Members of the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) are in town to discuss solutions regarding the city's lack of access to the waterfront. I was able to capture a podcast last evening when George Grassers' organization, Partnership for a Livable WNY, invited former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist (CNU) and and CNU's Norm Marshall to speak about some of their preliminary findings. If you want a simple explanation... or how about a simple picture of what their vision is for Buffalo's waterfront, take a drive up to Toronto and see what has been accomplished there. At-grade boulevards replacing fast-moving freeways? It appears to be working in every other city that is going in a pro-urban-living direction.
Members of the Congress for New Urbanism will be speaking twice today. Once along the water and once at City Hall. It will be interesting to see if their message is heard. We will be covering those engagements as they occur. We will also be presenting schematics that the team has prepared that show what our Outer Harbor could look like if it were to include boulevards surrounded by commercial and residential buildings... and of course parks to allow waterfront access.