City of Buffalo Turns Down Urban Farmers

Please see this article in today's Buffalo News about the recent decision made by the City of Buffalo to reject an application by a family wishing to purchase two acres of land near the Broadway Market to convert 27 vacant lots into a small farm. Two acres in an area that could be described as part of Buffalo's "food desert" no less.

Typical of Buffalo's current "leadership" they have turned down the farm proposal because they hope they'll be able to find someone else who wants to develop the land.

This blog has not been much of a political forum, and I don't intend to turn it into one, but I am going to digress from that for a brief moment because I am outraged. This decision is very typical of the short-sighted way the City of Buffalo is currently being run. Buffalo has approximately 3,200 ACRES of vacant land, many owned by the City itself and poorly kept. I do not understand what is so important about these two acres that they would turn down people with an actual PLAN for productive reuse in favor of potentially having another developer express interest in the future. Commissioner Brian Reilly reasons the decision out by saying that Habitat for Humanity may be interested in building on some of those vacant lots, as if there are no other vacant lots or properties even within that immediate vicinity that would be suitable.

The City of Buffalo seems to be waiting for some goose to lay a golden egg in that neighborhood. A plan for productive use that is workable now should trump any notion of luring some new enterprise (one perceived as likely more profitable and prestigious no doubt). The City of Buffalo doesn't exactly have a set of laurels to rest on in terms of promoting large scale development within City limits so lets turn some of our excess land over to entrepreneurs who have a chance of making this city better street by street and block by block. That is how we will achieve real progress and finally deal with the city's immense vacancy crisis.

People with such a narrow view of what is possible for this city have no business running Buffalo's government.

(Please note that this post reflects my views, and my views alone--I am not speaking on behalf of any of the other four contributors to this blog in any way.)