Richardson Complex project moving ahead

By Heidi Friend and Kristine Starkey
Bengal News Reporters
 Since its construction, the Richardson Complex has been a source of fascination on the West Side. Right now visitors can only look at it through a wire fence. That may be changing soon.
 On March 14, it was announced that a bill that would transfer ownership of the H.H. Richardson Complex from the State Office of Mental Health to Richardson Center Corp. was passed by a unanimous vote in the state Legislature. Assemblyman Sam Hoyt is very excited about this development and expects the governor to sign the bill into law within a few weeks.
  “The building represents an opportunity for our region to showcase to the world our rich architectural heritage and at the same time revitalize the surrounding neighborhood,” Hoyt said.
  According to project coordinator Monica Faix, plans for the two towers and

Richardson Complex project coordinator Monica Faix

adjacent wards include creating a Buffalo Architecture Center, a regional convention center and a boutique hotel with a small conference center.
  These plans were not made lightly. Several community meetings were held to gain input from residents and others concerned about the future of the site, and that input was invaluable in deciding what to do, according to Faix.
  Harvey Garrett, executive director of the West Side Community Collaborative, served on the advisory board for the Richardson Center Corp.
  “This is setting the bar for the appropriate amount of community input,” Garrett said. “They really took the time to hear everyone’s opinion, and as a result, no one is complaining. That’s something you don’t often see in Buffalo, and this should be done more often.”
 The first phase of the state-funded $75 million project will involve restoring some of the original landscape design and building a new parking lot. One recent significant change to the property is the removal of trees. Faix said they had a tree specialist document every tree on the property to determine which trees were dead, which trees were in fair condition and which trees were of historical value.
  “There was time when it was very hazardous walking around here with all the hanging branches that had not been taken care of after the October storm,” she said of the snow storm that hit Buffalo in 2006.

 Monica Faix speaks about additional plans for the site:
 

 Faix also said that they hope to have the main part of building open for tours by this fall. She says that the goal of Richardson Center Corp. is to preserve the integrity of the building. There is at least one video on the Internet in which a person illegally accessed the building in search of paranormal activity. Faix said that building is not being marketed as a haunted place out respect for the people who lived and worked there.
  In the past, Faix said, the building has been broken into several times and even vandalized on occasion. Most commonly, the culprits are students from the college adjacent or young people in the area. These occurrences have subsided in the past year, however, due to increased security.
  Sue Joffe, the Buffalo Psychiatric Hospital’s director of public information, said that the hospital, the Richardson Center’s next-door neighbor, is in charge of security for the empty building.
  “At this point, our obligation is to make the location secure,” Joffe said. “The Richardson Center Corporation has a major responsibility for the building and there’s always concerns about break-ins, and we hope students will be respectful of the property.”
  Buffalo State College is on the advisory board for the corporation, and has expressed interest in using some of the buildings in the future, Faix said. A college parking lot that is part of Richardson property will not be affected in the near future, but will be taken back eventually.

Edited by Mike Chiari and Tim Daniels

Organizations fight to stop budget cuts

By Tony Fiorello and Darryl Granger
Bengal News Reporters

Dr. Myron Glick speaks to a crowd opposing federal aid cuts

 At a mid-morning rally on Barton Street, the Jericho Road Family Practice, opposing cuts to federal funding of health services and AmeriCorps, is holding a press conference. The crowd of supporters overflowing into the street makes way for an ambulance attempting to reach the practice. Patients of the practice and Myron Glick, founding physician and chief executive officer, are telling their personal success stories and the importance of the practice to a line of cameras.

Dr. Myron Glick addresses supporters about the nation's health care:



  This scene is becoming much more common as the recent federal budget cuts are affecting everything from healthcare providers to military contracts. The West Side is littered with non-profit services that aid members of the community and the budget cuts will have an impact on many of them.
  In a time when the country is largely calling for government cuts and fiscal responsibility, non-profits are often at risk for the chopping block. These cuts could substantially cut programs like the Home Energy Assistance Program, refugee services, and home ownership programs.
  “I think [the cuts] are really hurting the people that need it the most,” said Linda Chiarenza, the executive director for the West Side Neighborhood Housing Services.

Supporters gather outside Jericho Road Family Practice

  The housing services work with low-income families to promote home ownership on the West Side. This organization also accepts money from government programs to support its program.
  “We are meeting with all of our elected officials to let them know how important our programs are,” said Chiarenza.
  By helping lower-income families on the West Side become homeowners, these families will save money in the long run rather than being delegated to a life of renting, says Chiarenza. The possible budget cuts threaten the funds that would be loaned to these families looking to purchase a home.
  “[The groups] are targeted because it is just another place to save money,” said Dr. Keith Henderson, a political science professor at Buffalo State College.
  According to Henderson, the cuts are a sign of the times and both Democrats and Republicans are feeling the pressure to cut services.
  “They’ll get by with less and some of them will go out of business,” said Henderson.
  Henderson said if the program sees a nice recovery from the current recession in this country, there might be more inclination to support these groups. In the meantime, the larger groups will do what they can to lobby officials for their cause.
  One of the largest non-profit organizations in the West Side is the People United for Sustainable Housing. According to the website, its mission is to “mobilize residents to create strong neighborhoods with quality affordable housing, to expand local hiring opportunities and advance economic justice in Buffalo.”
  However, the budget cuts across New York State would restrict the work of PUSH.
  “We’ve been trying hard to get our community development grant money invested in the West Side neighborhoods to rebuild them, and cutting that money would make it near impossible to see our plans come to fruition,” said Sara Gordon, the community organizer for PUSH.
  Western New York AmeriCorps, one of the biggest contributors to non-profit organization in the area, is also in danger of these cuts. AmeriCorps is a federal program that supplies workers for many of the local non-profits including Jericho Road Ministries, which provides patient-centered medical services to families throughout the West Side.
  “We are a federal program that assists with disaster relief and poverty education, and our parent organization is set to be cut by the government,” said Patrick Metzger, the director of integrated communication at PUSH.
  These situations beg the question: If these programs are cut, what next?
  “We fight like hell,” said Metzger.

Edited by Max Borsuk and Becky Ebert

Housing service nabs redevelopment grant

By Mike Chiari and Tim Daniels
Bengal News Reporters
As you walk down West Side streets you will inevitability come across boarded up homes that are in very poor shape.

 The nations foreclosure rates are at an all-time high with nearly 3 million in 2009 and similar projected totals for 2010. That amount represents nearly one in 50 households in the United States.

 According to West Side housing advocate Harvey Garrett, a major reason for the high number of foreclosures is a lack of knowledge on the part of first-time homebuyers.

 West Side Neighborhood Housing Services is working to put a dent into those problems with the help of a $68,150 grant from the national neighborhood redevelopment organization NeighborWorks America.

Grants will be available for West Side home improvement

 “This is a flexible grant, which means we won't use it for one specific program, but to support the delivery of all of our programs. Primarily it will facilitate our homebuyer education, foreclosure prevention, home improvement and lending programs,” said Laura Sweat, resource development and communications director for West Side Neighborhood Housing Services. “That means it will help us to provide homebuyer education classes, free one-on-one credit counseling, free foreclosure prevention counseling and home improvement loans, as well as help us to administer city programs like the emergency assistance and first-time homebuyer conditional grants.”

 West Side Neighborhood Housing Services is a chartered member of NeighborWorks America, making it eligible to receive the Congress appropriated funds.

 Susan Jouard of NeighborWorks America's Northeast District said there is an assessment that prospective members must go through in order to obtain a grant.

 “Annual grants are provided to charter member organizations based upon operational plans, strong management and a track record of performance,” she said.

 Garrett said grants like this one help new homeowners succeed in becoming better homeowners, but said there is still a lot of work to do.

 “The housing situation on the West Side is drastically improving. We've tripled the property values in the last 5 ½ to 10 years. Property values are increasing, vacancies are decreasing, home ownership rates are increasing,” he said. “The biggest challenge we have right now is that it's getting harder and harder to define the area because more people are coming in with money, it's raising the rents, it's raising the property values.”

 While it is important not to forget about the homeowners already living on the West Side and making sure to provide them what they need to continue living there, it is equally important to help those people who are renting homes on the West Side become homeowners before they get priced out of the area, Garrett said.

 Harvey Garrett discusses whether grants are used effectively: 

 

 As a long-standing member of the West Side Neighborhood Housing Services board of directors, Garrett said the organization has a good staff.

 “I'd like to see the West Side Neighborhood Housing Services get more input from the neighborhood and what their needs are and to be more involved with the neighborhood,” Garrett said.

 Jouard said NeighborWorks America hopes the grants it provides make a noticeable impact on areas like the West Side.

 “We aim to strengthen communities by creating safe, affordable and sustainable housing and homeownership opportunities by promoting resident involvement in neighborhoods and spurring increased investment in low and moderate income neighborhoods,” she said.

 Sweat said by helping residents through the entire home buying process, it lessens the otherwise large burden on new homeowners.

 “By doing this we build homeownership to strengthen the neighborhoods we serve,” she said. “We help low and moderate income residents become homeowners and we ensure that residents are successful in homeownership, and aren't overwhelmed by unexpected repair costs or by their mortgages.”

-- Edited by Erica Lindo and Amanda Steffan