So, I had hoped to attend today’s meeting of the Buffalo Common Council’s Committee on Waterfront Development, but I have an an actual job.  Since the committee meets at 2PM on a workday, it can be tough to free up an entire an afternoon …

Somewhere Jane Jacobs rolls over in her grave.

Where are the lofts or row houses? Where are the bus and train stops? Where are the small corner stores and boutiques?

Where is the commitment to mixed uses? Where is the knowledge that open space for its own sake is a negative?

I don’t have solutions, but doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity, urban planning not excluded.

My point was that the nastiness of the Wingate proposal was pretty self-evident, and even a blog commenter, apparently, can tell you that.

Whether the AIA “adds credence to the arguement” may indeed be true. Since I wasn’t mocking them, or referring to their opinion as late or irrelevant, I think you’re overreacting just a smidge.

No, but the AIA has a little more clout and adds credence to the arguement. A lawyer/blogger lecturing the masses on architecture and urban planning is fine and dandy, but a local professional association who’s members are educated and experienced in the field means a bit more. Are you suggesting that the architects’ opnions aren’t germaine or are you just looking for kudos for being one step ahead of the AIA in this bitchfest?

Have you tried the Quesodilla Burger? Delicious.

For culinary excellence, evict Left Bank and force them to move to the Waterfront.

I laugh when I see the new condos there being sold as “downtown housing”. To participate in any downtown amenities or activities, one must get in a car and drive and park. or traverse across fencing, a railroad bed and under the thruway. I actually walked through a condo at Marina Park last summer during an open house; the owner was there and I remarked “Gee it’s got to be tough just buying a loaf of bread…you guys got to drive all the way to Tops on Niagara.” His reply? “Heavens no! NOBODY from here shops over there…we all go to Wegman on Amherst St!” (So message received — Waterfront Village denizens don’t want to shop for groceries with THOSE people.)

So point is… live down there and one drives SEVEN mies for a quart of milk or loaf of bread. Insane!

As to the Hotel That Is The Pitts.. truth be told the Ciminelli plan isn’t exactly a head turner either. What the city needs to do is inventory every last buildable square foot of land in WV, design some cool looking, built-to-the-street structures with retail and commercial uses incorporated into the designs, improve streetscapes and public spaces to give a sense of urban lifestyle, perhaps build some pedestrian underpasses which are bright and cheery and connect this neighborhood into downtown proper. It’s not too late to finish this entire project right. But yeah The Hotel That Is The Pitts has got to go. Kearns and Fronczak get it! Let’s hope the rest of the Council does as well.