The Timing of Political Decisions

Timing is everything. Political optimism and proposals for grand urban change hit cities in the US when the citizens didn’t have many other options. In the 1950s, Buffalo, like most rust belt, industrial cities, felt like it was getting left behind the major urban centers that it once competed with. The solution? Build an expressway through the heart of the city. Buffalo was once called the “best planned city” due to Olmsted’s park and parkway system and the Kensington Expressway proposal was to use one of the four grand parkways as the main route into and out of downtown. It meant displacing over 600 homes and taking over the main public space of Buffalo’s east side, a prominently African American neighborhood. At the time, the project was somewhat supported by the city. Other cities like Boston and San Francisco had built similar expressways and their cities were booming. According to politicians, the project was supposed to solve all of Buffalo’s issues. It was supposed to bring people back to the city from the suburbs, grow the population, and provide economic opportunity. For the people, if it really could accomplish all of these goals, it might be worth it.  

In reality, the project was costly and failed to meet any of its expectations. It promoted growth to the suburbs by creating a fast connection to them. It destroyed a neighborhood that had no chance to even fight for their part of the city, and the economy and population continued the downward trajectory that Buffalo was known for. To everyone in Buffalo the project was a mistake and Buffalo continues to suffer the consequences. But how do you fix it? Buffalo has began to successfully regain and grow parts of the city that were ignored for 50 years and is continuing a steady growth. With in the past 10 years community leaders and activist have started the discussion of restoring the parkway. It’s a massive and expensive project but with local politics focused on restoring the city for the people, but with recent success on so ma smaller scale projects, is it the right time?