Rust Belt Renewal

Quick Math

2006-05-18T23:54:00.000-04:00

Think about what it takes for every person who comes to work at an office job downtown to drive there. As a general rule, every office worker is budgeted about 125 square feet of space for their daily activities. On the other hand, when designing a parking lot, ‘transportation planners’ dedicate 300 square feet to every spot. Now consider the absurdity of attempting to build a vibrant downtown which is dependent on the automobile. About 2 ½ as much space would be needed for parking as for general office functions.

But let’s say for a minute that you decided that parking ramps were, in fact, the motif by which you wanted to characterize your city. Currently, there are about 50,000 people per day working downtown. Let’s say the ten year goal is to increase employment by 20% and every one of our new employees wants to drive to work. Let us put aside the purely spatial concerns in locating this many new parking spaces, which are by no means minimal (about 3,000,000 sq. ft. - as a point of reference, the entirety of the newly renovated LCo at Exchange is about 600,000 sq. ft. so think of 5 structures the size of LCo built for and surrendered to parking cars!). Speaking in monetary terms only, on the conservative side, each ramp space will cost about $15,000 to build. For 10,000 structured parking spaces, then, will cost $150 million to house the cars these new workers come in.

fill'er up!

not to say i told you so...

2006-03-25T21:25:00.000-05:00

The bastards at Radio Shack are closing their downtown store after expanding four miles away on Delaware. The Bendersonisation continues...
http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2006/03/20/daily50.html?jst=b_ln_hl

I agree with Flavor Flav...

2006-03-06T22:05:00.000-05:00

I have an idea on how the PBA can draw enough revenue into the city so they can get their pay raises.

It's called residency.

Move into the city, pay property taxes, spend your paycheck (which, by the way, starts at more than twice the median household income in Buffalo) at local stores, and be a presence in the neighborhoods that pay for you to write parking tick... er, serve and protect, that is.

Or you could just keep being punitive and vendictive to people who have no control over the situation. Your choice really, because we, the residents of Buffalo, certainly don't matter much to you one way or the other.

Hey, Elmwood, if you don't want the traffic, send it my way...

2006-03-01T20:20:00.000-05:00

If you are complaining about traffic in Buffalo, I'm sorry, but you need to get out more.

Maybe if we get enough of the "T-word" we'll actually see a push for public transit.

Or is that too urban? Too five-stories?

Heaven forbid.

Coppola wins?

2006-03-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

Guess who the happiest person in Buffalo today is?

I would say Antoine Thompson.

Not even Marc Coppola himself can be happy with 56% of the vote in a district that is 6:1 Democrats.

September is going to be interesting if Coppola, Egiru, Thompson, and Gaughan jump in.

And if Lenny can't get the boys to play nice and one the losers snags a minor party line, Jacobs could have a decent shot in the general.

But for now, who's going to spin the wheel of political favor for Coppola's Delaware District council seat?

More bad news for downtown retail?

2006-02-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

With a new store up near Comsumer Hell - er, Square - on Delaware and Hertel, I can't see the downtown store surviving. That sucks.

I'm not a fan of corporate stores by any means, but try and buy something electronic related anywhere else near downtown.

Bendersonization continues.

Business First of Buffalo - 11:00 AM EST Monday

RadioShack will close hundreds of stores

RadioShack saw profits plummet 62 percent in the fourth quarter, and the company said it plans to shutter 400 to 700 company-owned stores

The 18-month plan includes replacing older, slower moving merchandise and improving and investing in top-performing stores. The company also plans to align overhead costs to extract more profit per square foot.

RadioShack operates approximately two dozen stores in the Buffalo market. Spokeswoman Wendy Dominguez said the company has not identified all of the stores that will be closed, but expects to release a list of store closings within about two months. The company's turnaround plan includes closing distribution centers in Charleston, S.C., and Southhaven, Miss.

Fort Worth, Texas-based RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) reported net income for 2005 of $265.3 million or $1.78 per share compared to $337.2 million or $2.08 per share in 2004.

"RadioShack failed to achieve its financial objectives in 2005," said CEO David Edmondson. "We implemented several key changes, (but) we must move at a much faster pace with a greater sense of urgency, and that is what necessitates our turnaround plan."

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2006/02/20/daily5.html

Wanna buy a grain elevator?

2006-02-15T22:58:00.000-05:00

50 ELK, BUFFALO 14210 $124,900

http://www.buffaloniagarahomes.com/commercial/detail.cfm?mlnum=249672&src=bnh#

Let's Go Obstuctionists!

2006-02-13T20:10:00.000-05:00

You think Buffalo is a difficult place to get something built? Try New York.

Ok, Buffalo isn’t New York. But New York of today is not New York of 30 years ago.

New York is sometimes referred to as hyper-urban. And by U.S. standards, it seems to be a decent description. As other cities were hurting, New York was dying. The city was plagued by abandonment, arson, vacant property, high crime, a shrinking population, and a state imposed control board (hmm….). Now that cities are coming back (and, yes, for all its problems, I still put Buffalo in that category), New York is bursting with development pressure.

Many factors caused New York renaissance, not the least of which was citizen involvement – and it wasn’t citizens who cried ‘get out of the way’ and ‘let the experts do their jobs’. It was citizens who took neighborhoods back when leaders called for ‘benign neglect’. It was citizens who found capital to literally rebuild their neighborhoods. And once community groups showed it was profitable to reinvest, it was citizens who forced developers to play by their rules and build their communities in the vision the residents laid out – from inclusionary affordable housing to usable public space and neighborhood amenities. Sure, citizens have lost many battles, but there have been none that have gone uncontested and few that haven’t won at least some concessions.

And digging in and fighting for what is right works. There are communities written off long ago that are once again attractive and viable places. Next time you’re in New York: go to Harlem, go to Bed-Stuy, go to the South Bronx. And bring home with you inspiration and the realization that your neighborhood has value too.

But without an active and enlightened citizenry to demand quality communities, we will continue to get the lowest common denominator in all regards, built to code, cheap as possible.

But at least there’ll be ample parking.

Is that what we want to define us as a community?

Then don’t let it happen.

Ok, so you still think we’re not like New York. Then try any city that has self-respect enough not to let anybody do anything, anywhere, just because it’s something, somewhere. Try Portland. Try Seattle. Try Boston.

Here’s hoping we can add Buffalo to this list as well.

It's either that, or live with the consequences.

SOS (Save our Structures)

2006-02-08T23:28:00.000-05:00

In today's Buffalo News, Sharon Linstedt writes (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060208/1032887.asp) that the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has bought the three brick houses cited by Cynthia van Ness in this Buffalo Rising article a couple of months back: http://www.buffalorising.com/city/archives/2005/11/mid19th_century.php

BNMC directice Matt Enstice is quoted as saying "these properties are well situated to be part of that physical link" between the campus and Allentown.

This ambiguous statement does not sit well with me. I would encourage anyone to walk from Allen St., through the NFTA station and over to Washington. These houses (turned offices) are not in need of institutional control in order to provide this link.

I sincerely hope this acquisition is not the first step to demolition. I hope, also, that the folks at the BNMC realize that tearing these buildings down would eliminate the 'there there', and that extending a street and then blighting the properties that border it is a perfect way to destroy a community, not connect to it.

As a community, we cannot stand for urban removal in the name of economic development. The two are at cross purposes and have wrought enough havoc on our city. It is time for a better, more thoughtful way. Let's hope the people at BNMC understand that, and if they do not, we must do all we can to make sure they learn.

Poltical Vinegar

2006-02-01T20:10:00.000-05:00

The drop outs came from all sides this week. From Antoine Thompson and Kevin Gaughan in the 60th Senate Seat special election, to Lecia Eve in the race for Lt. Governor, and Golisano in the Governor's race. My question is who got what deals this time around. Mark a note in political scorecards now and check it come January when the (mostly figurative) payments come due.

Nowthat the 60th is all but locked up, Coppola's soon-to-be vacated Delaware district common council seat will be the next political scramble to keep an eye on. Gaughan's alleged address of 113 Lafayette is actually in the Niagara District so he's out. Who's next on Chairman Len's list?

In defense of the functionally illiterate...

2006-02-01T20:04:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, the Buffalo News editorial board penned the following:

"OK, this is disturbing: According to a national study of literacy on college campuses, more than half the students at four-year schools and more than three-quarters of the students at two-year colleges can't understand the arguments of newspaper editorials."

In defense of those studied, if the editorials presented were those of the Buffalo News, I think we can all understand their general inability to comprehend the arguments presented.

We're number 43!

2006-02-01T19:54:00.000-05:00

Read it and weep, or smile, or sigh, or ponder...

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2006/01/30/daily28.html?jst=b_ln_hl

Buffalo is now ranked #43 out of top 50 sites to expand or relocate a business. Considering the flack we take (albeit mostly justified) about high taxes, physical climate, our image problem in general, and our inept 'leadership', I guess 43 isn't THAT bad?

Watch out Donn Esmonde, I sense a new Buffalo slogan coming on... "Mediocrity - it's a start!"

Truth in Politics (or: Be Careful What You Wish For)

2006-01-30T22:38:00.000-05:00

As the official campaign for the Sixtieth State Senate seat gets publicly underway (a political struggle for an office that will be up for a primary in 6 months - one that does not much good save for affirming the unchecked power of incumbency) , I’m reminded of a remark I heard Kevin Gaughan make at least once during his ill-fated run for mayor last year.

When asked why he wanted to be mayor (then again, he may not have waited for anyone to ask, he may have just launched right into it as he is wont to do), he didn’t stick to the stock schlock of every other candidate. The official canned response should have been a parroting of “because I love Buffalo, and I want to make it the great place it was and can be again - a place where our children have an opportunity to live and work and blah, blah, blah…” Noble goals, yes, but predictable politicspeak that doesn't really say much of anything.

Instead Gaughan said he wanted to be a hero. He said he had no wife and no kids and he wanted saving the city to be his legacy.

Well, that’s honesty for you. And it certainly could have been worse. It could have been, “because I’d like to be an influence peddler and control the patronage mill, milk contracts, and get kickbacks on top of a guaranteed paycheck for four years,” but his response was unnerving nonetheless.

I can't decide if Gaughan's head is in the right place and his heart is not, or if his heart is in the right place and his head is not, but for some reason this guy just doesn't sit quite right. Perhaps, his pulling up to the third Buffalo conversation (at Daemen) in his car with Florida license plates and parking it in a fire zone (reminiscent of Brown's campaign staff, that BuffaloPundit had frequently pointed out, no?) that didn't make me feel he would be the one I would want setting policy and enforcing rules.

But maybe he's not above the law (or necessarily for endangering the welfare of the 300+ guests inside). Maybe he's just a bit to uncouth, or disconnected. I'd give him that. I imagine it's easy to lose touch out on the Hamburg shore.

In any event, I wonder what the rest of the current slate of would-be senators would honestly have to say?

Considering the possibilities, for all these criticisms, Gaughan still may be the guy to vote for...

Going Negative...

2006-01-26T19:34:00.000-05:00

Joel Giambra's recent control-board (v1.0 - Buffalo edition) rant about sales-tax sharing would be laughable if he didn't take himself so seriously.

His argument: that Erie County's projected deficits are much worse than Buffalo's so Erie County should be able to keep the full extra 1.75 cents on a dollar.

Erie County has been getting the benefit of 1 extra unshared percent since 1985, when Jimmy Griffin was too drunk, stupid, or incoherent to get a sharing agreement in writing (remember, this was the same year of the infamous "Stay home. Enjoy your family. Watch Channel 7, and get a six-pack" line).

Giambra's argument is analogous to a school-yard bully stealing Buffalo's lunch money for 20 years, using it to devour everything in sight, and then needing it to sustain its now immense hunger.

The lunch monitor (aka Albany -- no ever said lunch monitors were entirely on the up and up) eventually steps in and says the bully can't keep taking Buffalo's money. The bully's response? "I need it! I'm hungry, damn it!"

I'm not for throwing money at the Buffalo's problems, but maybe with continued fiscal discipline and the sales tax money that should rightfully flow to the city's coffers, the city could actually lower its property taxes (or eliminate its user fee) in a sustainable way. If this rightful sharing means that county property taxes go up, a county-wide increase would at least be more equitable (and more in line with the tax distributions in other upstate regions).

If Giambra has no sense of what belt tightening means, it should be no surprise. He seems to have whipped his off and thrown it out long ago. Buffalo has cut 21% of the city's jobs in the last 5 years. Erie County's head count under Giambra has continued to grow. Though cutting maybe 15% last year, it's back up by hundreds already this year.

When Joel brings his charts and graphs to the next control board meeting, I hope he remembers to bring the ones that show how much he has increased debt, wasted future assets, and thrown away tax revenue. Now that's going negative.

City Council Mid-year Report Card (Part 3 of 4)

2006-01-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

Finalize Bass Pro Agreement

No final agreement, but also not yet dead in the water (excuse the poor word choice, I know).

Considering the fact that bulk of government money for this project was already programmed for the foot of Main St., the Aud costs the city hundreds of thousands each year to maintain, and that the local share will be repaid with new sales tax revenue, this project isn’t as bad as the $128 million price tag would suggest. However, the only way this project will be successful is if it creates the spin-off development and critical mass that it is alleged to bring and if accommodations are made for local entrepreneurs on site.

Increase State Empire Zone Wage Tax Credit

Hard to ever really tell what the impact of changes in Empire Zone legislation will be, but the real win/loss should be calculated in jobs created. Other than COBEE, there is not much to claim victory on as of late. Empire Zones as a tool for urban revitalization will be a monumental failure if projects like Geico are allowed to build on far-flung greenfield sites and still reap the benefits while contributing to sprawl. Changes in state legislation this year codify that not as possibility, but as policy.

Get Small Business Loans Out to Neighborhood Businesses

Loans must be coupled with business assistance programs to be effective. Various HUD grants are also available, but the city needs to do its part in investing in infrastructure on neighborhood commercial streets, and not just Elmwood (and, no, Delaware north of Amherst St. doesn’t count as a neighborhood street).

Bring a Casino to Buffalo

Council members lauding the coming of a casino as economic development are guilty of incredible willful-ignorance. The notion that a casino will help Buffalo in its “efforts to recreate itself as vibrant and dynamic, and help to shed the image of a decaying rust-belt region” would be laughable if it weren’t so tragically misguided. City after city has contributed to their own declines by pursuing this economic slight-of-hand, but our leaders refuse to learn from the mistakes of others. I wish the obstructionists all the best in halting this most-recent impending calamity.

Peace Bridge Expansion Project

More than $20 million has been earmarked at the federal level for infrastructure improvements in the neighborhood. Hopefully, the alternative ramp siting proposed and advocated for by the New Millennium Group can be drilled into bureaucrats’ heads as a sensible and neighborhood sensitive approach.

downtown new builds/affordable housing

2006-01-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

Why, when the city has proven it can do things right, like this early-1980s redevelopment:

would it continue to do things like this:

or worse, this:
It's a choice between communities like this:
and communities like this:
Some may prefer the later, that's fine. There's a place for you -- it's called Lancaster.

The city seemed to have started to get it right again, when it built these:
except for the fact that it immersed them in a sea of parking like this:

Why has it been so difficult for local officials to understand that planning for good urbanism is about density and design, not about turning radius and ample parking?

City Council Mid-Year Report Card (Part 2 of 4)

2006-01-21T12:29:00.000-05:00

HOUSING INITIATIVES

• Increase the Rate of Demolitions for Vacant & Abandoned Properties

State legislation was passed allowing for additional sources of fund to be used for demolitions. The council also re-appropriated additional money in this year’s capital budget and may be in line to use some funds out of a restricted surplus account to make this happen as well.

Let’s hope Rich Tobe can put together a targeted demolition/land banking strategy, rehabbing these houses where possible.

• Allow Potential Owner Occupants the First Opportunity to Bid on Properties Being Sold at City Auctions

State law would need to be changed to make this happen, and there has been no movement on that front.

People United for Sustainable Housing has taken this up as a main initiative locally, I’m not sure if they’re also going after state reps. This should also be paired with low interest loans for renovation, as many of these properties didn’t get to the auction by being the nicest on the block. Antoine Thompson proposed this in theory, but his head has certainly been in Albany (or Washington, depending on the day) and not on actually getting anything done for quite some time. Less talk, more rock, Antoine.

• Expand Down Payment Closing Cost Assistance Program

The City has rationalized home buyer assistance by moving to a single provider agency (Belmont). HUD money has starting coming in again, but other transgressions in a low number of East Side housing completions means the city is threatened with giving a substantial chunk of already expended dollars back.

• Extend New York State Homesteading Law

Judging by the $1 dispositions coming before the council in recent months, the Homesteading law has been renewed.

While the city has too many vacant lots to properly maintain, there are issues with deeding over this land to increase owners’ lot sizes. Though these lots will be hopefully put to better use, or at least no longer eat up tax dollars for (less than routine) maintenance, a non-strategic policy of Homesteading will make it difficult to increase the density to levels create sustainable urban neighborhoods. Again this is not a problem today when the main issue is halting decline, but as with the issue of gentrification/displacement, we must consider the consequences that current policies will reap years down the line.

Winds of Change?

2006-01-20T13:35:00.000-05:00

Previously the page mentioned Angela Joyner and Rich Tobe as welcome additions to Mayor Brown's administration. Here is a list of other appointments to date followed by their new post and former position (and notable relations):

Peter Cutler, Communications Director, Previous Masiello Public Relations Rep, Travers Collins and Company

Stephen Casey, Deputy Mayor for Administration, Brown Chief of Staff, Campaign Manager

James Milroy, Finance Commissioner, Masiello appointee

Timothy Wanamaker, Strategic Planning Director, Masiello appointee

Joseph Giambra, Public Works Commissioner, Masiello appointee

Bruna Michaux, Assessment and Taxation Commissioner, Masiello appointee

Michael L. Lombardo, Fire Commissioner, 29 year force veteran (involved in protests in 2003 when the city started implementing a still-ongoing Fire Department downsizing)

Lt. Patrick T. Lewis, Deputy Fire Commissioner, Administration, Force Veteran/Cousin of Rep. Brian Higgins

Lt. Garnell M. Smith, Deputy Fire Commissioner, Operations, Force Veteran/Cousin of Councilmember Bonnie Russell

Garnell W. Whitfield Jr., Deputy Fire Commissioner, Emergency Services, Masiello Appointee

Oswaldo Mestre, Jr., Citizen Services Director, City's Weed and Seed Director under Masiello

Craig Hannah, City Court Judge (vacancy, not and administration position), Grassroots Member/ counsel to Brown, VP of Erie County Democratic Committee

Peter Savage, Urban Affairs Director, Special Assistant to Masiello

The above is not meant as an affront to any of the newly named's capabilities (Timothy Wanamaker, for one, was a great retention from the Masiello days), but it does raise the questions as to the alleged disavowal of the status quo.

Are you blown over?

Depressing

2006-01-19T12:54:00.000-05:00

I try to remain an optimist, but junk like this makes it difficult:
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060119/1051416.asp

At this point, I have no idea what Patrick Hotung's motivation is beyond obstructionism. Considering his awful record of stewardship over MPM, in any other city his proposal for wait-and-see-what-I-can-do-with-more-parking /property-tax-speculation would have to be dismissed out of hand. But here it held up as a legitimate proposal -- I really feel bad for Sharon Linstedt sometimes (not to mention the rest of us) that this is the 'business' climate she has to write about at the News.

And Paladino's take -- that Hotung should just tear down AM&A's for more parking -- is even more ludicrous (and more incendiary) than Hotung's.

City Council Mid-Year Report Card (Part 1 of 4)

2006-01-18T19:57:00.000-05:00

Buffalo's City Council establishes a set of priorities to accomplish for each fiscal year. I think this is a great way to measure accountability, by the self-imposed standards they deemed acheivable. You can find the full 2005-2006 plan here: http://www.city-buffalo.com/Files/1_2_1/common_council/2005-2006Action_Plan.pdf

Based on the benchmarks they've laid out for themselves, they've got quite a bit of work to accomplish in the next few months. Here is the status to date on their initiatives followed by my 2 cents.

PUBLIC SAFETY INITIATIVES

• Have Police Officers “Walk the Beat”

No activity on this topic.

Part of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), which has done wonders for crime reduction in cities like Boston and New York. With consistently high crime rates per capita (albeit mainly concentrated in the City’s underserved neighborhoods), it is a wonder that this strategy has not been pursued. My advice to the transition team (not that they’re listening, of course) would be to make allegiance to a COPS strategy a prerequisite for all police commissioner candidates.

• Clean Sweep Crime Crack Downs

Not much of this occurred above the radar in 2005.

I don’t support semi-forceful entry-by-intimidation as this has proven to be in the past, but I do support no-plea zones and no-tolerance policies.

• Surveillance Cameras

No movement on this issue either.

This is a tough issue for me, and Bush-era tactics make it extremely sensitive. A small pilot program may be in order, but I have a feeling this would just be shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic by forcing crime one block over. Unlike the eyes of good neighbors, you cannot put surveillance on every corner, and I don’t think that’s a goal we should have.

• Drug Asset Forfeiture Community Fund

The City Council has been monitoring the fund regularly, but it is unclear to me whether the money is being plowed back into the initiatives the council has cited. (to community organizations that provide anti-drug education and/or activities for youth).

This is a sensible approach, as long as there are accountability measures and the funds don’t end up as another form of legislative pork.

• Quality of Life Ordinance Enforcement

The Council had marginal success by taking on the police force publicly about noise complaints, and Councilmember (now majority leader) Bonifacio floated legislation to increase the penalties for offenders. These are the types of complaints that typically taper off once the weather turns bad, so expect to see more action coming from the council on this in the spring.

I don’t take quite as much of an issue with this as, say, Charlie Flynn (single-handedly taking on those punks with their boomboxes) but substantial quality of life crimes (not like putting your bag on the seat of the bus when it’s half-empty) should certainly be enforced to a greater extent.

• Open School Buildings to the Community

No concrete progress, though would-be State Senator Coppola spearheaded reform of the city’s boiler codes (an archaic part of a larger problem, now one less impediment).

Possibly the crookedest contract of them all is that binding the school board to outrageous stipulations in the engineers’ work rules and compensation arrangements. This issue becomes more and more crucial (and frustrating) as federal aid dries out and foundation and non-profit dollars are stretched thin. It's terrible to think of a billion dollars worth of new city schools, open only 35 hours per week. This also makes public schools less competitive with charter schools who don’t face these complications. Not resolving this is just shooting the school system in the other foot; the council and the administration need to make this item a priority in practice, not just on paper.

Still to Come:
Part 2: Housing Initiatives
Part 3: Economic Development
Part 4: Improving City Finances

How far, Guaghan?

2006-01-16T18:22:00.000-05:00

It's probably much too early to determine who the real winners and losers are following Byron Brown's ascendancy to the top spot in City Hall, but as far as I know the only concessions made public in the endorsement game are those promised to Kevin Gaughan.

The following was posted on Buffalo Rising a couple of months back :

"So rather than extracting the usual job promise, I persuaded Brown to agree to adopt 3 specific changes when he becomes mayor:

To fill one of his two deputy mayor positions with a professional administrator, with professional administrative skills, to run the city on a day-to-day basis;
To retain an outside national think tank to assess how we govern ourselves in Buffalo and recommend cost-savings changes; and
To fully reform the permits and inspections department by raising the standard of tranining [sic] and experience necessary to become a housing inspector."

On the first point, it seems as though Kevin got his wish, sort of. I'm not sure of Ms. Joyner's specific responsibilities, but as it was reported in the Snooze (HT Jimmy Griffin) she will be Deputy Mayor in charge of CitiStat. CitiStat is a monitoring tool, but I'm not sure that the computer system will run the city as the magical panacea Brown touted it to be during the campaign. Thorough monitoring and, thereby, accountability are noble goals, but a computer can't love (but I hear Mac is working on that for the G6). Likewise, a computer can't set citywide priorities, a computer can't be a goal setter, and a computer can't drop the hammer. Is that part of Joyner's job? I guess we'll see...

On the second point, no mention of governance issues by the administration so far, but Gaughan's somewhat cryptic ask seems like a veiled way to bring up regionalism. Brown is decidedly against any form of merger, so I'm not sure what Gaughan expects to gain from this exercise.

On the final point, I think Brown has tapped the right person in the form of Rich Tobe to head up permits, inspections, and economic development. That said, Tobe has not just one huge job in front of him, but many. Did Gaughan's prodding move Brown's hand on this one? Convincing me of that would be a tough sell considering the mountains of bad press racked up by former Permits and Inspections head Ray McGurn over the last year, but no matter the case this move appears to be a win for us all.

Whether by political extraction or by coinciding with Brown's own motivations, on the surface, Gaughan has gotten 2/3 of his asks. Not too shabby by any standard. And, cheers for that matter, because these are both noble gains. But for Gaughan, the real win/loss will be decided in September if he fills Brown's current 60th Senate seat vacancy with a primary victory.

Perhaps more importantly than the spoils of Kevin Gaughan, though, this comparison raises the question of what else has been promised Brown's other endorsers, and how much of it will be followed through on.

Main Street Ped Mall

2006-01-14T14:05:00.000-05:00

I found a public notice today:

“Cars Sharing Main Street” Open House
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2006
4:00-8:00 PM
Market Arcade Film & Art Center
639 Main Street, Buffalo

Public to view introductory power point,
submit comments,
view traffic modeling,
see inital Metro Rail station concepts.

Many are wont to blame the Metro Rail and Pedestrian Mall for downtown's failure. Their knee-jerk reaction has been the call for the system's removal, but fortunately, those who wanted it torn out have been thwarted in their efforts. Metro Rail is merely the very visible scapegoat for a series of related and unrelated events that destroyed downtown retail and impeded vitality (take for instance, the opening of the Galleria Mall in the late 1980s, the spread of big-box retail, the city's continued population loss, etc.).

The biggest mistake our region has made in the past 50 years (second only to the SUNY @ Amherst campus) was not the building of Metro Rail, but the failure to complete the 5 additional branches of the light-rail system.

As it stands today, the pedestrain mall never had a chance. But the build-out of the system as designed -- carrying 90,000 people per day (as opposed to the current 20,000 -- 23,000) -- would have created a remarkably different environment, not only on Main Street, but throughout all of downtown and, possbily, the region.

I'm not opposed to the concept of reintroducing cars to Main Street, but I am opposed to the way we approach these changes. The all-or-nothing, waiting for federal appropriations approach gets us nowhere 95% of the time.

Instead of 5+ years of design work and begging for money, what if, for instance, buses had been rerouted to share the trackbed to create a larger concentration of foot traffic (the Fulton Street bus/ped mall in Brooklyn works quite well)?

What if Mohawk Street had been reopened to traffic, rather than being turned into a parking lot for the Bellasario?

What if traffic flowed two ways on Pearl Street to make navigating downtown simpler and make Main Street more accessible?

What if the city forced (through zoning regulations) the Main Place Mall to have it's stores open onto the street?

Just a couple of ideas (there are many more) to show that pregnant anticipation of the silver bullet isn't the only way to approach our city's problems.

As for the public meeting, please attend and speak up. It will interesting for me and the rest of us who were at these meetings years ago to find out if we were actually heard.

Pro Park Acquisitions

2006-01-14T13:57:00.000-05:00

The Buffalo News has reported that Pro Park (a Ciminelli company) has bought a combination of 22 lots and ramps from the national owner of All-right Parking. Probably not an earth shattering development, and at this point, from the outside, it is tough to determine what Ciminelli's intent is here (obivously to make more money, I guess in the world of capitalism, 'intent' should read 'business plan'). In any evernt, here are the possible pros and cons as I see them:

Pro: Ciminelli is a locally-based company, now these parking receipts have a better chance of circulating locally.

Pro: Unlike All-Right, Ciminelli is not just a parking lot operator -- they are a developer also. It would be possbile to infer that these parking lots just became prospective development parcels.

Pro: Compared to other local operators, Ciminelli takes relatively good care of their parking lots. I know this is a bit like polishing a turd, but it's marginally better than nothing. There is much more that can be done in this regard (see the Mansion lot at Delaware and Edward for starters), but that's for another topic.

Con: Puts Cinimelli in charge of a very large footprint downtown. As a beliver in incremental progress and economic diversity, I am always wary of consolidation and control.

Con: They're still parking lots (and half-empty, you might say).

Court Street.

2006-01-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

I'm not particularly a fan of Carl Paladino, but separate the person from the project for a minute. His proposed Court Street project should go through -- no (more) questions asked. This thing has been dragged through the bureaucracy for years. If any one has questions on x,y or z, then pick up BURA's 700+ page report and find the answer in there. Don't pretend this thing hasn't been vetted to death.

And anyone claiming an extra $500,000 up front is a better deal for the city has never read a pro forma or heard of the concepts of return on investment or cash-flow analysis. I don't generally fault people for that -- unless you happen to be mayor of the second largest city in New York.

What amazes me is that for all the current rancor, there was no public outcry when Paladino was handed the sweetheart deal on the inner harbor a couple of months back. For that one, he met none of the RFP criteria (including density, mixed use, mixed income, and urban design requirements) and was late with his application to boot. Norstar's proposal met them all and was on time. Guess who Masiello hand-picked to get that contract?

But the consequence of these developments goes much farther than these two pieces of land. It goes to the national perception that Buffalo is a hack town with a process so crooked we don't even try to hide it. (And when I say national perception, I'm not talking about the NBC Nightly News, but the development community -- site selectors, investors, etc. -- and, yes, they are watching) Until we break this cycle of political favoritism, there will be no outside money brought into this city, and, as it stands, too much money has been bled from this communtiy in the past 50 years for us to turn it around by ourselves.

The Brown administration is blatantly stringing Carl Paladino along for his massive support of Kevin Helfer. So be it. The problem is, he's stringing along the people of Buffalo at the same time. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of being dragged around.

hi

2006-01-12T20:54:00.000-05:00

welcome to here once stood.