Expansion on Niagara Street

Great Lakes Pressed Steel has a proposal before the City of Buffalo Planning Board to expand their footprint on Niagara Street. They have plans for a new building with landscaping facing the street and new parking in the rear. The site they will build on has been a vacant clean up site since….forever. It’s exciting to see plans to change that. The Planning Board tabled the request on May 6th and requested to see renderings that depict more details about the structure such as the color of the facade and how it fits with the rest of the street.

“Designed by Carmina Wood Design’s Joseph Palumbo, the building will house mostly light manufacturing operations, said Tim Nichols, the fourth-generation president of the privately-held Great Lakes Pressed Steel.” Jim Fink, We Are Buffalo

They will return to the Planning Board in a few weeks.

Niagara St Adopt-A-Block

We love our Niagara Street cycle track but it could use a bit more love from all of us. Although the City of Buffalo does some maintenance, and the Buffalo Sewer Authority works on the stormwater gardens, trash, glass and grit builds up quickly. We’re delighted that the Niagara River Greenway is organizing a collaboration of businesses, organizations and individuals to adopt bits of the blocks. Folks will take responsibility for a section of the trail and help keep it in better shape for bicyclists and pedestrians.

March 23rd from 10am to noon, teams will spread out from Busti Avenue to Hertel Avenue on Niagara Street for a spring clean up. Gloves, garbage bags and high-vis vests will be provided to volunteers. Folks can pick one of three sections to help out:

  1. Busti to Breckenridge – meet at Rich Products
  2. Breckenridge to Amherst St – meet at Campus Wheelworks
  3. Amherst St to Hertel – meet at Black Rock Riverside Alliance

 

Lunch options with discounts available at Mint Mojito Bar, Free Street Tavern, West Side Bazaar* (*limited swag bags) and Turning Bridge Tavern.

Mortalis Tap Room

Something special is coming to Upper Rock. Mortalis Brewing of Avon is opening a tap room at 1250 Niagara Street, perhaps as soon as October 7th! Owners Paul Grenier and Gretchen Salber-Grenier graciously opened their doors to Vision Niagara for a tour. The renovation is beautiful, including gorgeous tile in the kitchen and under the bar. They’ve taken advantage of the large factory windows by planting succulents all along the window sills. The living wall of plants will be re-invigorated, as well.

The menu will be beer-infused, such as brewer’s Nachos with pulled pork. Chef Ian Marshall will be creating Southern comfort style food in the expanded kitchen.

Mortalis has a loyal Buffalo following already so it wasn’t a hard choice to pick our city as their new destination for expanding. They will be offering mead from Illumination Meadery on tap, too. Paul sees exciting collaborations to come with the new and existing businesses in Upper Rock. We do, too!

EV Chargers

We recently learned about the firm itselectric from Brooklyn NY (itselectric – Curbside EV Charging Built for Cities).

  • itselectric installs a Level-2 EV charger at no cost to the property owner
  • Once the charger is live, itselectric shares a portion of the revenue with the property owner
  • itselectric pays for any power used by the charger
  • itselectric offers turnkey design, permitting and installation, and manages and maintains the charger and handles driver accounts

Right now, itselectric is hoping to launch a small pilot in Buffalo, and they’d love the opportunity to share more with any interested property owners in the Vision Niagara network.

Here’s some recent press around the pilot they launched a few months ago in Fast Company, US News and World Report, and Car & Driver:

These sleek electric chargers could soon be all over New York streets (fastcompany.com)

New York to Pilot Revenue-Sharing EV Charging | U.S. News (usnews.com)

This EV Charger Can Make Money for Property Owners (caranddriver.com)

If you are interested, contact Nathan King at nathan@itselectric.us

Provisions 139 Moving to Upper Rock

We recently had a conversation with Crystal Selk, Executive Director of West Side Community Services about the food pantry, Provisions 139. WSCS opened the pantry during the pandemic with an eye towards offering healthy options. Crystal gave us a tour of the pantry – so impressive! Visitors pick options from various food groups, e.g. proteins and grains, based on the number of people in their household. Donations come from several sources including Feed More and fresh produce from the Providence Farm Collective.

We’re excited to welcome Provisions 139 to the neighborhood! They will be moving to 44 Breckenridge, a significantly larger space. WSCS is hiring a full time staff member who will be able to coordinate more programming for clients: e.g., nutrition classes, prepping and cooking, and yoga. Provisions 139 joins a few other amazing not-for-profits in the neighborhood, including Stitch Buffalo and Buffalo String Works, creating a nice mix with new and existing businesses.

Brush Up Broderick 2023

Vision Niagara and Friends of Broderick Park invite you to our annual Brush Up Broderick – May 13th from 10am to 1pm.

Our park is the jewel of Buffalo parks. Let’s get it spruced up for the warm weather! We’ll be mulching and weeding.

We’ll have lunch and goodies for our volunteers. And, if the weather obliges, we’ll have music to keep you entertained.

Everyone’s help is greatly appreciated. We can’t do it without our volunteers! It’s always a fun event.

AND…if you’re ready to jump in sooner, be sure to join Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper’s Spring Sweep. Sign up here and choose Broderick Park from the list of locations. That’s April 22 @ 10:00 am.

It doesn’t have to be this way…

As seen in the image above, highway ramps dominate the western section of the Scajaquada corridor, Wasted land, cut-off neighborhoods and a polluted creek are a few of the conditions as a result of Rte. 198. As part of Scajaquada Corridor Coalition, we studied maps, collected input and envisioned a different landscape.

GBNRTC presented recommendations for the Scajaquada corridor and we couldn’t be more pleased. With the help of Stantec, a global consulting firm, they analyzed the region in terms of its people, rather than just cars. The data and analysis is available for examination on GBNRTC’s website. The preferred plan calls for a two-lane boulevard, connecting neighborhoods and Olmsted Park and the removal of these ramps.

Questions and comments can be made on-line. We’re pleased that Hal Morse, who led the project for GBNRTC, will be attending our January 24 meetup. Bring your questions and comments. Spread the word and your support for this generational change.

What’s next in the process?•Public engagement regarding recommendations •Assemble full report and documentation •Reconcile project to environmental review process and funding •Prepare a detailed traffic analysis to assess impacts of traffic diversion and recommend mitigation measures necessary to address the impacts •Obtain stakeholder and public consensus on the recommended mitigation measures •Determine projects owners and resource needs •Build Action Matrix of key stakeholders to implement all initiatives •Establish continuing mechanism to ensure timely completion of project

Shop & Stroll Returns for 2022

Shop Small Saturday is November 26th. Instead of visiting those big box stores, we invite you to support your local businesses. We’ll make it as enticing as we can with discounts and specials offered in Upper Rock.

And we will have a pop-up location at 1270 Niagara Street – stop in for refreshments and pick up an Upper Rock passport. Visit 5 of our lovely establishments and you will be entered in a raffle for a cash prize – $100. Our hours are 11am to 4pm. Stop back to show us your stamped passport or send a photo to Vision Niagara’s Instagram by 4pm and we’ll drop a raffle ticket for you.

Participating businesses have special offers! Check our Instagram feed for updates.

Looking Ahead…

We had our first holiday market in the Upper Rock neighborhood in 2021. This year, our target date is Shop Small Saturday, November 26th. We’ll make it easy for you to support our local businesses and organizations. Stay tuned! We’ll have maps, passports, treats and prizes.