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Thread: Some more on the Buffalo waterfront

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    Member speaker's Avatar
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    Some more on the Buffalo waterfront

    This is a great article about the ups and downs of our waterfront and we should all be watching this stuff;

    [BuffaloWaterfront] Buffalo Waterfront Alliance Re-Visits La Salle Waterfront Park

    The Buffalo Waterfront Alliance Re-Visits LaSalle Park
    by Bill Zimmermann

    http://www.buffalorising.com/city/ar...alle-thumb.jpg
    Are you familiar with the story of the last couple decades of development history at Buffalo's LaSalle Park, down at the foot of Porter next to the Col. F. Ward Pumping Station? It is a prime example of the community not investigating development decisions that cause expensive nightmares. Here's the background:

    Before there was mainstream media blogging, where citizens can voice opinions that can help to aggregate decisions and make changes, there was a malaise of complacency about the community. The attitude was more or less "let the development decisions be handled in the back rooms where certain ‘rusty wheels’ could halt the machinery of decision making and progress."
    About a dozen years ago, there was a woman in Buffalo who took it upon herself to proclaim herself in charge of an earnest citizen's interest in changing the face of LaSalle Park. She was ornery and adamant, and when funds were finally secured for LaSalle Park (to the tune of several millions), the community had no say in anything regarding their public park.

    Individuals from the community who saw that changes were taking place wanted their voices to be heard, so they were directed by complacent councilmen to this one woman, whose ire and attitude was notoriously and obnoxiously one-sided.

    This beautiful waterfront LaSalle Park was then transformed (several million dollars later), into a series of discordantly placed ballpark diamonds with parking spaces - as it stands today.

    The fun little restaurant was torn down, the boat ramp was (and still is) closed and gated up, and the two-foot thick cement parking lot was ripped up at a humungous cost.

    The boat ramp was closed because it posed a threat of ‘boater use’ (the horror!), when it was argued that its original build intent was for bi-planes after WWII. I remember that no one peeped a sound about the use that should have been interchangeable.

    No one peeped a sound when the two foot thick cement plane launch was ripped up either-- it could have been used for roller blading, tennis courts, basketball courts, etc. if nothing else. But no one felt the strength of voice to interrupt this one woman's warped vision. There were no community media forums that we have today and our voices were small and went unheard.

    The end result is that a perfectly viable community waterfront park now has the empty-soul feeling of a Russian school park pre1989. The park is now a series of ball diamonds and parking spaces without a speck of waterfront recognition or balance to its landscape. So many plans in the past have hinted at utilizing the park in spectacular ways. What we have now is another shoreline roadway dedicated to 'the almighty car', an underutilized (but full of potential) bandshell, seasonal access, no access to the water, and no dog park (yet, though we're excited to get one).
    Finally there is renewed interest in the park and the Buffalo Waterfront Alliance wants to spearhead a community movement to reclaim what should be a magnificent waterfront gem. LaSalle Park is not an Olmsted Park, and we can not rely on the Olmsted Conservancy to be its stewards.

    The Buffalo Waterfront Alliance is a citizen action group that welcomes ALL waterfront enthusiasts who would like to be instrumental in helping to see through a new day vision of LaSalle Park. We want to restore the pride that could once be found along its shoreline. Our goal is to encourage the community to help contribute to making our waterfront the best place possible for both water and shore-side recreational enthusiasts.

    If more citizen action groups were around say 12 years ago, imagine the development foibles that could have been prevented by us (the community). Buffalo Waterfront Alliance looks to BRO (and other blog media) as a primary tool for future community discourse - a media recognition of citizen voices, designs, ideas, and energies. And Buffalo citizenry is rightly starting to use its power wisely and effectively. Please join the Buffalo Waterfront Alliance and help plan this new direction.

    Let's take LaSalle Park back, and make it right. If you would like to be on the Friends of a LaSalle Park committee, please submit an email to wnysail@yahoo.com. We are looking for anyone who might like to help plan the future of this park for a new generation of Buffalonians to enjoy.
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    Member leftWNYbecauseofBS's Avatar
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    Speaker, where did you get the picture. It is small and I would like to see it.

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    Member speaker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by leftWNYbecauseofBS
    Speaker, where did you get the picture. It is small and I would like to see it.
    lefty---here:

    http://www.buffalorising.com/city/

  4. #4
    Member leftWNYbecauseofBS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by speaker

    Thanks Speaker.

    Why I can not understand is this. All of the plans for the outer harbor that i have seen only show the outer harbor. They fade out the grain elevators that run along Granson and Childs street.

    When I look at a map, it seem logical to full in the inlet between Ohio Street and the Sky way. This would then include the area above in the outer harbor. Instead of having on strip of development, the area could become a couple of city blocks......

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