Issue Position: Waterfront

Issue Position

Growing and vibrant communities tend to be the ones who have learned to build on their existing strengths and take advantage of the assets which are unique to them. Brian believes that the redevelopment of the waterfront presents this community with an opportunity to use its unique resources to attract jobs and investment and change its image from one that is declining and industrial to one that is vibrant and energetic. To this end, Brian has advocated forcefully for investments to remove barriers to public access and private investment on the waterfront, and this has led to hundreds of millions of dollars of investment to date.

At Buffalo's Outer Harbor, the broken and dilapidated maze of one-way access roads has been eliminated and replaced with a waterfront parkway, which is complemented with a multi-use trail which runs the length of Buffalo's Lake Erie shoreline, and is the hub of more than ten miles of multi-use and limited-use trails, numerous pocket parks, passive and active recreation areas, and two nature preserves. The parkway is anchored at the North by the historic Buffalo Lighthouse, which has been opened up to public access for the first time in ten years after Brian secured funding for the Coast Guard to reconfigure the perimeter of its adjacent facility, and on the south by the new Ship Canal Commons Park, which is surrounded with new light-industrial employers and remediated, shovel-ready development sites. Now that the Outer Harbor waterfront is accessible, Brian is fighting to free up land held by the NFTA for more private investment and further parkland development.

If the Outer Harbor is Buffalo's front lawn, helping to define the image of the community, then the Inner Harbor-the downtown waterfront-is the city's front porch. Here, where the city started, new wharves welcome boaters from the Great Lakes and beyond to visit with Buffalo neighbors in a vibrant new public space which has seen hundreds of thousands of visitors come for entertainment, recreation and cultural attractions. In addition to bringing the city to the water, current phases of this development aim to bring the water up into the city, by constructing new waterways on the alignments of portions of the historic Commercial Slip, the Main and Hamburg Canal and the Erie Canal, activating and increasing the value and the attractiveness of the parcels surrounding it. Brian led the charge to secure a $279 million hydropower relicensing settlement from the New York Power Authority in 2005 and 2006 which is funding much of the work at the Inner Harbor, and fought for the creation of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, which is directing the improvements.

Waterfront improvements have not been limited to the Inner and Outer Harbor of Buffalo. In Niagara Falls, Brian is fighting for the conversion of the Robert Moses Parkway into new infrastructure which will connect the city to its waterfront instead of blocking it from the water. In North Tonawanda, federal funds are being provided to facilitate new slip space for itinerant boaters, to welcome tourism to that city's re-invigorated downtown. The City of Tonawanda is building out new park amenities on its waterfront with the help of Niagara River Greenway funding secured in the 2005-06 NYPA settlement, and Brian is fighting for federal funds for environmental remediation projects on the Town of Tonawanda waterfront to build on the progress which has already been made there. In Amherst, a missing segment of the Erie Canalway Trail, which will stretch across the state when it is completed, is under development, and in Grand Island, town officials are actively planning a new multi-use trail along the entire Western shore. In the City of Lackawanna, Brian fought for and won the transfer of oversight authority for the former Bethlehem Steel Property from the EPA to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. This move made available millions of dollars in Brownfields Tax Credits which made possible the wind energy project on the site as well as ongoing efforts to move the existing rail spur to open up portions of the site to redevelopment.

Substantial investment is occurring in the City of Buffalo's other waterfront neighborhoods. In Black Rock and Riverside, Erie County has re-invested in its Riverwalk and the Buffalo Olmsted Conservancy is restoring portions of Riverside Park. Federal funds have been used to improve the International Railroad Bridge to provide access to Squaw Island Park, and to keep the Black Rock lock open to recreational boaters and other uses. Committed neighbors in Black Rock and Riverside have successfully fought for Greenway funds to improve Towpath Park and related amenities, and finishing touches are being placed on the Jesse Kriegel multi-use trail which runs along Scajaquada Creek and connects Delaware Park to the Shoreline Trail at the Black Rock Channel. In the Old First Ward, the Valley Community Association has created high-quality access to the Buffalo River with RiverFest Park and, with the New York Power Authority, has developed Mutuals Park. Ohio Street is being converted to a multimodal waterfront parkway to encourage investment in the Old First Ward and complement improvements occurring at Silo City, and to link the Inner and Outer Harbors.

Throughout the 26th Congressional District, Brian advocates a simple formula for waterfront development: remove the barriers to public access and provide high-quality public space along the water's edge, and thus enhance the viability and desirability of the land that remains. While substantial progress has been made as a result of targeted investment in the past few years, he looks forward to substantial, continued progress in the near term.

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