(By Yuri Hreshchyshyn) The East Buffalo Good Neighbors Planning Alliance- Broadway Fillmore Neighborhood Plan identifies Wilson street as a potential linear park from Martin Luther King Park to William Street. An addendum of the Plan, accepted by the City after months of review, precisely graphs the green space along Wilson St., as well as on Paderewski.
An urban farm is consistent with this plan; housing is not. Fillmore Avenue was identified by Olmsted as a parkway; due to commercial growth his plan was not implemented. Wilson St., essentially an alley behind Fillmore Avenue properties provides the alternative greenway to connect the Parade to parks south. Residents in housing on Strauss St. and west can only benefit from this amenity.
This Mayor, who once supported improvements to MLK Park should know better. The administration’s response is ill-advised and not consistent with its own precepts.
The Good Neighbors Planning Alliance is a program of the Office of Strategic Planning structured to provide citizen input into the development of the City Strategic Plan. It has provided planners valuable local insight otherwise unavailable, enriching the City’s database; allowing for better decision making. Possibly this time.
