(Bryan Meyer – Buffalo News) The president of Habitat for Humanity Buffalo said the group is willing to consider other sites for new housing instead of two acres of vacant land on Wilson Street where a family wants to farm, but Mayor Byron W. Brown insists that houses should be built there.
“We would be glad to take another look at other sites” for housing, Ronald G. Talboys said. “Maybe there are other sites available to us.”
Talboys said he was unaware that Mark and Janice Stevens wanted to buy the land for an urban farm until an article appeared Sunday in The Buffalo News.
Brown remains adamant that the city should not sell the 27 parcels that are reserved for housing on the city’s East Side to the couple who want to plant an urban farm of vegetables.
[read full story in the Buffalo News—>]
As an aside, I received a call from Geoff Kelly from Artvoice this morning…they are going to run a story tomorrow as well.
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. -YuriHreshchyshyn