'Blueprint Buffalo' analyzes vacant properties in Amherst
by NICHOLAS J. PRIMERANO Ken-Ton Editor

The Western New York region, including the towns of Tonawanda and Cheektowaga, could become a road map for other smaller areas of the United States to follow thanks to a new yearlong study of blighted properties.

In 2005, the Buffalo region was one of seven areas from across the nation selected for a comprehensive study to restore urban and "first-ring suburban neighborhoods affected by blight and property abandonment."

The end result is a plan entitled "Blueprint Buffalo," by the National Vacant Properties Campaign.

The plan is an in-depth analysis of vacant and abandoned properties in the City of Buffalo and towns of Tonawanda, Cheektowaga and Amherst.

The "blueprint" was released late last week at a news conference, in downtown Buffalo's Larkin Building, an example of a blighted property now flourishing.

Joseph Schilling, founding member of the NVPC, was the team leader for the project.

Shilling, a professor at the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech in Alexandria, has recently completed assessments in both Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio.

"We found that the depth of Buffalo's challenges present the opportunity to become a national model as a living laboratory for policy innovation that could be implemented in other parts of Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and Western Massachusetts struggling with the same issues," said Schilling. "Buffalo can once again lead the nation in the manufacturing of new ideas and new technologies that reclaim vacant properties."

The Town of Tonawanda does have some blighted properties that are in need of renovation and cleanup, but according to Bob Dimmig, executive director of the Town of Tonawanda Development Corporation, those properties are sparse and not on top of each other, as they are in Buffalo.

"It (property blight) is not a widespread problem, but you've got to be prepared for it," said Dimmig. "I think what this project will do is bring more awareness to the issue and to bring support to various town departments and address how we can attack it. This may help us jointly so we can go to our state legislators and ask them to give us the tools we need."

Dimmig has overseen the renovation of many properties in the town and has supported bringing new companies to the area through Empire Zone designations.

"I think there are probably other areas that could be brought along with this. If we can contain that kind of problem and head it off, it will get us in the right direction," Dimmig said. "In the city (of Buffalo) it could be whole neighborhoods that are blighted, but in the town, it is a house here, a house there."

Schilling suggests the living-lab concept would engage citizens in rebuilding their own homes and neighborhoods and redefine the building environment of the city to match its current and future populations.

The four-step action plan that is being recommended would be implemented with an ambitious timetable. Those steps in the plan include:

+ Launching a citywide vacant properties initiative led by Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown and his Office of Strategic Planning.

 Developing a suburban vacant property agenda, spearheaded by local elected officials and civic and business leaders from those communities.

 Creating an Erie-Buffalo Vacant Properties Coordinating Council to be the vehicle for regional problem solving, ongoing communication and information sharing, and to develop institutional capacities and partnerships.

 Establishing Buffalo-Niagara as a Vacant Property Living Laboratory - which would be the nation's first such national demonstration model - through a series of innovative policy initiatives driven by the new governor, state Legislature and elected federal officials and managed by the University at Buffalo.

"By positioning Buffalo as a living laboratory, we have an opportunity to reinvent the notion of neighborhoods and build communities that will make us stronger and more viable for generations to come," said Brown.

The citywide vacant properties initiative would require comprehensive code enforcement, a land banking program and established greening policies and practices.

As for the creation of the Buffalo Regional Living Laboratory, the NVPC team recommends that the City of Buffalo work closely with the University at Buffalo to create a vacant property database management framework and that they work with state and federal officials to institute pilot projects using performance-based regulations - for example, state environmental cleanup standards or special state rehabilitation codes.

Over the next several weeks, Buffalo Local Initiatives Support Corporation will follow up with local officials to clarify issues and to identify the next steps with the goal of reconvening its Vacant Properties Steering Committee in early 2007.

The campaign will continue to offer strategic guidance during the transition from recommendations to action.

"The time seems ripe for Buffalo-Niagara leaders to chart a new course as the region must first contain and remove these problem properties before it can rebuild its neighborhoods," said Michael Clarke, program director for Buffalo LISC. "Blueprint Buffalo offers local leaders a regional road map of strategies and tools to address the intractable blight and decay of vacant properties that have plagued many neighborhoods for decades."

Information regarding this plan can be obtained on the Web site www.vacantproperties. org of the National Properties Campaign.

e-mail: nprimerano@beenews.com