Originally Posted by
leftWNYbecauseofBS
Breaks for cleanup are valid. Breaks for restoration are valid.
Heck, I would go as far as to suggest there should be breaks for signature buildings. Consider how much pride and prestige comes from the quality of City Hall or the Guaranty Building. Look at how many people anguish over the demolition of the Larkin Administration Building. All of these have something in common. They are buildings that last the test of time (even for some by memory) and they simply are not made today.
The problem is you would have developers saying they are building a "signature building" but then again who's opinion would you use? Decades ago when some of the cool buildings were built why weren't incentives needed to make the building special?
What if there was a program where developers could get breaks to equal the cost of making a building amazing on the exterior? Instead of a box of glass or manufactured concrete panels, developers could invest in their buildings to the point where people who thought of Buffalo thought of those structures.
I could see if the break equaled the cost of the "amazing" part but what if the "amazing" part means that building will not generate property taxes for 50 years? Sometimes "amazing" cost a lot.