Had a call late night call from a Coe Place resident last week. He was concerned that demo-prep might be going on, again. I stopped by about 7am and called City Hall to see if the demo permit Belmont Shelter had applied for last year had been re-activated.
Learned that an architect had submitted plans on behalf of Belmont Shelter for interior and exterior renovations. As you can see the only demolition that took place was the pine tree, right infront of the house. I think the entire street scene has been improved.
What a difference a year makes. And yes, the back door remains secure! Thank you again, Mike & Liz (Belmont peeps) for withdrawing the demolition permit and getting things done! Will be keeping track of the Ward House's transformation this summer...stay tuned.
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
Excellent series happening in Niagara Falls. Here's George and Tim Wannamaker.
I've archived past Partner's Newsletters, over here.
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
During Preservation Month 2007, the National Trust and its partners and friends across America have much to celebrate. American enthusiasm for historic preservation is stronger than ever, and we are working more effectively than ever – protecting the places that people care about; sparking a renewed sense of community pride; bringing new investment, new jobs and new economic vitality to historic commercial areas; keeping our history alive and close at hand so we can live with it, learn from it and be inspired by it. read the rest...While your clicking through the National Trust for Historic Preservation's site make sure to sign up for the free e-newsletter, right here.
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Any other ghost signs out there...
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These are owned by the City and I'm available to help you navigate the maze to help make one of these places your home. Make sure to check out a recent lisiting at 10 Edna Place. Figure this will be sold with-in the next 30 days!
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
And around back, same house. No, this house is not located in Harlan County Kentucky!
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the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
Twenty-five years ago, social scientist James Q. Wilson and criminologist (and Manhattan Institute senior fellow) George Kelling first introduced the phrase “Broken Windows” into the public policy lexicon. In a pathbreaking Atlantic Monthly article, Wilson and Kelling pointed out that people were likelier to vandalize a building with one broken window than a building with none, since a broken window sends the message that nobody cares, encouraging vandals to act on their destructive impulses. Similarly, they suggested, if a community tolerates quality-of-life offenses, such as drug use and prostitution, it signals to all potential lawbreakers that it doesn’t care what happens to it; more serious crime will soon result. read the rest...Blueprint Buffalo uses this framework as a point of departure for kick starting the conversation here in Buffalo on abandonment and vacancy issues. Wrote about this way back, last Novemeber - Getting Smarter about Decline.
City Journal is a daily read. Free e-subscription, right here.
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
In my e-mail exchange, I advised that they take "possession" of the place, like NOW. As I noticed on March 25th - a full six months after the $3500 bid was accepted for the property - the window on the Moselle Street side of the basement was opened. Here's the video! Same window that "we" accessed on the St. Matthew's Good Friday Tour.
I'm assuming your attorney does not live in the immediate neighborhood. If you are sincere and desire to move forward with your project and preserve what is still a viable structure, properly securing the building is a good first step. NO one will stop you from properly boarding and securing the site. Deeds sometimes take weeks to receive after they've been recorded. Again, you may be losing valuable time.And like we're still waiting. Housing Court this Friday. Stay tuned...
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
Last time I was here I explored the sand pile, right here.
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Would like to know if any fixBuffalo readers remember this sort of housing from "back in the day." Were these houses typically owned by the same family and/or rented to others?
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![IMG_6679[1]](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/228/477526034_8e673bcd05.jpg)
Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.See My Vinyl Collection for additional inspiration.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. Mcguire: Plastics.
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Yesterday, while walking around in the fog we spotted this store front church next to St. Anne's.
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
Awesome vintage T-bird in the distance, too. On Peckham, tucked behind the "vinyl victorian."
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
The City took possession of this four unit building during the tax sale last October. It's clearly marked for demolition as the notice was stapled to the boards some time last week. Only one problem. The building is structurally sound. The roof is new and there's not a crumbling brick. The side door was open...so. Lots of cosmetics, mechanics and a dozen new windows are needed. The apartments are divided along very traditional lines with two bedrooms in each unit.
While I fully understand that the market may not be catching up to this neigbhorhood anytime soon, would'nt it make more sense to "moth-ball" a building like this...than send it to the landfill?
This City owned building is arguably in better condition than many of the City owned buidings listed in the City For-Sale Catalog, that I wrote about last week.
Anyone want to venture a guess as to how much we're spending on knocking this down? Plywood is probably cheaper...really!
So it goes...
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities

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So...lots of issues here I know. Both St. Matthew's and Transfiguration were part of the same Diocesan deaccession plan back in the 90's. You'll remember that Transfiguration was sold for $7000 and now we see that empty churches continue to lose value.
Guy claimed no knowledge of the May 4th Housing Court date. I've spoken to the City's inspector who filed the Housing Court case. I've given him names and addresses that the purchaser provided the City last October as the successful bidder. Re/Deal Partners LLC has a different address which I've also handed over to the inspector. On May 4th I'll make certain to hand both addresses to Judge Nowak, too.
At this rate when the Bishop announces Diocesan Deaccession - Part II, guess you know what Selling Jesus is going to cost.
So it goes...
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
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This weekend...
- Why do great strategies fail? That's the question Michael Raynor asks in his new book, The Strategy Paradox. Michael says the job of leaders is to embrace the inherent uncertainty of strategy and recognize that the future can't be predicted. Instead of making choices, leaders create options. Michael is a Distinguished Fellow with Deloitte Research in Boston.
- Our second topic this week is a strategy critical to cities - how to leverage universities and other anchor institutions to contribute fully to urban success and, in turn, to their own. Dr. David Maurrasse of Marga is with us to talk about the challenges and rewards of these partnerships. David is on the faculty at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
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If you haven't read The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) you should! Make sure to check out the Wikipedia entry for Jane Jacobs! Great links.
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The corner will be enclosed in glass! Check out the slide show - Performing Arts April 2007 - and see some of the truly exciting work that's been happening here on the City's near East side.
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The recent background information can be found here - Erie Canal Harbor Project. Many of the documents - years of community based work, stitched together by members of this community are available using that link. The recent plans presented by Larry Quinn conveniently overlook this fact. Wrote something about this - (b)Ass Pro - last month.
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Here some pix that were sent in, from back in the day.
I know, Bishop Kmiec has been laying low recently with the Diocesan deaccession plan. Any news about the pending fate of St. Anne's and St. Adelbert's? Let me know...
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
This two family home appears to be in structurally sound condition. We didn't see any structural problems. Lots of cosmetics, a few windows. Was very surprised to see both furnaces, that appeared to be newer, along with both hot water tanks. Couple sketchy houses across the street that need to be demolished.
Here's the interior slide show - 10 Edna Place
Edna Place is part of the North Ellicott Neighborhood Association (aka Coe Place Block Club, see here & here). With all the positive activity and attention in the neighborhood it's now only a matter of months before the eye-sores are demolished, not years.
Reach Ryan at 716.961.7632 to set up a showing. This won't last. Asking price $22,900...bet the first $15K takes it. By Memorial Day this place will be sold. Really...
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Jim Lindley's group shot! As pix trickle in, I'll post the group slide show here. Looking forward to seeing additional eyes on what's happening in Buffalo's coolest new emerging neighborhood.
Here's the emerging group show, check back often - BuffaloArtspace2007
Tour's every Saturday at 11am...leaving from the Sonic Café.
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This weekend...
- What would happen if every anchor institution in your city -- your universities, libraries, parks, major sports facilities, and museums -- were in perfect alignment around a few big goals, contributing their maximum to your city's success and their own?
- Our guests this week are leading anchor institutions with imagination and energy, and they are key participants in an upcoming discussion to take place May 1st and 2nd in San Jose on the topic of Leveraging Anchor Institutions for Urban Success.
- Paul Holdengraber is the Director of Public Programs and LIVE from the NYPL at the New York Public Library. Josephine Ramirez is Vice President of Programming and Planning at the Music Center in Los Angeles.
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Playing with the data sets is easy. Four easy spread sheets to ease the pain. Just drilled into the Buffalo/Niagara line. Between July 2005 and 2006 the area lost 7,276 people.
Do the math. 139 people every week or 20 people everyday!
Guess we are in better shape than Cleveland. During the same period Cleveland lost 10,983 residents, about 30/day! Wrote about Cleveland recently - Cleveland in Decline.
I'm at a loss for words...
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I saw the area this morning, and it's weird because it's only 2 blocks from my house but the whole area is in a blindspot for me because it's on the other side of Delaware Ave.I'll leave it up to Jim to designate a special tag so we can quickly assemble a slide show of the event. Should be way cool.
Jim was the guy who got the ball rolling on this recent story - Snapshots of Buffalo - that appeared in the Buffalo News recently and is now archived over at the BERC site.
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Marketing Available City Owned PropertiesWell...don't know if the deadline was met, yet here's the link and catalog [.pdf] off the City's site. See, prior to this link, the only way to know what property was for sale was to go to the 9th floor of City Hall and ask for the catalog, actually a 10-15 page packet. If you were somehow in the loop you could sometimes get the packet mailed to you.
The CitiStat panel discussed the need to market the many properties owned by the City for new development opportunities. The need to establish a marketing plan was discussed. The idea of utilizing a real estate company or a private marketing company to market available City owned properties was also discussed as something to look into. At the very least Mr. Wanamaker stated that within the next 30 days an effort will occur to at least put photos of available City properties on the City’s web page.
While looking through the on-line catalog prepared by John Hannon's staff - sort of looks like a late night middle school web project - I quickly noticed a house the City is trying to sell at 2 Girard Place. It's strangely marked as "sale pending" and fixBuffalo readers will remember it - right here.
From the hundreds - and perhaps thousands - the City owns, one quickly begins to wonder why these properties were chosen over others. Pix are about as good as what you might get from your realtor. Looking at a number of the pix in the City's "on-line catalog", I was struck by the number of cars parked in City owned driveways.
A small step in the right direction. If you've purchased a house from the City recently, do share your experience...
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities
Towards the end of the tour we poked our heads into the space behind Artspace and took a look at the new builds. Seems hard to believe that Savarino is going to have this all wrapped up in six weeks!
We also saw some repairs happening over at St. Vincent's - right here.
Come on over...tours leave the Sonic Café every Saturday at 11am...
Artspace • BAVPA • Tour d'Neglect - 2007 • Woodlawn Row Houses • faq • my flickr
the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities

In Artvoice this week Gabe Armstrong's piece...
Breaking down barriers though Art,” might come off sounding like one of those lofty mission statements that is easily dismissed as pretentious banter. But in true, literal form, this loopy phrase will soon mean a lot on Buffalo Near East Side.And in Sunday's Buffalo News, Wendy Holmes and Andrew Commers from Artspace central, have a short Q & A about various issues surrounding the project.
The Midtown neighborhood straddling Main Street between East Utica and Best Streets has been part of the long dividing line between the East and West Sides of the city...read the rest...
Our team here at Artspace led by project manager Will Law, and the project architect, Hamilton Houston Lownie, put together what is a pretty interesting space use for each unit in the rehab. It does a good job of staying true to what I think is a larger Artspace aesthetic that we’ve learned over the years and is more preferred by artists ...read the rest...Come over and check things out, later this week. Wow, Savarino is supposed to have this done by June 1st!
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We are, however, not blind to the depredations which have befallen Buffalo and hundreds of other American cities in more than a half-century of urban decline, a decline which threatens the heart of America's civilization.
A prominent urban critic wrote that today's Buffalo resembled a city carpet-bombed in World War II. Others in the popular media brand some areas of the city as looking like ravaged areas in Beirut or Baghdad.
We may reassure ourselves that these critics were engaging in unfair hyperbole given the many attractive features in Buffalo, but these biting words also underscore that our most challenging task is to revitalize neighborhood's crucified by decades of slum and blight. The City of Buffalo's Department of Strategic Planning reports that as many 10,000 dilapidated structures need to be torn down at a staggering cost of $170 - million. Many census tracks in the city show that nearly 40% of the people live in heart-breaking poverty...read the rest...
Additionally the plan calls for a second Housing Court Judge and adoption of a Smart Code...very very good news if you are planning to stick around Buffalo. Call the moving company and cancel the truck to Charlotte. Check out the table of contents. I've hyper-linked the six sections.
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- We are participating with a group of concerned citizens of the City of Niagara Falls in a nine-week FREE Wednesday evening Smart Growth series “Revitalizing and Romancing the City – From Smart Growth to Sustainable Development” beginning April 11. Your attendance is encouraged. All programs will be at the Niagara Falls Public Library from 7 to 9 p.m
I've archived past Partner's Newsletters, over here.
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learned today that the Minister here, Milton Perry will be arraigned in
Housing Court on May 4, 2007
#index 501/2007

photo - Sean
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Read this "Dear Artvoice" letter the other night...
ASK THE NEIGHBORS
As a long-time resident of the East Side, I can say my reaction to Rod McCallum’s project was mixed (“The City Bountiful,” Artvoice v6n13). In a nutshell the problem is that every aspect of the project is exciting and progressive, but I fear that this is just going to be the first wave of the “progressive” middle-class types who come from West Side Buffalo, North Buffalo, Amherst, Clarence, Tonawanda, etc. who don’t live here now but will very soon and who actually will succeed in getting a lot of great things done, while the long-time residents who live here now will get pushed out as you all buy up the houses we can’t afford to keep up with. I don’t think Mr. McCallum is a sinister person or has sinister motives but gentrification is a reality. One big criticism I have, for instance, is how the first news of this happening is in the Artvoice and not the Challenger! It was encouraging that you mentioned how the spot in question is right around the corner from the African-American Cultural Center but it would be nice to know if he plans to have any community information meetings at the center about what he’s doing—or, even better, at the brand new library on Jefferson.
Many current residents on the East Side would like to see a project like this actually come to the East Side and invest in it to make it a reality. Hopefully Mr. McCallum will look for some people from the neighborhood to invest in this worthwhile project.
George WinfieldBuffalo
The City's near East side needs innovation. The first news of this "happening" occurred on my little Masten neighborhood blog - fixBuffalo. I encouraged Artvoice reporters to bring this exciting news to a wider audience. Many of the new and exciting developments, on both sides of Main Street are first organized on-line as it's an amazingly efficient way to communicate. The Challenger, as far as I understand, does not have an on-line presence.
You've addressed and danced around a couple issues that need to be addressed. First, gentrification. Can't happen here. By definition gentrification occurs when there is a housing shortage. Last time I walked down East Utica, I identified three houses on the new farm block that were vacant and owned by the City. Around the corner on Glenwood, twice as many. In Buffalo, we have a housing surplus! Your fear that people are going to be somehow "bought out" of their house I believe is unfounded. Rod and the people I've met associated with the farm project are more interested in homesteading existing vacant houses that are owned by the City. Stabilizing the neighborhood in such incremental ways adds value all the way around. This is a good thing.
I've lived here - on Woodlawn Avenue - three short blocks away from the farm site for almost 11 years and was chair of the social studies dept. at Turner/Carroll High School until it closed. There, I encouraged my students to investigate the neighborhood and on several occasions Geoff Kelly from Artvoice led reporting sessions with my students.
I'm sending this letter to you via email to Artvoice and will hope that you have an opportunity to read it. Rod reads this blog and will try to reach you as well. He works at the King Urban Life Center on Genesee Street and will most probably add the Merriweather Library to a list of sites for community informational meetings. Your participation and involvement will be most welcome, I'm sure.
Best,
David
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the creativity exchange • CEOs for Cities






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