people most of the time.

simply reclaiming a bit of their hard-earned tax dollars and committing them to strengthening their neighborhood.

About "reclaiming a bit of their tax money", I see that flawed a couple ways. First, most of the neighborhood is already by far a net receiver of public funds rather than a net contributor. So it's already "reclaiming" its share and then some. I'm not opposing that, but it's not as though this is reclaiming the neighborhood's money. Secondly, I agree the people in the neighborhood do need and deserve help in ways that involve public funding. The difference is whether this park is truly a real long term serious "strengthening" as you describe it or something that over the long run will drain money from other purposes (those I mentioned and many others) that could be more strengthening. And if additional flows of attention and tax money aren't provided pretty much indefinitiely, then decline of this park can cause it to be blight and/or a trouble spot. If I thought this was a real strengthening of the neighborhood, I wouldn't mind spending tax money for it but it wouldn't be reclaiming it would be additional inflow. For reasons I mentioned and some points others made earlier, it sounds to me there's a lot of down sides to what's proposed, in addition to funding and prioritization issues.

Easy for me to say, but might not the community efforts if directed toward ongoing work on existing projects be more likely to provide strengthening without the downsides of this park and its design and the reality of it sitting there forever long after volunteers have lost interest and the prof and his students have moved on to new things? And for grad students volunteering, might some eductational projects in the neighborhood have better long term impacts? Just thoughts.

Not a huge fan of the design (coming from a big fan of modernism) and I wish it were going in over some parking lot downtown but any park is better than no park. Small neighborhood "pocket" parks are sorely lacking in a city with so much vacant land. Oh and I love the rotated house facade. When it comes to what is cool or constitutes art we all have our opinions. Being "louder" about them doesn't make them universal or better than anyone else's.

nonono - acutally it was me that stated you might need a cold compress. Your observation that Brad W. may deserve 'a bit of hard earned slack' gives me hope that the compress need not be permanent. I know Brad about as well as I know Gerhardt. In their way, both make a contribution. Articles on BR sometimes mention people in one context, when their contribution (or you might contend subtraction) goes much further than what's mentioned in the article. I don't know much about this park, but I think we agree that Brad W.'s contributions are a net gain to the city.

I agree that Brad Wales is a highly creative artist-architect. But some mechanism is needed to insure that his project get ongoing oversight.

What is the current status of the "rotating house facade" on South Putnam near W Ferry? It had been on the city In-rem auction list for October sale, pulled off at the last moment.

It appears that the single suburban mother who recently got it via quit-deed amy have overestimated her resources to complete a "radical design".

Is there a plan for 15 So Putnam, still listed by the city as a 2 family house assessed at merely $12000?

My city tax bill went up $2200 this year, I'd like to know why I was not consulted about this $10K city donation to the park project. Should we not have brought in world renowned landscape architects to work on this project? Should we not have consulted public park plans in San Francisco, Portland, Austin, and New York City? When was the public comment period on this project?

I am tired of arrogant city and state authorities who choose to spend my money all willy nilly like this without proper due diligence and numerous environmental impact studies!

MR. SPITZER! TEAR DOWN THIS PARK!

/sarcasm

I thought that was the reason for, and the importance of, being involved in the Democratrc politcal process. We are not consulted every time a project is proposed because that's why we elect officials that we trust the most (or distrust the least) to represent us and make these kinds of decisions. Those "numerous environmental impact studies" are part of what many refer to as "due diligence." When too many people are counsulted for their opinions, nothing ever gets done, because they try to achieve the impossible, pleasing everyone. It is shameful the way, time after time, we have such low voter turn out at election times. And then everyone complains when their elected officials make bad decisions, such as supporting projects like this or allowing our tax dollars to fund projects like this. (I happen to like this project and support it.) If you disagree, you will get a chance to make your voice heard at next election time. And if you can't wait that long, most Common Council Members, and even the Mayor, are pretty easily accessible in this city. If you write an email, you might actually get a real personalized response; I have in the past.

Elliot Spitzer is a useless moron and the upstate economic develoment comittee is all smoke and mirrors.

The bigoted politicians in this city should be on the edge of their seats screaming for NYC and Albany to stop sucking us dry.

Buffalo is the second most impoversihed city in the country. How embarassing.

Glad you guys picked up on the sarcasm that I clearly labeled in the post. Next time, I'll drive to your homes and hit you upside the head with it...

Jeez.