Streetscape Project along Chippewa Street Could Help Overturn Slow Business

 Streetscape Project along Chippewa Street Could Help Overturn Slow Business

Photography by Sydney Perkins

 Chippewa, Franklin and Court street are undergoing a project worth a predicted $ 8 million to help make downtown Buffalo more attractive and vibrant. With hopes of appealing to  younger, working people looking for residency in the area. 

This streetscape project will also help to jumpstart a lot of other initiatives set by city officials that have started this year.

Buffalo Urban Development Corporation and Buffalo Place are the agencies helping put this project together. Buffalo Urban Development Corporation is a development agency that reclaims  distressed land and abandoned buildings for future expansion.Buffalo Place is known for owning and reviving a 24 block business improvement district in Downtown Buffalo. The two are working diligently over the next couple of months to ensure all of the streets are finished this year. 

“Last year when the pandemic hit, we were just getting started on Chippewa Street. We had focused primarily on just making it more engaging and open to the public,” said Trina Buruss, the vice president of the BUDC and community relationship officer. As expected when the shutdown happened a lot of the business and property owners lost a lot of revenue. Unlike a lot of other cities in New York, it took about 3 more months after phase 5 for Buffalo to recover its natural outdoor activity.

Buruss, the vice president of the BUDC and the community relationship officer said  “that even though the goal is increased activity outdoors in the city, the area is likely to attract more people to live in the area as well. BUDC focuses on the future and what the city can provide for the young newcomers emerging in adulthood as well as the elder citizens who are watching the city change.”

The project will include street pavements, new curbs and sidewalks. There is also going to be new benches, paintings and city owned LED street lighting that will stretch all throughout downtown. Along with 35 new street lights, curb extensions, pedestrian signals within hearing distance, new traffic signals and bike racks.

Angela Keppel, the Project Planner of Buffalo Place said that “ in 2018 -2019 nightlife was slowly not like it used to be as a whole in the city. The goal was by 2020 there would be much more traffic in and out downtown publicly. Basically downtown would be a mecca for Buffalo as a whole. However covid occurred and it halted the plans but as we are in effect this month. We should see downtown become a public pit and create revenue for all businesses big and small.”

According to Mayor Byron Brown, Mayor of the city of Buffalo and head chairman of the BUDC said that “ the streetscape project is a part of the Race for Place initiative which is essentially a way of creating a stronger and more efficient city. This isn’t a 5 year step program or 4, this is a bunch of organizations coming together to use our resources to restore downtown to be the friendly and engaging place this virus has stripped it from being.”

“ There will be so many new attractions made to the streets infrastructure that it will surely generate new residents, more tourists and an up to date ambiance that won’t be duplicated anywhere else,” said Mayor Brown, Mayor of the city of Buffalo.

https://www.buffalorising.com/2021/04/downtown-streetscape-work-starts-today/

https://buffalonews.com/business/local/coming-to-chippewa-new-streetscape-aimed-at-boosting-downtowns-neighborhood-feel/article_d535b442-76fe-11eb-b7f1-074495266047.html

https://www.buffalony.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=900

Written by Michaela Frazier