We recently wrote here about our newly elected VN board president, Chris Platt. You are invited to meet with him during our office hours:
2nd Wednesday of the month, 9:00 am, Golden Lion Coffee House.
4th Wednesday of the month, 12:30 pm, West Side Bazaar.
Bring your ideas or concerns, we’d love to hear from you and have a chat.
The recent cutoff of SNAP was a big blow to our friends and neighbors. West Side Community Services maintains a food pantry in our neighborhood. During the shutdown, the number of people using the pantry doubled. Although SNAP is coming back on-line, support for the pantry is critically needed and appreciated.
From the director, Crystal Selk:
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Shop Small Business Saturday is a nice opportunity to show your support for local businesses. This year, the official date is November 29th but we can show our love all year long for these special shops and organizations. Every time we have an event in our neighborhood, folks express surprise at how many delightful businesses are here. Take a stroll and check them out for yourself.
Here’s just a sampling:
It’s been a long time but the Niagara Street re-construction is nearing completion. Phase 5, from Porter Ave to Hampshire Street has fresh asphalt and new curb bump outs. What’s left?
Kudos to the City of Buffalo’s Office of Strategic Planning, Buffalo Sewer Authority, NFTA and all the other partners that made this transformation of our neighborhood happen.
This might look like a handy path in the park, but in fact it’s for the equipment that will be moving about in Freedom Park. The Army Corps of Engineers started a project for the Emerald Shiner passage which will include repairs of the timber crib wall on the river side of the island. This will extend from the southern end of the island to about the middle of the island. The project will mostly like wrap up at the end of 2026. This means that parts of Freedom Park will be inaccessible and parking will be limited to make way for construction vehicles. Check the link to the Army Corps website for more information.
Access to the Bird Island pier will still be available during construction, yay!
Army Corps graphic showing restricted areas of the park during construction as well as other information.
Emerald Shiner: tiny but precious.
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.
We’re back in Freedom Park Saturday, May 11th at 10am to noon followed by a cook-out and party! We’ll have gloves and some tools but please bring your own, if you have favorites.
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:
Lunch options with discounts available at Mint Mojito Bar, Free Street Tavern, West Side Bazaar* (*limited swag bags) and Turning Bridge Tavern.
We recently learned about the firm itselectric from Brooklyn NY (itselectric – Curbside EV Charging Built for Cities).
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
