Reflections on a Postmodern City

by Craig Reynolds

from Basta! v1n1 (spring 1997)

THE ARGUMENT: Buffalo provides a challenge, not a legacy; it taunts the uninspired until they flee to a city where legacy’s flow will carry them along, like New York, San Francisco or Seattle. Buffalo requires a substantial commitment, like that of a drowning man to his condition. In Buffalo, we wrestle with God, Job’s God, and the fact of being is enough.

I begin to understand this after asking my 2 friends visiting from Seattle how they like the Albright Knox Art Gallery, the first stop in my weekend tour of Buffalo’s monuments to greatness. Pointing at Andy Warhol’s 100 Cans, they ask, “how Buffalo get a Warhol?” making me realize: 1) my friends aren’t exactly Peggy Guggenheims, but that’s perfectly a–okay; and 2) even after enjoying firsthand some of the greatest paintings anywhere, the misconception that Buffalo couldn’t possibly be significant remains even still.

It is a Saturday morning late in the football season and the museum is relatively empty, so one guest poses the inevitable question, “where is everybody?”––but rather than waste energy answering it, we who are not somewhere else do what we always do when queries like that arise: lean forward as far as we can without stubbing our noses on cold marble or bronze or drooling all over the paintings we risque absurdity to love, muttering under our breaths: “my God . . .”

“NOT MUCH HAPPENING HERE!”

A few hours later, after a quick architectural tour beginning on the gallery’s rear steps and ending downtown, we wind up at the waterfront, where we enjoy the cacophony of winds whistling through the car’s window casings. Naturally, being downtown, there’s no–one around . . .

Except a pack of wild dogs . . .

Wrestling savagely beside an over–turned garbage can on the corner of Erie and Lakefront Boulevards.

I go absolutely nuts to myself realizing I live in a city where wild dogs roam the streets, where the only activity is the impossible action of postmodern comic strips and outlandish science–fiction fantasies. I explode with delight realizing just how primal things have become, how ugly, how real.

Society has no claim on Buffalo anymore. We’re alone and that’s happy. We’re all gonna die and that’s happy. The empty storefronts that line Main Street dot sentences that ceased being written in earnest decades ago (anybody who writes them still invites the cancer that threatens to devour America). Buffalo is a grand Dadaist joke played on the American dream. What to do now is anybody’s guess––

My friends and I drive off wildly into the tangled maze of industrial nothing and bliss. “Not much happening here!” I shout and take a robust pride in its being true.

1.3 million people live in the greater–Buffalo area and all I see is not much happening here. I see empty factories overlooking empty lakes and rivers. I see empty streets leading nowhere but to other empty streets, empty parking lots in the shadows of empty churches.

Buffalo is the most spiritually evolved city in America. Like Christ, we have sacrificed everything for a better line on the suffering we always sensed was the only truth. In Buffalo, it’s man against God. Leaving your house mid–January is a Grecian odyssey all in itself––.

PURE SURREALIST MONUMENTS TO NOTHING

Soon enough, my friends begin to enjoy the sense of release our inevitable expiration arouses––

We drive on, past half–full warehouses and factories pumping loose, disjointed rhythms into the vast, inhuman night.

We drive on, through the staggering corpses of unused grain elevators, pure surrealist monuments to nothing.

We drive on, past windowless bars where solitary patrons try to trap oblivion in the bottoms of their beer glasses, but never succeed (oblivion).

We drive on, alongside vestigial railroad lines but tonsils were always my favorite body part so who am I to complain?

We drive on, past the leftover remains of Bethlehem Steel’s old headquarters, a creepy mansion on the hills only it’s all alone on the banks of Lake Erie and the dirt is deep like on the buildings in Paris.

We drive on, past the dilapidated cruise ship imported extra–special from Cleveland to collect spiders and rats on the polluted shores of eastern Lake Erie, also creepy.

We drive on––

We drive on––

Until we reach Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica and the trumpets begin to sound. And the angels on its rooftops sing: “everything you ever thought was true is wrong!”

Five minutes later we are standing dumbstruck in the center of the cathedral’s magnificent atrium, where the walls and ceiling exude the strange inner light the images painted on them ache to depict. Everybody in our group is amazed, silently gaping with eyes large like the black hole that is Buffalo.

“What is a beautiful, amazing place like this doing in Lackawanna?” my one friend asks.

Our Lady of Victory is a typical Buffalo achievement in so far as there’s absolutely no reason why it should exist . . . but it does . . . just like Buffalo does . . . and the reason why is that Father Baker had a vision and committed himself wholeheartedly to its fulfillment. Buffalo is ripe with enigmas and why here?s––and the answer always comes back “because” (Buffalo precedes all rational explanations). There is a fine line between something and nothing and Buffalo manages to walk it straight despite the large quantities of alcohol it consumed in hopes of blurring that line just a little wider. Unlike other cities, where it’s easy to sink into the flow of everything’s fine, in Buffalo, you must be a prophet or drown in utter mediocrity. Buffalo demands existential authenticity, and the rock we push up the hill (only to have it roll back down over us time and time again) is our only salvation. Like Rimbaud in the gutters and back–alleys of Paris, in Buffalo, you have no choice but to remake life; there’s no bullshit left to buy, no palace gates to hide behind (I endure Siddhartha Gautama’s 4 passing sights whenever I walk out my front door). Buffalo is the most advanced city in America; we progressed beyond progress. Our truth is grounded on an intense understanding of everything that is false (or an intense understanding that everything is false). We don’t need to realize the ultimate insignificance of the world; our world realizes it for us. Not only does Buffalo’s faded, tattered industrial landscape prefigure a dawning, postmodern art and architecture, it augers a new way of being. I mark in every face I pass marks of weakness, marks of woe––the sane, saintly sufferings of Christ. In Buffalo, we have exhausted all the tired cliches of American culture, but who needs them anyway? I’d rather run with wild dogs through silent streets than jump from old mall to new mall hopelessly fleeing my own inevitable collapse.

It doesn’t vex me that the world has abandoned Buffalo to the cold, hard night of passing time, impermanence and irrelevance; it just means I have an art gallery of incalculable merit all to myself, a downtown whose jewels were left for me to reap, a lake like a vision and the wind that blows across it proves that I’m alive, a discarded history so rich I feel privileged to watch it unfold. In Buffalo, we have turned something inside out, revealing the paradoxical everything of nothing. Our insignificance is of such great consequence it weighs on me like death; next stop: illumination.

AND NOW, FOR THE FORCED FINALE THAT’S TRUE NEVERTHELESS: in the growls of wild dogs I hear the song of the new American frontier, where being and not–being fade into the fact of we’re here anyway so what are you gonna do about it?––where significance and insignificance meet on weekends for an illicit drink (before returning to their established corners in time for tenure–track office–hours on Monday). We are the still point at which all contradictions meet and become one. I don’t care if you don’t care. The past, present and future is Buffalo’s essence. Someday you’ll join me in eternity.

__________________________________________________________________________
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Urban Legends
by Joel Kotkin

Only at TNR Online
Post date: 05.23.05

Usually journalists get accused of overemphasizing bad news. Yet in the case of America's cities, the media has often made things appear rosier than they really are. The idea that American cities, indeed cities worldwide, are experiencing a renaissance has been widely, and often uncritically, accepted since the late 1990s. This new optimism rests largely on the impact of globalization and the worldwide shift from a manufacturing to an information economy. "Neither western civilization, nor western cities," historian Peter Hall has argued, "show any sign of decay." Books like Cities Back from the Edge, by Roberta Brandes Gratz, have asserted that many Americans are ready to give up their suburban dreams for dense, compact cities modeled on places like Prague. Then there are the popular works of Richard Florida, who seems to offer a simple formula for urban revitalization: Get hip and gay. Hip cities like San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Boston are the new role models, Florida has argued; and non-hip locales are duly forewarned, as a headline in The Washington Monthly put it, that cities "without gays and rock bands are losing the economic race."

In some respects, of course, the last ten or so years have been a good time for American cities. Most urban areas, particularly New York, became safer and cleaner than they were in the '80s. And, certainly, we are no longer living in the dark days of the '70s--an era symbolized by the 1981 cult classic Escape from New York. These trends have made urban life more attractive to some and thereby stimulated residential construction as well as slowed--and in some cases reversed--the flight from cities of jobs.

But these developments notwithstanding, the renaissance of American cities has been greatly overstated--and this unwarranted optimism is doing a disservice to cities themselves. Urban politics has become self-satisfied and triumphalist, content to see cities promote the appearance of thriving while failing to serve the very people--families, immigrants, often minorities--who most need cities to be decent, livable places. The myths that have grown up surrounding the urban renaissance are now often treated as fact. As an urban historian who lives in a major city, I believe that recognizing these myths for what they are is a critical first step towards the redemption of urban America.

Last week voters chose a mayor in Los Angeles. In six months, voters in New York will do the same. We are therefore in a period when the question of how to fix American cities is--or at least should be--receiving more attention than usual. But to fix something, you first have to concede that it is broken. And economically, demographically, and politically, many American cities are broken in key respects. Below, a guide to the most popular urban myths, how they are taking urban policy in a wrongheaded direction, and what cities should be focusing on instead:

Myth No. 1: Cities are again gaining people. The late '90s saw population growth in some cities--particularly supposedly hip havens like Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. Many less favored cities, including perennial losers like Philadelphia and Cleveland, experienced much hyped upticks in downtown populations. "'Downtown is back' seemed to be a common observation throughout the 1990s," observed a 2001 report from the Fannie Mae Foundation and the Brookings Institution. Since then, a flood of new condos and loft projects in urban centers has convinced many that this observation is in fact a reality. Jonathan Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation, has heralded these developments as "signs of hope" for a new "urban renaissance."

But these assessments fly in the face of demographic realities. New York, Seattle, and Portland continue to gain population, but at a markedly slower rate than in the '90s. Most other cities--including Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, and Minneapolis--are once again losing residents. During the '90s, for example, Chicago's population grew by 4 percent, leading to a chorus of hosannas. Since 2000, however, the city has lost roughly one percent of its people. San Francisco--which Richard Florida has celebrated as a success story--grew by an impressive 7 percent during the '90s, but since 2000, it has lost over 3 percent of its residents. Boston, whose population increased by some 2.6 percent in the '90s, had given up half those gains already by 2003. And highly urbanized Massachusetts, one of the locales lionized by the new urbanists, was the only state last year to lose people.

What's more, these population setbacks for cities are taking place at a time when the growth of suburbs, exurbs, and more rural communities has continued. Even during the late '90s, a relative boom time for cities, five people moved out of central cities for every three who came in. The imbalance crossed every single age group, from the elderly to those between the ages of 15 and 24. It even applied to the demographic that is supposedly helping to spark urban renewal--the 25 to 34 year old set.

Cities, meanwhile, are becoming ever smaller parts of their metro areas. Minneapolis is a prime example. In the '90s the Midwestern city's population grew roughly four percent. Since 2000 it has shrunk by 2.5 percent, losing some 10,000 people; in contrast the surrounding suburban region grew by over 100,000.

In this context, even cities' much ballyhooed downtown revival does not really account for much more than a symbolic victory, population-wise. Overall, the back to downtown movement has constituted, as the Brookings-Fannie Mae report described it, "more of a trickle than a rush." If you combine the projected population growth for the downtowns of 15 of the nation's largest cities between 1998 and 2010, the total growth reaches roughly 125,000 people. By contrast the increase in one suburban region alone, San Bernardino-Riverside, during the same period is expected to be well over 1.2 million.

Even the great hopes of cities--immigrants--seem to be heading out of town, particularly once they start to climb the ladder towards the American dream. By 2000 more immigrants in metropolitan areas lived in suburbs, according to Brookings demographer Audrey Singer, than in cities. And this suburban immigrant population is growing faster than the urban immigrant population.

Then there are the empty nesters who, we are frequently told, are moving in droves back to inner cities. And yet the most recent census shows this trend to be more myth than reality. Retirees in the first bloc of boomers, according to Sandi Rosenbloom, a professor of urban planning and gerontology at the University of Arizona, appear to be sticking pretty close to the suburbs, where roughly three of four now reside. Those that do migrate, her studies suggests, tend to head further into the suburban periphery, not back downtown. "Everybody in this business wants to talk about the odd person who moves downtown, but it's basically a 'man bites dog story,'" Rosenbloom observes. "Most people retire in place. When they move, they don't move downtown, they move to the fringes."

Myth No. 2: Cities are where the successful people are. Apologists for the urban status quo frequently insist that it's quality, not quantity, of people that counts. Academics have made a bit of a cult of this notion of the Darwinian superiority of cities. Places like New York, London, and Tokyo, argued theorist Saskia Sassen, occupy "new geographies of centrality" that provide "the strategic sites for management of the global economy." Behind these giants she identified a secondary list of global centers, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Frankfurt, Toronto, Sydney, Paris, Miami, and Hong Kong. As for the lesser cities, much less the periphery, they are simply too far removed from what Lenin called "the commanding heights" of the capitalist economy.

Historically, such arrogance--and its appeal to the most talented parts of the population--was somewhat justified, particularly in the great cities. After all, if you wanted to run a global business, you had to be in New York, Chicago, or one of the nation's other commercial centers.

Yet today, many educated people come to the cities for a relatively brief period of their lives, notably their twenties, only to return to their hometowns, smaller cities, or suburbs as they reach their thirties. And with improvements in telecommunications technology, increasingly they find they can compete just as well from outside cities as from inside them.

Some of this, suggests demographer Bill Frey, has to do with the growth of the economies and amenities in suburbs and smaller towns. You can now, for example, get a passable Indian, Vietnamese, or Italian meal, buy a good cup of coffee, and hear reasonable music in places like Fargo, North Dakota. "These places now have more to offer," Frey says. "After all, the Starbucks culture is now coast-to-coast." (Disclosure: I've done federally funded consulting over the last few years in Fargo and North Dakota; but I've also done consulting in plenty of major cities.)

Of course, educated people have other reasons to migrate besides the growing availability of lattes. First, there is the issue of affordability: Housing costs in the most desirable cities--New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, Boston, Seattle--have now reached stratospheric levels. The second reason lies with schools and children. Babies might look cute in strollers in Soho, but when they get bigger, middle class parents start to seek out places where a kindergarten education doesn't run as high as $20,000 a year. Paying for college is bad enough; but getting someone to teach the ABCs should not cost a parent, who is already paying for public schools, as much as six months of mortgage payments.

As a result, cities are not the places getting smartest fastest. Sixteen of the country's top twenty counties in terms of percentage of college educated people are now suburban; only three, Manhattan (New York County), San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., are cities. During the '90s, the biggest net gainers of college educated people were such unfashionable, and largely suburban, metropolitan regions as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Charlotte. The number-one destination, in terms of net migration gains of young, single, educated people as a percentage of the total population? Naples, Florida.

Myth No. 3: Cool cities attract the best jobs; uncool cities don't. Another highly appealing urban legend holds that high-end jobs gravitate toward those places that are considered cool or hip. At the top of this alleged hierarchy are San Francisco, Boston, Austin, Seattle, and Portland, cities also identified as those with large bohemian and gay populations. The chief apostle of this point of view, Richard Florida, has said, "Take the guy with the tattoos seriously."

This assertion may be true in some cases, but overall, it's not supported by the facts. Employment growth in new economy fields such as business and financial services since 2000 has proved more robust in the suburbs and smaller cities than in the big towns. Some of this has to do with technology. As Harvard's Edward Glaeser notes, technology has long tended to concentrate not in dense urban settings but in more suburbanized ones, with large campus-like office parks, less crime, lower taxes, and, most critically, access to educated workers. Perhaps nerds, in contrast to the late '90s legend, don't tend to be pierced bohemian mega-consumers of culture but instead prefer areas with suburban track homes, good public schools, and even thriving churches.

Certainly the areas that have experienced growth in new-economy jobs--such as business and financial services--have not been the pillars of cool. In fact, since 2000 these jobs have been leaving the likes of Boston and San Francisco, while accumulating in church-going, conservative areas like Boise, Phoenix, Reno, Salt Lake City, and southwest Florida.

It may surprise creative class acolytes that these decidedly uncool places have done better in producing high-end jobs than elite cities. In fact, a recent UCLA study found that Sacramento and San Bernardino-Riverside led California in the production of jobs paying over $55,000 a year between 1995 and 2004. Sacramento saw these higher-end jobs increase by 2.8 percent while the Inland Empire--the suburban periphery east of Los Angeles--saw such jobs expand by 3.3 percent. San Francisco? It saw a .5 percent drop in such positions.

Even the large firms that have been identified with major urban centers since the nineteenth century are heading away from dense traditional cities. In 1969, only 11 percent of America's largest companies were headquartered in the suburbs; a quarter century later roughly half were in the periphery.

The prevailing shift in the locations of large firms' headquarters, according to a recent Chicago Fed report, has been to southern and smaller towns, not to large cities. As a result, cities can no longer assume they control the commanding heights of the economy. Just twenty years ago San Francisco was home to the world's largest bank and an established global center for high-end financial services. But in 1998, Bank of America, an institution deeply enmeshed in the city's history, moved its headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina after merging with NationsBank, which was based there. Since the dot-com bust, things have gotten worse. Between 2001 and 2004, San Francisco lost nearly 17 percent of its business service jobs--lawyers, accountants, management consultants--and 9 percent of its financial sector positions.

The same phenomenon can be seen in New York. Since 1981, the city's share of the nation's securities industry jobs has dropped from 37 to 23 percent. Wall Street may still be the world's leading financial center, but it employs fewer and fewer New Yorkers. Financial service employment has been declustering rapidly, out to the surrounding suburbs, to other regions of the country, and, in some cases, abroad.

Much the same can be said about retail, once a New York specialty. By 2002 not one of the nation's top twenty retailers was headquartered in Gotham. And the dominant player in global merchandising, Wal-Mart, operates out of the cool metropolis of Bentonville, Arkansas.

hese myths are particularly problematic when they become the basis for policy. And in many cities, that is exactly what is happening. Policies based on these myths aren't just a waste of time and resources. They are also distracting cities from the real work of securing their future. After all, if you are being told that you are coming back--riding the wave of demographics and intelligence to an inevitably positive outcome--why deal with the hard issues like public education, job training, promoting small companies, and transportation?

What is being done. Many mayors and governors seem to be relying on a "bread and circuses" strategy for revitalizing their cities. According to this logic, if cities can only put on a better show--in terms of arts, sports, conventions, and other amusements--they will become irresistible not only to tourists but also to educated workers and the companies that employ them. How else to explain the ridiculous idea that spending billions on a West Side stadium is crucial at a time when New York's subway system is becoming ever more obsolescent and a wall that lines the Henry Hudson Parkway is (literally) crumbling? What else could justify proposed public expenditures, in cities ranging from Phoenix to Los Angeles to Boston, on shiny expansions of convention center complexes at a time when the convention business is by most accounts shrinking?

Then there is the notion of building a cool town to lure the creative class--in Michigan, Governor Jennifer Granholm actually has an initiative called "Cool Cities." This justifies the public financing of arts and entertainment centers. There's nothing wrong inherently, of course, with arts and entertainment centers; but one has to wonder whether a $300 million performing arts center will really lure the creative class to Kansas City, as opposed to New York or Los Angeles. Even old industrial hubs like Cleveland and Philadelphia have tried to lure the creative class by developing hip downtowns. So far, both have improved their central cores, while the rest of the city continues to lose jobs and residents at an alarming rate.

The idea that Cleveland and Oklahoma City, much less Detroit and Kalamazoo, can out-compete New York, San Francisco, London, or Paris on a hipness scale is simply bizarre. These cities will never win the battle for the dollars or affections of the young, the nomadic rich, and tourists. As a Michigan talk show host once pointed out to me, "If you have to mount a campaign to prove you're hip and cool, you're not."

I recently debated Richard Florida in Denver, and even he admitted that his ideas about the creative economy were being misinterpreted to justify often absurd policy prescriptions. Arguably, bohemianism as urban policy makes some sense in places like San Francisco that retain natural appeal for the wealthy and perennially hip. As they lose their historic roles as centers of economic and political power, these cities may well morph into what might be considered "ephemeral cities," playing out the role that H.G. Wells envisioned for urban downtowns as a "bazaar, a great gallery of shops and places of concourse and rendezvous." That is, great places to visit, not to live.

There is also the popular idea that attracting gay residents will save cities. Spokane and Oakland, for instance, have considered projects to lure gays. It's true that gay populations have helped to gentrify areas of some cities, for instance in New York, in Washington, and even around downtown Phoenix. But the idea that gay residents will continue to save cities flies in the face of trends in American gay life. As domestic partnership laws and, eventually, marriage rights make it easier for gays to form nuclear families, there is every reason to believe that their social patterns and needs will become more similar to those of average Americans--and that the factors that have driven straight families out of cities will do the same for gay families. Among other things, gay parents will want good public schools for their children, something that most cities no longer offer. And even if they don't have children, gay people still have jobs--and good jobs are increasingly moving to the suburbs.

What needs to be done instead. Cities are not doomed, far from it; this is one point on which Richard Florida and I agree. But two major things need to happen in order for cities to be saved. First, they must undertake a CAT scan of sorts, which would reveal, underneath the glossy exterior of arts centers and arenas and hip downtowns, the reality of lost jobs, dysfunctional schools, and crumbling infrastructure. Second, they need to acquire the political will to attack these issues head-on despite the inevitable roadblocks.

What is needed is for cities to craft their own New Deal. Given their shrinking political power, they will not be able to extract resources from Washington or most state capitals. They will have to get smart about how they are run and focus their resources on basic issues, like schools, infrastructure, boosting small business, and creating jobs--rather than promoting bread, circuses, and tattoo parlors.

This will mean making choices. New York needs to decide that fixing its subways represents a more important use of its bonding authority than a stadium for the Jets. Los Angeles needs to decide its biggest priority lies in preventing the region's port complex, its largest generator of private sector jobs, from becoming hopelessly congested and obsolescent. Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, and the other hard luck cases need to focus on trying to fix their schools, transportation systems, and economies. Phoenix needs to concern itself with generating jobs and opportunities for its soaring immigrant population. Let the glitzy restaurants and rock clubs take care of themselves.

Steps like these will require a new political consensus. Much of the current progressive agenda--with its anti-growth economic bias--does little to boost the competitive status of urban centers. Cities must return to a progressive focus on fixing their real problems--that is, the problems of the majority of the people who live there--not serving the interests of artists, hipsters, and their wealthy patrons. Right now school reform is often hostage to the power of teachers' unions. City budgets, which could be applied to improving economic infrastructure, are frequently bloated by, among other things, excessive public sector employment and overgenerous pensions. In the contest for the remaining public funds, the knitted interests of downtown property holders, arts foundations, sports promoters, and nightclub owners often overwhelm those of more conventional small businesses and family-oriented neighborhoods that could serve as havens for the middle class.

Ultimately, a new urban progressivism must challenge this power axis. It would force local governments to focus on the most important historical work of cities: the transformation of newcomers to America into successful, middle-class citizens. This has undergirded the emergence of all great modern cities, from fifteenth-century Venice to seventeenth-century Amsterdam to twentieth-century New York. The American metropolis can be more than a way station for the wealthy young and part-time destination for the nomadic rich. It can be a place where average people live, thrive, and build communities across lines of race and class. Now that would be a cool city.

Joel Kotkin is an Irvine Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and author of The City: A Global History (Modern Library, April 2005).

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Hip cities without a soul

It's easy for anyone interested in cities, suburbs and what architects call "the built environment" to think only in terms of recent history and the world that we know. There are big cities with their towering downtowns, trendy neighborhoods and run-down ghettos and then the endless suburban sprawl in which most middle-class people reside.

Hence, planners, architects and developers debate philosophies such as Smart Growth and New Urbanism, which are designed to stem the supposed destruction of open space and replace dispersed development patterns with urbanized living. Many of my discussions of this matter have devolved into angry debates between those who think that suburbia is evil and those of us who find it to be a grand advancement of living standards for the majority.

Joel Kotkin, an author who specializes in urban affairs, has published a new book that promises a broader outlook. "The City" is an ambitious and dense effort despite its mere 218 pages. It looks at cities not just in terms of modern America and the European model, but in full historical perspective. The first chapter starts with the evolution of urban life 40,000 years ago (!) and proceeds to describe life in Mesopotamia, ancient Rome, Constantinople and then onward to modern Los Angeles.

"The City" offers fascinating insight into the ideologies that have created different city designs, and into the natural human desire to gather together to live and for commerce. He reminds us that the ancient Romans created a vast system of infrastructure, including the aqueducts, but that after Rome's fall, it collapsed into a tiny echo of its former glory. He provides a quick tour of city development in the Middle Kingdom, the Middle East and even Middle America.

Perhaps the most fascinating insight: Cities need a sense of moral purpose to survive and flourish. It's not enough, he argues, for them to serve merely as a center of commerce. It's that idea that helps me the most as I continue my critique of the modern planning movements.

In a recent interview, Kotkin complained to me that New Urbanists and others who want to recreate urban living as a rebuke to suburbanization tend to miss this almost-spiritual side to city planning. The hip, vital cities modern planners are most enamored of, such as Portland, Ore., are geared almost exclusively toward "young people and the nomadic rich and trustafarians," those childless trust-fund elites who are seeking high culture but eschew child-bearing and religion.

In Europe, he said, all the major cities are mostly devoid of children. Yet planners refuse to acknowledge that "the evolution of suburbia is part of the continuum of urban history." He calls the people who run cities the worst enemies of them, as their hamfisted regulations, the destruction of schools and the bloated bureaucracies are unfriendly toward average middle-income families.

He derides the emphasis on hipness rather than on traditional city planning that focuses on good infrastructure, good schools, safe neighborhoods. Unfortunately, people come out of the planning schools with the same ideas, he said. So those who don't fit this narrow demographic move to the suburbs, where they are criticized by the urban elites who accuse them of selfishly promoting sprawl. In the book, Kotkin makes the case by comparing the new planning ideas to the lessons of the past. "Broader demographic trends also pose severe long-term questions for these cities," he wrote. "The decline in the urban middle-class family - a pattern seen in both the late Roman Empire and eighteenth-century Venice - deprives urban areas of a critical source for economic and social vitality."

"The City" provides necessary historical context for modern debates, and to that end serves a valuable purpose.

April 15, 2005
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and all members of the City Council
c/o City Council President Gifford Miller

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

My name is Jane Jacobs. I am a student of cities, interested in learning why some cities persist in prospering while others persistently decline; why some provide social environments that fulfill the dreams and hopes of ambitious and hardworking immigrants, but others cruelly disappoint the hopes of immigrant parents that they have found an improved life for their children. I am not a resident of New York although most of what I know about cities I learned in New York during the almost half-century of my life here after I arrived as an immigrant from an impoverished Pennsylvania coal mining town in 1934.

I am pleased and proud to say that dozens of cities, ranging in size from London to Riga in Latvia, have found the vibrant success and vitality of New York to demonstrate useful and helpful lessons for their cities—and have realized that failures in New York are worth study as needed cautions.

Let’s think first about revitalization successes; they are great and good teachers. They don’t result from gigantic plans and show-off projects, in New York or in other cities either. They build up gradually and authentically from diverse human communities; successful city revitalization builds itself on these community foundations, as the community-devised plan 197a does.

What the intelligently worked out plan devised by the community itself does not do is worth noticing. It does not destroy hundreds of manufacturing jobs, desperately needed by New York citizens and by the city’s stagnating and stunted manufacturing economy. The community’s plan does not cheat the future by neglecting to provide provisions for schools, daycare, recreational outdoor sports, and pleasant facilities for those things. The community’s plan does not promote new housing at the expense of both existing housing and imaginative and economical new shelter that residents can afford. The community’s plan does not violate the existing scale of the community, nor does it insult the visual and economic advantages of neighborhoods that are precisely of the kind that demonstrably attract artists and other live-work craftsmen, initiating spontaneous and self-organizing renewal. Indeed so much renewal so rapidly that the problem converts to how to make an undesirable neighborhood to an attractive one less rapidly.

Of course the community’s plan does not promote any of the vicious and destructive results mentioned. Why would it? Are the citizens of Greenpoint and Williamsburg vandals? Are they so inhumane they want to contrive the possibility of jobs for their neighbors and for the greater community?

Surely not. But the proposal put before you by city staff is an ambush containing all those destructive consequences, packaged very sneakily with visually tiresome, unimaginative and imitative luxury project towers. How weird, and how sad, that New York, which has demonstrated successes enlightening to so much of the world, seems unable to learn lessons it needs for itself. I will make two predictions with utter confidence. 1. If you follow the community’s plan you will harvest a success. 2. If you follow the proposal before you today, you will maybe enrich a few heedless and ignorant developers, but at the cost of an ugly and intractable mistake. Even the presumed beneficiaries of this misuse of governmental powers, the developers and financiers of luxury towers, may not benefit; misused environments are not good long-term economic bets.

Come on, do the right thing. The community really does know best.

Sincerely,
Jane Jacobs

__________________________________________________________________________
Artspace Archive • Annals of Neglect • BAVPA • Where is Perrysburg? • Broken Promises...
Writing the City • Woodlawn Row Houses • Tour dé Neglect - 2006

Solutions for a Better Quality of Life:

A Guide to Solving Neighborhood Issues

MAY 2004

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, we would like to give special thanks to Assemblymember Sam Hoyt, for this document could not have been produced without his efforts and his dedication of resources. Through his work in both the City of Buffalo and in Albany, we were able to engage in community conversations and utilize input from a variety of sources to gather information for this manual.

This manual also could not have been created without the tireless efforts of many concerned City residents. Most importantly, we would like to thank Stephanie Carter, from Assemblymember Hoyt's office, Michelle Graves, COPS Crime Prevention Manager, and Harvey Garrett, who serves both the West Side Community Collaborative and Buffalo Housing Court. In addition, numerous interns from both Housing Court and Assemblymember Hoyt's office researched the issues presented in this manual and crafted the proposed solutions; they include Angelo Gambino, Kristyn Cronberger, Victoria Boone, Kate Meyer, Kirsten Swanson, Laura Lombardo and Stephanie Novak. Also offering assistance on this project were Erie County Legislators Mark Schroeder, Demone Smith and Lynn Marinelli, Timothy Callan from Legislator Albert DeBenedetti's office, City Councilmembers Richard Fontana, Marc Coppola, Brian Davis, Antoine Thompson and Nick Bonifacio, Peter Savage III from Councilmember Bonifacio's office, Michael Kuzma, Esq. from Councilmember David Franczyk's office, Timothy Wanamaker, Executive Director of the City Office of Strategic Planning, Linda Chiarenza, West Side NHS, Bruce Williams, Broadway/Fillmore NHS, Alyce Cuddy, University Heights CDA, Nettie Anderson, Louise Bonner and Ada Hopson-Clemons, Masten Block Club Coalition, Shyrl Duderwick, South Buffalo NHS, Jerry Nagy, Kensington-Bailey NHS, Kathleen Peterson and Ruth Lampe, Parkside Community Association, Lydia Fernandez and Damicela Rodriguez, Hispanics United of Buffalo, Rosa Gibson and Renetta Johnson, Community Action Information Center, Rose Yager, West Side Neighborhood Partnership, Ian McDonald and Kevin Hayes, Richardson Towers Community Association, David Granville, Allentown Association, Elizabeth Triggs and Odease Brown, We Care Neighborhood Community Block Club, Kim Harman, East Side PRIDE, Ida Thomas and Annette Tatum, Ellicott District Community Development, Inc., Malikah Muhammad, United Neighborhoods, Rose Yager, Gloria Jones, Mary Smith, Doris Corley, Bernice White, Ralph and Susan Guastaferro, and many other leaders of individual block clubs striving to protect the neighborhoods throughout the City of Buffalo.

May 13, 2004

Dear Friends:

Improving the quality of life in the City of Buffalo is and always will be one of my highest priorities. I was pleased to have been able to work with City Court Judge Henry J. Nowak of Buffalo's Housing Court in the formulation of this important guide for the community. In addition, this "tool kit" would not have been possible without the invaluable input of area block clubs and various community organizations.

It is my hope that you are able to integrate this manual into your organization's everyday practices and help eradicate many of the nuisance crimes that plague our city. As always, I am available to you and please feel free to call upon me with your questions, concerns and suggestions in making Buffalo an even better place to grow and prosper. My goal is to continue important collaborations such as this well into the future.

Sincerely,

SAM HOYT

MEMBER OF ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for your interest in strengthening your community! Simply by reviewing this document, you have taken a positive first step toward enhancing the quality of life for you and your neighbors. If you are a property owner, you are also preserving your investment in the City of Buffalo.

There are several things you must understand in utilizing this document for concerns in your neighborhood. First, it is meant to be an ever-changing document, reflecting today's problems and remedies. Services change from time to time, and what worked to solve a problem last year may not work now. Also, problems are solved differently district by district - the appropriate resource to contact in University Heights may not work in Hamlin Park, and vice-versa. In order to ensure that this document remains effective, please contact the Court whenever you attempt any of the procedures, and let us know the results. We expect to update this document every six months, so we need to know what changes are necessary for the next version. Also, if a particular procedure is ineffective, the appropriate legislators can be notified to create a new remedy as soon as possible.

Second, be sure to exhaust every part of a particular procedure, and be prepared to follow up on your initial complaints on a regular basis. It is our experience that problems are moved to the top of priority lists after the same complaints are made a number of times to a number of different resources.

Finally, the procedures have been designed to protect the anonymity of those making the various complaints. There are a number of effective procedures to solve many of these problems that involve direct contact with property owners, but many active citizens have been reluctant to use such procedures for fear of retaliation. Please use your best judgment when attempting to solve neighborhood problems, and take advantage of the steps that protect the identities of those making the complaints.

Thank you again for your interest and dedication to your neighborhood.

Henry J. Nowak
Buffalo City Court
50 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14202
(716) 845-2648
Fax - (716) 847-6409
hnowak@courts.state.ny.us

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. CRIME
A. Illegal Drug Sales
B. Illegal Business Activity
C. Predatory Lending
D. Trespassing
E. Abuse and Other Quality of Life Concerns

II. NEIGHBORHOOD CONDITIONS
A. Abandoned Houses
B. Rodents
C. Abandoned Cars
D. Property Violations
E. Vacant Lots
F. Loose Dogs
G. Graffiti
H. Snow Removal

III. COMMUNITY INFORMATION
A. Ownership of Property
B. Housing Court
C. City Auctions
D. New York State Building Code
E. How to Start a Block Club or Tenant Council

I. CRIME

A. Illegal Drug Sales

If you suspect that there is a drug house in your neighborhood, you should first call 911 and the Mayor's Complaint Line (851-4890). Be sure to tell them if you do not wish to be identified, and if you do not want an officer to come to your door to investigate the complaint. The next three calls you should make should be to:

(1) the City of Buffalo Save Our Streets Program ­ Tiffany Perry (851-5094);

(2) the Buffalo Police Department Tip Line (847-2255); and

(3) your closest Community Oriented Police Satellite (COPS) Station:

- University Heights COPS, Gloria J. Parks Community Center, 3242 Main Street, 851-4112;

- Parkside COPS, 2318 Main Street, 851-4324;

- East Side COPS, CRUCIAL, 230 Moselle, 895-1810;

- International Marketplace COPS, 283 Grant Street, 884-7812; and

- Medical Campus COPS, 927 Main Street, 883-4104.

You also may contact Michelle Graves, COPS Crime Prevention Manager, at 851-4112.

Any of these resources may refer you directly to the Narcotics Department at 851-4575, but they likely will process your information themselves, and may even be able to advise you of progress if you contact them again later. In addition, you should let your local Councilmember know the details of the problem property and the efforts you have made on behalf of the block club, and you should ask that he or she follow up to ensure that the house is investigated. Finally, you may report the property to be cited for Housing Court (see Section II (D), below) and explain the suspected drug activity as part of your report. If appropriate, the City prosecutor may request an Order to Vacate the property.

B. Illegal Business Activity

In general, any illegal business activity should be reported to the Buffalo Police Department by calling 911; remember to tell them if you do not wish to be identified. You should also contact your local representatives so that they may monitor the activity and follow up on your complaints. A list of your local representatives is attached as Appendix A.

If you believe that the activity is being conducted without a proper license, you should contact Patrick Sole at the City Licensing Department, at 851-4954. If the illegal activity involves the sale of alcohol, you should also notify the New York State Liquor Authority Enforcement Bureau in Buffalo at 847-5020. If the problem concerns a utility company, such as failing to repair a lawn after working on service lines, you should call the utility company first and file a complaint before contacting your local representatives.

C. Predatory Lending

If you believe that there are individuals or corporations engaging in predatory lending or rent-to-own scams in your neighborhood, you should immediately contact the New York State Mortgage Banking Department at 1-800-334-3360 Ext. 5599. You also should notify the State Attorney General's Office, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Better Business Bureau:

New York State Attorney General, Buffalo Office
107 Delaware Avenue, Fourth Floor
Buffalo, NY 14202
(716) 853-8400

FDIC
20 Exchange Plaza
New York, NY 10005
(800) 334-9539 (Consumer Complaints and Inquiries)
(917) 320-2500 (Main Switchboard)

Better Business Bureau, Buffalo Office
741 Delaware Avenue, Suite 10
Buffalo, NY 14209
(716) 881-5222
info@upstatenybbb.org

Be prepared to provide descriptions of the loans or other products being marketed and the companies involved, and copy any relevant documentation provided or advertised by the companies.

D. Trespassing

If you believe there are squatters in a vacant house or building in your neighborhood, immediately call your Councilmember and the Mayor's Complaint Line (851-4890), and request that the property be cited for Housing Court. You should provide the address, the owner's name (if known) and a description of the individuals seen on the premises. Also, you should contact the Erie County Health Department at 961-6800 to investigate the property. You may then track the status of both cases through your Housing Court Liaison. Finally, it would be a good idea to contact your local COPS Station (see Section I (A), above) and advise them of the activity.

If there are individuals trespassing on your property, there are two ways you can handle the situation. For both, you need to know who the individuals are or have good descriptions of them. First, you can attempt to pursue the matter criminally by filing a police report for trespassing after calling 911. Second, you can call your local COPS station (see Section IA) and request that they contact the trespassers (and their parents if they are minors).

E. Abuse and Other Quality of Life Concerns

If you encounter threats against neighborhood residents, loud noise, rowdy behavior, and/or loitering, call 911 immediately. Do not try to take the matter into your own hands.

After each incident is over, document the details of what occurred, including dates and times, individuals involved, and damages incurred. Your next calls should be to the Mayor's Complaint Line (851-4890) and your local COPS station to report the activity (see Section I (A), above, for a listing of the various locations). Between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., you should be able to reach a Site Coordinator, and after that, you can leave a message and your name and number. The Site Coordinator can be contacted again to track the progress of the case.

Suspected child abuse or maltreatment should be reported. The law requires that you have "reasonable cause to suspect" that the child is being abused or neglected in order to file a report. To make a report, call Child Welfare and Protection Services at (716) 858-6437, or toll free at 1-800-342-3720. You may also contact Crisis Services (834-3131) for further assistance.

An "abused child" means a child which is 18 years old or less whose parent/guardian:
· Inflicts or allows infliction of physical injury upon the child that is not accidental
· Creates of allows substantial risk of physical injury
· Commits or allows to be committed a sex offense against the minor

Adult abuse is defined as the abuse or mistreatment of an adult 18 years or older. Unexplained injuries, decrease of appetite, decrease of financial resources suddenly, and sudden changes in mood or behavior are just some signs that the adult is being mistreated. You can report adult abuse by calling Adult Protection Services at (716) 858-6901, or toll free at 1-800-342-3009. You may also contact Crisis Services (834-3131) for further assistance.

II. NEIGHBORHOOD CONDITIONS

A. Abandoned Houses

If one of the houses in your neighborhood is vacant and boarded up, and is a blight on the neighborhood, you should report the property to both your Councilmember and the Mayor's Complaint Line (851-4890). The Erie County Health Department (961-6800) will also investigate problems relating to accumulated garbage, trash and debris on properties.

It is helpful if you are able to determine the owner of the property (see Section III (A), below, for instructions), and find out if there is a Housing Court case already pending against that property owner (see Section III (B), below). If so, you can ask your Housing Court Liaison to find out the status of the property. If not, be sure to request that the case is written up for Housing Court as soon as possible (see Section II (D), below). You should provide the address, the owner's name and a description of the problem. If you or another neighbor would be interested in acquiring the property, you can contact the owner directly or through the Housing Court Liaison.

B. Rodents

The Erie County Health Department provides free rodent baiting. The property owner needs to call 961-6800 and fill out a permission form. You also should call Citizen Services at the City of Buffalo at 851-5307. They will arrange for the setting of traps and other measures to eliminate the rodents.

C. Abandoned Cars

If the abandoned cars are on City property, call Parking Enforcement at 851-5832 to request that the vehicles be towed. If the abandoned cars are on private property, they can be removed free of charge by Riverside Towing. You will need to contact the property owner and ask him or her to call Riverside Towing at 825-5578. The property owner does not need to have the title to the vehicle, but must sign a permission slip, and the car will then be removed.

If you do not have cooperation from the property owner, have the property written up for Housing Court (see Section II (D), below).

D. Property Violations

If you believe there are violations of the New York State Building Code or the Buffalo City Code at a property in your neighborhood (such as a damaged roof or gutters, high grass or weeds, debris, foundation problems, etc.), immediately call both your Councilmember and the Mayor's Complaint Line (851-4890) and request that the property be cited for Housing Court. You should provide the address, the owner's name (if known) and a description of the violations or problems at the property. The Erie County Health Department (961-6800) will also investigate problems relating to accumulated garbage, trash and debris on properties.

E. Vacant Lots

If one of the vacant lots in your neighborhood has debris or overgrown grass and weeds, the first thing you need to do is to find out who owns the property (see III (A), below). If the property is owned by the City of Buffalo, contact Steve Stepniak at 851-5661 and request that the lot be cut. If you or another neighbor is interested in purchasing the lot from the City, you should contact John Hannon at the City of Buffalo Real Estate Department at 851-5275.

If the lot is privately owned, you should immediately call both your Councilmember and the Mayor's Complaint Line (851-4890) and request that the property be cited for Housing Court. You should provide the address, the owner's name and a description of the problem. The Erie County Health Department (961-6800) will also investigate problems relating to accumulated garbage, trash and debris on properties. You may then track the status of the case through your Housing Court Liaison (see III (B), below). If you are interested in turning a vacant lot into a community garden, you can contact Jim Pavel, President of Keep WNY Beautiful, at 851-4370. Mr. Pavel can direct you to various individuals and departments depending upon the extent of the work.

To convert a vacant lot into a parking lot, several Code provisions would need to be met, such as those concerning paving, lighting and drainage. Call John Hannon at the City of Buffalo Real Estate Department, at 851-5275. He can explain the process to you.

F. Loose Dogs

If you there is a loose dog in your neighborhood and you would like to have it taken away, you should call the City Pound at 851- 5694 during weekdays before 3:00 p.m. If it is after 3:00 p.m. on a weekday or during a weekend, call 911, and the Buffalo Police will address the problem. You may also contact the S.P.C.A. serving Erie County (875-7360) to report other animal problems, such as dog fighting or illegal breeding activities.

G. Graffiti

If one of the buildings in your neighborhood has graffiti, you should call both your Councilmember and the Mayor's Complaint Line (851-4890) and request that the property be cited for Housing Court. You also should contact Jim Pavel, President of Keep WNY Beautiful, at 851-4370.

H. Snow Removal

For snow removal of private and public sidewalks and streets, call the Mayor's Complaint Line (851-4890) and ask to speak to someone in snow removal department. You will be transferred to a representative, and you will be asked your exact location such as your street address, city, and zip code. After giving this information to the person, they will ask exactly what you need, so be prepared to give detailed instructions.

III. COMMUNITY INFORMATION

A. Ownership of Property

There are several ways to find out who owns a particular piece of property in the City of Buffalo. First, you can go to the Erie County Clerk's Office at 25 Delaware Avenue, and ask at the Information Desk on the second floor ­ they will walk you through the procedure.

Also, you can call the City Assessments Department at 851-5733. If you have access to the Internet, you can check on line at the City of Buffalo's web site, www.city-buffalo.com. Under "City Services," you can click on "Property Information." From there, you will be able to input the property address and can learn:

· the owner's name and home address;
· the date they obtained the property; and
· the assessed value of the property.

In addition, you can check Erie County's Internet Mapping Project at erie-gis.co.erie.ny.us/website/erie_help/help.htm. Once there, you can click on "Internet Mapping System," which will take you to a separate page showing you a map of the County. From there, you can click on "Locate Property" (at the bottom) and search by property address.

Once you know the owner's name, you can input that at either the City or County web site to determine what other properties he or she owns in the City of Buffalo.

B. Housing Court

Housing Court cases are now scheduled by district, and each district has one or more Housing Court Liaisons, who are appointed by the City Councilmembers. The Councilmembers and the Housing Court Liaisons receive the Court docket before each of their scheduled days, and appear in Court to offer input and assistance when appropriate. You should have a good working relationship with your Liaison, and should communicate with him or her regularly to track the status of any cases in your neighborhood. Also, you should let your Liaison know when you report a case to the Mayor's Complaint Line so that they can look for it once it is called for Court. The current Liaisons are:

You also should know about a web site where you check the Court docket on line. At this site, you can search by the defendant's name and by the date of the Court calendar. Unfortunately, you cannot search by the property address, but we are attempting to modify this site so that you can do so in the near future. The web address is:

portal.courts.state.ny.us/pls/portal30/HSES_DEV.MENU_HOUSING_COURT.show

The easiest way to provide information to the Court about a given property or defendant is through your Housing Court Liaison, especially if you fear retaliation by the property owner (the Liaison refers to all complaints as coming from "concerned residents in the neighborhood"). You also may appear in Court yourself on the date the case is called. You can learn the date and time through your Liaison or through the web site.

Another way is to write to the Court directly. However, for the Court to consider the information, you must copy the property owner and the City of Buffalo on all correspondence. You can obtain the identity and address of the property owner by following the instructions under Section III (A), above. In order to send a copy of your letter to the City of Buffalo, you may send it to Peter Savage III, Esq., City of Buffalo Law Department, 1101 City Hall, Buffalo, New York 14202.

C. City Auctions

The City prepares a foreclosure list in advance of each auction, and a block club may request a foreclosure list by calling Bruna Michaux at 851-5734.

Also, you may search online by taking the following steps:

- go to the City's web site, www.city-buffalo.com;

- Under "City Services," click on "Property Information."

- At the left side of the page, click on "In rem 37 Property Foreclosure Site"

Once there, you may search for individual properties by street name or zip code.

D. New York State Building Code

The New York State Building Code is an eight volume set available at the Erie County Public Library. It is not available to be viewed on line, but can be ordered on line for approximately $300.00 at electrical-contractor.net/The_Store/NY_Codes.htm.

An easier way to learn some of the more common housing violations is to speak with your Housing Court Liaison, your local housing inspector, or Housing Court Judge Nowak. Judge Nowak will be willing to meet with block clubs and invite the inspectors and/or the Liaisons who service your area. Also, you can review the Erie County Housing and Health Codes by calling 961-6800.

E. How to Start a Block Club or Tenant Council

Block Clubs are formed on streets that have single and double home, and small apartment buildings while Tenant Councils are formed with residents of municipal housing and affordable housing projects. Both serve the same objectives:

· to insure the safety of the residents
· to keep the neighborhood clean
· to beautify the neighborhood
· to keep the property values up
· to seek funding for beautification projects
· to have a stronger voice in the city government, by expressing concerns as a group

To organize such a group you must find interested neighbors, discuss most pressing and concerned problems, set date for a meeting, and invite everyone. If help is needed to organize your club you may contact the following groups:

After you have successfully organized your first meeting the next step is to register your block club or tenant council with United Neighborhoods (above) and the Board of Block Clubs of Buffalo, 1319 City Hall, Buffalo, NY 14202, (716) 851-6500.

KernWatch...May 15, 2005

Dick Kern e-mailed the following Hutchinson & Upcher story this morning...lots of good backgroud information about the case.

David:

Discovered H-U's scam at 287 Hoyt where they had a "4 you 2 Rent" sign with a phone # next to a HUD sign. Turned out they bought the house, with their stock mini-blinds hanging in all their houses by 2 nails on front windows to spiff-ify appearance, from HUD for a couple thousand, but in their greed & HUD's chaos it was still being maintained by HUD's later-fired "InTown Management".

In the H-U phone message they listed 39 Oxford (also owned 96 Oxford) & 157 Massachusetts (nextdoor to City Finance chief Jim Milroy) as places to come for apartments on designated days, but I never found them their at times & places stated.

287 Hoyt, 157 Mass & 340 Mass (next to a blighted WSNHS house at 344 Mass & blighted 338 Denmarc7-Goleman house) were all demolished recently. H-U's 500 Mass is being slowly rehabbed by an elderly Hispanic man depressed by loss of his wife to a heart attack.

Later Venere confronted me on Delaware downtown in a car with Virginia plates, throwing open the door in front of my bike, just to catch my attention. The only other time I saw him was in housing Court with Terry McKelvey, who later 'helped" McLeod try to silence me on a similar scam by H-U disciples Amherst Realtor Joe Wooley & scam partners girlfriend Bernardine Julius & Buff State cop Patrick Freeman.

Finally I talked to a man loading a U-Haul outside their apparent residence on LaSalle (address?), who immediately called H-U, apparently inside . . last time they were seen in Bflo.

They had earlier opened a "cultural center" in the old TV studio on Main above Utica, ad in Challenger, & posters all over, offering free tickets to council folks . . but banning me from entering. They also bought the restaurant 2 doors south, forget addresses.

The father Rev. Whitbourne, whose wife Ingrid played the 'race card" on me, lived at 96 Dorris, near the Church of Prophesy on corner Dorris & Bailey. The parents began the scam but were never charged, apparently moving to Brit VI as H-U fled town.

Note that the 'Jesus factor' enters many housing scams . . from Palano, to Graham & Glushefski at Cornerstone, to Drati . . a particular irritation to me as a former "pre-theo", now badly fallen from grace!

Luckily neither H-U, nor Wizig, had ties to Frank Clark so my "harassment" of them went unprosecuted!!!

Incidentally, there are 135 Wizig parcels back on the in-rem list (14 NY Liberty, 64 NonProfit Training Center, 40 JD Max, & 17 Remco) and two H-U parcels . . . .

so the merry-go-round spins on.

Dick

Couple linked to real estate scam caught
By SANDRA TAN
News Staff Reporter
5/14/2005

The law finally caught up with Venere Hutchinson, with the help of some astute police officers in Tennessee and a 3-year-old copy of The Buffalo News.

Hutchinson and his then-girlfriend, Dana Upcher, were cited as among Buffalo's most negligent property owners in a 2001 Buffalo News investigation. The couple fled the state shortly before the state Attorney General's Office obtained indictments against them on multiple grand larceny and fraud charges in April 2002.

For years, no one could find the two fugitives. Some speculated that they had fled to the Virgin Islands. The true story is far more interesting.

Hutchinson and Upcher were linked to a $2 million real estate scam that defrauded at least five major lending institutions, according to the Attorney General's Office.

The couple - now Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson - were suspected of buying properties from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for a few thousand dollars each, then working with others to secure second mortgages for as much as $100,000 above each property's assessed value.

Most of these East Side and Lower West Side "investment" properties sat empty and unsecured, contributing to neighborhood blight and attracting drug abusers and illegal dumpers. Housing code violations piled up against the owners in City Court.

But the couple stayed off the radar until last week.

Cleveland, Tenn., Police Officer Andy Ratcliff was doing routine traffic monitoring on Interstate 75 on a Wednesday afternoon when he pulled over a GMC Yukon with improper tags.

The driver identified himself as Michael David Smith and presented Ratcliff with a valid Georgia driver's license. His passenger identified herself as Dequlan M. Jones. She gave the officer an obviously fake ID, Ratcliff said.

Both passengers appeared nervous but agreed to let Ratcliff search the car. Among the many items he found were: $14,000 in cash tucked away in a small tissue box, digital scales with marijuana residue, a laptop and disk apparently used for producing counterfeit money orders, some new electronics, and a copy of The Buffalo News from 2002.

"At this point, we had no idea who we were dealing with," Ratcliff said.

Officers took the couple into custody on minor drug charges. They ran their fingerprints but turned up nothing.

One officer, though, zeroed in on the male suspect and instantly knew Michael Smith wasn't the man's real name.

It turns out the officer used to sit next to the suspect in high school English class. He couldn't quite come up with the name, but he knew the Smith alias didn't fit the arrogant classmate he remembered.

By this time, it was well past midnight. Ratcliff sorted through some of the stacks of paper he'd pulled from the suspects' car. That's when he caught another glimpse of the copy of The News.

"I'm sitting here with my feet propped up with all this crap surrounding my desk when I saw this article in the paper that said something about "scam', " he recalled.

He knew the couple had kept this old newspaper for a reason. He flipped to the front of the city section.

There was the headline: "Couple sought in $2 million real estate scam." And beneath it was a photo of Venere Hutchinson.

Bingo.

"He had to keep a trophy," Ratcliff said of the paper. "That was really stupid of him."

Ratcliff walked over to Venere Hutchinson's holding cell and held up the warrants he'd pulled up from New York State.

"I hope you like Buffalo," Ratcliff told him, "because you're going back."

Hutchinson later told Cleveland police that he'd been involved in major automobile and real estate scams in Atlanta, working with other shady operators to obtain loans and mortgages that far exceeded the value of the initial property.

The New York State Attorney General's Office has accused him of doing virtually the same thing in Buffalo.

Local investigators had spent a year building a legal case showing that Hutchinson, Upcher and partner Rahmel Wattley bought 40 depressed Buffalo properties for a total cost of $119,000, then fraudulently obtained bank mortgages on them totaling more than $1.9 million.

"We were both surprised and delighted that after three years we were finally able to arraign them," said Assistant Attorney General James Morrissey.

Since Hutchinson and Upcher disappeared in 2002, most of their properties here have fallen into foreclosure. But according to city records, the couple still owns five properties on Normal, Mohr, High, Holland and Sumner streets.

Several of the couple's local associates accepted plea deals in 2002 for their roles in the scam. Their convictions ranged from falsifying business records to fraud and grand larceny.

The Hutchinsons were arraigned before State Supreme Court Justice Mario J. Rossetti on Friday morning. He denied bail after Morrissey told him about the couple's flight and capture.

The Hutchinsons are headed for City Housing Court on Monday and will appear before Judge Henry J. Nowak to answer 164 housing code violations and seven health code violations on 24 of their former properties.

e-mail: stan@buffnews.com

Copyright 2002 The Buffalo News
Buffalo News (New York)

May 16, 2002 Thursday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL, Pg.B1

LENGTH: 827 words

HEADLINE: COUPLE SOUGHT IN $2 MILLION REAL ESTATE SCAM

BYLINE: SANDRA TAN; News Staff Reporter

BODY:
Venere Hutchinson and his wife, Dana Upcher, previously identified by The Buffalo News as the second-worst Housing Court offenders in Buffalo, have been linked to a complicated, $2 million real estate scam that defrauded at least five major lending institutions.

The Buffalo couple, who owned dozens of vacant and neglected East Side properties, is now believed to be in hiding. They are being pursued as fugitives on multiple felony charges of grand larceny and one count of "scheme to defraud" following a yearlong investigation by the state attorney general's office.

Four other people also have been indicted or made court pleas over the last week for their alleged role in the mortgage scam, including real estate appraisers and a mortgage originator charged with scheming to defraud and falsifying business records.

A "scheme to defraud" charge refers to a pattern of fraud that results in multiple victims suffering losses.

"This is a significant case, both in terms of the number of properties involved and the number of individuals involved in the scheme," said attorney general spokesman Paul Larrabee. "It involved a substantial sum of money, in this case nearly $2 million, which the banks are unable to recover, and properties, which are essentially worthless."

Hutchinson, 26, and Upcher, 30, were highlighted in The Buffalo News in July for being hauled into Housing Court for their city properties nearly three dozen times between 1996 and early 2001.

Back then, the couple, along with partner Rahmel Wattley, were suspected of buying properties from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for a few thousand dollars each, then making money by leveraging them for second mortgages as much as $100,000 higher than each property's assessed value.

Most of these East Side and Lower West Side "investment" properties sat empty and unsecured, contributing to neighborhood blight and attracting drug abusers and illegal dumpers.

Attorney general's office investigators, working in conjunction with the State Police, are now pursuing a legal case asserting that Hutchinson, Upcher and Wattley bought 40 depressed Buffalo properties for a total cost of $119,000, then submitted fraudulent paperwork with the help of unscrupulous appraisers and mortgage originators to obtain bank mortgages totaling more than $1.9 million.

The lending institutions victimized by the scam include Associates Home Equity Services, Equity One Credit Corp., First Union Home Equity Bank, New Jersey Mortgage and Investment Corp., and Provident Bank.

"A case like this is like building a brick wall, brick by brick by brick," said Assistant District Attorney James Morrissey, who worked the case from the Buffalo office. "There's no sudden revelation. It's just a concrete building process where you keep building the wall until a pattern starts to emerge."

Officials added that this case is fairly typical of a large-scale mortgage scam in which a buyer, property assessor and mortgage originator work together to rip off lenders. Originators typically work for licensed mortgage brokerages and file the initial loan application paperwork to submit to lenders.

"Each piece of this scheme required the other to support it," Larrabee said. "Without the appraiser and without the originator, the purchaser does not realize the benefits of the scheme."

Rahmel Wattley, 20, of Law-renceville, N.J., pleaded not guilty last week to the grand larceny and scheme to defraud charges.

Williamsville real estate appraiser Harry Sanders, owner of Sanders Appraisal Services and Select Appraisal Services, pleaded guilty Monday in State Supreme Court to a single scheme to defraud charge. He is scheduled for sentencing July 19.

Sanders lost his appraiser's license last year and was charged $6,000 in penalties and costs for providing overinflated appraisals for Robert Palano, a city landlord cited by The News as Buffalo's top slumlord a decade ago.

Sanders' employee, Dennis Walker, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to multiple charges of grand larceny and a single scheme to defraud charge.

Larrabee said Walker, 48, is accused of performing most of the questionable appraisals for the company, even though he is unlicensed to do appraisal work in New York State.

Walker could not be reached to comment Tuesday.

Mortgage originator David Myers, a 40-year-old Amherst resi dent, pleaded guilty Monday to a single count of falsifying business records, a misdemeanor. Myers was the originator of 29 of the mortgage loans for Hutchinson, Upcher and Wattley, Larrabee said.

Investigators said Myers knowingly provided false income informat ion to lenders to secure inflated mortgages for his clients.

As part of a plea agreement, Myers admitted in court Tuesday that he submitted a single falsified residential loan application to First Union Home Equity Bank on behalf of Wattley.

e-mail: stan@buffnews.com


GRAPHIC: Venere Hutchinson is wanted on felony grand larceny.

LOAD-DATE: May 18, 2002

EAST SIDE
EPA starts cleanup at Sweet Kleen site
By JOHN F. BONFATTI
News Staff Reporter
5/12/2005

A collapsed roof, mixed with the asbestos-contaminated materials that fell with it, lies splattered inside the walls, while rusting industrial drums are stacked on a loading dock outside.

The former Sweet Kleen Laundry on Kensington Avenue opened in 1925 and was abandoned by its owners about 1990, leaving behind a toxic eyesore that will cost taxpayers $600,000 to clean up.

The money comes from the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund, set up to clean hazardous waste sites across the country.

EPA spokesman Mike Basile said Wednesday there have been at least 10 such cleanups in Erie and Niagara counties over the last five years.

"We've spent $13 million on those cleanups," Basile said.

The cleanup began Tuesday with the dismantling of a 100-foot brick chimney, but EPA on-scene coordinator Keith Matheis said the most challenging work will involve removing asbestos and about 20 drums of oils, solvents, detergent and electrical transformers.

The asbestos removal is tricky, he said, because some of it was on pipes that crashed to the floor when the roof collapsed. Where possible, asbestos-coated pipe will be sprayed with a sealant before being removed, but "some of it is just going to be sent off-site as asbestos-contaminated debris," Matheis said.

Much of the building will be removed by mid-August, Matheis said. Removal of soil contaminated with the common dry-cleaning solvent tetrachloroethylene will start after that.

"We expect that by the end of the year, we should have the whole property cleaned up," Matheis said.

May 3, 2005

Buffalo owns 650 acres of prime forest near Gowanda. In 1912, Mayor J.N. Adam donated this site for the Perrysburg TB Sanitarium. New York State took it over, but Buffalo retains reversionary rights. The State Dormitory Authority is attempting to sell the site to a logger, cheap.

The Village of Perrysburg uses this sanctuary as a park. There is a deer herd, hiking, skiing, bird watching and a snowmobile trail. The forest supplies its drinking water. The forest, as timber, is worth $1.5 million. As recreation, habitat and watershed, its value is inestimable. The state wants Buffalo to sacrifice the land for about $339,000.

In Orange County, hunters and hikers are suing the state for selling 1,200 acres of Hudson Valley. New York's right hand spends a fortune on Pataki's Open Space program, while its left discards magnificent lands at closed state facilities. Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo of Binghamton addresses this statewide problem in Assembly bill 7083.

Under Councilman David Franczyk's leadership, Buffalo has ordered a revaluation, a SEQR review and offered Perrysburg to the State Open Space Committee.

A perfect outcome would be for the state to buy the site from cash-starved Buffalo with Open Space money. Then, instead of falling to the ax, it would live on as a park.

Laurence T. Beahan, M.D.

Member, Adirondack Mountain Club, Sierra Club

Snyder

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Artspace Archive • Annals of Neglect • BAVPA • Where is Perrysburg? • Broken Promises...
Writing the City • Woodlawn Row Houses • Tour dé Neglect - 2006 • faq

Longtime activist Kern fed up, leaves city, area
By JAMES HEANEY
News Staff Reporter
5/7/2005

Dick Kern, who has waged a relentless and often acidic battle for 15 years against what he considers the forces of waste and corruption, has stopped fighting City Hall.

Discouraged with the city's state of affairs and weary from the Erie County District Attorney's relentless prosecutions, Kern has moved to Minneapolis to join his longtime girlfriend.

"I decided it was pointless to battle the district attorney anymore. This last prosecution really did demoralize me," Kern said from his new hometown. "I'm licking my wounds at this point. I'm gun shy."

Kern, a 65-year-old Ivy League-educated social worker, said his activism was stoked by investigative reports in The Buffalo News during the late 1980s about discrimination, cronyism and waste at the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority.

He has railed against the authority since then, as well as against other city officials whom he contended have squandered hundreds of millions of dollars in housing and anti-poverty aid. Kern blames it on a "political culture of cronyism and unaccountability."

He spared almost no one, and his targets included those who were trying to solve the same problems he was but taking different tacks.

His methods were varied and often confrontational.

He once conducted a hunger strike on the steps of City Hall. Twice he staged symbolic break-ins of public housing apartments.

He would show up at the houses and offices of his targets, sometimes verbally confronting them, other times leafleting their neighborhood. And he wrote columns for alternative weeklies and, more recently, railed via e-mail, which frequently turned into ugly exchanges between Kern and his targets.

"His passion and involvement will be missed - but not his tactics," said Gillian Brown, the housing authority's acting executive director.

True to form, Kern spent his last weekend in Buffalo last month leafleting Brown's home.

"He leafleted my house and car all the time," Brown said.

Kern's only remaining business is the sale of his West Side home. While he has moved and said he's put Buffalo behind him, he is still issuing an occasional alert to an e-mail list, the most recently coming Thursday.

The most aggressive of Kern's tactics, which his critics characterized as harassment or stalking, made him the target of an estimated 15 to 20 prosecutions by District Attorney Frank J. Clark.

Complainants have included former City Treasurer Marilyn Smith, former Niagara Common Council Member Robert Quintana, and Charles Flynn, former chairman of the Independence Party and a member of the housing authority's governing board.

Prosecutors failed to win any convictions, however, although several of Kern's targets obtained orders of protection against him.

Kern had other legal problems, as well. He was cited for housing code violations twice in the late 1990s and was sentenced to jail time by a Housing Court judge.

Clark's persistence in pressing criminal charges prompted Kern to file suit in federal court several years ago, contending the prosecutions were a politically motivated attempt to stop his First Amendment-protected activities.

As part of the court proceedings April 11, both Clark and Kern agreed to drop all pending legal actions.

Michael Kuzma, one of Kern's lawyers, said Kern's departure is unfortunate, in part because Clark used his office to stifle free speech. "Why I was so interested and concerned about Dick's cases was the First Amendment implications," Kuzma said. "If Dick can be prosecuted for his First Amendment activities, anyone could."

Clark said his prosecutions were based on complaints filed by others and insisted he didn't handle Kern's cases any differently than others.

"My feelings about him are no different than the other 49,000 criminal filings in City Court every year," he said.

While many agreed with Kern on the larger issues and respected his sometimes exhaustive research, most said his strident tone and personalized attacks undercut his effectiveness and prompted many to eventually tune him out.

"His own worst enemy" was the phrase often used to describe him.

Kern makes no apologies for his tactics. "I became radicalized by the trouble I saw not changing. I kept whacking harder," he said. "It's hard for me to see how I could do it differently because no one else was stepping up."

Should officials in Minneapolis be preparing for his wrath?

"The culture here is vastly different, the government is accountable. I don't see the blatant corruption I see in Buffalo," he said.