ReUse adds a new twist to reviving neighborhoods
“There should be alternatives to tearing down Victorians from the 1890s and 1900s. They are amazing houses, even if they are in disrepair.” — Michael Gainer
By Tom Buckham
Updated: 05/16/08 6:32 AM


Michael Gainer, Buffalo ReUse founder and executive director, looks over the ReSource store that will open today as a retail outlet for materials it salvaged from vacant houses. More Photos

There was a momentary lull Thursday in the banging and clanging in ReSource, a former East Side dry-cleaning plant that Buffalo ReUse will open today as a retail outlet for materials it salvaged from vacant houses.

For the young men and women who were setting up the store, it was a bad time to let up because at that moment Michael Gainer, ReUse founder and executive director, was blowing through the front door.

“Let’s go! Let’s go! We’ve got a deadline!” Gainer, a whirlwind of high energy and intensity, shouted in their direction.

“None of this waiting stuff. We don’t wait,” he lectured, reaching out to a girl walking by in a green hard hat and goggles and drawing her into a one-armed, tough love hug.

Days have been like this lately for Gainer and Buffalo ReUse, a two-year-old nonprofit organization whose goal of transforming city neighborhoods on the brink of ruin is gaining national and international recognition.

In March, Gainer, a former alternative education teacher, was one of four people cited in a New York Times Magazine feature, “Faces of Social Entrepreneurship,” for starting the innovative program. It involves not simply “deconstructing” empty structures but hiring idle minority youngsters, beautifying landscapes and taking other steps to revitalize entire communities.

In late April, Buffalo ReUse was named one of 20 global finalists for the 2008 Sustainable Cities Award given by the Financial Times of London and the Urban Land Institute. The winner will be announced June 16 in London.

Local aid groups have taken note. In August, the John R. Oishei Foundation awarded Buffalo ReUse a $200,000 startup grant. Other sources, both government and private, have donated an additional $50,000.

“What we see is more than taking down buildings; there’s a lot more,” said Paul T. Hogan, Oishei vice president. “They keep stuff out of landfills and use it to support their operations. They actually go around and talk to the neighbors and get them to be part of the whole effort. And they train kids how to do this kind of work.”

Buffalo ReUse “should serve as a model for other communities” plagued by declining neighborhoods and high unemployment among young people, said Assemblymen Sam Hoyt, who, together with Ciminelli Construction, nominated the organization for the Sustainable Cities Award.

Recent ReUse outreach efforts have included the placing of lively multicolored murals painted by schoolchildren in the windows of several abandoned houses and a planting blitz that placed 150 saplings in a single day on streets near the ReSource store, 298 Northampton St.

More than 30 schools and community groups have enlisted in the mural program, which ReUse views as a sensible and eye-pleasing way to secure vacant buildings until they are either torn down or occupied by new owners, said logistics coordinator Caesandra N. Seawell.

Mural installations have been stalled by City Hall’s reluctance to let the group work on city-owned structures, but Seawell believes concerns about injury liability and other questions will be addressed and the work will regain momentum over the summer.

Though Buffalo has about 18,000 derelict houses, which the city plans to demolish at a rate of 1,000 a year, Gainer believes many could be saved and thus become building blocks for neighborhood revival.

Once fixtures, wainscoting, planking and other valuable materials within have been removed and sold off to raise money for Buffalo ReUse programs, “there should be alternatives to tearing down Victorians from the 1890s and 1900s,” he said. “They are amazing houses, even if they are in disrepair.”

ReUse is focused on “getting homes off the demolition list and getting people into them,” said Hogan, who will speak during a preview reception from 6 to 8 this evening in the Northampton Street store, which will be managed by Kevin Hayes.

The ceremony will be followed by an open house Saturday, including tours, exhibits, grilled hot dogs and live music.