Buffalo Rising Online

May 16th 2005, 2:40am By queenseyes

The West Side Community Collaborative (WSCC) has been working block by block West of Richmond between Porter & West Ferry for a few years now. We've significantly reduced crime & blight and have been following up with major housing investment which has resulted in impressing new home ownership rates & property values in the blocks we have focused on so far. We have developed an impressive reputation for crime abatement, but our primary goal is ultimately increased home ownership. After removing the crime from a neighborhood we follow up with beautification (painting houses, fixing sidewalks, planting trees & gardens, etc.). The resulting new homeownership sustains our efforts and assures further success. The WSCC is currently in the process of raising $100,000 in funds, materials, & labor for their latest greening initiative (much of which has already been raised). Part of this years greening project is a fund raiser for re-treeing Rhode Island Street. Over the last few years the Connecticut Street Association has completely re-treed Connecticut and built 5 beautiful community gardens, last year the WSCC worked with the City Forester & Jim Pavel to re-tree all of Massachusetts Avenue. Over the last couple of weekends Buffalo State College and the Greening Collaborative (a sub-group of the WSCC) planted 35 new trees donated by Buffalo State College between Massachusetts & Rhode Island. Next year we will re-tree Vermont - at which point all the main East / West corridors in the WSCC area will have been re-treed (all within 4 years). As you can see we are re-greening the West Side of Buffalo (while simultaneously abating crime & blight & increasing home ownership).

In addition to connecting all the streets & blocks that make up the West Side of Buffalo, we are connecting with our other neighbors as well. This year's fundraiser is in collaboration with the Linwood Preservation District Association, the Buffalo Green Fund, and Kevin Cunningham. It will be held on May 21st at First Presbyterian Church on Symphony Circle.

I would love to see everyone come out and support all the great grass roots work that is happening in the neighborhoods on both sides of the Elmwood Village. This is everyone's chance to not only help assure we revitalize our neighborhoods, but to have a great time at a beautiful historic church and to hang out with all the folks that are helping to take back our neighborhoods.

Harvey Garrett Executive Director West Side Community Collaborative hgarrett@adelphia.net