(by Ellen Przepasniak – Artvoice) Drive down Fillmore Street between Sycamore and Broadway and you’ll see boarded-up buildings, dilapidated homes, and ubiquitous empty lots. By anyone’s estimation, it’s a rough neighborhood. But walk into 812 Fillmore, and you’ll find dozens of shoes neatly paired in the entranceway, and a warm, welcoming living room filled with children doing their homework, cooking and playing. This is the home of Mark and Janice Stevens, a couple who moved from a farm in Wyoming County to the East Side of Buffalo last year.
It’s not common around here to hear of a family moving from the country into the city; for decades our population has flowed in the other direction. But the Stevenses are trying to make their new home a little bit more like their old one. Last year, they put in a bid to the city to purchase nearly two acres of adjoining lots on Wilson Street, which runs parallel to Fillmore, behind their home. They wanted to develop the land into an urban farm where they would grow fresh fruits and vegetables for their family and surrounding community. Their bid was denied. They were told by the City of Buffalo’s Department of Real Estate that Habitat for Humanity had plans to develop homes on the land.
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