Contest beautifies Buffalo block

[steven]

Dave and Jean Collins met the man who planned to tear up their lawn about a week ago.


Steve Bakowski, a local landscaper, talked about taking down the 30-year-old spruce tree. New grass would go down outside the North Parade Avenue house, too.


“I told him to do whatever he wanted to do. Carte blanche,” Jean Collins said.


By Tuesday morning, the grass was gone outside the house. An orange and white Bobcat front- loader idled underneath where that spruce tree grew.
Dave and Jean Collins and 18 other North Parade homeowners are part of the first Front Yard Garden Competition in Buffalo.




“I think it will be a lasting — long-lasting — legendary impact to the community,” Dave Collins said.


The competition started Tuesday and runs until Saturday. A block from Martin Luther King Park and the Buffalo Science Museum, organizers hope the public will walk down and watch the lawns’ construction. The public will vote on the best lawns from Saturday until July 18, with ballot boxes at the site and online ballots available at www.nationalgardenfestival.com. The winners will be announced July 21.


The lawn and garden makeover pairs a homeowner with a landscaper who donates the time, labor and supplies. Organizers believe it’s the first event of its kind in the United States and say the value of the donated work ranges from $8,000 to $15,000 cq per house, depending on the size of the yard.


“This is really an amazing revolutionary change that’s all about neighbors coming together,” said Thomas Herrera-Mishler, Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy president and chief executive officer.



Makeover officials selected the North Parade block because they could work with the Conservancy, which oversees neighboring King Park.


The North Parade houses are some of Buffalo’s oldest, with wide-porch pink Victorians and more recent double-porch duplexes.



http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/07/0...alo-block.html

[Michele J]

There are some very stately well kept victorians on that block..On the buff news site there have been some negative remarks about neighborhood beautification on the east side..probably the same people who bitched about the extreme makeover on the west side..

[Edisonic]

I see contractors and workers, giving yet another freebie to lazy parasites. None of those homeowners had a shovel or fertilizer or water or access to any of our area's garden centers?? Someone was preventing them from making thier own yards decent, obviously. My lot was nothing but trampled clay and a half-dead City tree, yet I managed to enrich the soil, save the sick street tree, renew the lawn, plant raspberries, daylilies, Hostas, an elm tree, an ash tree, many Rose Of Sharon, etc etc. $60 a year was about my cost, plus getting off my rear and WORKING with garden tools. Not rocket science.

Those free renewals of North Parade yards will look like nothing was ever done, after 3 or 4 years. Let's check back after that time, to see if I'm correct.

[300miles]

I think it's a great idea. These front yards are directly across the street from the park. People walking or driving around the public park will also get to enjoy the new landscaping. So in many ways, these contractors are enhancing the park itself.

Also, in some of these neighborhoods people are hesitant to improve the outside appearance because they would attract too much attention compared to their neighbors (or give people the impression they have money to burn). But with these contractors going ahead with 19 homes (19 homes!!) it gives incentive for everyone else around them to clean up their own yard.

[Trolls_r_us]

I think it's a great idea. These front yards are directly across the street from the park. People walking or driving around the public park will also get to enjoy the new landscaping. So in many ways, these contractors are enhancing the park itself.

Also, in some of these neighborhoods people are hesitant to improve the outside appearance because they would attract too much attention compared to their neighbors (or give people the impression they have money to burn). But with these contractors going ahead with 19 homes (19 homes!!) it gives incentive for everyone else around them to clean up their own yard.

agree 100%

Why are people so against ANYTHING positive in Buffalo? I have NEVER in my life seen such a weirdly masochistic attitude as people in this area have (and I've lived all over the place).

ANY positive project brings out the nutcases who almost seem to WANT nothing good to happen here just so their bitter rants can be re-affirmed.

[therising]

I see contractors and workers, giving yet another freebie to lazy parasites. None of those homeowners had a shovel or fertilizer or water or access to any of our area's garden centers?? Someone was preventing them from making thier own yards decent, obviously. My lot was nothing but trampled clay and a half-dead City tree, yet I managed to enrich the soil, save the sick street tree, renew the lawn, plant raspberries, daylilies, Hostas, an elm tree, an ash tree, many Rose Of Sharon, etc etc. $60 a year was about my cost, plus getting off my rear and WORKING with garden tools. Not rocket science.

Those free renewals of North Parade yards will look like nothing was ever done, after 3 or 4 years. Let's check back after that time, to see if I'm correct.

Miserable existence, that one of your's.
Isn't it?

[Rhiannon]

Miserable existence, that one of your's.
Isn't it?

Now we will see who maintains their freebie new landscaping job and who lets it go to seed.

[300miles]

wasn't that the same argument people used last fall about the home renovation tv show on the west side?

It's the "some-people-just-can't-have-nice-things" argument.

[Rhiannon]

wasn't that the same argument people used last fall about the home renovation tv show on the west side?

It's the "some-people-just-can't-have-nice-things" argument.

the proof is in the puddin' thats all.. has anyone driven down the street on the west side to see who hasnt cut the lawn yet?

[Edisonic]

Miserable existence, that one of your's.
Isn't it?

Hmm. I'd respond, if that illiterate collection of random words had a meaning.


ps - You should have seen my note before I cleaned it up to be "Politically Correct".

[300miles]

Now we will see who maintains their freebie new landscaping job and who lets it go to seed.

the proof is in the puddin' thats all.. has anyone driven down the street on the west side to see who hasnt cut the lawn yet?

Here's a good chance to go see how these houses and yards are holding up:


Walking tour spotlights Massachusetts Avenue work

The revitalization of Massachusetts Avenue on Buffalo’s West Side didn’t end with “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” last fall. Residents and volunteers are continuing to make improvements.

The work they have done will be retold at 2 p.m. Saturday in a “Massachusetts Makeover” walking tour, starting at Massachusetts and Normal avenues. The 90-minute walk, led by neighborhood activist Harvey Garrett, is operated by Buffalo Tours through Preservation Buffalo Niagara.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students. Walkers are asked to arrive before 2p.m. to sign in.

http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/07/1...achusetts.html

[300miles]

so are you guys going to this event, or what?

you've all been dying to claim how much they have trashed the good work from last year. Now's your chance.

[Rhiannon]

so are you guys going to this event, or what?

you've all been dying to claim how much they have trashed the good work from last year. Now's your chance.

Im gonna pay $10 to go take a walk on the West side and look at how volunteers and residents (some) have been making more improvements to the makeover? I can drive down that street for free and look at it. What is the $10 for? where is that going?

[300miles]

OK so don't pay and just go walk around instead. I'm pretty sure you and a couple other posters have asked several times about how much those west side residents have "neglected" the work from last year. This is a perfect opportunity to see what they've actually been doing.

The tour is hosted by Preservation Buffalo Niagara. They usually charge $10 for all their city and waterfront tours to raise money for preservation and awareness.

Preservation Buffalo Niagara is a membership organization with over 850 individual and family members, plus civic, foundation and corporate supporters. Our mission is to identify, preserve, protect, promote and revitalize historically architecturally significant sites, structures, neighborhoods, commercial districts and landscapes in western New York. While we are new, our Programs are growing.

We were formed in October 2008 when the members of the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier and the Preservation Coalition of Erie County unanimously voted to join forces.

[300miles]

I've gone on some of their other tours in the past. Pretty good stuff. Their website is here -

http://www.preservationbuffaloniagar...buffalo-tours/