Library
Select a TopicSearch
The Rich Don't Pay But You Do: The City's Free Rides for the Rich, An Analysis of City of Buffalo Property Tax Revenue
Our City Buffalo, Kevin Connor — Jun 15, 2024
The City of Buffalo is facing a significant financial crisis – including a projected gap of $41 to $55 million next year – that could have a major destabilizing impact on the city and its residents in the coming years. Significant cuts to city services and further property tax and fee increases are likely looming. The city’s residents could see a further deterioration of essential services like snow plowing and street and sidewalk maintenance even as they are asked to pay more …
View Resource
Unburying Buffalo: Making the Case for Sidewalk Snow Removal
Keelan Erhard, Buffalo Democratic Socialists of America — Apr 12, 2023
This report is two-fold. Firstly, it aims to frame the problem of lack of sidewalk snow removal as relevant and requiring remedy. Secondly, it also offers solutions as to how such a plan may be implemented.
View Resource
Using Publicly-Owned Vacant Land to Advance Sustainability and Equity in Buffalo, New York
Sam Magavern — Feb 24, 2023
The City of Buffalo owns roughly 8,000 vacant lots. Over 3,000 acres of land, these vacant parcels are largely the result of historic discriminatory land policies, which encouraged white flight and left thousands of empty homes vulnerable to demolition. When the dust settled, the City found itself with thousands of vacant lots, many of which it has not sufficiently maintained ever since. Examples from Buffalo and around the nation prove, however, that vacant urban land can be repurposed for …
View Resource
Policy Framework for Vacant Lots Disposition
Vacant Lots Task Force — Nov 29, 2022
Currently, there are about 8,000 publicly-owned vacant lots in the city of Buffalo, and most are located on the East side. Instead of allowing the land to lay neglected–a consequence of this issue’s massive scale and the city’s limited resources– the city could use the vacant land it owns on behalf of the public for more equitable, sustainable and just uses, including for affordable housing, community gardens, passive green space, carbon sequestration, parks and …
View .PDF
Climate Solutions are Health Solutions: An Evaluation of PUSH Green's Home Energy Efficiency Program
Colleen Kristich, Becca Bass, Clarke Gocker, Nicholas Rajkovich — Jul 6, 2022
PUSH Green, a program of People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) in Buffalo, New York, addresses housing, health and climate needs all at the same time. PUSH Green links homeowners and renters with low-cost or no cost home energy improvements, which reduce the household’s use of fossil fuels and in turn save money on utility bills. The primary environmental and economic benefits of weatherization programs have been apparent for decades; however, it is only recently that attention has …
View Resource
Housing Discrimination Complaint Data in the Buffalo Region
Sarah Wooton, Steven Haagsma — May 12, 2022
This fact sheet is a snapshot of housing discrimination complaints reported to HOME between 2003 and 2020 in Erie and Niagara counties, with a focus on the City of Buffalo.
View Resource
Racial Discrimination and Eviction Policies and Enforcement in New York
New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — Mar 1, 2022
This report focuses on the disproportionate impact of eviction on people of color, including in the administration of justice, in three major New York cities: Albany, Buffalo and NYC.
View Resource
Engaging the Future of Housing in the Buffalo-Niagara Region: A Preliminary Exploration of Challenges that Lie Ahead
Russell Weaver, Jason C. Knight — Oct 12, 2021
The following analyses and assessments of current socioeconomic and housing market conditions in Erie and Niagara counties are intended to support immediate programming efforts by Local Initiatives Support Corporation Western New York (LISC).
View Resource
Building a Safer Buffalo: Invest in Communities, Divest from Police
Colleen Kristich — May 6, 2021
Across the country, advocates are calling to cut police budgets in response to widespread misconduct made visible by videos of police killing unarmed civilians, disproportionately Black Americans, Indigenous people and people of color. Many attempts at police reform have failed to meaningfully change the harmful culture and practices of policing, and even with outsized public investment in law enforcement, public safety problems persist. Concerned residents and advocates call for reallocating …
View Resource
A Hole Too Deep: Understanding COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium Impacts on Landlords in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga Metropolitan Area
Joshua Curry-Bascome — Dec 26, 2020
View .PDF
Manufactured Housing: An Affordable Housing Opportunity for Post Industrial Cities
Grace Celik, Erin Engle, Libertad Figuerero, Samuel Gallivan, Nicole Hill, David Kelly, Melanie Monroy, Rakshanda Nagaraj, Brennon Thompson, Angelina White, Joshua Wilcox, Ernest Sternberg, Sydney Alford — May 19, 2020
"This report was prepared by graduate students in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo, as the assignment in "practicum" (sometimes called studio) course required for the Master of Urban Planning degree. Professor Ernest Sternberg was our instructor. "
View Resource
Evicted in Buffalo: the High Costs of Involuntary Mobility
Sam Magavern — Mar 4, 2020
Here in Buffalo, People United for Sustainable Housing Buffalo (PUSH Buffalo) has been on the front lines of organizing, advocacy, and neighborhood redevelopment for Buffalo’s tenants. Many of PUSH’s members have been harmed by involuntary mobility, and PUSH staff members such as Aminah Johnson have spent long hours advocating for tenants in Housing Court and helping them find and keep safe, decent, and affordable housing. We undertook this study for PUSH Buffalo to document …
View .PDF
Photobank: Data, Demographics, History - Seniors Gather at West Side Community Services - Pt I
Buffalo Commons Photobank — Jan 14, 2020
Guidelines for using photos from the Buffalo Commons Photobank The Buffalo Commons Photobank is an issue-based Photobank for use by our partners and the general public. The purpose of making these photos publically available is to enhance the work of the social sector in Buffalo-Niagara. We believe that our partners’ work will be more effective when it features high-quality and artistic images for any number of occasions: an event, a fundraiser, a report, etc.
View Resource
Photobank: Data, Demographics, History - Seniors Gather at West Side Community Services - Pt II
Buffalo Commons Photobank — Jan 14, 2020
Guidelines for using photos from the Buffalo Commons Photobank The Buffalo Commons Photobank is an issue-based Photobank for use by our partners and the general public. The purpose of making these photos publically available is to enhance the work of the social sector in Buffalo-Niagara. We believe that our partners’ work will be more effective when it features high-quality and artistic images for any number of occasions: an event, a fundraiser, a report, etc.
View Resource
Photobank: Education - West Side Community Services Facilities
Buffalo Commons Photobank — Jan 14, 2020
Guidelines for using photos from the Buffalo Commons Photobank The Buffalo Commons Photobank is an issue-based Photobank for use by our partners and the general public. The purpose of making these photos publically available is to enhance the work of the social sector in Buffalo-Niagara. We believe that our partners’ work will be more effective when it features high-quality and artistic images for any number of occasions: an event, a fundraiser, a report, etc.
View Resource
Photobank: Housing and Neighborhoods - Greater East Side Fields of Dreams Block Club - Pt I
Buffalo Commons Photobank — Jan 14, 2020
Guidelines for using photos from the Buffalo Commons Photobank The Buffalo Commons Photobank is an issue-based Photobank for use by our partners and the general public. The purpose of making these photos publicly available is to enhance the work of the social sector in Buffalo-Niagara. We believe that our partners’ work will be more effective when it features high-quality and artistic images for any number of occasions: an event, a fundraiser, a report, etc.
View Resource
Photobank: Housing and Neighborhoods - Greater East Side Fields of Dreams Block Club - Pt II
Buffalo Commons Photobank — Jan 14, 2020
Guidelines for using photos from the Buffalo Commons Photobank The Buffalo Commons Photobank is an issue-based Photobank for use by our partners and the general public. The purpose of making these photos publicly available is to enhance the work of the social sector in Buffalo-Niagara. We believe that our partners’ work will be more effective when it features high-quality and artistic images for any number of occasions: an event, a fundraiser, a report, etc.
View Resource
Photobank: Housing and Neighborhoods - West Side Community Services
Buffalo Commons Photobank — Jan 13, 2020
Guidelines for using photos from the Buffalo Commons Photobank The Buffalo Commons Photobank is an issue-based Photobank for use by our partners and the general public. The purpose of making these photos publically available is to enhance the work of the social sector in Buffalo-Niagara. We believe that our partners’ work will be more effective when it features high-quality and artistic images for any number of occasions: an event, a fundraiser, a report, etc.
View Resource
Erie County Housing Resource Directory
Erie County Department of Health — Jan 1, 2020
A guide for solving housing related problems in Erie County.
View Resource
Erasing Red Lines: Part 3 - Building Community Wealth
Russell Weaver — Dec 20, 2019
Erasing Red Lines of discrimination and inequality from our map is a monumental task that will require transformational systems-change. As community-based organizations are demonstrating the possibilities of alternative systems in specific geographic places, the questions of (1) how to bring those efforts to scale, and (2) how public policies might change in response to the lessons learned from those efforts, require greater attention. Building on the previous installment of this series, this …
View .PDF
Assessment Challenge 1 NYS Tax Form rp524
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION & FINANCE — Dec 11, 2019
This is one of three resources that are available for people to formally challenge their assessment. This is the official NYS form. Homeowners have the month of December to file.
View Resource
Assessment Challenge 2 NYS Tax Form Pub 1114
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION & FINANCE — Dec 11, 2019
This is one of three resources that are available for people to formally challenge their assessment. This is the official NYS form. Homeowners have the month of December to file.
View Resource
Assessment Challenge 3 Formal Challenge Form Guide
UB Law School Community Justice Clinic — Dec 11, 2019
This is one of three resources that are available for people to formally challenge their assessment. This is the official NYS form. Homeowners have the month of December to file.
View Resource
Erasing Red Lines: Part 2 - Systems Thinking for Social and Community Change
Russell Weaver — Oct 29, 2019
What, if anything, can be done to push back against persistently uneven geographies of opportunity in Buffalo and other post-industrial, shrinking cities? And why the focus on systems science and its technical jargon? A response to both of these questions is that vicious cycles and ways out of them cannot be fully apprehended without thinking about the systems in which they are produced—and systems thinking is rarely the default toolbox that policymakers and community change organizations …
View Website
The Eastside-Airport Metro Rail Extension
Citizens for Regional Transit — Aug 23, 2019
This policy brief provides information regarding the expansion of NFTA metro-rail services in east-side Buffalo to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
View Resource
Are We Still Going Through the Empty Ritual of Participation? Inner-City Residents’ and Other Grassroots Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Public Input and Neighborhood Revitalization
Li Yin, Camden Miller, Pascal Buggs, Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., Robert Silverman — Jul 19, 2019
This article revisits Arnstein’s “ladder of citizen participation” focusing on inner-city residents’ perceptions of public input in neighborhood revitalization projects. It draws from data collected in Buffalo, New York for a larger project that aimed to address negative externalities caused by neighborhood change. Data were collected using focus groups in neighborhoods in the early stages of revitalization. Nine focus groups took place across three neighborhoods …
View Resource
Perceptions of Residential Displacement and Grassroots Resistance to Anchor Driven Encroachment in Buffalo, NY
Li Yin, Camden Miller, Pascal Buggs, Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., Robert Silverman — Jul 19, 2019
This article examines perceptions of institutional encroachment and community responses to it in Buffalo, NY. Specifically, we focus on residents’ perceived effects of anchor institution (e.g. hospital and university) expansion on core city neighbourhoods. Through this analysis we offer insights into the processes driving neighbourhood displacement in the contemporary period. Data were collected through a series of focus groups with residents and other stakeholders in working class, …
View Resource
There Goes Our Family Friendly Neighborhood: Residents’ Perceptions of Institutionally Driven Inner-City Revitalization in Buffalo, NY
Li Yin, Camden Miller, Pascal Buggs, Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., Robert Silverman — Jul 19, 2019
This article examines residents’ perceptions of inner-city revitalization in legacy cities. The analysis focuses on neighborhoods undergoing revitalization in a legacy city, Buffalo, NY. The article draws from data for a larger research project called Turning the Corner which was sponsored by the Urban Institute. The focus of that project was to identify planning strategies to address negative externalities caused by neighborhood change and heightened risks of displacement due to …
View Resource
Census 2020: Making Western New York Count
Anna Blatto — Jun 10, 2019
This policy brief offers an overview of the 2020 Census: what it is and why it matters for Western New York.
View Resource
Rental Housing Costs in Buffalo
Sarah Wooton — Oct 15, 2018
With the renewed popularity of urban living, along with substantial public and private investment in the city, the value of property throughout Buffalo is on the rise. Certain neighborhoods, including Downtown, Allentown, Hertel/Parkside and areas on the West and East sides, are becoming hot markets – with many homes worth double or triple what owners paid for them. As property values rise in cities, rents do too.
View Resource
Venue Directory
Partnership for the Public Good — Jul 11, 2018
Community groups often need accessible, affordable spaces for events and meetings. This directory provides a list of event and meeting spaces sorted by size. Entries list the contact information and street address for each venue, as well as details on cost, catering, capacity, and parking.
View Resource
Urban Design Project
Department of Labor Dec 31, 2017
The UB Regional Institute and Urban Design Project have officially merged under the UB Regional Institute name. Our long established history in the region and track record of success in public policy and urban planning/design, our professional staff, affiliated faculty and graduate students, our position as the research enterprise of the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, and our strong connection to the University at large, are our greatest assets. This is what sets us …
View Website
Affordable Housing Strategies for the City of Buffalo
Sarah Wooton, Sam Magavern, Samantha Peterson-Borins — Dec 1, 2017
View .PDF
Equity Preservation Final Report
Akanksha Chauhan, Melanie Colter, Mengbing Du, Luis Graveley, Jr, Mengyu Guo, Sena Kayasu, Jonathan Ladley, Cole Norgaarden, Claire Meyer, Thomas Pera, Ashley Pryce, Lucas Raley, Zach Small, Jessica Stevenson, Michelle Van Meter, Andrew Varuzzo, Olivia White, Vivian Zou, Joey Jiayun Zou, Jennifer Minner — Oct 25, 2017
View .PDF
Why Buffalo Needs Inclusionary Zoning; Affordability, Workforce Development, Inclusion, and Quality Housing
Sarah Wooton, Sam Magavern — Jun 2, 2017
Buffalo’s housing market faces four severe challenges: affordability, job access, inclusiveness, and quality. Inclusionary zoning is a proven tool for addressing all four issues. Inclusionary zoning asks that when a developer creates new housing units, it reserve a certain percent for affordable housing. Thus, inclusionary zoning leverages the power of the market to create more high-quality affordable housing units, often near job centers and transit lines, and to make …
View .PDF
FB Community Land Trust Fundraiser
John Marsland — Jun 1, 2017
In the fall of 2016, History PhD Candidate John Marsland from the University at Buffalo began a public humanities fellowship in which the creation of the FB Community Land Trust would form a focal point. Working with Steve Peraza and Sam Magavern at the Partnership for the Public Good, this project sought to complete the Historic and Cultural Restoration aspect of PPG’s “A Plan the Bears Fruit” policy brief. This project began by attending a series of meetings of the Community …
View Website
John Marsland Interview: Dennice Barr Pt1
John Marsland — Jun 1, 2017
In the fall of 2016, History PhD Candidate John Marsland from the University at Buffalo began a public humanities fellowship in which the creation of the FB Community Land Trust would form a focal point. Working with Steve Peraza and Sam Magavern at the Partnership for the Public Good, this project sought to complete the Historic and Cultural Restoration aspect of PPG’s “A Plan the Bears Fruit” policy brief. This project began by attending a series of meetings of the Community …
View Website
John Marsland Interview: Dennice Barr Pt2
John Marsland — Jun 1, 2017
In the fall of 2016, History PhD Candidate John Marsland from the University at Buffalo began a public humanities fellowship in which the creation of the FB Community Land Trust would form a focal point. Working with Steve Peraza and Sam Magavern at the Partnership for the Public Good, this project sought to complete the Historic and Cultural Restoration aspect of PPG’s “A Plan the Bears Fruit” policy brief. This project began by attending a series of meetings of the Community …
View Website
John Marsland Interview: Nathaniel Cole
John Marsland — Jun 1, 2017
In the fall of 2016, History PhD Candidate John Marsland from the University at Buffalo began a public humanities fellowship in which the creation of the FB Community Land Trust would form a focal point. Working with Steve Peraza and Sam Magavern at the Partnership for the Public Good, this project sought to complete the Historic and Cultural Restoration aspect of PPG’s “A Plan the Bears Fruit” policy brief. This project began by attending a series of meetings of the Community …
View Website
John Marsland Interview: Zaid Islam
John Marsland — Jun 1, 2017
In the fall of 2016, History PhD Candidate John Marsland from the University at Buffalo began a public humanities fellowship in which the creation of the FB Community Land Trust would form a focal point. Working with Steve Peraza and Sam Magavern at the Partnership for the Public Good, this project sought to complete the Historic and Cultural Restoration aspect of PPG’s “A Plan the Bears Fruit” policy brief. This project began by attending a series of meetings of the Community …
View Website
Life on a Nickel's Edge: Struggle and Dignity in Buffalo's Fruit Belt
John Marsland — Jun 1, 2017
This purpose of this fact sheet is to give a brief overview of the Fruit Belt neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side in relation to community demographics, development, and efforts to control land use through the creation of the FB Community Land Trust. This fact sheet has three parts: an introduction to the 2016-2017 Humanities New York public humanities fellowship project; information gained from the conduct of that fellowship; links to other work that has been done in relation to the …
View .PDF
A Plan that Bears Fruit: A Community Land Trust and Other Tools For Neighborhood Revitalization in the Fruit Belt
Fidèle Menavanza Jun 22, 2016
On December 1, 2015, the City of Buffalo’s Common Council passed a resolution placing a moratorium on the sale of city-owned lots in the Fruit Belt neighborhood. The Fruit Belt includes the area enclosed by Cherry Street, Jefferson Avenue, Best Street, Main Street, Goodell Street, and Michigan Avenue – a neighborhood where the City of Buffalo owns over 200 vacant lots. The City promised not to sell lots to developers until “a duly approved strategic plan” had …
View .PDF
One Region Forward A New Way To Plan For Buffalo Niagara
University at Buffalo Regional Institute — Jul 20, 2015
This document represents the culmination of three years of research, community engagement, partnership building and planning under the banner of One Region Forward. Within the pages of this plan, you will find the major research findings of what the data tells us about where the region is today and expressions of thousands of citizen voices on the direction people in the region want to see Buffalo Niagara go. Proposed strategies and actions, built by a team of 100+ subject matter experts, are …
View Resource
Municipal property acquisition patterns in a shrinking city, Evidence for the persistence of an urban growth paradigm in Buffalo, NY
Li Yin, Kelly Patterson, Robert Silverman — Jan 27, 2015
View Resource
Vacant and Abandoned Housing in Buffalo
Marc Masson — Dec 1, 2014
Buffalo has the oldest housing stock in the nation, with the largest percentage (67%) of homes built before 1940. In Erie County in 2013 there were 275 cases of elevated lead levels in children. The City of Buffalo has three of five zip codes in state with worst lead poisoning levels and accounts for roughly 95% of county lead cases. As of 2008, 13%-22% of children in the City suffered from asthma. In 2006, the City received 7,460 calls regarding housing violations and …
View .PDF
Community through the eyes of children: blending child-centered research and qualitative geovisulization
Jin-Kyu Jung — Jul 26, 2014
Community is an ambiguous concept, and the meanings of community as a subject of study have received a great deal of attention across various disciplines. This paper discusses how children’s diverse meanings of community shape and are shaped by the social, cultural, and physical environments of their everyday lives. To explore these meanings I combine principles of child-centered research and qualitative geovisualization into a research methodology. I demonstrate that …
View Resource
William Worthy’s Concept of "Institutional Rape" Revisited: Anchor Institutions and Residential Displacement in Buffalo, NY
Jade Lewis, Kelly Patterson, Robert Silverman — Mar 27, 2014
View Resource
Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, Perry Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan
Center for Urban Studies, UB, Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority — Jul 26, 2013
Project Name: Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority - Perry Choice Neighborhood Transformation Project The Perry Choice Neighborhood Planning grant (PCN) produced a plan that transforms the BMHAPCN into a viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhood that functions as a platform which enables residents to become economically secure and self-sufficient, to realize their full potential and to develop the critical consciousness and capacity that empowers them to guide the …
View Resource
Chasing a Paper Tiger: Evaluating Buffalo’s Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice
Jade Lewis, Kelly Patterson, Robert Silverman — Jul 26, 2013
This article focuses on a specific component of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) strategy to implement fair housing policy, its requirement for local jurisdictions that receive community development block grant (CDBG) dollars to prepare an analysis of impediments to fair housing choice (AI) report. The article’s analysis is based on an evaluation of the City of Buffalo’s 2004 AI report. The evaluation was conducted by a local fair housing …
View Resource
Housing Segregation, Inequality, and Poverty in Buffalo-Niagara
Gabriella Agostinelli Apr 17, 2013
The Buffalo-Niagara metropolitan area is slowly losing population and growing more diverse. From 2000 to 2010, the metro population fell from 1,170,111 to 1,135,509, a loss of 34,602. During those ten years, the Hispanic population rose 36.7%, multi-racial rose 38.1%, and Asian rose 68.7%, while white population fell 6.4%, black fell 0.2%, and American Indian fell 0.2%. In 2010, the metropolitan area was 79.5% white, 11.8% black, 4.1% Hispanic, and 2.3% Asian. As of …
View .PDF
Dawn of the Dead City: An Exploratory Analysis of Vacant Addresses in Buffalo, NY 2008 to 2010
Li Yin, Kelly Patterson, Robert Silverman — Feb 20, 2013
View Resource
Business Development in the Perry Choice Neighborhood
Center for Urban Studies, UB — Jul 26, 2012
This study provides an analysis of the number, composition, and types of businesses found in the Perry Choice Neighborhood. Understanding the dynamics and nature of the businesses the Perry Choice Neighborhood (PCN) is essential to building a vibrant community and forging a transformative plan (Map 1). Understanding the PCN business landscape is critical to formulating an neighborhood economic development strategy that will generate jobs and opportunities for the residents and that will provide …
View Resource
Establishment of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority Section 3 Business Development and Employee Training Center: A Concept Paper
Center for Urban Studies, UB — Jul 26, 2012
Project Name: Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority - Perry Choice Neighborhood Transformation Project This concept paper outlines a strategy to use the HUD Section 3 Act to “capture” business development and employment opportunities to empower and produce economic self-sufficiency among public housing residents and other very low- and very-low income groups and to use these resources to transform their neighborhoods into great places to live, work and raise a family.
View Resource
Walking Tours: Narratives About the Commodore Perry Housing Development
Perry Choice Neighborhood Planning Team — Jul 23, 2012
Project Name: Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority - Perry Choice Neighborhood Transformation Project This report describes the results of the Perry Choice Neighborhood Walking Tours. The walking tours were designed to create person-to-person conversations with neighborhood residents and members of the planning team.
View Resource
Habitat for Humanity Buffalo
Aikeem Cooper — Apr 1, 2012
Habitat for Humanity Buffalo (HFHB) is a non-profit ecumenical Christian housing organization. It was founded in 1985 by a group of concerned citizens including Ron Talboys, who had visited the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Americus Georgia. The Buffalo affiliate of HFHB was the 101st affiliate to be started in the United States. Over the past 26 years, HFHB has worked in all nine council districts of Buffalo and in nearby Lackawanna. The goal of HFHB, and all …
View .PDF
Municipal Water Management, Private Contracting, and Public Response: A Case Study of Water Privatization in Buffalo, New York
Beth Herz — Apr 1, 2011
Herz analyzes Buffalo residents' responses to the city's private water management contract between 1996 and 2008 through several frames. She concludes that the concerns and arguments used in Buffalo aligned explicitly with a homeowners’/renters’ rights frame and implicitly with elements of both the right-to-water and the environmental justice movements’ frames.
View .PDF
How local public administrators, nonprofit providers, and elected officials perceive impediments to fair housing in the suburbs: an analysis of Erie County, New York
Kelly Patterson, Robert Silverman — Jan 27, 2011
View Resource
Bypassing the Bust: The Stability of Upstate New York's Housing Markets During the Recession
Jaison Abel, Richard Deitz — Dec 31, 2009
View Resource
The Futures Academy Community Garden Project
Center for Urban Studies, UB — Jul 26, 2009
Project Name: Futures Academy Community & Creative Placemaking Initiative This report proposes the creation of the Futures Academy Community Garden in a series of vacant, city-owned parcels across from Buffalo Public School 37.
View Resource
The Historical Overview of Blacks in the Fruit Belt: The Continuing Struggle to Build a Vibrant Community
Center for Urban Studies, UB, Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. — Jul 26, 2009
Project Name: The Fruit belt Redevelopment Project This report provides and overview of the history of blacks in Buffalo’s Fruit Belt and the classic tale of how urban policies have destabilized the African American community and robbed low to moderate‐income blacks of the wealth producing power of home-ownership.
View Resource
Mortgage Lending Disparities in Metropolitan Buffalo: Implications for Community Reinvestment Policy
Robert Silverman — Jul 26, 2008
This article examines patterns of mortgage lending in metropolitan Buffalo, New York. The analysis is based on 1999-2002 HMDA data and 2000 Census data for metropolitan Buffalo. Mortgage lending patterns in census tracts are compared using descriptive statistics, GIS mapping, and multiple regression. The results from this analysis indicate that disparities in mortgage lending between census tracts are attributable to differences in: educational attainment, neighborhood socioeconomic distress, …
View Resource
The Role of Citizen Participation and action research Principles in Main Street Revitalization
Christopher Crawford, Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., Robert Silverman — Jul 26, 2008
This article examines the use of citizen participation techniques during the planning process for neighborhood revitalization in the Village of Depew which is an industrial suburb of Buffalo, New York. The article focuses on how research principles can inform and enhance traditional approaches to citizen participation.
View Resource
Brown to Green: Building a 21st Century Sustainable Community, A Strategic Plan for Regeneration of the Highland Avenue Community
Center for Urban Studies, UB — Jul 26, 2007
This proposal outlines a regeneration strategy for Niagara Falls’ Highland Avenue Community. The goal is to develop a strategic plan that identifies five priority projects that will function as catalysts that will spawn the community’s rebirth.
View Resource
Building a Better Neighborhood Housing Partnership
Kelly Patterson, Robert Silverman — Jul 26, 2007
Project Name: Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority - Perry Choice Neighborhood Transformation Project Prior research has examined the role of intermediary organizations in affordable housing development and community-based housing organization (CBHO) capacity building. This article built on this work by examining an applied research project aimed at assessing the feasibility of creating a neighborhood housing partnership (NHP) organization in Buffalo, New York. NHPs are nonprofit umbrella …
View Resource
Understanding Residents Concerns Over the St. John Town House Initiative
Center for Urban Studies, UB, Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. — Oct 31, 2006
Project Name: The Fruit Belt Redevelopment Project This report presents finding from four focus group meetings on resident’s concerns about the St. John Church Town House Initiative in Buffalo, NY.
View Resource
From Theory to Practice: The Quest to Radically Reconstruct Buffalo's Inner City Neighborhoods
Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. — Jul 26, 2004
Project Name: The Inner City Transformation Project The Inner City Transformation Project (ICTP) was launched in 2001 to develop a model of community development that can be applied to the radical reconstruction of distressed neighborhoods in metropolitan Buffalo and similar size cities in the United States. The project is based on the assumption that distressed urban neighborhoods now represent the epicenter of racism and social class inequality in the United States and that the quest to …
View Resource
Fruit Belt/Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Tax Increment Financing District
Center for Urban Studies, UB, Sam Cole, Richard Milgrom, Samina Raja, Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. — Jul 26, 2004
The Municipal Redevelopment Law entitles municipalities (individually or as joint undertakings) to issue tax increment bonds that are payable from and secured by real property taxes. This proposal seeks to establish a TIF (Tax Increment Finance) district for this the Fruit Belt and the adjacent Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
View Resource
The Fillmore Avenue Commercial Redevelopment Plan
Center for Urban Studies, UB, Antoine Thompson, Sam Cole, Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. — Jul 26, 2004
Project Name: The Fillmore Avenue Commercial Redevelopment Project The Fillmore Avenue Commercial Redevelopment Plan provides a vision for the Fillmore Avenue commercial corridor that is one of a vibrant, thriving passageway that serves as the cultural commons for the Martin Luther King, Jr. neighborhood and a Gateway to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. The Fillmore commercial corridor will be a symbol of the vibrancy of King’s Dream and a place that brings people together from …
View Resource
The Masten District Neighborhood Plan
Center for Urban Studies, UB, Antoine Thompson — Jul 26, 2004
A Strategy for Redeveloping the Masten District and Transforming it into a great place to live, work, play and raise a family.
View Resource
Fruit Belt Redevelopment Plan Preliminary Study
Center for Urban Studies, UB — Jul 26, 2002
This study follows two earlier works published by the Center for Urban Studies, The Turning Point: A Strategic Plan of Action for the Fruitbelt/Medical Corridor (March 27, 2001) and Fruit Belt/Medical Corridor Tax Increment Financing District (February 12, 2002). The original report argued that better social, economic and physical connections could be established between the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC), a wealth generating district within the city, and the adjacent Fruit Belt …
View Resource
Futures Academy: The Case for Maintaining its Magnet / Residence School Status
Center for Urban Studies, UB, Richard Milgrom — Jul 26, 2002
The report makes the case for maintaining Buffalo Public School 37, Futures Academy, as a Magnet/Residence School. The retention of the school’s current status is one of the keys to successfully rebuilding the Fruit Belt/Medical Campus neighborhood. A strong pre-K through Eighth Grade elementary magnet/residential school is central to attracting new residents to the community.
View Resource
Development of A Turning Point Scenario: A Strategic Plan and Action Agenda for the Fruitbelt / Medical Corridor
Center for Urban Studies, UB — Nov 30, 2001
Project Name: The Fruit Belt Redevelopment Project This report is a strategic plan and action agenda that guides the restoration of Buffalo’s Fruitbelt Neighborhood and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC). The plan and agenda constructs a framework to guide restoration, identifies potential sources of revenue and formulates an implementation strategy.
View Resource
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Cultural District & Cultural Corridor: A Strategic Plan and Action Agenda For the Masten District
Center for Urban Studies, UB — Jul 26, 2001
The purpose of this report is to develop a strategic plan and action agenda for Buffalo’s Masten District, which is based on the turning point threshold concept. Every neighborhood has a turning point threshold, which is that point where a snowballing effect takes place that transform the neighborhood when investments rise above it. The ultimate goal of this project is to outline a plan, which if successfully implemented, will push the Masten District beyond the …
View Resource
The Health Status of the Near East Side Black Community: A Study of the Wellness and Neighborhood Conditions Buffalo, New York
Center for Urban Studies, UB, The Black Leadership Forum, UB Center for Research in Primary Care — Jul 26, 2000
The purpose of this study is to gain insight into black community wellness by examining a number of health, social, economic, cultural, and lifestyle issues that affect the health status of Buffalo’s Near East Side black community.
View Resource
The Historical Roots of the Crisis in Housing Affordability: The Case of Buffalo, New York
Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. — Jul 26, 2000
During the thirty-year period between 1920 and 1950, urban leaders laid the theoretical, organizational, institutional and policy groundwork needed for the construction of this new American metropolis, which they built during the 1950s and 1960s. The creation of this metropolis gave birth to the contemporary crisis in housing affordability. Within this context, housing affordability and fair housing became intertwined issues because the growing economic rationalization of urban space and …