Scajaquada Creek The Existing Conditions & The Future

Scajaquada Creek The Existing Conditions & The Future

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Experiencing The City University at Buffalo Spring 2020

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Acknowledgements Teaching Team Professor Hiro Hata, Teaching Assistant Allison Smith Edditing Team Samantha Fox, Brittany Robinson, Claudia Savoy, Allison Smith Cover Design Claudia Savoy Stakeholders Buffalo State and H.H. Richardson Chapter 1 Authors David Brown, David Pullium, Brittany Robinson Chapter 2 Authors Timothy Dizer, Michael Santoro, John Draksic Chapter 3 Authors Samantha Fox, Angelina Hawken, Eric Hourigan, Sage Welte Chapter 4 Authors Nicholas Feng, Sara Popp, Daniel Ukiri Chapter 5 Authors Lindsey Bruso, Nicholas Sapone, Claudia Savoy Chapter 6 Authors Malcom Ahmad, Cameron Hall Chapter 7 Authors Viraja Bhasae, Jeremy Charles, Shameeq Willis Chapter 8 Authors Patrick Delgobbo, Brian Farrell, Katherine Lewis Chapter 9 Authors Cameron Leber, Cindy Mierzwa, Jack Sutera Chapter 10 Authors Mike McNabb, Mike Pawlak, Steven Perira ii

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Editors Notes The following book concerns the Scajaquada Creek and its historical aspects, ecological and environmental aspects, and its significance to the public in the City of Buffalo. As a final project in END312/316 Spring 2020, groups were assigned different aspects of the creek and its relationship with the City of Buffalo. These chapters were combined to create this book. Looking into the Creek’s history, current conditions, and possible future allowed the class to develop an understanding of what and how the creek developed.

Chapter I discusses the history and the development of the Scajaquada Creek, including the native inhabitance, Josef Ellicott and Frederick Law Olmsted design features of Buffalo, and the development of suburbia starting in the 1950s, resulting in certain environmental degradation.

Moving on to chapter II the historical significance of the Scajaquada Creek in the War of 1812 at the Battle at Conjocta Creek (as the creek was previously known) is looked into.

Starting chapter III students explored the relationship between the Scajaquada Creek with Olmsted’s Buffalo Park System. as Omlsted had great influence on the development of the City of Buffalo it is important to compare with other influences like the Scajaquada Creek. This chapter will also include certain ecological and environmental changes with the development of Hoyt Lake and the construction of the Scajaquada Expressway.

Chapter IV will investigate the environmental and ecological conditions of the upper creek.

This upper creek is considered the area between Elmwood Avenue and Grant Street. This chapter incudes a brief history post-War of 1812 as well as the current pollution of the creek being viewed as a social justice issue.

Similarly, Chapter V discusses the environment and ecology of the lower Scajaquada Creek, particularly at the mouth meeting the Black Rock Canal. This section offers site descriptions to the creek for The Mouth, West Avenue, and the Grand Street Bridge. This chapter also includes interviews with Mary Ann Kedron (Head of the Black Rock Riverside Alliance) and Renata Kraft (Waterkeeper’s Deputy heading the Scajaquada Creek Restoration Project. Finally, this chapter includes a soil analysis and a description of environmental conditions in the area.

Chapter VI discusses the significance of the creek in relationship to the Elmwood Villages arts and culture district. This chapter investigates the development and growth of the neighborhood.

Chapter VII discusses various water features connected to the Scajaquada Creek area and waters significance in urban landscapes. Each of these are all located around Olmsted’s main park, Delaware Park.

Chapter VIII discusses the relationship between nearby Buffalo State and the Scajaquada Creek. This includes redevelopment efforts of Buffalo State and the Albright Knox Museum.

Chapter IX discusses the importance of water resources through Buffalo’s History as well as redevelopment efforts within the Buffalo Area, including redeveloping industrial footprints, creating a buffer zone, rational for demolishing the Scajaquada Expressway, and addressing pollution for concern.

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Editors Notes Chapter X discusses an alternative to demolishing the expressway, while improving the environmental condition of the Scajaquada Expressway. This chapter will propose that to better the environment while maintaining accessibility can be achieved by reducing the size of the expressway and the speed limit. Throughout these chapters, there are four key common themes when it comes to the future of the Scajaquada Creek area. First, a key main goal for the future should be to make the community and greenspaces accessible by, not only car, but by walking and biking as well. This is a key point for all of the following themes. A second goal should be to enhance the legacy of Buffalo’s and Scajaquada Creek’s historical significance, including the importance of water features in the development of Buffalo, the relevance in the War of 1812, and its role in shaping the design of Buffalo. Third, the restoration of the ecology and environment should be another main goal. This can include solutions for water and air pollution, soil contamination, and the creation of a buffer zone. Finally, the last goal should be to reimagine the Scajaquada Expressway. The goal should be to increase pedestrian and cyclist access as well as increase safety around the expressway. This could be done by reducing the number of lanes on the expressway in turn making space for bike lanes and pedestrian walkways, increasing overall accessibility. In addition, the speed limit should be reduced as to increase safety as well as reduce noise pollution that currently runs through Delaware park. The following chapters will address these themes from various perspectives and under a variety of disciplines.

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Table of Contents Chapter 1 Scajaquda Creek

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Chapter 2 The War of 1812 & Scajaquada’s History

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Chapter 3 Olmsted’s Impact on Buffalo, New York

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Chapter 4 Upper Scajaquada Creek Environment & Ecology

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Chapter 5 Lower Scajaquada Creek Environment & Ecology

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Chapter 6 Elmwood Avenue The Arts & Culture

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Chapter 7 Hoyt Lake, Mirror Lake, and The Japanese Garden

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Chapter 8 The Stakeholders: Buffalo State & Richardson

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Chapter 9 The Design Project at The Creek’s Mouth

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Chapter 10 The Scajaquada Expressway

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References vi

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Chapter I

Scajaquada Creek

Authors David brown, David Pullium, Brittany Robinson

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In the modern era, it is all too common, that cities have come to be defined by their skyline.

However, before any of this existed, the site for the city was chosen for its natural qualities. One of the major factors in this selection was its proximity to resources, such as a mountain full of coal, a dense forest filled with timber, and the access to clean fresh water. It is resources such as these that made cities possible, allowing them to thrive and grow. When Buffalo’s forefathers came to the area, they recognized its value given not only its position to Lake Erie, and the Niagara River, but also, its inland waterways that stretched throughout the region; The Scajaquada Creek being one of its the most vital. Over time, as the city grew, so did its needs. As the city changed shape to accommodate its population, so then would the creek. These alterations were all made in the name of progress, yet only in hindsight, are we able to see the long-term repercussions, success or failure of these choices. Did the choices made concerning the creek to benefit the public enough to outweigh the harm done? The answer may not be so black and white. Stories such as these are shaped by time and circumstance, and also by cause and effect creating a multilayered dialog. Throughout this text we will attempt to peel back those layers, not only revealing Scajaquada Creek’s past, and present, but also to paint a picture of what its future could be.

1: Early History of the Scajaquada Creek: 1600’s-1940’s______________________________ The history of Scajaquada Creek must begin with the indigenous people who lived and dwelled throughout the region we now know as Western New York. Known as the “Six Nations”, The “Iroquois Confederacy” were comprised of: The Seneca, The Mohawk, The Cayuga, The Oneida, Onondaga, and The Tuscarora. These tribes can be seen in figure 1.1. Of these six tribes, or nations, the Seneca and Cayuga generally occupied the land that the Scajaquada Creek flows through, from modern day Lancaster, through Cheektowaga, Buffalo, and out through the Black Rock neighborhood into the Niagara River, near what is now Unity Island. The creek was to them a vital resource, not only for fresh water, but for transportation and commerce in the trade of furs and other goods with the French. The creek derives its name from a Seneca named Philip Conjockety, whose father become Chief of the Pg. Pg.2 2

Figure 1.1: The Six Nations

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Seneca. “He was also known as Ska-dyoh-gwa-deh (meaning “Beyond the Multitude”).

Upon his death in 1866, on the Cattaraugus Reservation it was said that he was the oldest resident of the region, aging well into his 100’s.” according to Keppell, a writer for the Buffalo Streets.

Through several treaties in the late 1700’s, such as the Pickering Treaty, white settlers acquired these lands for their burgeoning communities through the promise of monies and reserved lands to be kept for the nations themselves, which we now commonly refer to as “reservations”. Looking back, this may be considered to be a dubious practice, as the nations did not believe that any one man could truly own the land, and that it belonged to everyone. It is through “treaties” or transactions such as these that led to the development and creation of modern Western New York, but also the beginning of the disenfranchisement of its native peoples and their culture.

The early 1800’s saw a tremendous period of growth and population boom for Buffalo thanks to the efforts of men such as Joseph Ellicott. One of the neighborhoods that grew from this development was the Black Rock community, just North of the city along the shores of the Niagara River. Industries, such as saw mills and other manufacturers began to settle populate the wider western terminus of the creek where it met the Niagara. In order to increase efficiency of transportation and accommodate the growing needs of these business’ and the developing city, it was deemed necessary to make modifications at the mouth of Scajaquada Creek. In a short amount of time, the City of Buffalo saw the development of the Bird Island Pier, The Black Rock Lock and Dam, creating The Black Rock Harbor. This allowed the conjoining of the creek and the Niagara River in a harbor that could be utilized for lake ships transporting these goods throughout the region. During the War Figure 1.2: Commodore Perry, Front Park of 1812 this become a vital necessity to the war effort helping in the building of ships for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s fleet. There is a statue commemorating Perry to the South, in what is now Front Park, one of Olmsted’s original three parks. This statue is pictured in figure 1.2. The creek also saw action in the war itself in 1814 in the Battle of Scajaquada Bridge, where outnumbered American forces prevented the British from advancing by disassembling the bridge.

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further South we know as the Harbor of Buffalo today. As the city continued to grow and mature, the powers that be decided that for the public good, what Buffalo needed was a grand park to serve the health, recreation, and enjoyment of its ever-growing population. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were brought to Buffalo through a competition. Having recently designed several parks, including Boston’s “Emerald Necklace”, they were able to approach the design as seasoned professionals, utilizing techniques they had applied elsewhere with great success. As we all know now, what they proposed was groundbreaking in its scope, applying similar principles as he had in Boston, he created three large parks around the city and connecting them with wooded parkways in the first “city park system”. Buffalo would become the city within a park. The crown jewel of this “park system” was Delaware Park, being the largest, and nearest the heart of the city.

Olmsted chose this site for many reasons, siting that this particular plot had nearly all the elements necessary to make a great park, one the most appealing, was Scajaquada Creek.

Flowing in from the already existing Forest Lawn Cemetery, where it Figure 1.3: Delaware Park was fueled by several natural springs, the creek was the perfect resource necessary in his design. Olmsted regulated the flow by filtering vegetation and damming the creek to the West of the park’s large “Meadow” to create an immense 46-acre reservoir called “The Gala” or what we know call Hoyt Lake, complimented by a smaller “North Bay” to the West. In figure 1.3, a drawing of the park is shown where the creek flowing through can be seen.

Despite those in local government feeling that the park system project was a needed addition to the modern city, the public was still uncertain of its necessity and some raised concern that this was just another bureaucratic project consuming money and valuable land. In a series of in-depth articles, The Courier’s David Gray, had this to say of the proposed endeavor “Literally our park, when finished, will be an arc of health and beauty bent around a full half of suburban Buffalo.” It is thanks to the extensive efforts of skilled writers such as Gray, and the thoughtful design by Olmsted and Vaux that eventually the public too came around, seeing the value and benefit of these Pg. Pg.4 2

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projects.

Moving forward to the turn of the century, the park became the site of the Pan American exhibition of 1901. The Gala Water was a main feature of the World’s Fair, being surrounded by what is now The Buffalo History museum and The Albright Knox Art Museum. Despite its prominence as feature in the fair, “the park was meant to stand on its own as a glorification of nature, not industry and architecture.” According to Dold. The creek flowed narrowly beyond the park past the Northern grounds of the Buffalo State Asylum, designed by Olmsted and architect H.H. Richardson, which has now been reincarnated as Buffalo’s Hotel Henry and Urban Conference Center.

From this point used for leisure through the 1920’s the creeks shores were altered once again in the acquisition of the farmland to build Buffalo’s State School; now Buffalo State. During this era, not only had industry grown around the Black Rock area polluting the creek, but it had also become a dumping ground for residents, which lead the city to bury the Western end of the creek, creating The Scajaquada Drain. This unfortunately is only the beginning of period alteration and reduction, that left the creek a ghost of what it once was, largely buried or channeled into narrow canals to prevent flooding upstream. It was tied into storm overflow systems that when overcome with heavy rains, allowed the creek to be polluted even more. In the Post War boom of industry and population growth, the rapidly increasing size of the suburbs in Cheektowaga and Lancaster became a new source of pollution for the Eastern watershed of the creek. It is during this era that the city and Department of Transportation chose to implement plans that again, drastically affect the creek, but also Olmsted’s picturesque Delaware Park. It is both remarkable and sad to think that the size, shape, and strength of the creek determined the size, shape, and strength of the society that grew around it. Growing society is hard to picture visually but in figure 1.4 the developing area around the creek is clear. Providing transportation, commerce routes, recreation and clean water for years, it was then diminished by that same society, regarded as a nuisance, polluted and then replicated in concrete form to serve modern transportation and lasting monument to the automobile era.

Figure 1.4: Designs for the I98

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2: Scajaquada Creek History 1950s - 2000s_____________________________________________ The aforementioned rapid post war exodus to the suburbs common in most cases in urban sprawl in a sense exacerbated some of the many issues Scajaquada Creek faced. Much of the immediate land surrounding the creek was renovated and put to use in either an urban or suburban setting. A water way already under stress from flooding and sewage contamination would see these issues accelerated on a scale not seen before in the area.

At one point the river ran red, seen in figure 1.5. And with the nationwide shift to the routine use of personal vehicles, time and time again the creek would be pushed to the wayside to make way for roads or bridges that could completely cover sections at a time. Figure 1.5: Scajaquada runs red in Lancaster It wouldn’t be fair to not again bring up the 1922 project. As explained earlier it was one of the earlier projects that first affected the creek directly. With fears of flooding damage leading to costly repairs from heavy rainwater an initial 3 miles of the creek was buried on Buffalo’s east side. This not only hid away a piece of the long historic Buffalo waterway but also uprooted the “waterfront communities” beside it.

This set a dangerous precedent that any presumed “issue” with the creek could just be swept away simply through construction projects. People felt they could bend the creek to their will and would go on to abuse it.

One of the more famous examples of blatant interference with the creek is the infamous Scajaquada Expressway. In the 1950s Buffalo decided to start working on a new limited expressway planned to cut through Delaware park and the forest lawn cemetery area.

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Figure 1.6: Delaware Park Pedestrian Bridge

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photograph from the pedestrian bridge connecting each half of Delaware Park today.

The Buffalo Planning Commission would go on to oversee the Scajaquada Expressway operation. The idea was to connect the then Kensington expressway with the NYS 1-90 thruway. But no matter how one could spin or what good intentions were there, there was no way around the fact that the historic Olmsted designed parkway would once again be interrupted by the highway industry’s vision of the future. Unlike the walkable, garden city plans from Robert Moses v. Jane Jacobs, the city of Buffalo went through with their plan.

Construction began in the late 50s and was completed by 1962 pictured in figure 1.7. Numerous acres of designated green-space were destroyed and much of the park lakes were filled. A huge section of Delaware Park was split creating what currently existing today, the Delaware Park roundabout. The Humboldt parkway system was destroyed and the neighborhoods that surrounded the area were cut off from one another, forced to deal with new more congested traffic areas as new main streets came about. The once proud Buffalo Olmsted parkway was now a fragmented shell of itself.

With urbanization Figure 1.7: Construction of the Scajquada Expressway leading to more concentrated and devastating pollution sewage overflows continued to be problematic. In some instances, like the forest lawn lake pollution was such a problem that it was dammed off and in the 70’s (figure 1.8) the creek was rerouted.

However, the slow velocity of the new path in normal circumstances still becomes a hub gathering sediment and debris. Frequent flooding in other areas led to even more channeling of the Scajaquada such as two miles in the main branch of the creak and some in Cheektowaga. Even more development and the construction of stormwater detention basins in the Walden Galleria area in the late 80s have only encouraged more floodplains and wetlands to come about.

Figure 1.8: Dam created in the 70’s

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Scajaquada Creek unfortunately has a turbulent future ahead of itself.

Urbanization has led to the slow degradation of the creek’s integrity. Runoff and routine sewage overflows have eroded the ecosystem of the creek beyond belief. In figure 1.9, the Albright Knox Gallery is seen behind Hoyt lake which is so polluted the public is to stay out of. The outright contamination of the creek not only affects the local wildlife and vegetation but us in an ironic twist of fate, as the mouth of the river empties out into the great lakes which provides millions with drinking water the damage has Figure 1.9: Albright Knox Art Gallery been done, but hopefully not beyond repair.

3: Current Conditions of the Scajaquada Creek: 2010-2020__________________________ By 2010, the water quality of the Scajaquada Creek has been devastated due to a multitude of mistakes that were made by the City of Buffalo, the Town of Lancaster, the Village of Depew, and the Town of Cheektowaga. This timeline of human error began in 1922, when over three miles of the creek were buried underground, permanently destroying “waterfront” communities, which included Buffalo’s East Side.

For the next 100 years, the Scajaquada Creek has been victim to the negative effects of car culture, sewage and stormwater run-off that reaches over a half-billion gallons every year, development due to sprawl, culverting the creek, contaminated sediment, loss of the wetlands that acted as a filter system, and an overall blatant disregard from the public and who use the creek as a dumping ground for waste. A quote from Living Water, by Margaret Wooster, sums up the devastating condition of the Scajaquada Creek, calling it “a veritable Frankenstein’s monster of engineering experiments designed to protect us from it—most of them failed”.

The Scajaquada Creek is about 13 miles long, and its watershed encompasses a 29 square mile area of urbanized land throughout four municipalities (figure 1.10).

The creek originates from several springs located in the Town of Lancaster, it then meanders west through the Village of Depew and the Town of Cheektowaga, and finally through the City of Buffalo, where it flows into the Black Rock Canal and Niagara River. Throughout the Scajaquada Creek’s 13-mile length, the face of the creek Pg. Pg.8 2

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changes dramatically as it has been culverted, filled in, rerouted, and even has a mall built over it.

However, according to Telvock, each of the four municipalities that the creek flows through are in some way guilty of having a hand in the devastation, Figure 1.10: Scajaquada Creek Watershed it is the City of Buffalo that has inflicted the most damage, followed closely by the Town of Cheektowaga.

Beginning in the 1920s, much of the wetlands located in Lancaster, where the Scajaquada Creek’s watershed originates, were filled in and paved over as they were seen as a nuisance for developers who were focused on expanding outward from the City of Buffalo, which was an early phase in the era of sprawl. Following a series of massive flooding, which was driven by hydrologic modification of the creek and changes in the land, the United States Army Corp of Engineers constructed a large flood control basin in Cheektowaga. This sparked an increase of development in the headwaters of Scajaquada Creek, the largest being the construction of the Galleria Mall, which opened in 1989, further draining and diverting the remaining wetlands in agreement with the Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper organization. Today, the Town of Lancaster still remains a hindrance on the restoration of the Scajaquada Creek due to its continued use of the creek as a dumping ground for millions of gallons of untreated sewage mixed with dirty storm water on a yearly basis. Because the creek originates in Lancaster, any pollution that is introduced in these headwaters inevitably flows through the other 3 municipalities, and eventually the Niagara River. An example of this trickle effect happened in April 2017 when an accidental leak of mulch dye, containing iron oxide and ammonium hydroxide, leaked into the stream from Superior Pallets on Walden Avenue in Lancaster, causing the creeks water to run red throughout the length of the creek, and even into most of Forest Lawn Cemetery in the City of Buffalo.

Although the Village of Depew may be credited as the least offensive municipality in regard to the amount of pollution that reaches the creek, the Village still reports between 5 million to 10 million gallons of sewer overflow into the creek every year. The polluted water can be seen in figure 1.11 near the Galleria Mall and in Figure 1.12 at the mouth of the creek.

Figure 1.11: Conditions at Galleria Mall

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Figure 1.12: Conditions at the mouth

In contrast to Depew, the Town of Cheektowaga reports close to 500 million gallons of sewer overflow annually, more than two-thirds of which reach the Scajaquada Creek, making it the second-worst polluter of the creek out of the four municipalities. The bulk of the creek’s damage that was caused by the Town of Cheektowaga started with the flood control basin that was built in the 1970s after about 30 years of constant flooding which was driven by modifications made to the creek and the changing land use

throughout Lancaster and Depew. The subsequent increase in development led to the one of the most devastating blows to the Scajaquada Creek, and that was the construction of the Galleria Mall which opened on May 1, 1989.

The Walden Galleria Mall, which is located east of Interstate 90 and Exit 52 of the New York State Thruway, is the biggest culprit in wiping out the Scajaquada Creek’s wetlands that were vital in filtering out contaminants—it also destroyed 65 percent of the creek’s wetlands, with the overall threshold falling well below what is considered acceptable. The loss of such a big area of the creek’s natural filter system, and the increase in pollution caused by automobile traffic have both had a devastating effect on the Scajaquada Creek’s ecosystem.

After reaching the City of Buffalo, the last of the four municipalities along the creek’s path, the Scajaquada is almost immediately culverted in the city’s East Side, permanently destroying the area’s “waterfront” communities. As the creek continues to meander westward, it begins to flow through some of the most iconic cultural gems that are in Western New York, such as Forest Lawn, the Albright-Knox Museum, and the Olmsted Parks system. The devastating effects of the polluted creek are most evident in this area of the city due to the sheer volume of raw sewage that is pumped into the creek’s water—the sewage pollution has landed the Scajaquada on the DEC’s impaired waterways list, a designation assigned to only six percent of the total river and stream miles assessed by the department. By the year 2010, the putrid cocktail of sewage mixed with untreated storm water that flow into the creek annually has fouled the water in the Scajaquada in a variety of ways; there is sludge that is composed of decaying human feces and many other contaminants that reach close to five feet deep in areas along the bottom of the creek, the fecal bacteria levels are up to 20 times higher than what is considered safe for recreational use, as well as Avian botulism found in stretches of the creek that cut through Forrest Lawn Cemetery and Delaware Park, which has killed hundreds of birds throughout Buffalo and Cheektowaga. The hot spot of this toxin in the creek stretches a third of a mile from Hoyt Lake to a section of the cemetery that is just past Delaware Avenue, and the only way to get rid of the toxin Pg. Pg.102

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is to dredge—a DEC mandate to dredge these hot spots was given to the Buffalo Sewer Authority in 1993, but the work was never performed.

The pollution from the New York State Route 198 “Scajaquada Expressway” has also been a huge issue, especially in the areas of Hoyt Lake and also the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek in the Black Rock Canal and according to Renata Kraft, Deputy Executive Director & Registered Landscape Architect for Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, there are multiple groups who want the Scajaquada Expressway gone. In the early fall of 2016, city officials issued a warning about a harmful blue-green algae bloom that had surfaced in Hoyt Lake at Delaware Park. The mouth of the creek is not only impacted by the Expressway itself, but also from the City of Buffalo Impound Lot, located on Dart Street, to the immediate east of the Scajaquada Creek and the 198. The Scajaquada Creek ends at the Black Rock Canal, and flows into the Niagara River, bringing along it’s 13 miles worth of disgusting polluted, toxic water. This was allowed to happen Figure 1.13: Silt Island removal for far too long, and now, after years of being ignored, brushed off, and threatened, members of the community who are sick of the conditions of their waterways, as well as stakeholders from a number of governmental and non-profit organizations have finally started to make headway in the restoration and revitalization of the Scajaquada Creek.

In 2014, after almost 15 years of negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Buffalo Sewer Authority finally agreed to an enforcement order to spend $380 million on a series of sewer projects over the next twenty years, $91 million of which will be spent on fixes for the Scajaquada Creek. One of the biggest projects to improve the creek came in 2017, with the commencement of the “Scajaquada Creek Restoration Project”, which is a collaboration of many private and governmental agencies which include Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, The Forest Lawn Heritage Foundation, Buffalo Sewer Authority, Olmsted Parks Conservancy, and the US Army Corp of Engineers.

The 2017 Scajaquada Creek Restoration Project involves: • Improved trash collection upstream of Forest Lawn Cemetery to reduce debris and trash in the creek • Selective dredging throughout to address historic sediment accumulation, reduce water temperatures and improve creek flow • Earthwork and plantings within the cemetery at the Chapel Meadow Pg. 3Pg. 11

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to reconnect the floodplain to the creek • Restoration of the creek’s banks to address invasive species, stabilize soils and provide overhanging vegetation and shade.

• Wetland enhancement of the former Swan Lake area of Forest Lawn Cemetery immediately east of Delaware Avenue, adjacent the creek and within the floodplain, to provide sediment storage, reduce flooding, and improve water quality by acting as a biological filter.

• Educational signage and improved trail connections to the water • Aesthetic improvements where the creek enters the bypass around Hoyt Lake.

One of the projects in the restoration of the Scajaquada Creek includes the historic restoration, habitat restoration, community revitalization, and community access project within Forest Lawn Cemetery, which will benefit downstream communities directly by improving habitat and water quality, and will also provide expansive educational opportunities by expanding recreational access to Scajaquada Creek (Nussbaumer, 2017). A rendering of this is seen in figure Figure 1.14: Flood plain restoration 1.14.

Another big step in the right direction came from the $2.8 million project to restore Scajaquada Creek between Main Street and Elmwood Avenue—this project will help tackle issues of trash, odor, flooding and other problems related to the creek, instead of just covering them up or ignoring the issue altogether which has caused the creek to be in a state of turmoil for decades. The majority of the money came from the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation.

Green Innovation Grant program- $1,815,000 grant, of which 80 percent was sourced from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The Forest Lawn Heritage Foundation also stepped up by contributing $896,155 in project match funding (Buffalo Rising, 2017). The project will also enhance the visitor experience in Forest Lawn Cemetery, along the shores of Hoyt Lake, and Mirror Lake’s Japanese Garden, behind the Buffalo History Museum. With the removal of the garbage, debris and odors from the waterways, the City of Buffalo is optimistic that visitor rates will increase, as well as an increase in revenue from tourism.

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The Scajaquada Creek is not the only watershed that has had a negative impact on a major water body, and Buffalo is not the only city to take action to restore the fragile water systems that have been the victims of uncontrolled pollution for decades.

In Duluth, Minnesota, a similar clean-up is being carried out to restore the St. Louis River estuary, where the negative effects of chemical pollutants continue to threaten public health, contaminate fish and wildlife, and make waterfronts unusable in Duluth and other coastal communities along Lake Superior (Gauthier). The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is leading the major restoration projects in the estuary, and like the Scajaquada Creek Restoration Project in Buffalo, they are also receiving funding through the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. There are many more of these types of restorations projects taking place all over the United States, all of which face the continued threat of losing the government funding that is so vital in carrying out these projects.

Without the continued efforts of public and private organizations, with the help of citizen action, projects like the Scajaquada Creek Restoration Project, and the St. Louis River Restoration Initiative would fail, and vital water sources throughout the Unites States Figure 1.15: St. Louis River areas of Concern would continue to struggle and could end up in complete disrepair. That is why it is important for the communities that rely on these vital sources of water to make their voices heard, and work with the private and public organizations that are fighting to save these waters.

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Chapter II

The War of 1812 & Scajaquada’s History

Authors Timothy Dizer, Michael Santoro, John Draksic

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The American victory following the War of 1812 was a pivotal moment in the nation’s history as it re-established its independence from Britain. It prefaced what would be a century of unprecedented economic development - in industrial cities including Buffalo - as the young country followed the path to becoming a major world power. Few places share a past so intimately intertwined with this early history as does the Greater Buffalo-Niagara Region. It was there, specifically during the battle at Scajaquada Creek, that the Americans demonstrated their ability to turn the tide of the war despite facing the most formidable military in the world at the time.

An understanding of the legacy of the war is crucial to successfully implementing designs along Scajaquada Creek with a clear sense of place.

1: The War Outright_______________________________________________________________________ The City of Buffalo has a history which stretches back near the beginnings of the American story, from its infancy as a small village bordering Canada to a booming industrial hub and, eventually, its present place along the Rust Belt. As a modest frontier post turned portside village in its nascent form, the history of Buffalo’s origins is intimately interwoven within the greater narrative of Post-Revolution America in the newly formed United States.

Tensions with Britain One of the most important turning points in the city’s early history, and for that matter, the history of the United States, was the War of 1812. Lasting from 1812 to 1815, the War of 1812 was a conflict between the newly formed United States and its fierce ex-father state, the United Kingdom. There had still been a great deal of hostility between the two countries, primarily on the front of naval trade and commerce.

Following the Revolution, the British Empire still held Canada as a prominent colony, and continued to harass American sailors, and supplied Native American tribes who attacked American settlers in the West, preventing mass expansion. The practice of impressment on the part of the British, taking men into their naval service by force, outraged Americans as it neglected to recognize the new nation’s independent sovereignty of its naval forces.

In the years leading up to the war, there were several incidents including the Chesapeake-Leopard affair, during which a British vessel fired upon an American ship which they suspected was harboring deserters of the Royal Navy. It is still debated as to what the motivation of the British forces was when causing these conflicts. On June 28th, 1812, President James Madison, one of America’s founding fathers, signed the declaration of war against the United Kingdom.

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War Along the Niagara Over two years of fighting ensued, with the US winning pivotal battles such as the Battle of Lake Erie under Commodore Perry’s leadership and the Battle of the Thames against both British and Native American forces. Some of the more decisive battles of the war, the Battle of Black Rock and the Battle of Conjocta Creek, are especially fundamental to the early history of Buffalo. As a naval port, Buffalo was used as a site of defense against the British, Canadian, and Native forces. Merchant ships were re-fitted as warships, with cannons added to help defend the port in the event of an attack. This was futile, however, as Brigadier General George McClure of the New York State Militia, commander of the garrison of Fort George, decided to abandon the port on December 10, 1813. Upon leaving, he ordered his men to burn the Canadian village of Newark, now Niagara-on-the-Lake, to the ground. In the months prior, the American military leadership had already sown the seeds of discontent among the American people with the rather unnecessary razing of York in Upper Canada, now Toronto. Those affected were primarily women and children as the men were conscripted to fight. What ensued along the Niagara River settlements would dwarf the significance of earlier skirmishes.

Revenge on Western New York McClure’s actions engendered distrust among the American settlers with their leadership. They felt compelled to protest his actions because of its cruel disregard for the Canadian civilians who perished or lost their homes. But perhaps the most pertinent concern among the locals was that it also proved to be an invitation for retaliatory actions by the British, endangering the people of Western New York.

Following McClure’s retreat across the Niagara River, the American settlers’ concerns were fully realized as an army of an estimated 1,400 British occupied the Canadian shore of the river, poised to attack. While McClure may have had the opportunity to assemble as many as 2,000 men for the defense of the local frontier villages, he managed to accomplish nothing of the kind in the time leading to the British attack.

Many of those who endure the conflict in this theater of the war feel did nothing to prepare for the incoming British onslaught.

On the 19th of December, Lt. Gen. Sir Gordon Drummond began a British offensive attacking the greatest American stronghold at Fort Niagara. Due to the arguably negligent practice of Captain Nathaniel Leonard, the 400 men garrisoned at the fort were caught entirely unprepared and, in several cases, lost their lives to a lack of leadership. Leonard was over three miles away at his private home at the time of the attack. With the American’s greatest means of defense disabled, the British, along with hundreds of natives, were free to ravage American settlements along the river, Pg. 3Pg. 17

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beginning with Lewiston. The next objectives were the destruction of the villages of Black Rock and Buffalo.

During the Battle of Black Rock, the village was burned to the ground by British forces as retaliatory measure following the American burning of the Canadian village of Newark, which was preceded by a near-total destruction of Toronto, then York, with little more than a few minutes notice given to civilians to leave. The legacy of this battle resounds with the citizens of the Erie-Niagara Region to this day as a shining example of American perseverance when the odds were stacked against them, in some cases suffering the consequences of poor leadership, although historians still debate whether the preliminary destruction of Newark was justified. While the British public was rather supportive of revenge and felt the prestige of their military leadership often justified their actions, Americans escaped any glorification of an upper class, military elite in their judgement. The War of 1812 saw one of the earliest examples of Americans practicing their right to be critical of their leadership on moral and practical grounds.

The Burning of Buffalo When the British had reached the village of Manchester, now Niagara Falls, their advance on Black Rock was halted by burnt bridges destroyed by retreating American militiamen. While Black Rock and Buffalo residents were relieved to see British troops withdraw back across the Niagara, hostilities inevitably continued with the razing of Black Rock in the following few days. In preparation for a defense in Buffalo, militiamen from Genesee and Chautauqua combined with Buffalo’s militia under Lt. Col. Cyrenius Chapin to protect the last coastal settlement in the area. The general public enthusiastically received the appointment of Major General Amos Hall to command the defense with roughly 2,000 men, including cavalry, to secure the locals’ safety.

Though the British forces numbered no more than 1,000 with additional native support, they won a decisive victory at Black Rock with little resistance. The forces under General Hall had relatively poor moral as they were moved northwards to defend Black Rock. They were conscious of the skill of British troops and the ruthless guerilla fighting the natives were accustomed to, often scalping their victims to collect souvenirs. By the time they reached Black Rock, they numbered no more than 600 militiamen and fled after the British flanked their position, leaving little resistance in Buffalo.

The confidence among Buffalonians was lost as the fleeing militiamen returned to the town with news of the loss at Black Rock. The panicked townsfolk managed to gather their belongings and loved ones, particularly women and children, so that they might flee the impending violence, retreating as far as what is now the present-day Pg. Pg.182

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Town of Clarence. Except for a few stubborn residents, the village was entirely evacuated by the time the British arrived. Only a few locals and militiamen under Chapin’s leadership remained, firing a 12-pound cannon at the incoming invaders at the corner of Main and Niagara street. This did little to deter them when it collapsed from its age and Chapin was taken to Montreal as a prisoner. The British rejected any of his attempts to broker a peace through surrender and set the town ablaze on December 30, 1813.

Besides the remains of the few stubborn locals who refused to leave, there remained only one home, a small blacksmith’s shop, and the local stone jail. Despite this, those who fled returned to their settlement despite the cruel weather of a Buffalo winter. While all wooden construction was reduced to ash and rubble, their stone cellars and basements remained with single chimneys piercing a thick layer of snow.

It was there that the settlers waited the long winter to rebuild the following spring in 1814. Though the region was entirely devastated, its built environment reduced to ash and snow, the stoicism of the locals allowed these communities to rebuild and thrive.

In the Village of Buffalo that May, there were 3 taverns, 16 stores, and more than 50 homes. The only condition of the preceding war which remained was the rightly poor public opinion of General McClure, which could only fade with the passing of living memory.

Tides Turn at Scajaquada Creek The Battle at what was then the “Conjocta Creek”, took place just 9 months after the Battle of Black Rock. British forces had attempted to raid the American supply depots at the towns of Black Rock and Buffalo, which they had burnt to the ground just months prior. This was done in hopes to trigger an American surrender at Fort Erie. American forces had captured the fort following the burning of Black Rock and Buffalo. On the 3rd of July 1814, General Jacob Brown led 4,000 soldiers across the river to capture Fort Erie. They were met with little resistance as the few hundred British garrisoned there quickly surrendered to the overwhelming number of invading Americans. This infuriating General Gordon Drummond, then the Lieutenant Governor of Canada.

The Americans managed to protect their supply lines as reinforcements made their way to the Niagara River, allowing them to strike back with this offensive on the fort in April of 1814. As the British moved up the Niagara River, intending to cross the river and invade Black Rock once more, Major Ludowick Morgan’s men were ordered to remove wood planks from the bridge across the Conjocta Creek. Lieutenant Colonel Tucker of the British forces ordered his men to hastily repair the gaps in the bridge so that they might cross. Frantically, their men attempted to saw and place logs as substitutes for the structure of the bridge, though their efforts were futile. Morgan Pg. 3Pg. 19

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ordered his men to fire on the British, successfully deterring a much larger and bettertrained fighting force. A spirited, two-and-a-half-hour battle with much smaller U.S. forces successfully deterring the formidable, invading British. Tucker subsequently retreated, leaving men stationed at Squaw (Unity) Island to fire at Morgan’s men as he returned to Canada, preventing Morgan from further pursuing the British following the American victory.

American casualties were relatively minor, including two troops killed and eight wounded, three of whom were officers. By contrast, the British casualties numbered some 33 men killed or wounded, not including any officers or other leadership—eleven of those lost were consciously left alongside a group of natives in order to help shield the officers’ retreat. It can be surmised that American officers fought on the frontlines while British officers were protected by the columns of common foot soldiers, often sacrificing them as cannon fodder for the protection of the officer class, as was common practice in their military. The English classism which quite possibly degraded their honor during this battle showcased the relatively egalitarian culture of this first generation or two of Americans. The loyalty of the American officer to his men as brothers in the field of battle redefined military valor in the Western World. Modern Americans strive to remain mindful of this recognition of the innate equality of one’s fellow man exemplified by the American officer’s attitude towards the militiamen.

This battle was a pivotal turning point in the Siege of Fort Erie, which had failed altogether. The legacy of these battles is crucial to understanding Buffalo’s history.

The stubborn nature of the locals who returned and rebuilt the town from ash allowed it to prosper after the war had ended. Following the construction of the Erie Canal 10 years later, the Buffalo community secured its legacy as a fierce representation of American ingenuity and perseverance over tyranny, a legacy that continues to inspire current and future generations.

2: The War’s Legacy at the Creek________________________________________________________ The main question concerning the legacy of the war in Buffalo is how it can inform one’s understanding of the region’s landscape and the form of the urban fabric surrounding historically charged heritage sites, particularly along the Scajaquada.

The collective memory embodied in a landscape can carry an immense amount of information; it shares a story of change and interpretations from many different perspectives throughout its history. The results of the War of 1812, regardless of the perspective one studies it from, inarguably marked this area with a battle site on American soil. As there are very few war sites in America that are not related to the Civil War, the events of the war which unfolded in Western New York provide a space from which Americans can learn about their heritage and culture. Developments surrounding the site since the war may, however, prove to obstacles to reclaiming the Pg. Pg.202

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site.

Buffalo Will See It Through One can tie the legacy of Buffalo “seeing it through,” as was the popular slogan during the First World War, to these times. In one of the harshest winter climates in the nation, local Buffalonians returned home to spend late December of 1813 and the following winter in their basements with only the stone foundations and hearths of their frontier homes remaining. The stoicism of the locals allowed settlers to suffer through the beginning of that year and set the precedent for the following generations.

Buffalonians endured the world wars with the mantra “Buffalo will see it through,” and have since been calling back to that same determined spirit through the present health crisis. As the community is relied upon in these times it is this common purpose which one may credit to Buffalo’s development into the “City of Good Neighbors.”

As most Americans protested the actions of General McClure, December of 1813 saw the first instance of Americans criticizing the actions of their military on moral grounds. It is fair to surmise that British Canadians were more supportive of revenge, considering what is documented on public support in the region. In contrast, one may argue that the practice of viewing wars with other nations through a self-critical lens was born out of conflicts of this nature and has become a defining characteristic of the overarching American ethos. The site of the battle at Conjocta Creek is, therefore, a place from which modern Americans may source their values. Providing a space in which one can connect to past events allows Americans to identify a lineage to that which has made American culture relatively egalitarian when contrasted to its OldWorld counterparts. The communities of such American cities are not themselves an organism, but rather an organization of individuals working to ensure that they are protecting their ability to thrive. The value of each person is recognized through a humanist lens and it is acknowledged that it is beneath any individual’s dignity to be used as cannon fodder for another’s sake.

Regarding the people themselves, there is a fairly universal narrative that can be told involving the strength the American people as they endured their settlements being razed1, the fury a major world power invading their land, and ingenuity through their use of previously unsettled, undeveloped land. The formation of the country took place no more than 40 years before the war, and yet industrializing cities, Buffalo among the forefront, began the nation’s journey down the road of becoming major economic power on the world stage, stimulated by its naval history along the Niagara River and the creek.

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The Scajaquada Creek was directly involved in the activities which turned the tide of the war. There are plenty of stories that can be told from the creek, but it is more important to decipher the greater picture as the site relates to these events. Once one delves deeper into the history of the Scajaquada, many other parts of Buffalo’s past become involved that weave their way into a greater narrative; there is a lot to be interconnected. Fort Erie, Fort Niagara, the City of Buffalo itself, Black Rock, and many other sites, retell their stories through their relationship with the Scajaquada creek.

In 1817, New York State began construction of the Erie Canal in Rome before deciding whether the terminus of the canal should be located at Black Rock harbor or that of Buffalo. The two villages fiercely competed, with the aid of local landowners, to finance and construct improvements to their harbors. Though state commissioners chose Buffalo, the mouth of the Scajaquada remained the site of developing waterbased travel in the newly settled Great Lakes Region. The shipbuilding industry was first located primarily at the mouth of the Scajaquada following the events of the War of 1812. Unity Island provided the cover from enemy fire as well as tumultuous weather incoming from Lake Erie. The events of the war are, therefore, responsible for the economic development with took place at the creek in the decades following the battle at the Conjocta Creek bridge. One of the most noteworthy vessels, the Walkin-the-Water, was constructed at the Black Rock shipyards in 1818. It is well known as the first lake-faring vessel west of Niagara Falls to carry passengers to and from Detroit, Cleveland, and the Town of Erie. Following the City of Buffalo annexing Black Rock, the area at the mouth of the creek would become home to the city’s growing manufacturing economy, including sawmills, shingle mills, brickmaking, and iron smelting facilities. The geography of the meeting between the Niagara River and the creek were necessary to protect shipbuilding activities while the nation was at war.

Urban Development As rural populations and incoming immigrants from eastern and central Europe moved to the city for manufacturing jobs, the City of Buffalo experienced a population boom in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As such, the growing East Side neighborhoods further up the Scajaquada polluted the creek as it was used as a place to dump garbage while industrial sites released harmful chemicals into the water. The unwieldy nature of the creek in its natural form created a series of problems for the city’s residents as flooding and high winds sent ice down city streets, flooded basements, and wiped away landscaping. By the early 1920s, outraged citizens demanded that the Department of Public Works and Bureau of Engineering address the issue, catalyzing the beginning of the Scajaquada Creek’s conversion into a buried sewer drain. Any concern about preserving the ecology of the creek was overshadowed by the demand to provide the infrastructure needed to accommodate the city’s rapid Pg. Pg.222

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growth.

Decades after rail had replaced canals and other waterways as the preferred means of travel, so too did the railways, including Buffalo’s Belt Line Railroad and trolley service, give way to the increasingly popular private automobile. They were considered most efficient as a means of directly transporting one from point to point across the city without intermediary steps and, above all, it was most personally convenient. Buffalo was itself a producer of automobiles and their components, most famously as the home of the luxury Peirce-Arrow company. It was only natural that a shift in focus to the automobile was especially emphasized in Western New York.

Due to popular demand, city officials and planners responded to the necessity of constructing the infrastructure to accommodate the growth of automobile usage. A 1922 city plan outlined its prioritization of the automobile over the existing form of neighborhoods, including the built environment as well as the ecology of natural features including the creek. Freeways including the Kensington Expressway and, most germane to the subject of the creek, the Scajaquada Expressway cut through the heart of the city with the anticipation of further growth in the post-war period.

Though the City of Buffalo continued to boom into the time of the Second World War, what was once a vibrant economy began a steady decline with aging infrastructure workers in the manufacturing sectors becoming active in further unionization and suburbanization characteristic of mid-century America. As veterans of the war began to return back home, the need for single-family homes was immediate, as many families sought to escape the congestion of the city, thus the demand for the expansion of freeways skyrocketed. The following baby boom saw the exponential growth of urban development in Erie County. Meanwhile, the declining industry of the city failed to take in the precedented masses of working-class families who once flocked to the city for work, essentially draining the city proper of its human capital. Locals were further alienated from the legacy of the battle site at the creek as those with the means escaped to the suburbs to avoid plummeting land values in the city or left the region altogether. Many of those physically distanced from the site and, consequently the legacy of the battle, lost any knowledge of its significance, much as one would anticipate.

3: Impact of Design________________________________________________________________________ The right the subject must demand the attention of present-day environmental designers, and its significance to future generations must also be addressed. The legacy of the war designated the area at the mouth of the Scajaquada creek as a place of industry and commerce, while the greenspaces and preserved ecologies of the Olmsted-designed park system and other greenways were reserved for residential land uses. As such, the Scajaquada Creek has been lost beneath the surface of urban Pg. 3Pg. 23

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infrastructure built through it from century-old culverts to the existing expressway.

The latter was constructed with a modernist perception of progress, ignoring the ties the space along the creek possesses to the legacy of the war.

Environmental Justice Though it may have been a necessity for public health and transportation efficiency at the time, the conversion of the creek to an underground sewer has degraded a prominent natural feature of the Erie-Niagara landscape. A bit less than 30% of the creek, not including culverts, has been buried due to pollution from urbanization in the 1920’s. There is no better indication of the myriad of planning choices made in the mid-twentieth century lacking foresight, especially regarding ecological concerns. The environmental health of the creek has been disregarded completely as developing infrastructure for industry and transport was heavily prioritized over the landscape’s heritage. The creek has been polluted heavily from its residents and manufacturing districts and diverted from its natural course, reducing its size substantially from its shipbuilding days.

Despite these challenges, community activists have successfully designed changes to the areas surrounding the creek to reclaim it from the invasive expressway.

In the 1980s, the Scajaquada Pathway was created as a recreational trail spanning from Delaware Park to the Niagara River. It was a local runner and former member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Jesse Kregal, who first proposed the idea in 1982.

The space surrounding the mouth of the creek is abandoned as industrial activity in the area has declined. There is little besides the monumental pillars of the expressway protruding from the creek that interrupts the visitor’s access to the site. The path also integrates the site with the greater Olmsted Park System. Aside from the remnants of a lost manufacturing sector, the trail provides direct access to the site of early Native American settlement and that of the Battle of Conjocta Creek Bridge.

Alongside community partners and local agencies, the Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper has made great strides at restoring the creek. The waterkeeper has cited the development of a masterplan for restoring the creek as “a critical step towards defining a common community vision… to enact positive change.” They continue to advocate for community revitalization and the allocation of state, federal, and local resources to be dedicated to the creek. Perhaps their greatest success so far, and a precedent to be acknowledged when evaluating possible design interventions at the battle site, is the Forest Lawn Heritage Foundation restoration of the creek at the cemetery. With the Buffalo Sewer Authority and the US Army Corps of Engineers, they are constructing a historic restoration project to provide community access to the creek at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Downstream communities will benefit from improved water quality while recreational and educational opportunities at the creek are further expanded upon.

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Improving the livability of the urban space surrounding the creek is critical to reconnecting people to the site.

American Heritage & Authenticity The placemaking the creek itself creates leaves an impression on the people who live there as well as the layout of the area itself. The street layout is influenced by the creek’s presence where it has been naturally since man has built there, such as Florida Street with its irregular shape as it followed the creek. Much more profound, however, are the effects a heritage site, particularly commemorating military valor, can impact an individual.

The construction of the Kensington expressway ended up paving over a great deal of the original battlefield of the Battle of Buffalo, leaving only a sign signifying that the Battle took place in that location. The people living around the Scajaquada Corridor support the idea of a “Complete Street” as this would result in the accommodation of pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and public transit supporters without segregating. A street that is integrated with the current street network.

Cyclist friendly roadways are also notably voiced for in public meetings, through community actions, and actions through the Scajaquada Creek Corridor. This returns accessibility at the human scale to the battle site, allowing it to bring those interested in experiencing American heritage firsthand.

American Historic sites can be read from either a pessimistic or optimistic one by either focusing on the exploitation of the common folk or the strides made towards achieving equality. The events of the War of 1812 in Western New York are most useful to the modern American when one focuses on the ability of past Americans to take charge of their lives and offer hope of progress in the future. One may rightly be unimpressed with the evolution of egalitarian values as it reached beyond the landowning elite, to all Englishmen. By modern standards, this is far from revolutionary. The disregard for the common foot soldier on the part of the British officer class, however, puts into perspective the contrast between inherent elitism characteristic of society in the Anglosphere two centuries prior with then new, American values.

When one visits a historical site, one brings their own interests into their interaction with the space and its history. What separates a truly authentic representation of a historical site from what one might call a “Disneyland” experience is to avoid romanticizing past events. This is best achieved by focusing on the facts of what took place at the battle site while allowing visitors to draw their conclusions regarding what it means to them. While there is a narrative that most Americans may respond to, it is best not to document at the site anything more than the series of events as they unfolded. Whether one tends to focus on the events through a lens Pg. 3Pg. 25

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more critical of American leadership leading to the British revenge or champion the strength of the civilians, one is rooted in their past shared with their fellow Americans.

What significance does the legacy of the War of 1812 at Scajaquada Creek hold for future generations? The creek is viewed by those conscious of environmental design as a form of art, providing enough raw material to create a narrative for a space one may pull from. This could be done through designed alterations in the urban fabric by the creek, done especially aware of the past planning folly of ignoring its rich history. Returning access to the creek at a human scale provides a site for American heritage tourism and, perhaps, further archaeological interrogation of the site for further study. It all depends on what it is the future generation wantsto take out of it.2 Simply providing future Americans the most authentic representation of this history will allow them to draw their conclusions, meanwhile battling the consequences of past planning errors and environmental ignorance.

4: The Future of the Creek________________________________________________________________ Despite its potential to help future generations of Americans connect to their shared past, the legacy of the War of 1812, including what took place along the Niagara River, is lacking its due recognition. Sites of battles once revered by Buffalo citizens have been reduced to small signs that signify that the battle took place at all.

Unfortunately, it’s accurate to say that particularly young Americans in the area, have nearly lost a grasp on their history in Buffalo, and if one is to take charge and reclaim that history, it must be done such a manner that honors those who served and died for their futures of their families and, in turn, what would develop into the greater Buffalo community as it’s recognized today.

The City of Good Neighbors A recognition of its impact on the present-day landscape of the Greater BuffaloNiagara Region is key to acknowledging its significance. The legacy of Buffalo’s involvement in the war informs one of the city’s character and, by extension, defines thoughtful planning interventions on sites along the Scajaquada in the future. The disregard among modernist, mid-century designers in past decades for local histories in favor of “progress” has since severed ties among locals to their community’s past, leaving many young Americans alienated and, consequently, often unfamiliar with their history and its value. This, however, has been identified as a serious oversight by contemporary designers in their efforts towards placemaking, beginning with defining a place. Viewing a site through the lens of its past is a tool that allows designs better suited to its context.

The City of Buffalo has always been characterized by the strength of community Pg. Pg.262

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ties among its residents, often called the “city of good neighbors.” While other cities may appear relatively less welcoming, it is often because they are known for a personal disconnect among thousands of alienated citizens, crowded into a densely populated urban fabric. Advocates of Buffalo’s character have described the city as possessing a neighborly “small-town feeling but at the scale of a mid-sized city.” As an industrial city composed primarily of single-family homes and many historically bluecollar families, it is known for its “Midwestern” values revolving around an “honest day’s work” for the benefit of one’s family. It can be well-argued that this sense of responsibility and stubborn rejection of outside interferences with the peoples’ way of life has its roots in the events of the Burning of Buffalo during the War of 1812.

A Buffalo Renaissance As the city enters a new decade in an unprecedented period of revitalization, recognizing and maintaining its values are critical to its appeal in the future. A long history of indifference to its history, economic decline, depopulation, and the resulting racial tensions and segregation across the city into many smaller communities prove to be a continual obstacle to growth, often obscuring its potential. Whether a citywide sense of community is reclaimed will determine its limitations in the future. Much like the site of the battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania establishes that area’s claim to a part of the greater American Story, so too would an increasing recognition of Western New York’s ties to the War of 1812 through the Battle of Conjocta Creek and the Burning of Buffalo. In a city hard-hit by the loss of what was arguably an “all your eggs in one basket” grain storage and manufacturing-based economy, it is essential to diversify the industries the region relies on by recognizing the potential of American Heritagebased tourism. Efforts to move in this direction require an understanding of the War of 1812’s significance, particularly at the battle site along Scajaquada Creek.

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Chapter III

Olmsted’s Impact in Buffalo, New York

Authors Samantha Fox, Angelina Hawken, Eric Hourigan, Sage Welte

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The Scajaquada Creek is a waterway in New York that runs through the towns Lancaster, Depew, and Cheektowaga before it enters through Delaware Park in Buffalo, and emptying itself into the Black Rock Canal. The creek holds a significant impact on the local parkway system of Buffalo and the local community. Scajaquada Creek’s historical significance is long-lasting from its involvement in the War of 1812 and its influence on the development of Buffalo’s manufacturing industry. Frederick Law Olmsted came to the bustling Buffalo in 1868 and changed the shape of the creek forever. Designing what is now Hoyt Lake located in Delaware Park, Olmsted’s contribution cemented the creek’s foundation in the parkway system. The creek shape and park system can be seen in figure 2.1.

The environmental and ecological features of the Figure 2.1: sketch by Samantha Fox, Angelina creek are abundant, also tying into Olmsted’s Hawken, Eric Hourigan, Sage Welte contribution because of how he shaped it to be and what to become. The creek’s current status is that of concern, but plans, reviewing current efforts, and improvement of the land use will be further discussed. Opening into past and current efforts of the Creek’s health is the primary focus of what will be further discussed.

1. History___________________________________________________________________________________ The Buffalo Park System, designed in 1868 by Frederick Law Olmsted was the first park system.

Before the construction of Delaware Park, Quebral Fulton, a faculty member with the Urban and Regional and Planning Department with the University at Buffalo, discusses this area consisted of mostly agricultural land. Forest Lawn, a major Buffalo cemetery, was also a small portion of the landscape. Laid by Charles Clarke and constructed in 1850, Forest Pg. Pg.302

Figure 2.2: Cemetary surrounding creek

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Lawn’s layout was designed to “conform to the hilly natural landscape bordering the meaning Scajaquada Creek” says Conlin a Syracuse University press reporter. In figure 2.2 the portion of the cemetery around the creek is shown. With the Forest Lawn Cemetery in place, Olmsted and Vaux decided to split the space, which would eventually become Delaware Park into three main elements. A prominent water feature, including “Gala Water” today known as “Hoyt Lake”; a large 120-acre meadow, and significant tree-covered areas. Delaware Park, known as “The Park” in the original design, was a 350-acre public space with the purpose of providing a “complete escape from the artificiality and noise of the city” said Kowsky a PBS author. To create “Gala Water”, Olmsted’s design included damming Scajaquada Creek to create a 4.6-acre lake with the purpose of an aesthetic water feature as well as a place for summer boating.

If the Olmsted park system is the crown jewel of Buffalo, then Delaware Park would be the crown jewel. In its prime, Delaware Park was home to the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. The only permanent structure left from that event was the New York State Pavilion, which still sits beside the lake today according to Herrera-Mishler, a reporter with the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.

In its heyday, it was uninterrupted and led Buffalo to be described as “the best-planned city as to its streets, public places and grounds in the United States, if not the world” said Kowsky. This naturalistic space was even referred by Kowsky as to as the “City of Elms” and “Forest City”. However, in the 1960s, the Scajaquada Expressway was built running directly through “The Park’s” meadow near the lake side of the park, essentially cutting the park into two halves. In figure 2.3 the division is clear. The once naturalistic escape became disrupted by traffic, noise, and pollution.

What was once a scenic image of Hoyt Lake and Scajaquada Creek, is now partially blocked by the expressways infrastructure and partially interrupted by traffic noise. Yet, to this day, the “fine, soft, natural, mysterious and poetic quality” of Olmsted’s Buffalo Park System still holds.

Figure 2.3: Delaware Park around the creek

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2.Legacy____________________________________________________________________________________ Olmsted’s Park System is, to this day, an integral feature in Buffalo’s layout.

Despite the construction of the Scajaquada Expressways and Humboldt Parkway, The Buffalo Park System is still a major destination for residents and visitors. In recognition of the importance of the Buffalo Park System to the city, Buffalo’s Comprehensive Plan of 2003 includes restoration projects of Frederick Law Olmsted’s designs along with its waterfront views of Lake Erie, Buffalo and Niagara Rivers, and Cazenovia and Scajaquada creeks in order to preserve the historic legacy within the City of Buffalo. In fact, the waterfront restoration is an essential part of Buffalo’s restoration plan because of Buffalo’s foundation and history through its waterways Figure 2.4: historic map of Buffalo according to Quebral Fulton. Looking at this plan, the goal of the whole project is to rejuvenate Buffalo’s landscape and preserve the city’s history through art and architecture in an attempt to reverse the decline that has been keeping the city down for so long. With that saying, the environment of Buffalo’s parkway system has been improving, although obstacles are still in place.

3. Environment____________________________________________________________________________ The current environment of the Scajaquada Creek is that of what it was during the Industrial Revolution: polluted and in dismay from its status of a freshwater creek. Scajaquada Creek is currently ranked 11th of the unhealthiest creeks in the state according to New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation’s National Heritage Program. This is due to a half-billion gallons of sewage being dumped in the creek by the town of Cheektowaga’s and the city of Buffalo’s sewage facility. Telvock states It will take nearly a decade for Cheektowaga to repair its sewage lines, and even longer for Buffalo. In addition to sewage being dumped into the creek, untreated stormwater also pollutes the creek. Many harmful chemicals were also found in the creek after the U.S. Army Engineer District collected data. When the report was filed in 1973, it found that pollution had doubled in the creek from the survey taken in 1970.

In figure 2.5 the garbage left in Scajaquada Creek near Delaware Park and Hoyt Lake can be seen. Different types of marine worms that indicate pollution were found in Pg. Pg.322

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every sample collected from the creek, and comparing these results to other creeks, it was found that Scajaquada Creek is more than three times polluted than the other creeks are. In addition to these pollution-indicating worms, fecal bacteria were also found in the Scajaquada Creek of a high percentage. The source from this bacterium indicates it came from the sewage lines that emptied into the Figure 2.5: Investigative Post report by Dan Telvock creek. In addition to bacteria present, multiple chemical tests were taken comparing the pollution levels of the Scajaquada Creek to other creeks in Buffalo city’s watershed.

The environment of Scajaquada Creek is not only harmful to humans, but to that of the wildlife and plants present as well. The environment of the Scajaquada Creek throughout its watershed is harmful to the overall ecology of these areas as well.

4.Ecology___________________________________________________________________________________ Scajaquada Creek has a diverse ecology, which includes a wide variety of species that range from fish, birds, mammals, and reptiles that reside in and along the creek.

The Scajaquada is also home to a large number of aquatic plants and other types of vegetation, many of which are beneficial the various species of fauna that also reside in and along the creek. The report specifically refers to parts of the Scajaquada Watershed in Cheektowaga, NY (U.S. Army Engineer District, 1973).

Vegetation along the Scajaquada Creek ranges in the following six types: deciduous trees and herbaceous plants, marsh, developed vegetation, shrubbery, and aquatic vegetation. These types of vegetation were recorded in the report as it recorded the species found before creek restoration would take place. According to the Vegetation Map on page 34 of the report, the vast majority of vegetation along the creek is developed, mostly consisting of short grass and invasive weed and grass species. Aquatic vegetation is scattered in the creek, which consists of knotweeds, cattails, and other various plants that grow above water. Scattered along the creek are the remaining types of vegetation, which consists of an array of trees, dogwood, shrubs Pg. 3Pg. 33

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and more. This vegetation along the creek provides coverage for shelter and habitat of the animals that live along the creek.

A vast array of wildlife can be found in and along the creek as well. Over one hundred species of birds, fifty types of mammals, almost fifty types of reptiles, and multiple types of fish are found throughout the creek. There are also a few endangered species along the creek as well. Unfortunately, due to the environment of the Scajaquada Creek, much wildlife is negatively impacted by pollution and harmful chemicals in the creek.

5. Community______________________________________________________________________________ The Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper is an important organization advocating for the importance of Scajaquada Creek and its restoration. It faces opposition from the lack of concern by the Department of Transportation as it plans to reconfigure the NY 198 and the I-190, but an initiative by Governor Andrew Cuomo aims to invest in water infrastructure and water quality. Some members of the community are unaware that the creek runs underneath them near Schiller Park. The creek is an expanding and contracting waterway that also goes underground in some areas of the city. If you walk along the creek you can understand why it is so stressed. While Scajaquada Creek used to be a meandering waterway, over the last hundred years, it’s been forgotten about and hidden away little by little. Most of Scajaquada Creek has suffered from urbanization, it has been channelized, buried, and narrowed to make way for roads and buildings. Half of Scajaquada Creek runs through tunnels underground, this is about six miles. Scajaquada Creek flows through four municipalities and faces several challenges including sewer infrastructural problems and runoff pollution.

Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper’s Senior Ecological Planner, Lauren Darcy, a graduate of University at Buffalo, is working with partners to complete more projects, like the one in Forest Lawn Cemetery, to restore the creek to its former ecological health and reconnect the communities in the Scajaquada Creek Corridor to their waterway.

E.B. Green and William Sydney Wicks were the main architects that helped build the houses and businesses in the Parkside neighborhood furthering the shaping of the landscape of the Scajaquada Creek. Parkside is adjacent to Frederick Law Olmsted’s Delaware Park, The Buffalo Zoo, and the Main-Amherst business district.

Olmsted recognized that abutting farmland on the northeastern perimeter of the park served as a buffer against the burgeoning industrial city, so he expanded his initial proposal to include these several hundred acres. To make this buffer more permanent and to preclude industrialization of the area, he applied his visionary principles to design Buffalo’s first suburb. From its inception, the planned community was named “Parkside,” a neighborhood inseparable from the park. In figure 2.6 the Parkside Sanitarium. The neighborhood was built around a long-established and well-known Pg. Pg.342

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park; therefore, fewer industrial buildings were built around it. The streets in this area are gently curving because of the neighborhoods being built around the river. This area has one of the oldest community organizations in Buffalo to help protect the best interest of the community, to not destroy the atmosphere. Parkside is listed on the National Register of Historic Preservation as one of the nation’s oldest garden suburbs.

At the same time as planning Parkside, he was also working on a residential community on the westside Figure 2.6: Parkside Sanitarium of Chicago called Riverside. Olmsted did transfer ideas for both neighborhoods back and forth such as the curving streets and large lots for greenspace. One report from 1872 described the neighborhood as “a detached suburb adjoining the Park on the north and on the east, designed by private enterprise, so as to secure to it a permanent sylvan character distinct from the formal rectangular streets of the city proper…a district nearly three-square miles in area, extensively planted, and guarded against any approach to dense building.”

6. Transportation__________________________________________________________________________ The Scajaquada Creek and its environment have been severely compromised by the construction of the New York State Route 198 (NY 198), also known as the Scajaquada Expressway. Built throughout the 1960s, the Scajaquada Expressway runs parallel to Scajaquada Creek between the Kensington Expressway to the east and the Niagara Throughway, Interstate 190, to the west, running a length of 3.59 miles.

There is a lot of controversy and opinions about the expressway due to its current presence. Under multiple reports, the Scajaquada Creek has run its life expectancy, and current plans to reconstruct the Scajaquada Expressway continued getting denied or backpedaled due to agencies and groups unable to agree on a reconstruction plan.

The presence of the Scajaquada Expressway must also account for the restoration of the Scajaquada Creek due to many environmental laws. The transmission report by the Scajaquada Creek and Tributaries Local Flood Protection, Cheektowaga: Environmental Impact Statement from 1970 contains transmissions between multiple government agencies, including both the Federal and the State Departments of Transportation that discuss the construction of multiple facilities of the Scajaquada Pg. 3Pg. 35

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Creek including levees, floodwalls, etc. Although in this letter, a clause states that Federal funds cannot be used to alter highway facilities in regards to the flood control project that the letter talks about. With limitations by both the state and the federal government, the Scajaquada Expressway remains to keep its presence and its disturbance to the creek.

Information of the water navigability of the Scajaquada Creek is limited to resources available, but the following is known of what plans had existed for being able to traverse Scajaquada Creek on water, in addition to its current regulations.

When Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were hired to design Buffalo’s Parkway system, William Findlay Rogers, the previous city comptroller and mayor of Buffalo, Rogers had planned to use the Scajaquada Creek to create an artificial lake in Delaware Park. Although the creek currently filters through Hoyt Lake of Delaware Park, figure 2.7, Scajaquada Creek was an important economic site for shipbuilding and commerce, as the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek emptied into the Niagara River. With the beneficial location of Scajaquada Creek, a harbor Figure 2.7: Sketch by Samantha Fox, Angelina Hawken, Eric Hourigan, Sage directly at the mouth of the Welte creek had been in mind to be created to provide water transportation to and from Delaware Park, although, Black Rock Harbor had been built which became the primary location of commerce and transportation within the USA and between Canada. Within a couple of years of Delaware Park being built, changes to the park had limited the creek’s ability to be navigable such as a dam being built and Elmwood Avenue’s massive stone bridge crossing the creek, leaving a narrow mouth for the creek to pass through. To date, by the United States Code 33.1.2.51, Scajaquada Creek has been declared unnavigable 130 feet west of Niagara Street, enacted on May 14, 1937.

7.Art/Architecture_________________________________________________________________________ Olmsted’s Buffalo Park System was a magnet for designers, landscape architects, Pg. Pg.362

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and architects alike. It is the first example of a Park System and became a way for cities to be connected by naturalistic landscapes and community greenspaces. Olmsted’s design even included laying out the neighborhood of Parkside, which would be home to many influential residents of Buffalo and attracted architects like Frank Lloyd Wright to design homes like The Darwin D. Martin House.

Along with the design itself, the Park System is home to art and architecture and its connection to these aesthetic features creates a significant sense of place. In figure 2.8 this sense of place from Delaware Park can be seen. In 1862, The Albright Knox Museum was founded and would eventually look over Hoyt Lake. In 1901, the Pan-American Exposition was held in Delaware Park, where classically designed Beaux Art buildings were temporarily constructed says Figure 2.8: Sketch by Samantha Fox, Angelina Hawken, Eric Hourigan, Sage Kowsky. The New York State Welte Pavilion constructed on the lake remains today and is currently home to the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society according to Herrera-Mishler. The Buffalo Park System is also nearby many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s works, including The Darwin D. Martin House near Delaware Park and Blue Sky Mausoleum in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

“The Park” was designed to be “picturesque & varied in form” and with “a fine, soft, natural, mysterious and poetic quality” said Kowsky. In combination with the other artistic and architectural wonders, The Buffalo Park System and Scajaquada Creek create a holistic space accented by the history and beauty of Buffalo.

8. Remove Route 198_____________________________________________________________________ In the past, Olmsted’s park system was filled with tree-lined streets. However, in the 1960s the Robert Moses fever gripped Buffalo planning and the gorgeous parkways were ripped down to create the Kensington and Scajaquada Expressways. The act of doing so separated and socioeconomically destroyed several communities, and the effect of this destruction is still apparent 60 years later. The negative effects of the expressway are well-known and people have been petitioning to fix the planning Pg. 3Pg. 37

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disaster for several years. After decades of making a ruckus and raising awareness, plans for changing the expressways are finally being brought to fruition. Before the fiasco of the expressways, Buffalo’s transportation infrastructure was once a spot of pride. The history of excellent transportation networks in Buffalo is well known so, the irony of the new, poor transport network is not lost on the older folks of Buffalo. One of the first steps taken to fix the 198 was the Scajaquada Corridor Study, which sought to evaluate basic information to use for improvement. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) had plans that were drafted and then presented and were met then with large amounts of disagreement, as the initial plans did not consider the human scale. Currently, a new plan is being created to involve the human scale and take into account a more community-based solution. Governor Cuomo agreed to put the plans on hold until new, better plans could be created. To move forward the planners of the Scajaquada Expressway Revitalization Project need to fully take the people of Buffalo into account.

9. Creek Restoration_______________________________________________________________________ Currently, there are multiple initiatives by the state and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to restore the environment of the creek. The Erie County Soil and Water Conservation District have received grants and funds to develop a watershed management plan between the municipalities in which the creek runs, and establish an advisory council in efforts to develop a priority of concerns of the current environment of the creek. With these current efforts, the creek is in a state of restoration by the Scajaquada Creek Restoration Project. These efforts, which currently primarily focus on locations in Forest Lawn and spots of Delaware Park, have improved the wetlands to recreate the natural filtration system to improve water quality, reduced sediment accumulation to improve the creek’s flow, removed trash along the creek and done many other improvements to the creek’s conditions, The Restoration of Scajaquada Creek, 2017. In the past, according to the Scajaquada Creek and tributaries flood control: environmental impact statement, a project was undertaken to reduce the flood level of the Scajaquada Creek. This project involved preventing storm water from entering sanitary sewer systems, construction of levees, conduits and culverts, construction and improvements on foot- and highway-bridges, in addition to many more improvements. This project was planned to start construction in the spring of 1977 and was marked completed by 1995 (Annual Report Fiscal Year 1995 of the Secretary of the Army on Civil Works Activities, 1995). Again, with current restoration efforts, a collaboration between the authority leader of the restoration, the Buffalo Sewer Authority, and other organizations have committed to undertake major improvements of Scajaquada Creek starting from 2017 (Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for $2.8 Million Scajaquada Creek Restoration Project, 2017).

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10. Implement the Creek’s Front Line of Development_______________________________ In the past, you could do anything to abuse the creek including dumping garbage and toxins. Now, the city and government protect the creek to such an extent, it is highly restrictive of the land use along the creek. Ecological buffers are protected zones established around sensitive or critical areas — such as wildlife breeding or hibernation habitats, streams, and wetlands — to lessen the impacts of human activity and land disturbance. Changes in land cover can also have a negative impact on water quality and watershed health. Ecological buffers may be used to reduce or minimize the risks of land use disturbance and proximity of infrastructure specifically associated with shale energy development. This is why the Scajaquada Creek Shoreline Buffer and Wetland Restoration project is so important. With the use of native plants, the buffer zone will help the levels of contamination to decrease to a healthy level.

Of course, the key issue that people need to understand is that the creek is a huge asset: it is public, accessible by all the public, its natural beauty should be permanently “protected by all the means”. The creek and its buffer zones are used by humans but also by nature — wildlife, plants, insects, birds have the right to access. These principles are all the more important than ever before. The Scajaquada Creek will then become a great testing ground to exercise all these “best practices” so that it will be there in perpetuity. As Buffalo’s waterfront becomes more popular for recreational and residential uses, commercial advertising oriented towards the water will also become more popular, which has the potential to spoil the natural aesthetic and restorative experience that water provides. Even though the concern of commercial use on the creek might be a possibility, these buffer zones should prevent too much activity from taking place in the wrong mindset of development.

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Chapter IV

Upper Scajaquada Creek Environment & Ecology

Authors Nicholas Feng, Sara Popp, Daniel Ukiri

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The Scajaquada Creek is a waterway that runs through Buffalo that has shaped the city’s development. The Upper Creek is considered the area from Elmwood Avenue to the Grant Street Bridge. Improving the overall function of waterside properties, without negatively affecting the socio-economically disenfranchised groups that currently inhabit the areas around the Creek is necessary for the city of Buffalo as well as the natural environment.

1. History___________________________________________________________________________________ Scajaquada Creek has been part of the Buffalo landscape since the last Ice Age ended over 12,000 years ago. The creek has developed a great historical relevance to the Amherst Black Rock Area, and it once served as a landmark and area of recognition for both the Erie and the Seneca. Scajaquada Creek offers a protective harbor which gave the Creek its extensive use during the war of 1812. It’s positioning along the Niagara river made it a location of strategic significance. After the war of 1812, there was great growth of industry and with access to the Harbor, water transportation allowed industries to grow along the creek. This growth provided work for thousands of workers, most of whom were migrants from Eastern Europe. The call for the workers to come and be employed in harbor related industries reached into eastern Europe and the Galicia region of Poland which at the time was facing famine and starvation.

A large population of people came to work, which then created a new population in the Grant-Amherst Area of Black Rock. It was a significant population of Polish, Hungarian, and Croatian immigrants. As a result of their residency many small workers’ housing developments still exist along the creek.

2. Socio-political Landscape______________________________________________________________ In more recent years, pollution of the Scajaquada creek has become a major issue that has affected many neighboring communities. According to Mary Ann Kedron, the head of the Black Rock/Riverside Neighborhood Coalition, the pollution currently being observed is a deep social justice issue, as waste from other more affluent communities is deposited into the creek upstream from more economically depressed areas. “How is it that the bypass literally bypasses the cultural institutions and dumps into the West Side and Black Rock communities?” Asked Ms. Kedron in our interview.

“The pollution is a manifestation of a larger cultural issue.” This effect is seen throughout history in class conflict, so working around the precedent should prove to be interesting to say the least.

The pollution running through the stream is known to lower the property values of downstream communities in the Grant-Amherst area, therefore causing the tax bracket to shrink and the social services also to decline. This effect can also be seen in Pg. Pg.422

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the newer developments and in the future could lead to the gentrification of said areas if the right precautions are not taken in preparation of restorative development. There is still hope for the creek as the Buffalo Water Keepers have begun the remediation of Scajaquada Creek, but as of right now improvements have only been made up to the Forest Lawn area.

From a visit to the site we it’s clear how depressed the area surrounding Scajaquada Creek is. Going down south of the creek the prevalence of vacant industrial lots and numerous state parks increases dramatically. The empty industrial parks, as well as the sometimes adjacent under maintained state parks serve as models for the current state of the community. With environmental remediation there have more recently been more nearby nature preserves and waterfront parks being opened. This is repeated with the presence of developments like the Japanese Garden in the Black Rock/Park Meadow area.

3. Environmental Ecology________________________________________________________________ The Scajaquada Creek passes through many communities while passing under the Elmwood Bridge. The bridge has an open drainage system that consists of scuppers and sheet flow runoff on the approach side at the abutments. The scuppers are five in total, with each one located along each side of the bridge adjacent to the curb. One issue is that some of the scuppers, a structural element designed to control water flow, have no downspout extensions and instead outlets directly into Scajaquada Creek.

This causes more pollution in the creek through water pollution.

Focusing on the ecology of Scajaquada Creek in and around the Japanese Garden, the creek is spotted with small islands that were man made which host waterfowl as well as other small amphibious animals like turtles and frogs. The flora and fauna are both extremely diverse when compared to the rest of the city, with the tree population consisting of both local and foreign deciduous trees and conifers, as well as many imported shrubs, ferns, and mosses. Even with the high diversity, the creeks populations are still at risk to the growing populations of invasive grasses like P. phragmites, as well as others. The fauna is made up mostly of many different types of mammals, reptiles, birds, and fish, all of which represent a community mostly tolerant of city pollution.

The surrounding park is hilly, inclined toward the creek, so surface runoff comes from areas like the parking lot and eventually finds its way down to the body of water.

The site is scattered with litter and even more after flooding. When the rainfall is too heavy the surface rain runoff causes debris and trash to form topographic bands along the bases of hills and around the pathways in the park. In these bands litter that can be found include mixed leafy litter many small deceased animals, hypodermic needles, cigarette butts, a spoon, tiny bags for drugs, a belt, as well as various other waste Pg. 3Pg. 43

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plastics.

4.Proposal__________________________________________________________________________________ To aid in the remediation and increase the amount of foot traffic in the Scajaquada Creek area the proposal to employ a similar program to what has already been used nearby at the Tifft Nature Preserve. By applying a similar feature in the areas surrounding and within Delaware park use of the waterfront sites would increase, as well as could lead to an “Under Highway” remediation project. This proposal would also call for the creation of playgrounds, similar to the Buffalo Harbor State Park Playground, as well as develop pedestrian pathways around the highway, which would be necessary in promoting foot traffic in the waterfront areas.

Alternatively, one solution would be to shut down the New York State Route, otherwise known as the Scajaquada Expressway, that runs through Delaware Park. It is well known that the construction of the 198 destroyed Delaware Park, effectively bisecting it and surrounding neighborhoods. To many Buffalo locals, the Scajaquada Expressway is considered to be a traffic sewer and it is viewed as one of the main causes of the economic depression that currently hovers the area.

If the city opts for this kind of approach, the under highway, the remaining highway could be repurposed in a similar way to New York City’s Highline Park, with sections of the highway being repurposed and developed in a way that would increase native biodiversity, as well as increase the number art exhibits and foot traffic.

This would also lead to an increase in business opportunities in the area, and could contribute greatly to the economic restoration of Buffalo.

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Chapter V

Lower Scajaquada Creek Environment & Ecology

Authors Lindsey Bruso, Nicholas Sapone, Claudia Savoy

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Scajaquada Creek has a wide history with many topics to study. In the research of the existing conditions of Scajaquada Creek, regarding the ecology and environment, an analysis will need to be conducted through various methods. Through this research, it will be proven that the Scajaquada Creek needs drastic improvements in the direction of restoring the pollution and damage created by human interaction surrounding this site. A profile of the existing conditions of Scajaquada Creek will be designed to determine possible improvements of the site.

Considering how large the Scajaquada Creek is, a more specific area was identified to focus on. This focus area is from the Mouth of the Black Rock Chanel to the Grant Street Bridge, as seen in Figure XX. This was identified as a focus area because it is what should be the source of clean water provided to the rest of the creek.

As seen in the map the creek receives its water from the Black Hawk Chanel. This area also has major roadways, the I-I90 and NY 198 around the creek also seen on the map.

Before beginning the profile, an exploration of this focus area was conducted through a site visit.

Following this was a range of interviews to collect background information of the creek.

From here, a closer look at the ecology, including soil analysis, a shoreline analysis, a vegetation analysis, and a wildlife analysis. These factors can be easily influenced by various pollutants and human interaction and need to be studied further.

A separation of Pg. Pg.462

Figure 5.1: Map of Scajaquada Creek, Created by Lindsey Bruso

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environmental factors was then necessary to understand their impacts. The environmental factors explored include land usage in the surrounding area of the creek, as well as transportation. While these may seem like they would have less of an impact, because they are not part of the creek, they each play a major role in the shape and function of the creek today.

1. Site Visit_________________________________________________________________________________ The Mouth Upon the site visit, the site appeared underappreciated and neglected. The mouth of the Scajaquada Creek is intended to be the source of freshwater for the whole stream, yet upon visual observation and interpretation, the mouth of the creek is not clean water, as many pollutants are flooding the water and have given it a brown color. There are many positives and negatives found during and after the site visit was completed. The negatives certainly out weight the positives. However, the site holds a strong potential for change and improvements.

Specifically, during the visit, it was hard to enjoy the experience of the site because of the visually unappealing large amounts of liter and the foul odor coming from the water. These qualities were noticed underneath the bridge for the I-190 passing over the site. There was also an abundance of an excessive amount of waste and trash piled-up along the site. Having visited the site during the day, it was very dark, and underneath the bridge looked abandoned and run down, with visible works of graffiti displayed in Figure 5.2.

Another negative to the site was most notably the I-190 and the Scajaquada Expressway (NY 198). Figure 5.2 also shows how the two highways impact the potential view of the Black Rock Canal from the mouth of the Figure 5.2: NY 198 over Scajaquada Creek, Photo by Nicholas Sapone Scajaquada Creek, from a railroad behind it. These two major highways greatly impact the experience from the Scajaquada Creek, as well as the view, and even decreased the width of the creek. The noise levels, distance, and speed of the expressway cars above cause an uncomfortable visit for guests and users.

Now onto the positives. During the site visit, there was only one pro that came out of it. However, it must be noted that this was the potential location. The pathway around the site that is already laid down is a great pathway to be able to walk along the mouth and eventually the canal. The location is prime and great for a walk on a nice day. It was very easy to appreciate and recognize that the mouth of the Scajaquada Pg. 3Pg. 47

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Creek is a very underappreciated location. It was easy to see so many ways that this site can be greatly improved. The mouth of the Scajaquada Creek deserves to be a site that is used and appreciated by the Buffalo west side community.

West Avenue It was hard not to notice how much integrity was lost at this site. The Scajaquada Expressway runs straight through the site. The columns holding up the expressway come straight down into a vacant site.

Figures 5.3 and 5.4 are both pictures these columns and how they affect the space that they take up. There are a lot of columns that take up a significant amount of space. Upon arriving my first thought was how much potential the side had and how it was lost because of the Expressway. However, there is a small walkway that approaches West Avenue along the creek. This trail can be seen in Figure XX to the right. The space taken up by these columns could be utilized in a way to bring this site to life. There are opportunities for a large green space to span across this site. This could result in the site becoming a multiuse space for community Figure 5.3: West Ave. trail along creek, members on Buffalo’s West Side.

Photo by Nicholas Sapone Unlike the mouth of the creek, this area did not smell. However, after getting close to the water it was hard not to notice how gross the water was.

The water was very dark a green and looked very dirty, the banks on each side of the creek looked very worn down and weathered away, and there were a lot of stones placed at the river bank on one side to prevent erosion. The conditions can certainly be improved along the river bank to make the river more appealing to visitors.

Lastly, there was a large warehouse-like structure on West Avenue right by the site. The use of this structure is unknown but it looks vacant.

Pictured in Figure 5.5 is this structure on West Avenue. The abandoned building dampened the landscape around the creek. This structure also has Figure 5.4: Highway along creek, Photo by the potential to become a building that can be Nicholas Sapone Pg. Pg.482

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incorporated into the site. Overall, the site looks pretty rundown and abandoned. However, it has a lot of potential to become a beautiful site along the Scajaquada Creek.

Grant Street Bridge There was not much to see at the Grant Street bridge section of the creek. Upon arriving at the site there was no available parking to walk around the pathway that goes under the bridge. The closest parking Figure 5.5: Abandoned structure on West Ave., Photo by to the site was in a tops parking lot Nicholas Sapone right next to it. The path went under the bridge and looped around to a sidewalk which crossed the bridge. Then the path went the opposite way away from the bridge along the creek down to West Avenue, where the pathway just ends there. Although this site was very small it was nice just to walk through. The site was significantly cleaner than the mouth of the creek. This area looked the most alive out of the three site visits that were made. The grass was the greenest, the air was the freshest, and the conditions of the river looked the best. The river banks were also lined with stones probably to prevent erosion. However, these stones were not gross and mossy. The biggest problem with this is that the river bank is not self-sustainable. Being able to cure this riverbank into becoming self-sustainable can greatly improve the creek’s conditions. Pictured below in Figure 5.6, is a panorama of what underneath the Grant Street Bridge looked like along the Scajaquada Creek.

Figure 5.6: Scajaquada Creek underneath the Grant Street Bridge, Photo by Nicholas Sapone

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2.Interviews________________________________________________________________________________ Interview with Renata Kraft Renata Kraft is a registered landscape architect and Waterkeeper’s Deputy Director heading the Scajaquada Creek restoration project. She has a voice in many different organizations that all of the goals of making this creek reach its full potential. After reaching out a phone interview allowed for the collection of helpful information about the creek’s ecology. The creek has gone through serious damage over the past 100 years and people like Renata are finding every way to make the creek as healthy as it used to be.

Before diving into the ecology of the creek with Kraft it was important to understand what she and her organization’s goals were when working towards improving the creek over the next ten years. The first goal is to try to replicate the success of the Buffalo River story for the Scajaquada Creek. Starting with a massive cleanup of the toxic pollution in the Scajaquada Creek. A massive Federal and State cleanup must be issued to clean the creek in the most efficient way possible. About 2 miles of the creek is underground around Forest Lawn, making that portion of the creek exposed to daylight again would be great to see. The creek must also be widened and dredged significantly. The plan is to be able to have 150-200 ft buffers on one of the sides of the widened creek. These are only a couple of goals amongst a long list of them.

A long-term goal is to see the creek widened and be as clean as it was historically. These goals are essentially the future of what the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek could be. These goals are certainly attainable; however, the community is vital in ensuring that the improvement can happen. A lot of the problems that have arisen in Scajaquada Creek is due to the ignorance and lack of care for this landscape.

If people like Renata and others can stop the public from hurting the creek, it can certainly be brought to its full potential.

Visiting the creek many areas are fenced off from pedestrians who may like to use this area or get closer to a water source. Kraft believed this area to be fenced off due to construction. The City of Buffalo is currently working on cleaning up the Riverwalk pathway at the site. The project should be done later this year. However, there is a small fenced-in future park at the spur of the creek. The Waterkeepers Organization worked with the Buffalo Niagara Land Trust to create a small park on Niagara Street by the spur. The area went through a brownfield contamination remediation process. This allows the land to be put to use in the future. Unfortunately, they aren’t allowing anyone in this area until they have dredged the spur.

Having this small project at the mouth of the creek is certainly a step in the right direction. By being able to create a small walk through the park along the water will Pg. Pg.502

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bring the mouth of the creek back to life. Although there is a lot of work that needs to be done to the creek itself, this riverside path provides an opportunity for the creek to be great again. Additionally, the small park on Niagara Street is very close to this site.

So, being able to use this remediated area and connecting it with the existing area near the mouth can create a lively park for Buffalo’s west side community.

The I-90 and 198 have greatly influenced the ground underneath and the water itself. After talking with Kraft about the Waterkeeper’s plans for improving this she discussed similar concerns from others. Many different companies that have the same views on this issue have formed a coalition called, The Scajaquada Corridor Coalition.

As a collective organization, they are pushing to see the 198 removed along the waterfront. However, the organization is not collectively there yet. It will have to be a step by step process to get to the point where the 198 can be removed. One way of having this happen is the movement to try to regain the second rail lines. This creates a commuter train for people to move from Toronto to Salamanca, with stops wherever along the way. This can be a way to eliminate the 198 in our desired area.

Near the mouth, there is the pathway that just ends along the canal. There is a project called the Black Rock Canal Promenade which is a proposal to extend this pathway all along the Canal. Transportation is a major contributor to the problems with the Scajaquada Creek, especially at the mouth. The two major highways cover the entire site. All the surrounding land has been deemed useless because of how much space the major roadways take up. By being able to remove the 198, the space can then be utilized much more efficiently. Turning over to alternative modes of transportation can also help mediate the removal of the major highway. If they can be removed in the future, the opportunities for the land use surrounding the mouth of the creek become endless.

Another major concern with the site is land usage and abundant vacancies.

Kraft mentioned the width of the creek in the 1800s. The Watchkeeper’s Organization would widen the creek where appropriate. We would make the width of the creek, plus the 150-200 ft buffer along either side. Once the creek is widened and the buffer is put in, the green space can be developed. We want to see the vibrancy presented in places like Canal side replicated along the river. The entire west side has no pocket parks, so by improving the creek, it opens up the opportunity for pocket parks along the creek. First, vacant buildings surrounding the site are extremely important. These buildings can either be knocked down and space can be created for green space; or, these buildings could be revitalized. The mouth of the creek has a lot of surrounding vacancies that can be utilized much better than they are currently. By being able to prioritize this land and use it for the creek will impact the health of the creek as a whole.

The widened creek supported a dredged-out section for shipbuilding during the war. The mouth of the creek can be significantly wider. Additionally, if the I-190 is Pg. 3Pg. 51

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removed it can be opened up even further. At the mouth, we want no embankment, all bridge sections, or just take out the I-190 entirely. All of these can allow for the mouth of the creek to be significantly widened. The new outlet and the old outlet could both be restored and eventually put to proper use along the creek. The widened creek is one of the first steps in improving the overall health of this creek. Aside from cleaning up the whole creek, widening it will greatly improve its flow and its health. The vacant space talked about in question 4 could be utilized to widen this creek. The widened creek is the source of solving the problems not only at the mouth but the entire creek.

The removal of these major highways will also allow for the open space to widen the creek.

Interviewing Mary Ann Kedron Mary Ann Kedron is the head of the Black Rock Riverside Alliance. She is also a part of the Scajaquada Corridor Coalition (SSC). Kedron works with members of many different organizations to attempt to make the creek as it was historically.

The SCC works to restore the creek and remove the 198. The BRR Alliance has a much more inclusive role of quality of life for the Northwest Buffalo communities. The coalition is a loose group of people who have come together over the past 4 years with the same goal. The group collectively has people from 12 different organizations. This is relevant to our discussion of the site because the coalition that Kedron is a part of has a primary focus on our area. These kinds of groups are what the City of Buffalo is focusing on to improve Buffalo as a city. It is important to have different people from different disciplines to be able to discuss and evaluate a potential end goal for a site.

Kedron explains a little bit about what the site was like before the construction of the major highways occurred. First, she said depends where you look. Delaware Park was a lovely Olmsted Park. The area from Elmwood to grant was park and creek with the Richardson complex. Before Buffalo State College was built, the section from Grant to Niagara was both industrial and historic and linked to shipbuilding and the Erie Canal. Historically, this was the site for the commodore Perry shipbuilding site. The site used to be much larger, the ships could be brought through there. This brought industrialization because of the access to flowing water. With all the sediment dumping and the narrowing of the creek, it has become what it is today.

Additionally, from Elmwood to Grant street, Buffalo State didn’t exist. That property was much greener and lent itself to walking paths and things like that. This brief history of the mouth is important to understand. To be able to restore the creek to what it used to be it is imperative to understand what the creek used to be. If the community surrounding the mouth can imagine the creek as it was in the 50s and 60s, it can be recreated and modernized to fit properly into the community.

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work by DEC, waterkeeper, etc. including dredging and invasive species remediation and bank restoration. A key piece is restoring the size of the creek to its original width.

This information is important because it is one of the many steps that can be taken to clean up this creek. Since the creek has been narrowed for so long it is a major challenge to clear the space to widen and clean the creek. However, with the right steps taken this goal can be achieved, and the Scajaquada creek can be as great as it was in the 50s and 60s.

The Niagara River is home to a wide variety of species of fish such as bass, pike, shiners, and many more. The Niagara River Corridor also hosts a remarkable diversity and abundance of waterfowl from all over the world, as they use it as a migration pathway. It is important to understand native species to the area, as the various flora and fauna are a major contributor to maintaining a healthy environment. Also, knowing the animals that are native to this area can give planners and idea of what native plant species to plant went remediating the creek. Being able to plant these plants will bring these species back to this area and eventually bring it back to life.

3.Ecology___________________________________________________________________________________ Soil, shorelines, vegetation, and wildlife are all factors of ecology chosen to be researched because they each provide insight to each facet of the creek. Exploring these factors of ecology is done through a comparison of the past and the existing conditions. The most concerning issue and controlling factor that has changed the ecology of the creek is the large amounts of pollution. While much of this pollution can be attributed to automobiles and the waste they produce in this environment, there are also other pollutants such as the industrial sites, and everyday trash left by humans. These pollutants are drastically changing the soils, shorelines, vegetation, and wildlife. While pollution is very concerning it is important to remember that between sewer outfalls and urban storm water runoff, human interactions with the environment are largely what is causing this pollution.

Soil Analysis The soil is a base for Scajaquada Creek. Over time the soil in and around the creek has been severely polluted. This has led to a change in the soil conditions which affect many other aspects of the creek. Like vegetation and therefore wildlife. The soil is important to keep healthy in any ecological system.

The Creek begins with rather clean water where it begins in Lancaster but as it moves along it slowly gets more and more polluted. Near Walden Galleria is where it becomes a problem as it is mixed with polluted runoff, storm water, and sewer overflows. The main problem and cause of pollution in the creek is from the Buffalo Pg. 3Pg. 53

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and Cheektowaga sewer systems when they spew raw sewage into the creek during large storms. This has resulted in the creek bottom having a thick layer of black foulsmelling muck. The Buffalo Sewer Authority is currently attempting to upgrade its sewer system to help combat the sewage overflows while the Waterkeeper group focuses on restoring the environment and ecology.

In the past, the soil conditions of Scajaquada Creek were much more organic.

The soil primarily consisted of dolostone and shale formed over 400 million years ago.

The soils are very poorly drained giving them a seasonably high-water table according to the Scajaquada watershed plan. The soil primarily consisted of wetlands until the urban development disrupted this giving the soil a new classification of urban soils.

The 1986 Erie County Soil Survey shows the increased wetland distribution within the area.

The various pollutants have drastically changed the soil conditions. The trash left behind by humans is harmful when animals get caught in it, try to eat it or certain chemicals seep into the soil.

While trash is causing these harmful effects on the ecology it is also unsightly to look at for visitors making this destination unappealing.

Another issue faced at the Figure 5.7: Chart measuring E-coli outbreaks mouth of the creek is the debris that is often pushed upstream by opposing currents of the Niagara River.

This debris can be harmful when it blocks the river up because it can cause more flooding. In Figure 5.7, the Measurements of E-Coli can be seen. Most notably that near Black Rock Canal where Scajaquada Creek empties into has a high count. E-Coli is a bacterium often found in fecal matter and contaminates the water supply. From this graph, it is easy to observe that the pollution has drastically increased even throughout the year.

Today the soil conditions are very different than what existed previously. In Figure 5.8, a section view showing the soil conditions can be seen, including the black foul-smelling muck found in the creek. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the existing soils contain a tell silt loam. This means that they are poorly drained, slightly acidic but mostly neutral, and formed in deposits of limestone, shale, and sandstone.

The most notable thing that the Army Corps of Engineers studied was that the Scajaquada Creek is that the creek is located on a flood plain and often faces severe Pg. Pg.542

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floods in the spring.

Figure 5.8: Created by Claudia Savoy

Shoreline Analysis Humans have greatly impacted the shorelines of Scajaquada Creek which can be seen in various images in this research. Before 1922, the creek emerged from a spring and developed through wetlands forming a very natural shaped shoreline. As most of the creek has been buried underground due to urbanization and pollution the shorelines have been drastically changing. The force underground is part of what caused the drastic sewer and storm water problems.

In the study area the creek is above ground however is anything but natural which can be seen in Figure 5.9. The industrial area and the shape of transportation around the mouth has caused the shorelines to decay. While this shape is causing problems with water flow, vegetation, and wildlife the naturalization of the shorelines can help improve all of thes e conditions. The Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper organization is working to do this for certain areas of the Scajaquada Creek, however, currently not the mouth. Figure 5.9: Scajaquada Creek Mouth, Photo by Nicholas Sapone

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Vegetation Analysis The Scajaquada Creek spans very far, from Lancaster to Black Rock. The topography of the land surrounding the creek is relatively flat. The soils along the creek are somewhat disturbed due to development, these soils are called urban soils.

However, there are small pockets along the creek where the soil is undisturbed and could be used to plant native plant species. Unfortunately, the Scajaquada Creek does not have a strong presence of healthy vegetation. Although there is plenty of vegetation along the creek, the plants are dead and not very appealing.

Looking at photos of the creek, Figure 5.10, it can be seen that historically the vegetation was much more prominent. The creek was vibrant with healthy full vegetation.

Today, some of that vegetation is still present but not nearly as healthy and rather thin.

There are many healthy trees around the creek today although they are focused where a pedestrian may be. There are various types of grasses, shrubs, and wildflowers along the edge of the creek. These native plants allow Figure 5.10: Historic Scajaquada Creek for a stronger creek bank and help prevent erosion. However, over many years these trees along the bank now have exposed roots.

The vegetation that exists today is similar to that of the historic creek. Some of the vegetation found around the creek today include Black-Eyed Susan, Alfalfa, Smaller Hop Clover (figure 5.11), Rice Cutgrass, and Reed Canary grass.

However, due to the lack of maintenance, and mass pollution the quality and quantity of these plants have slowly declined.

Wildlife Analysis Figure 5.11: Scajaquada Creek Vegetation By definition, wildlife means wild animals collectively; the native fauna of a region. It is important to study the wildlife of the selected site as the wildlife holds a large impact on the ecology and environment of the site. Having a large range of wildlife can either enhance the location, by creating natural habitats for the animals and give the site character and stronger natural features. However, having a large range of wildlife can also detract the Pg. Pg.562

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location, as it depends on the wildlife that inhabit there. If the wildlife is dangerous and not watched carefully the site can lose its appeal to the public as it becomes unsafe. Taking a deeper look into the wildlife that resides and inhabits at the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek is essential when making a profile for the site.

Although there is a variety of wildlife that live and can be found at the site today, as mentioned in the interview with Mary Ann Kedron, there is still a limited variety that could potentially be there, due to the construction of the expressways and the poor quality of the site today. As previously stated, the creek is infiltrated with a large amount of sewage, therefore destroying many miles of the wetlands. The sewage then backs up at the mouth of the creek and limits the freshwater that is available for different animal species. Warm water temperatures are killing species and making the creek inhabitable to many native species. The animals that do choose to inhabit the environment are animals that can handle the dirt and pollutants. The Aquatic life is greatly limited due to low dissolved oxygen, nutrients, silt, and sediment according to the Buffalo Niagara Water Keeper organization.

Currently, as stated in Buffalo and Niagara Rivers Habitat Assessment and Conservation Framework, the Scajaquada Creek mouth is a marsh that would have assumingly supported all the historical upper Niagara bird and fish species. When construction of the 4 miles of tunneling and 5 miles of channelization started, they were very extensive, causing Figure 5.12: Finger dam for the wildlife to become severely limited and depopulated. A finger dam, as seen in Figure XX, is a mile upstream of the Scajaquada Creeks mouth blocks all fish migration, causing a severely low number of fishes with the creek itself, but a variety of fish within the Black Rock Canal. Snapping turtles, beavers, heron, and mink can be seen at the location. Today, strides are trying to be made to make the water clean again and to bring back wildlife and character to the site.

4. Environment____________________________________________________________________________ An environment is always changing to support what the needs ecological needs.

This is how sites evolve to become habitable for all species. However, in this case, Pg. 3Pg. 57

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human interaction is affecting the environment so drastically the environment isn’t getting the chance to bounce back. As previously seen in the ecology analysis many aspects of the environment are dying. The environmental factors of land usage and transportation are key to understanding how the existing conditions of the site have evolved over the years. Similarly, to the ecology, this exploration will be done through a comparison between the past and the present.

Land Usage Understanding the history of land usage surrounding Scajaquada Creek is essential in analyzing the area’s current conditions, as well as information that could influence decisions on future projects. The pollution that is leaked from various industrial sites, motor vehicle sites, residential areas, and vacancies.

In Figure 5.13, a map showing the current land usage of the study area. The information for this land usage map was gathered from the Scajaquada Creek Watershed Management Plan. As seen in the map the majority of the surrounding area is made up of industrial sites, vacant land, and parking. There is a clear pattern of these sites producing wastes that may be harmful to the environment and their location on the waterfront of the creek.

Industrial sites are a large problem because they are altering chemical compositions and therefore the natural environment. They create large impervious surfaces like parking lots. Some of the industrial sites can be seen next to the creek in Figure 5.13. They also affect the storm water runoff with various chemicals or materials like high nitrate levels or phosphor levels Pg. Pg.582

Figure 5.13: Land usage map. Created by Claudia Savoy

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and grease in waste streams. These human interactions with the environments are causing extremely damaging effects.

Vacancies also cause problems in an area like this. The creek was originally narrowed due to urban development as previously mentioned. However today there are many vacancies located along the river. According to Renata Kraft, the Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper Organization is looking to expand the creek where possible in these vacant sites. This will provide the opportunity to restore some of the natural wetlands. This is one large opportunity to increase the creek’s ecological health however before this occurs other steps must happen to restore hydrology.

It is also important to note the amount of residential area that is located just outside the large industrial sites. This largely residential neighborhood located near the creek and may appear less harmful but still causes damages to the creek. These include pollutants from increased road salts, fertilizers, and other similar materials.

This population density is affecting the creek in a manner other than the narrowing shape.

The urban interactions and their land usage are destroying the natural habitats of the area which in turn limits the vegetation and wildlife. The reduction of the parking, land vacancies, and industrial areas will help reduce the pollution the is put into the environment and changing the ecology.

Transportation Because the site is at the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek, it has a unique location of being placed right under the I-190 and the NY 198. As the creation of both these highways promised better, easier, and faster driving routes, they destroyed Buffalo’s waterfront property and views, along with Olmsted’s Park design. Specifically, the result of the I-190 disrupted the connection between Black Rock, the riverside, and the Niagara River. As well as the NY 198 disconnecting Buffalo’s famous Olmsted Park and Parkway System.

The I-190 is an interstate highway that connects Buffalo with the Canadian borders that were completed in 1957. The interstate starts in Cheektowaga, just north of the West Seneca town line and passes through the downtown area before rejoining and running parallel to the I-290 and the NY 324, ending in Lewiston, NY, with access to the Canadian Border. When the I-190 enters through Tonawanda, it follows along the edge of the Black Rock Canal, passing over the site of the former Black Rock toll barrier. The highway also creates an exit with the Scajaquada Expressway, which is close to the said site.

The NY 198, also known as the Scajaquada Expressway is a state highway running completely within the Buffalo city limits and was completed in 1961. The expressway connects the I-190 in the Black Rock neighborhood to the NY 33, also known as the

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Kensington Expressway. The NY 198 is a four landed highway with a speed of 30 mph, due to a tragic accident, as the highway runs through Delaware Park. Below in Figure 5.14 & 5.15, is a side by side of Delaware Park in 1940 and in 2013, showing the disconnect created by the NY 198. Due to this location of the NY 198, a lot of conflicts have arisen and restoring or rerouting has been a topic of discussion for many years now.

Figure 5.14: Delaware Park 1940

Figure 5.15: Delaware Park 2013

Back in the 1940s and 1950s, transportation by automobile was a new and exciting activity, thus making the highway seem very appealing. Today, as C02 levels rise and damage the planet, people have been more aware of the damaging factors that come with using cars and other automobiles and have found other means of transportation. Specifically, these two highways have made a mess of our waterfront views and properties, especially potential parks and waterfront paths. Nowadays, residents and visitors look for clean outside spaces and the Scajaquada Creek, despite other disrupting features, could be an area for that.

Focusing on transportation around the site of the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek is important when creating a profile to address current problems and solutions. With the location being placed directly under where both highways converge causes for obvious loud traffic noises and many pollutants that are carried into the site, making it unappealing to the users and visitors. A current view of the site under the highways is shown in Figure 5.16. As mentioned within the Site Visit section, the highways create unnecessary noise. Having highways in such close proximity of pedestrians can also cause a sense of uncertainty and unsafety. The highways are elevated above the site, which creates space for illegal activity, such as graffiti and drug use. Another influence that highways include is emissions of large amounts of pollutants into the air, directly into a space that could potentially be used for people, and currently has a walking path around it. Having the I-190 and NY 198 run along the Black Rock Canal and over the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek has created a dangerous and unwelcoming space at the beginning of the Scajaquada Creek.

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Figure 5.16: Current view at the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek including I-190 & NY 198

5.Improvements___________________________________________________________________________ After analyzing the ecology and the environment of the focus area of Scajaquada Creek it was clear that the pollution and human interactions with the creek and surrounding area have caused a lot of damage. This damage includes polluted waters from lack of better sewage and storm water systems, thinning of the sides of the creek, and building of the I-190 and NYS 198 due to human interaction and activity. The suggested improvements and fixes are reasonable steps to attract more people back Pg. 3Pg. 61

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to the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek, a place that is filled with a lot of history and character.

The most important improvement to bring pedestrian life to Scajaquada Creek is cleaning and filtering the water supply. With the help of the United States Army Corps, the water should be able to be cleaned out for it to be used properly and safely by humans and wildlife. This would allow for pedestrian water usages such as kayaking and possible shoreline fishing after a natural habit is formed with a wider array of wildlife. In order to restore the creeks water, dredging will need to be performed along with creating a separate sewer and storm water system. Buffalo currently has a combined sewer and storm water system but a new separated system will drastically cut back the Figure 5.17: Sewer systems contamination of the two. In Figure 5.17 an example of this can be seen. Along with these large-scale steps to clean the creek a few small-scale steps need to be taken as well. Picking up litter and garbage will result in a more sustainable and odorless environment, which will draw a bigger appeal to users.

The next improvement is widening the creek back to its original size. This can be done while also decreasing the amount of vacant land that resides around the creek. By expanding the creek where there are empty lots or vacancies may allow for this widening. This will also aid in creating a more natural shoreline. As mentioned in the interview with Renata Kraft, “The widened creek supported a dredged-out section for shipbuilding during the war.� By widening the creek, the creek will gain the natural flow and health it once had, which will also help in keeping the water fresh and clean. This will also aid in the process of getting human interaction and activity back to the creek by creating more space for users. In addition to repurposing the vacant land around the creek, the industrial areas will have more restrictions as well.

By implementing various forms of Green Infrastructure such as permeable pavements pollutants will be less likely to be washed into the creek during a storm.

The last improvement, a little more intensive, is removing and rerouting the I-190 and NYS 198 to allow direct sunlight onto the site. Creating a space away from the highway and vehicular traffic will allow a safer, quieter, healthier, and odorless space for pedestrians and wildlife. Safer and healthier regarding, less pollution Pg. Pg.622

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and more distance away from high-speed vehicles. Along with the removal will be potentially opening the creek up to the sunlight and less illegal activity also allowing more wildlife and vegetation to grow. This will also leave more room for other spaces that could potentially benefit the park and the surrounding community.

6. The Creek________________________________________________________________________________ In conclusion, based on the environment and ecology, the Scajaquada Creek is a monumental site within Buffalo, NY as is it a key element in representing the historic past and optimistic future. Through multiple site visits, interviews conducted with local professionals, and personal research including soil analysis, shoreline analysis, vegetation analysis, and wildlife analysis, a present profile of the site is established within this paper. Concentrating on the location from the mouth of the Black Rock Chanel to the Grant Street Bridge has intensified the results of our research and selfobservation, thus creating a more detailed, small-scaled profile and understanding of the Scajaquada Creek.

After completing research, it was identified that lack of clean water and the disruption of the I-190 and NY 198, have been the biggest factors in disturbing the area for users and wildlife. These influences are essential to redesign and restore if change and improvement is wanted to happen at this site. Other impacts to the site were explored through environmental components, such as land use and site analysis, giving results to the shape, function, and experience of the site, further answering why there is a lack of users.

Through the research provided within this paper, it is proven that the Scajaquada Creek needs drastic improvements in the direction of restoring the pollution and damage created by human interaction surrounding this site. A profile of the existing conditions of Scajaquada Creek has been designed to determine possible improvements of the site.

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Chapter VI

Elmwood Avenue The Arts & Culture

Authors Malcom Ahmad, Cameron Hall

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As many know, Elmwood Village district is home to many exciting and impressive attributes of Buffalo. The Elmwood Village district is made up of familyowned restaurants, beautifully designed murals, and large parks. These different components connect the life of Elmwood Village and allow the people within this neighborhood to enjoy the amenities offered. Elmwood Village is considered a onestop shop and allows its residents to enjoy themselves no matter the occasion.

Located within the Elmwood Village district is the Buffalo History Museum, Burchfield Penney Art Gallery, and Albright-Knox Art Gallery. These museums are located within this district and add to the authenticity and character of the community. Along with the museum’s visitors are able to find Hoyt Lake and the Japanese Garden. The development of the Elmwood Village and how it is able to coexist with the environment is extraordinary. The Elwood Village district has been around for many years and continues to grow and expand as time passes.

In order to show the correlation between the development of Elmwood Village and the surrounding lakes, this report will analyze the design of the existing museums.

This chapter focuses on the architecture of the three museums and how each was carefully constructed around the surrounding lakes. Focusing on how the architects built the three museums will show the importance of a well-designed building against natural constraints while also highlighting special architecture practices.

This research paper analyzes how the Elmwood Village Art District has continued to grow and promote different concepts of art throughout time. Along with the Elmwood Village District, the study of three museums that can be found within this community while also examining how each museum is specifically orientated and placed in its specific location will be examined. By providing the history of the three museums this research will provide necessary background information of these three locations allowing a reader to establish a connection between the initial design of the museums to current conditions. This research also focus on how the Elmwood Village District community continues to coexist with the Museums as well. By studying the Elmwood Village District this research paper will be able to display the many familyowned storefronts that add to the surrounding community. Overall, diving into the many different components that have created the Elmwood Village District from local stores, murals, and art museums will show the necessary elements needed to successfully create a people-centered design for the surrounding community.

1. History of Elmwood Village & Growth_______________________________________________ Located in the central part of the City, is one of Buffalo’s premier urban/mixused neighborhoods, Elmwood Village. Dating back to Joseph Ellicott’s 1804 plan for the city of Buffalo, New York; this neighborhood is the product of two centuries of strategic planning, in efforts to cultivate the intricate urban, economic and cultural Pg. Pg.662

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community that is present today. The park and parkway system conceived by Fredrick Law Olmsted in 1868, provided a strong foundation for the building and development of the rich community of Elmwood Village. The Village also features Bidwell Parkway, Lincoln Parkway, Soldier’s Circle as well as Chapin Parkway. These tree-lined, utopian streets provided prime real estate for well-renowned architects such as H.H. Richardson (Buffalo State Hospital), Frank Lloyd Wright (William Heath House), Eliel and Eero Saarinen (Kleinhans Music Hall) and E.B. Green (Albright Knox Art Gallery) to adorn the community with timeless contributions of residential and institutional architecture.

Despite these contributions, many residents of the Elmwood Village would migrate to suburbia in the latter half of the 1900s. This would lead to businesses along Elmwood Avenue to close down due to the lack of business. As this area is the focal point of the community’s commerce this would be influential for the community.

However, that would not be the end of the story for Elmwood Village. During the 1980s and early 1990s, low-renting opportunities would attract small retailers and college bars, fueling a slow resurgence of the community.

The nonprofit Elmwood Village Association was formed in 1994, in an effort to encourage economic and cultural renaissance; membership was drawn from residential and business sectors. Following the blueprint of the founders of the once great community, the association would use strategic planning to revitalize the neighborhood. One strategy deployed was the narrowing of Elmwood Avenue and the widening of its sidewalks to emphasize walkways and pedestrians rather than the roads and vehicles. Elmwood Avenue businesses rely on foot-traffic because strategies like this maximize the streetscape and have had a positive influence on the promotion of entertainment venues, small shops, and restaurants along the strip. The Elmwood Village community has adopted other guidelines that have resulted in mixused structures that are built up to the street and maintain the rich character of the community. Presently, the neighborhood has been built up and revitalized providing support for local businesses and residents without losing the richness of its historic past. Elmwood Village, acts as the hub of Buffalo’s Art District, hosting local events in the community that feature concerts and festivals.

The Elmwood Village/Art District of Buffalo is host to a rich history in art and architecture, as exemplified in the Buffalo History Museum, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, and the Albright Knox Art Gallery. These prestigious buildings, rich in history and culture act as beacons that house and promote local events, attracting people and businesses to the Elmwood Village.

Located at 1 Museum Court, in the northwestern part of Delaware Park is the Buffalo History Museum. The origin of this museum dates back to 1862 when an inspired group of history makers founded the Buffalo Historical Society (later renamed the Erie County Historical Society in 1960, rebranded once more in 2012 to be now Pg. 3Pg. 67

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known as the Buffalo History Museum), headed by their first president, Millard Fillmore. In 1901, a Buffalo native by the name of George Cary was selected to design the New York State Building for the Pan-American Exposition; the building was intended to be the only permanent structure designed for the exposition. The museum would become a designated National Historic Landmark in 1987. The building is situated parallel to Hoyt Lake with its front entrance oriented in the northwest direction, facing Nottingham Terrace and the rear side of the building facing southeast, overlooking the Jesse Kregel Pathway and Hoyt Lake. The backside of the building features a portico meant to evoke the Parthenon of Athens, Greece. The portico also features a pediment sculpted by Edmond Amateis that depicts figures in the nude, half nude, and fully clothed in garments.

The Burchfield Penney Art Center is an arts center located in Elmwood Village, figure 6.1. First founded in 1966 in dedication to well-known American painter and artist, Charles E. Burchfield; the art center is affiliated with Buffalo State College as an arts and educational institution. The opening of the first exhibit was held in Buffalo State College’s Rockwell Hall and would be moved to the corner of Elmwood Avenue and Rockwell Road in November of 2008.

Just one month and a day after the opening of the arts center, Charles E. Burchfield passed away. The new Figure 6.1: The Burchfield Penney Art Center facility is an 84,000 square foot work of architecture designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects that creates a dramatic aesthetic statement with its carefully selected materials and color pallet. The building features zinc panels with manganese brick and cast stone intended to respond directly to the adjacent AlbrightKnox Art Gallery, Figure 6.2, and Buffalo State’s Rockwell Hall as ‘contextual’ precedents. The Burchfield Penney would receive additions and expansions to its facilities overthe years, one of them being the ‘Front Yard’ exhibit.

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Figure 6.2: Albright-Knox Gallery

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situated on the corner of Elmwood Ave and Rockwell Road which features three tall steel projectors which project constantly changing artwork onto the exterior of the building. This exhibit acts a year-round art exhibit to the community, as dynamic as the change of the seasons. With design contributions from the artist, Brian Millbrand and architect Brad Wales, its intent was to be unique and inviting to the community.

Burchfield’s passion for art is carried on by the museum and its sponsorship for the Elmwood Village Community’s body of contemporary artists and events. The arts center holds the largest collection in the world of Burchfield’s work, along with Burchfield, the art center features work from other Western New York natives.

Located at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, in Delaware Park, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery was founded in 1862 as the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, headed by former president Millard Fillmore and incorporators, the organization wanted to establish a permanent art gallery. The organization operated out of several temporary locations up until the early parts of the 20th century, where donor John J. Albright donated funds to build the organization’s first permanent location. The building would be designed by Edward B. Green, and was to be situated in Delaware Park with the intent that it would serve as the Fine Arts Pavilion of the 1901 Pan American Exposition; however, construction would be delayed and the building would be dedicated in 1905. Clifton Hall, another building on the museum’s campus, was designed in 1920

by Edward B. Green as the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. The building’s final design was not achieved at this location, it became the Buffalo Museum of Science on Humboldt Parkway, Figure 6.3. In 1929, the building became known as the Albright Art School, and two additional wings would be added in 1938 and 1945. Ownership of Clifton Hall was transferred to Buffalo State College in 1959 and back to Albright-Knox in 1988, today it holds staff offices. In 1962, the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy received a new addition designed by Gordon Bunshaft (SOM Architects) and funded by Seymour H. Knox, his family, and other donors. The Museum was rebranded as the AlbrightKnox Art Gallery, opening in January 1962 and was enlisted in the National Register of Historic Places. The building is situated with its longitudinal axis parallel to Elmwood Avenue, with the front entrance facing the Burchfield Penney and the Buffalo State campus. The rear side of the building overlooks the edge of Hoyt Lake with a statue situated along the drive of Lincoln Parkway. Also, within walking distance is the terrace at Delaware Park, a restaurant, and the Rose Garden. In 2012-2013, architectural firm Snohetta created a master plan for growth that proposed several approaches to expansion. OMA was selected Figure 6.3: Buffalo Museum of Science

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in 2016 to expand and refurbish the campus. The museum is currently closed and set to reopen in 2022 as the Buffalo Albright-Knox Gallery Art Museum.

2. How the Museums Add to the Elmwood District____________________________________ The Elmwood Village district incorporates numerous concepts of art and creativity while also allowing the surrounding community to coexist within the given space. The Elmwood Village District is home to many pieces of art and design that range from thoughtfully designed murals to beautifully crafted statues. Within this district, you can find many local family-owned storefronts that help attract pedestrians. These storefronts entice the surrounding community and allow people to have a reason to leave their vehicles and explore the area.

This increase in pedestrian traffic allows for a safer community with eyes constantly on the street and consistent foot traffic from residents. With this increase in the amount of foot traffic residents are free to enjoy the many elements of art and design that the Elmwood Village District offers. The incorporation of the Buffalo History Museum, Burchfield Penney Art Gallery, and Albright Knox Gallery have allowed the concept of art to grow and thrive. These three museums help promote the thoughts of creativity and art throughout the district.

They can also coexist perfectly within the district without overpowering or demanding attention from the other works of art that can be found. All three museums can be found relatively close to each other Figure 6.4:Museum Orientation Diagram within the Elmwood District.

The Albright Knox Art Gallery is located across the street from the Burchfield Penney Art Center while the Buffalo History Museum is located about 0.4 miles away from both museums. The distance between the Buffalo History Museum and the other two museums is only about a 9-minute walk. While analyzing how the museums were designed along Elmwood it is interesting to see how they were placed just a short distance apart from each other. Their placement is what encourages pedestrians to commute to each museum by walking and allows them to get out of their vehicles. In figure 6.4 the pedestrian oriented design is clear. The distance of the three museums combined with the beautiful views of the Japanese Garden and Hoyt Lake, figure XX, help promote a people-centered design and increase pedestrian commute.

The orientation of the buildings also stands out when you view them as well.

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Each museum is orientated to help coexist with Elmwood Avenue, and Hoyt Lake.

The museums were designed to face the busy streets of Elmwood Ave and grab the attention of anyone driving. Along with Elmwood Ave the museums also coexist very well with the Scajaquada expressway as it cuts right through Elmwood village. It is almost as if the museums were orientated to be showcased to the public’s eye. All three museums can be seen either from driving down the Scajaquada Expressway or Elmwood Ave and each view displays just enough of an introduction of each museum to grab the eye of a commuter.

3. Interpretation of Presented Information____________________________________________ Elmwood Village District is home to many creative works of art and events that help add to the surrounding community. This district does more than just display creativity, it is also able to bring families and communities together in one central place to enjoy themselves. Elmwood village is a living example of an exceptional and successful people-centered design. Having the ability to bring people to this area with the use of parks, nice views, and art are what allows this component of Buffalo to continue to grow and expand throughout time. The Elmwood Ave area was named one of the top ten great neighborhoods in America by the APA (American Planning Association) for its vitality, broad spectrum of cultural and social assets, and its commitment to maintaining high community standards while solving real problems.

With the help of the Buffalo History Museum, Burchfield Penney Art Gallery, and Albright Knox Gallery this area could home in on its concepts of art. These three museums can add a sense of a natural aesthetic to the area while also continuing to promote creativity and design.

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Chapter VII

Hoyt Lake, Mirror Lake & The Japanese Garden

Authors Viraja Bhasae, Jeremy Charles, Shameeq Willis

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The landscape design of Scajaquada Creek is both gorgeous and unique. The design gives an appreciation to the lakes, as the design quality is like no other. The impact and influence that water has, plays an immense role in life; as it determines the overall quality of an environment. From the Forest Lawn Cemetery to the Hoyt Lake, to the Japanese Garden, each place is influenced by the quality of water. These locations give a joyful feeling, as they have a sense of beauty that’s not seen in many other public spaces. For Instance, how does location influence water? How could you possibly measure or assess the quality of public parks? In detail, how does water affect the parks? These questions will each be answered soundly through a thorough examination of their locations and features attributed along with them. Moreover, we can begin to understand why people continue to flock towards those locations. The Hoyt Lake and Japanese Garden are two of the most popular lakes in Buffalo, NY. The quality of landscape designs of these lakes is a huge factor in why they are still, very popular.

1.Water_____________________________________________________________________________________ Water has always played an important role in urban development. It has been grabbing the attention of many architects and landscape architects who know the value and the potential a watercourse carries within the urban interior. Water is a fine element and designers love to incorporate it and do creative things with it. It is not only a decorative element but water in a public space performs other important functions and also benefits social aspects. Historically, human settlements depended on sustenance and relied on no steady settlement until they learned about agriculture and domesticating animals. A water body was the only way in the otherwise impenetrable land. Later used for trade pathways and shipping of cargos to different parts of cities and the world. Soon with industrialization flooding into cities, the life of citizens demanded new ways of using open public spaces. The urban life soon formed a pattern consisting of the interconnected surrounding landscape with orchard circles. Water has become an integral part of the public space of the city and the embankments have become the centers of social life and an opportunity to interact with nature. Urban locations with watercourses have become very attractive and also adds to the aesthetic and functional aspects of the city and public spaces. One can identify an area by the water element which imprints the environment in which it occurs a distinctive expression. Watercourses give aesthetics to a space creating several opportunities for some unique views.

One of the many things that make Forest Lawn such a precious asset to this community is our incredible landscape. And one of its most distinguishing features is the water that flows within our gates – the lakes, streams, and the creek that runs through Forest Lawn. Scajaquada Creek, which daylights in Forest Lawn and meanders Pg. Pg.742

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through it, is part of the Niagara River watershed, making it one of the region’s most threatened waterways, as decades of land use development, urban pollution, combined sewer overflows and other human disturbances have taken a significant toll on the creek, reducing water quality and damaging the health of the ecosystem. The good news is that through a unique partnership between Forest Lawn, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, and the Buffalo Sewer Authority.

Figure 7.1: Forest Lawn Cemetary, drawn by Viraja Bhasae, Jeremy Charles, Shameeq Willis

The creek restoration work also provides an opportunity for us to enhance certain areas in Forest Lawn - restoring the landscape in these areas to its original design, based on a comprehensive and strategic Landscape Renewal Plan, which will provide local, national and international visitors with an even greater, more unique experience, and make one of Western New York’s most precious cultural assets even more valuable. Included in that work is the dredging of Mirror Lake. The Lake has been drained for the first time since 1973 when it was done to install the Three Graces statue. It is anticipated that the work in Mirror Lake will be completed in the late spring/early summer of this year, while the rest of the Scajaquada Creek restoration project will likely be wrapped up by the summer of 2018.

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Figure 7.2: Hoyt Lake, drawn by Viraja Bhasae, Jeremy Charles, Shameeq Willis

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Figure 7.3: The Japanese Garden, drawn by Viraja Bhasae, Jeremy Charles,

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2.

As a result of this research and examination, the conclusions drawn were that water attracts people and people bring life or interactions that can be made from human to human or through interactions communicating with nature. Thus, allowing people to form deeper relations and form a grander connection with the beautiful environment presented. Now with the location of water in mind, one can predict services to be located together and aligned with bodies of water; to benefit off its potential uses and attraction. From this, you can come to a general conclusion, by which one can associate the location of dense populations to be located near a body of water or have higher accessibility to water. Hoyt Lake, Forest Lawn Cemetery, and the Japanese Garden are each placed by some mass of water and with that in mind, you can understand that people will naturally come onto or be drawn to them. The parks, facilities, and/or services placed around water will only be enhanced overall due to the attraction bodies of water have on us. This leads us to understand that yes, every living thing needs water to grow and survive, but also that where there’s water one can also find life.

Figure 7.4: Virtual illustation of Hoyte Lake, created by Viraja Bhasae, Jeremy Charles, Shameeq Willis

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Chapter VIII

The Stakeholders: Buffalo State & Richardson

Authors Patrick Delgobbo, Brian Farrell, Katherine Lewis

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Throughout Buffalo’s rich history as an innovative city, we take the time to analyze the cities’ accomplished built success that put Buffalo on the map and the natural wonders that set this great city apart from others. Scajaquada Creek, which meanders through Buffalo, crossing paths with the Erie Canal and which later empties into the Niagara River defines a very large part of the suburbs of Buffalo. The creek, one of the oldest natural sources of water in the Buffalo area has undergone tremendous change as the city developed. Many neighborhoods and institutions across Western New York have turned a blind eye to the existence of the Scajaquada.

These institutions have developed the land near and which it flows through, causing major problems for the natural health of the creek. As for the communities within the Northernmost Elmwood Villages, many have decided to take a move in the right direction to help preserve and rehabilitate Scajaquada Creek and its natural environment.

1. Buffalo State College___________________________________________________________________ Buffalo State College is one of many institutions that comes in contact with Scajaquada Creek, founded in 1871, originally named Buffalo Normal School for education majors. In figure 8.1 Buffalo State College can be seen. The decision for its location was based on the evergrowing student population within Elmwood village in the 1800’s and the history from which the creek was best known.

Named after one of the oldest Native Americans and residents of the region in 1808, Scajaquada Creek was a source of freshwater surrounding the Figure 8.1: Buffalo State College campus, with Hoyt Lake to the east and the Niagara River close to the west, making it a peaceful median between the two. The campus which was once designed with the creek in mind, would later develop away from the water’s edge in the 1900’s, turning its back to Scajaquada and leaving it neglected for decades to come. With the Scajaquada Expressway built along and over most of the creek hiding it underneath, the campus found itself more and more separated from the natural beauty. Decisions were then later made to build on all of the lots surrounding the creek like parked car lots, retail stores, residential neighborhoods and the spread of Buff State’s campus, but all of which diminished and made the creek virtually invisible. As the built Pg. Pg.802

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environment grew, Scajaquada was slowly neglected to be cared for, and almost forgotten.

In 2016, Buffalo State College took the initiative to start changing and renovating campus life to provide not only a better education for their students, but a better environment that enhanced campus life and the community around it. Buffalo States’ Strategic Plan and Facilities Master Plan began to pave the way in further developing a greater college experience and taking initiative to converse with the community to preserve the land around the creek. With Buffalo State expanding and buying the neighboring lots to the campus, they felt it necessary to discuss the design and planning of these new sections with the communities surrounding Scajaquada and not just the college. The first step in planning was public engagement and informing communities on decisions and design plans going further. In order for a successful and accepted project, community outreach was a priority to the developers.

In finding out more information on the current preservation initiatives for Scajaquada Creek by Buffalo State and information on the Strategic Plan, Vice President for Finance Laura Barnum was contacted along with Buffalo State’s Campus Planner, Sarah Reid. With a whole team of developers and planners, Barnum and Reid began looking for ways for inclusive development and ways in which supported the revitalization efforts within the Black Rock neighborhood along the creek’s corridor. In visions of expanding the campus, the 166/170 Dart Street (City of Buffalo Impound Lot, Seen in figure 8.2) project was taken on in the hopes to not only give this lot a new life and purpose, but while in doing so provide an improvement to the Buffalo State campus for students. Figure 8.2: City impound lot This project would become a greening and beautification initiative taken by the Strategic Plan to be seen as an integral component in reaching sustainability and excellence that Buff State provides for its students. In being consistent with Buffalo State’s civic and community engagement, the Dart street Project became a neighborhood vision. While Barnum expressed that currently she and planners would not consider Buffalo State to be a waterfront campus due to the Scajaquada expressway, she still sees Dart Street Project as a way to integrate student life with the creek.

The main objective was to consider complete waterfront access and creating green space and sustainable solutions. It was unanimously decided that the further Pg. 3Pg. 81

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development of Dart Street should not in any way negatively impact the quality of the water or harm the ecological life of Scajaquada Creek. In preserving the creek and its shoreline, Barnum and Reid were hopeful that they could create plans for public engagement with the creek and activate a campus relationship to it. The idea of kayaking and fishing on the river, with a possible implementation of a bike lane initiative similar to one on the opposite side of Scajaquada. A connection from Buffalo State to the surrounding communities was crucial in the plan, and the hopeful bike lane initiative would help further that connection between campus and community.

Barnum ensured that with the development of this property there were no intentions whatsoever to create more student housing and that this site would be dedicated to enhancing the appearance of the campus. The project’s planning must align with and allow for the future development of the Scajaquada Corridor long-term so preserving the health of this location was crucial. Enhancing not only enveloped that idea, but it also created an atmosphere in which benefited campus and community life for students, visitors, and surrounding communities.

Enhancing the appearance of the campus from the surrounding neighborhoods and drivers coming off of the I-190 and Scajaquada Expressway ensured that Buffalo State also created a positive relationship within the community and put forth an environment of success for the students and incoming students to campus. It was noted that many students that come to Buffalo State are at higher risk of mental health issues due to previous environments, and creating a happier healthier place for them to stay ensures academic success. The Dart Street project would be one of many future projects to help acclimate new students to college life and create an environment where students feel comfortable and succeed. It would also be the first of many initiatives taken by campus planners to preserve and revitalize the health of Scajaquada Creek and its ecosystems, creating a peaceful coexistence and engagement for the communities and the waterfront.

2. AK360 plan_____________________________________________________________________________ The Albright Knox Gallery is a critical point in the cultural corridor of the Delaware Park and Elmwood avenue area. The Albright Knox is home to vast amounts of art collections which makes this structure an important figure in Buffalo. The museum was founded in 1862 making the Albright Knox the sixth oldest public art institution in the United States. The museum is a great compilation and source of abstract expressionist art. As a part of the Elmwood Village area and cultural corridor, Albright Knox contributes to the surrounding community in numerous ways. Public events such as the art truck that reaches out to the community to teach children how to create art. Other public outreaches include events with art tutorials and lectures which create a seamless collaboration with the community members. The museum has Pg. Pg.822

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gone through some minor changes throughout the years but the last time the museum was renovated for growth was in 1962. Since 2001, there have been ideas of expanding on the museum. In 2016, the museum confirmed its plans to expand the museum and refurbish its historic campus. Some of this growth is seen in figure 8.3.

Figure 8.3: AK360 plan

The new plan goes by the name AK360 and will include a huge expansion to the current structure. The name AK360 represents the time intervals through the museum’s history where there have been major redevelopments. For example, in 1905 it became a permanent home for art and 1965 was its last expansion. With the approximate 60-year intervals, this new project will be the third major expansion in the museum’s history. The AK360 project was designed by the award-winning firm OMA/Shohei Shigemastu, the additions to Albright Knox will include a new structure and renovations to the interior and entrances. The Albright Knox museum will have the ability to house more contemporary art with this new design. During construction, the museum will be closed and there will be an alternate site for showcasing art on Northland Avenue. Construction began on November 3, 2019, and the project will be completed in early 2022. However, the success of the Albright Knox may end up coming from its relationship with the Scajaquada Expressway.

The Scajaquada expressway spans from the Hamlin Park Historic District, through Delaware park and to the mouth of the Black Rock Canal. The expressway follows the path of the Scajaquada Creek. There has been a lot of debate about Pg. 3Pg. 83

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whether the Scajaquada expressway is doing harm to the community or if it’s benefiting the area. The expressway passes through Delaware park creating a divide in the landscape however, the Albright Knox relies on the expressway as the main path to travel back and forth from the museum. The Scajaquada Expressway was never the intention in Fredrick Law Olmstead’s original plans for Delaware park. However, this expressway may become ideal for the connections to Albright Knox. With the new plans for the Albright Knox, the expressway may be celebrated more like a majestic route through green landscapes to get to the museum rather than a divide of the landscape. The plan is shown in figure 8.4. There has been a lot of support from community members about the additions and renovation of Albright Knox which means the museum may become more popular when it reopens. The Scajaquada expressway will prove its importance once this renovation is complete. The Albright Knox is tucked into a corner between Iroquois drive and Lincoln Parkway where each road has a connection to the expressway. There is an exit from the expressway onto Iroquois drive from the west and a ramp from Lincoln Parkway heading to the expressway west.

Figure 8.4: AK360 plan

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Figure 8.5: AK360 plan

3. Movement of the Scajaquada Expressway____________________________________________ There has also been a question of moving the Scajaquada expressway through a different location in order to preserve Delaware park. The community may have mixed feelings about this change in the landscape because they rely on the expressway for a huge chunk of their commute. Since the expressway was not a part of Olmstead’s original design for Delaware Park, questions arise in the community if it may be an adaptation to the current traffic concerns in Buffalo or if it may just be seen as a division in the landscape. The community of Elmwood Village has mixed views on the expressway for this reason. While many rely on the expressway for their commute, others would rather preserve the context of the cultural corridor of Delaware Park.

With the AK360 plans, the expressway may become an essential instrument in the context of the landscape surrounding the museum. The Scajaquada Expressway is what makes the Albright Knox an important monument in the area. The current renovations seem to accept the expressway into their design and accessibility to the museum.

Since there are plans to expand the museum, there will become more connections to Iroquois drive and Lincoln parkway. These connections must be supplemented by the expressway in order to reduce traffic buildup on Elmwood avenue.

The museum and the expressway have a shared relationship with one another.

If the Scajaquada expressway was no longer a path to Albright Knox, Elmwood avenue would suffer from extreme traffic congestion. The Scajaquada expressway works with the Albright Knox by complementing the location of the museum. There is a great level of accessibility that comes from the path of the Scajaquada Expressway to Pg. 3Pg. 85

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Albright Knox.

4. H.H. Richardson_________________________________________________________________________ One of Buffalo’s most iconic buildings, the H.H. Richardson complex began construction in eighteen seventy-two and officially opened its doors in eighteeneighty. The complex was designed as a new insane asylum by some world-renown architects including Henry Hobson Richardson and Fredrick Law Olmsted. The whole property includes ninetyone acres of land inside Buffalo’s arts and cultural district, which is wrapped around by the Scajaquada Expressway. In nineteen twenty-seven the property was divided in Figure 8.6: H.H. Richardson Complex half to make room for the construction of the SUNY Buffalo State College. As the decades passed on our understanding of mental illness has only grown and old-fashioned insane asylums, for non-criminals, started to dwindle in numbers. The site was still up and running though until during the nineteen seventies when the patients were relocated to a different facility.

Over the next few years, the buildings began to deteriorate and become overgrown until in nineteen seventy-three the complex was marked on the National Register of Historic Places. The site only grew in popularity after that and in nineteen eighty-six it was added to the list of National Historic Landmarks, which is the highest status that can be given to a significant building. This was just the attention the site needed and preservationists began working with the community and officials to clean up and fix the years of neglect that it faced. Finally, in 2006, the Pg. Pg.862

Figure 8.7: Site ground levels

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Richardson Center Corporation Board of directors were ordered by the State to regard the site as an architectural treasure. Today the complex is a museum where people could take guided tours to view the beautiful architecture firsthand.

The debate over the restoration efforts of Scajaquada Creek has rippled to affect the popularity of the Richardson Complex. Thousands of people come to visit this over a hundred-year-old national treasure but how would the deconstruction of the expressway affect future tourism? Would the restoration of the creek attract more business? To answer these and more questions I contacted Brian Dold, who is a Chair of the Scajaquada Board Coalition for the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. On April 9, 2020, we were able to sit down in a call and discuss the future of the site. Dold told me that they are familiar with the restoration work being done by the Waterkeepers and the two companies work to coordinate cleanup efforts. The board that he works for actively advocates for the Figure 8.8: Buffalo parks downgrade of the expressway and aspires to maintain the water’s edge at Delaware Park and to return it to the original Olmsted designs. But where the two companies may differ is in their scope of the restoration effort; the Waterkeepers are more concerned with the shoreline while Dold is interested in the restoration of the whole block. The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy wants to see a revitalization of the district which includes the creek but also the roads and the land that surround it.

An expressway in the neighborhood is bad for everyone around, it drives down the property values as well as decreases the potential land use. But if the expressway was taken down how would that affect business in the district and for the Richardson Complex?

If the expressway was taken down, then the quick connection between interstates is cut and for a time people would find slower travel times. But eventually, people would adapt to it and find new ways around to get to where they need and possibly in the future construction on a new roadway, away from the creek, would begin to ease congestion. So, for a short time, the tourism to the Richardson Complex could take a dive but for people who want to see the national site in person, I do not think that the deconstruction would be affected. It is also important to remember, as Dold pointed out, that when the expressway was constructed the site was still an insane asylum, so there was no point where the museum was functioning without the expressway present. I believe that the restoration of the creek will increase the beautification of the district and attract more tourists to the nearby cultural sites and the Richardson Complex than ever before.

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The Scajaquada Creek is Buffalo’s second creek that flows by major cultural sites around the city including the Albright Knox Art Gallery and the H.H. Richardson Complex. The creek was designed into Buffalo’s vast park system designed by Fredrick Olmsted and included sides for walking trails and paths. However, during the twentieth century, when the city was an industrial paradise of the country, irresponsible dumping of wastes has dwindled the shoreline of the creek until almost nothing in some areas. After World War Two the country redefined itself around automobiles and the increasing amounts of suburbs made it necessary for a change in the way people drove. That is why in nineteen fifty-six President Eisenhower passed the Highway Act that encouraged states to build highways across the country, almost entirely funded by the federal government. One highway, in particular, took advantage of the receding creek shoreline and built itself right on top of the creek, this is the route one ninety-eight otherwise known as the Scajaquada expressway. Today we are in the midst of redefining the country again to make more walkable areas and beautify spots to make it more appealing to pedestrians. After interviewing people who work in the cultural areas around the Scajaquada Creek it seems like the revitalization and preservation of the site would attract more tourists and business for the area.

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Chapter IX

The Design Project at The Creek’s Mouth

Authors Cameron Leber, Cindy Mierzwa, Jack Sutera

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Buffalo is located amidst a very important great lake that connects many cities along US and Canadian soil, called Lake Erie. Throughout Buffalo’s rich and unique history there have been many factors that have put Buffalo at the forefront of opportunity in economics, business, and a complete inclusive hub for civilization. In support of Buffalo’s successful economy, business, and social diversity, studying the “Community Profile in Black Rock and Riverside” and surrounding neighborhoods such as North Buffalo, downtown, and the other Industrial sites. The proposal to design a conceptual “Inclusive Pocket Park” around the mouth of the Scajaquada Creek where it meets the Black Rock Canal. To achieve this, analyzing how to clean the creek of its pollutants, create a buffer zone, analyze the potential of removing the 190 Scajaquada Expressway, re-connecting street grid and trail ways and preserve the natural and built environment by reusing existing infrastructure for ecological and recreational services. Once the initial park design/planning analysis is done, the introduction of ways of Figure 9.1: Sketch by Cameron Leber, Cindy Mierzinviting different groups of people to use the wa, Jack Sutera space by studying the basic neighborhood statistics such as race, age, students, working-class and many more factors to help the design bring a more inclusive and diverse group of people together in one community park.

Water has always been a vital lifeline for Buffalo, beginning with the Native American tribes that built their settlements along the Niagra River. During the Native American settlement era, water was used for the basis of survival including, but not limited to drinking water, food, transportation, trade, etc. As soon as the industrialization period sparked, Buffalo was at the forefront of trade and factory sprawl due to the creation of the Erie Canal that stretched through state lines. With the dependence on such a rich economic system, there soon came a heavy decline once our neighboring country started using similar strategies. In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway was proposed and executed by the Canadian Federal government to connect the St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie to the Atlantic Ocean. This was a solution to expand trade of goods and services internationally leaving the Erie Canal in the dust. Today, as a result, Buffalo’s restoration is focusing back onto its original roots of how business became booming from the erection of the Erie Canal to Lake Erie and connecting all these valued rivers such as the Buffalo River and the Scajaquada Pg. Pg.902

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Creek.

The history of Buffalo’s bodies of water all stems from transportation corridors dating back to the Native American “Erie people” as they were called. Boats in all shapes and sizes traveled through Lake Erie and the Erie Canal for many reasons, but mainly for trade and commerce. Once the Erie Canal was up and running, there was a debate as to whether the Erie Canal terminus would be located in Black Rock, or closer to downtown Buffalo. Ultimately, the plan to build the terminus in Buffalo, along the eastern tip of Lake Erie, prevailed and shortly thereafter the Erie Harbor was created to connect the two waterways. The Black Rock channel was also created at this time to connect the Black Rock Lock and the Niagara River to allow “swift boats to go up-stream.” Soon after, Black Rock was put back on the map in creating water-powered electricity with creating a dam. The electricity-powered many of the factories that were along Niagara St. and ultimately spread business along the waterfront indefinitely. After many successful years of trade and commerce in Buffalo, the city started to experience a slight decline in usage of the Canal in 1836 due to the construction of the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad. The transition not only decreased usage of the Canal but was considered a more efficient way to transport goods. Although railroads made commerce move faster, water was always a barrier internationally which is why in 1959, Canada’s federal government opened the St. Lawrence Seaway which changed commerce routes to and from the City of Buffalo, decreasing the Erie Canal and the railroad usage to international trade opportunities.

As a result, the Black Rock channel also died, and many of the factories that were once booming with industry were left completely empty and were eventually abandoned for many years. During this time of transition, many organizations for fishing and rowing clubs started to take advantage of the open waterfront and turned it into a popular area for recreation.

1. The Restoration_________________________________________________________________________ As restoration efforts began, an organization called the Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper emerged in the late 1960s and started its first project on the Buffalo River. In 1989, they successfully put the Buffalo River back on the map with initiatives such as water quality restoration to social restoration around the river to achieve a healthier Buffalo waterfront near Downtown Buffalo. Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper continues to restore Buffalo’s many waterfronts including the Scajaquada Creek.

The restoration is taking many factors to this consideration including cleaning the Creek of its pollutants, creating a natural buffer zone, removing the 190 Scajaquada Expressway, and many more challenges. In their efforts, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper has hosted shoreline sweeps near the mouth where the Creek meets the Black Rock Canal. Other organizations around Buffalo have also contributed to the abandoned Pg. 3Pg. 91

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factories to reuse as residential and mixed-use facilities to inform and invite others to the area. The waterfront in Buffalo has brought a diverse community into one location. This is also true for the newest development at Canalside in the heart of Downtown Buffalo. With the enormous success waterfront has on marketing and the community as a whole, the Scajaquada Creek will find its way either as a huge waterfront destination or at least some type of small social hub similar to Larkin Square on Seneca Street. Diversity is not only the goal of society, but of diverse activities and wildlife. The site will also feature ecological diversity in functionality as well as restoring natural habitats/ ecosystems for all walks of life.

As time went on, the grain elevators and their accompanying silos began to see less and less use until their abandonment in the 1960s. These massive structures remained vacant for almost 50 years until the city of Buffalo began showing interest in the site. One of the greatest success stories to come out of these once abandoned silos is Silo City. This organization brings in poets, musicians, and artists from all over to perform in the large concrete structures. Their events have been known to draw in hundreds of people to the historic site to watch these talented people perform. Along with Silo City, other opportunities to bring life back to the banks of the Buffalo River have been successful such as Riverworks and Silo Climbing. The growing success story at the grain elevators is important to point out because it shows that the people of Buffalo take pride in their history and revitalization projects are worth the time and money. This is the reasoning behind our proposal for the restoration of the Scajaquada Creek corridor and Black Rock. Projects like the one proposed have been completed in the very same city along the very same watershed with great success.

Fredrick Law Olmsted was a landscape architect that envisioned the many parkway systems around the world including Buffalo, New York’s six park network, and Boston, Massachusetts’s Emerald Necklace. The Emerald Necklace was designed to connect the Boston Common park to the Public Garden and in 1878 the plan started by “cleaning up the marshy area which became the Back Bay and The Fens.” The parkway system, especially in Boston, is considered to be a linear park that connects multiple parks and waterways as social gathering spaces for the whole city to enjoy. This linear park not only has the same objectives as the proposed “Scajaquada Inclusive Pocket Park,” but it also has similar steps that need to be achieved to get the large plan in place including waterway clean-up, transportation configuration and re-use of the existing landscape and the built environment around. The Emerald Necklace connects different landmarks including the University of Massachusetts and loops across the entire city making it easily accessible to different groups of people. With a thorough clean-up and dredge of the Scajaquada Creek of its contaminants and removal of the expressway, the Emerald Necklace can be recreated along Buffalo’s waterfront connecting multiple campuses including Buffalo State College.

The Scajaquada Inclusive Pocket Park will be located at the mouth of the Pg. Pg.922

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Scajaquada Creek where it meets the Black Rock Canal. This park will take Buffalo back to its rich history that stemmed from the waterfront occupancy. In the late 60s, most of Buffalo’s booming industry declined which left numerous factories that had once utilized the waterways, now completely abandoned. During this transition period, many fishing and rowing clubs appeared to have utilized the waterfront property for recreational use. Today, the goal is to preserve the past and make it even better by implementing some ecological services that could make the Creek more resilient in the future. Some initial steps that need to be completed are cleaning up the Creek of its contaminants which involves dredging it and creating a 150 to 200-foot buffer zone along the edges of the Scajaquada Creek. Once that is done, then the transition to a park will be well on its way and then transportation configurations such as removing the Scajaquada Expressway to transition to the street grid will be possible. Also, reconnecting the existing trail ways to various parks around Buffalo like Delaware Park and Riverside will be a smooth transition. As soon as all of these steps are achieved, the park can function for habitat as well as social life. Ecological factors that could be implemented into this design are various storm water filtration and collection systems to help with flooding in the area, these systems would help preserve the Creek’s natural state and could aid in habitat growth with potential places for animals to reside in.

2. Cleaning Creek of Pollutants & Creating a Natural Buffer_________________________

Figure 9.2: Sketch by Cameron Leber, Cindy Mierzwa,

Jack Sutera

Figure 9.3: Sketch by Cameron Leber, Cindy Pg. 3Pg. 93

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Just as with the grain elevators, there are a few existing obstacles that need to be addressed for our goal to be achieved at the mouth of Scajaquada Creek. One major issue with the creek is the overwhelming amount of heavy pollution. For years, municipalities have been dumping raw sewage and untreated storm drain water into the creek and the wetlands that once helped filter the stream have been largely paved over. This problem has been addressed in previous years with the introduction of the Clean Water Act of 1972 but that did little in stopping neighboring cities and towns from continuing to dump into the creek. This same problem occurred along the banks of the Buffalo River in which Scajaquada Creek runs into. With the help of the ongoing efforts of shoreline cleanups and the DEC’s restoration project, the Buffalo River restored part of its original glory. The same could be true for Scajaquada Creek. With the help of the DEC and some local environmental organizations, a process could be set in motion to finally start cleaning up a creek that has been neglected for years.

One of the easiest ways to help solve the pollution problem is adding natural barriers. In the sketches at the beginning of this section (original on the left and proposal on the right), we show where some natural barriers could be added. Along the shores of the creek, rows of bushes could be planted to help catch some of the drifting trash being blown around. A tree line could be added on all sides of the creek to help take away the noises of the busy highway and streets surrounding the site. Along with helping break up the sound pollution, the tree line could add a secluded feeling as the tree line would break the line of sight to the street and highway. Lastly, a row of floating buoys could be added at the mouth of the creek to catch surface pollution from going into the Buffalo River. As of now, these proposed solutions would simply catch debris and collect it, but the hope is that if park goers see the amount of trash being collected by these barriers, they will feel more inclined to stop the problem. One of the major reasons why pollution is a recurring theme is the mindset of “out of sight, out of mind.” If all the trash that people throw into the river is collected and displayed, people will be reminded that their trash doesn’t disappear but, instead ends up in our rivers and lakes.

3. Potential Expressway Removal________________________________________________________ The prime location between the City of Buffalo and some of its northern suburbs brings a large amount of vehicular traffic directly over the site along the 190 Interstate and the Scajaquada Expressway. Hundreds of cars pass right over this site every day without even taking a second look, that’s mostly because it is not even visible. For years, there has been a debate among residents on whether or not to get rid of the Scajaquada Expressway. The Expressway cuts directly through one of Buffalo’s most precious green spaces, Delaware Park, and connects the 190 Interstate to Humboldt Parkway. The Expressway creates a safety hazard for park-goers because the only Pg. Pg.942

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line of protection between them and cars traveling at 30 mph is a small guardrail. If the Expressway was removed, Delaware Park could finally be restored and businesses that were once driven over would now be driven by. The potential for business and recreation along Scajaquada Creek would skyrocket as more people would have to drive through the neighborhood of Black Rock instead of over it. In figure 9.4 is the current conditions with the Scajaquada Creek while figure 9.5 is what the area may look like without the expressway.

Figure 9.4: Sketch by Cameron Leber, Cindy Mierzwa, Jack

Sutera

Figure 9.5: Sketch by Cameron Leber, Cindy Mierzwa, Jack

Sutera

4. Reconnecting the Street Grid and Pedestrian Trailways___________________________ Reconnecting the existing roadways of Black Rock would bring much-needed attention to the neighborhood. Without the Expressway, people would be forced to drive through the neighborhood and along the creek. If passersby saw areas for recreation along the creek, more people would start showing interest in cleaning the creek up. By installing a pocket park along the Scajaquada, it would raise awareness of just how polluted the creek is and how much potential it has to become a great area for other developments. With the addition of new pedestrian trail ways, this pocket Pg. 3Pg. 95

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park could be surrounded by trails for easier movement. Residents could start to see how beautiful the wetlands that were once existent along the banks were. Not only would the residents of Black Rock be exposed to the potential of the Creek but, just as with any major waterfront changes in Buffalo, news coverage of the developments would draw more attention from the city as a whole just as with Canalside. Also, the addition of these new trails could provide better connections for the community to travel to local restaurants and other resources more south of the site. For many years Buffalo has been working towards bringing back its past glory and that could be accomplished by cleaning up Scajaquada Creek.

Figure 9.6: Sketch by Cameron Leber, Cindy Mierzwa, Jack Sutera

5. Historical & Ecological Preservation_________________________________________________ As mentioned previously in step two, the removal of the NY 198 Expressway could be extremely beneficial to the area. The current location of the highway leaves the sight unseen and unknown to the hundreds of people who pass by each day. The removal of the expressway would not only bring new energy to Scajaquada Creek but also the well-known Delaware park. When the thruway was introduced, it created a divide through Delaware park and has been protested by residents for years. The goal of removing the expressway that runs along Scajaquada Creek is similar to that of Delaware Park. As seen in the diagrams above, removing this would create acres of extra green space that could be repurposed for many reasons. From something as basic as a grass field to recreational areas such as playgrounds, sporting fields, and more, this additional green space will open a vast variety of opportunities for the community.

Not only will it open opportunities, but the additional green space will also bring ease to the creation of a buffer zone. As mentioned previously, the buffer zone surrounding the creek is meant to help contain possible pollution from the nearby areas. Preserving the ecological aspects of Buffalo is essential for returning the City to its former glory, and the efforts will show great results.

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6. Proposed Ecological & Reccreational Services in the Park_________________________ Throughout the process of restoring and preserving the Scajaquada Creek site and the surrounding area, the primary focus lies on the community and how they can benefit from the change. Many of the previously mentioned proposals and changes to be made in the area are meant to achieve both ecological and recreational gains simultaneously. One of the most major proposed changes comes from removing the expressway. When the expressway was originally built the area went from a lush natural area to the grey, concrete pylons, and roadways we see today. By removing these unnatural aspects of the site, both ecological and recreational services can thrive. For example, the expressway occupies a large area of the current site as can be seen in previous examples. By removing such roadways, these areas can be returned to their original lush green space they once were. Along with that can come the addition of recreational opportunities for the community. In the current state of the area, recreational areas are few and far between. By introducing aspects such as playgrounds, sports fields, and even kayaking, the area has the potential to become not only more inviting for the existing community, but it can also bring in an entirely new crowd of people, especially tourists which will have a positive economic impact.

With the proposed cleanup and continuous preservation efforts, the site will be propelled to its best conditions in years. Having the best conditions for the area is essential to attract the community and maintain steady use. After all is said and done, having these proposals completed and constructed, the site could be considered useless if not occupied by the people in the area. Preserving the ecological conditions and offering recreational opportunities is one of the most important aspects of the site, one that cannot be ignored.

7. How to Invite the Diverse Population of Buffalo to theScajaquada Inclusive Park___________________________________________________________ When it comes to spreading awareness for a new project such as this, we are extremely lucky to have the resources we do in 2020. One of the easiest and best ways to spread information in the modern era is through the internet and social media and is the preferred method in the case of Scajaquada Creek. For starters, working with the City of Buffalo to advertise the new site on various social media platforms will put the “Scajaquada Inclusive Park� into the eyes of residents in and around the local community. Other options could be to create a Facebook page, or something similar, where residents can give input and discuss the site freely with project managers and such. Not only would the internet be beneficial, but a more personal method of inperson information spreading would as well. Examples of this could be knocking door to door, sending flyers to nearby residents, or posting flyers in areas of the community Pg. 3Pg. 97

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where people frequent the most. Due to the history of this site going unnoticed by the community, the spread of information and awareness is crucial to the extensive use and sustainability of the Scajaquada Inclusive Park.

Buffalo’s location directly on prosperous waterways has given the City a rich history, unlike any other city. Through successful economics, business, and social diversity, the city has evolved into a vastly inclusive hub over the years. Our goal throughout this study has been to focus on the Black Rock and Riverside and surrounding neighborhoods such as North Buffalo, Downtown, and other former industrial sites. Throughout the work completed, the overall goal of creating an Inclusive park at the mouth of Scajaquada Creek off of the Black Rock Canal was shaped and completed. We achieved this goal by focusing on key steps that have been ignored over the years such as cleaning the creek, preventing further pollution, creating buffer zones, removing the 190 Scajaquada Expressway, and reconnecting the former roadways and pedestrian walkways. Most importantly, our focus was put towards restoring the natural and built environment of the area using existing infrastructure and inviting different groups of people to the new site. Our goal of inviting these various groups was to focus on the basic neighborhood statistics such as race, age, students, and the working class and many more factors. Overall, the goal of this design was to bring a more diverse and inclusive park to an area lacking such a thing to help bring a community together as one.

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Chapter X

The Scajaquada Expressway

Authors Mike McNabb, Mike Pawlak, Steven Perira

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The Scajaquada Corridor and Creek is a historically significant site to the City of Buffalo and the metropolitan region as a whole. The creek begins in the eastern portion of Lancaster; a suburb of Buffalo, and ends at Black Rock Channel which is adjacent to the Niagara River. The creek was named after Phillip Kenjokety, a Native American believed to be the oldest resident of the area. Various Native American groups settled along the creek over its history for fishing and other pertinent causes for necessities of their livelihood.

The construction of the Scajaquada Expressway was completed in 1962 and given its name via the Scajaquada Creek which it ran along and paralleled to its route.

The Scajaquada Creek is a feature of the greater Western New York area that the community and City of Buffalo takes pride in. The construction of the Scajaquada Expressway served to sever the ties between the community and the beautiful nature of the creek. Interaction between people and the creek is now limited due to disfigurement caused during the construction of the expressway. This includes deterioration of the creek’s flow and surrounding environment caused by the pylons supporting the 198. Its scenic view, most notably on Niagara Street, can no longer be enjoyed in the same fashion and the quality of life in the area has been diminished by the noise and fumes from the expressway, the deteriorating economic conditions, and the hindered safety and accessibility of local citizens.

The Scajaquada Expressway has caused a plethora of controversies over the years and has become among the greatest issues facing local planners and health organizations in the Buffalo area. Many groups have opposed the expressway as a whole and have recognized its destructive and intrusive nature to the local community. The expressway is often criticized for tearing through neighborhoods and destroying large portions of Fredrick Law Olmsted’s historic Buffalo Parks and Parkways System. Organizations such as Waterkeeper, Olmsted Parks Conservancy, the Scajaquada Corridor Coalition, and Congress for New Urbanism have been working to help restore the creek’s original beauty and meaning to the community. Proposed alterations originating from these groups include redesigning the expressway in tune of more scenic and environmentally sustainable positions, as well as setting aside areas in which locals may seek relaxation and exercise adjacent to the creek.

1. Goals of the Scajaquada Corridor Project____________________________________________ One of the major goals while taking on this project is to find a way to open up the creek and restore it to its original beauty while still maintaining proper traffic flow. Buffalo is a moderately populated city, and the use of the Scajaquada Expressway as a means for many citizens to commute to work and other destinations downtown efficiently cannot be overlooked. Our group intends to take a firm position on the future of the corridor after further research on this issue.

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The first route would be a consensus to restore the Scajaquada Expressway to a parkway with slower vehicular speeds and the addition of more scenic landscaping and street trees. The restoration of the parkway feature incorporated by Olmsted as well as the incorporation of the creek into the visual aspect of the region would help to improve the sustainability and beauty of the area along with helping to reduce air and noise pollution. This in turn would aid in regenerating the ecosystem around the creek and open the door for increased interaction between the community and the creek.

A second route would be to focus mainly on the restoration of the creek ecologically and improving its accessibility for the public while gradually diverting highway traffic to local streets. Efforts could be made to clean up the water quality of the creek, and to open up space for human interaction along the creek. Research could be done concerning traffic flow in the area as well as traffic diversion onto local street grids. This solution would isolate the flaws of the creek and the highway respectively while restoring the health of Scajaquada Creek and its ecosystem.

The construction of the Scajaquada Expressway was a misfire that was heavily opposed by many, and has resulted in a great number of issues from safety concerns to accessibility and quality of life deteriorations. A great deal of damage has already been done to the creek including the pollution of the creek to the point of a virtually nonexistent plant and animal ecosystem. Fortunately, local groups are working to restore the beauty of the creek and reconnect it with its environment and communities: lost through the construction of the Scajaquada Expressway. Restoration is unquestionably needed to both of these facets of the greater Buffalo area. A new plan for the Scajaquada Expressway and creek must be put in place to restore the area to its former beauty.

2. Dangers & History of the Scajaquada Expressway__________________________________ The construction of a high-speed road on one of Frederick Law Olmsted’s beautiful creations has always been a controversial issue. People have been advocating for a redesign of the road for years. A speed limit set at 50 miles per hour on a road that splits the park is half is very high considering that it runs through a park in which many pedestrians are walking.

Unfortunately, it took a tragedy for attention to be brought to this issue a nd create change. On June 25, 2015, a driver traveling on the Scajaquada Figure 10.1: FLowers on side of Expressway

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Expressway allegedly fell asleep at the wheel, resulting in his car veering off the road and hitting 3-year-old Maksym, his 5-year-old sister, and their mother who were walking in Delaware Park after leaving the sister’s soccer game. Devastatingly, Maksym died from his injuries, and his sister was critically injured. This issue was a possible scenario on the minds of the people in the community advocating for change, this has been going on for years with groups advocating for a redesign since the 1990s. This unfortunate event led to Governor Andrew Cuomo lowering the speed limit from 50 mph to 30 mph.

An earlier reduction in speed limit from an expressway to a parkway could have prevented this from happening but unfortunately it took this tragedy for people to respond with change. Guardrails are also being added to protect pedestrians from the drivers. This gave people a reason to advocate for a complete redesign of the road to help restore the divided park into its former glory. Groups have emerged advocating for the Figure 10.2: Scajaquada Expressway expressway to be converted into a parkway with a lower speed limit and accommodations for pedestrians walking or biking. As seen in Figure 2, The Scajaquada Expressway travels through Delaware Park.

Planners in the 1950’s disregarded the history and design of Olmsted and his partner Vaux’s design. Planners prioritized moving traffic and connected I-90 to NY33 through the implementation of the Scajaquada Expressway or Route 198. This essentially divided the park in two. The 1950s was the peak of Buffalo’s population which led planners to prioritize traffic and commuting over the park. Unfortunately, this was also around the time Buffalo’s population and economic dominance began to decline. Many argue that while a lowering of the speed limit is a good start it won’t be sufficient. A complete redesign would be required to slow traffic and reduce tragic accidents. A redesign of the streets and isolation of the park is not farfetched, New York City mayor Bill De Blasio has announced that vehicles will now be banned from in the central park loops as well as prospect park. These are two other creations of Olmsted and these cities have higher traffic flow. This may provide a great precedent for Buffalo planners to consider.

3. Successful Examples of Parkways & Expressways___________________________________ Pg. Pg.102 2

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Driving around other areas of New York such as New York City; it is easy to discern how planners have incorporated highways and/or expressways while still accommodating the pedestrians and affording them access and recreation connecting to the waterways and features in the environment. The Hudson River and 9A or the Henry Hudson Parkway is a prime example of how planners have incorporated a Figure 10.3: Henry Hudson Parkway parkway to aid the high levels of traffic and congestion while still maintaining water access and providing an area for pedestrians to engage in recreation such as biking trails, green space basketball courts soccer fields etc. as seen in Figure 10.3. These public space improvements resulted in better access to parks and recreation and helped to improve the quality of life of local residents. These parkways in turn were safer and less obtrusive barriers to pedestrian mobility and accessibility. Lower speed limits, more accessible business, and improved community integration were all benefits to this project. The presence of additional trails, sports facilities, and parks along the parkway contributed to a better sense of community engagement, improved the economy, and improved opportunity for relaxation and recreation. After researching such areas, Buffalo planners would be wise to provide the community around the expressway with a similar sense of community and environmental pride by creating a balance between access to the water and providing the transportation systems necessary to commuters.

In addition, leaving enough greenspace adjacent to the creek would allow for easier water access and enable planners to incorporate trails or other types of recreation to attract the community and encourage engagement.

While conducting relevant research, a professor of landscape architecture at Columbia University and Founder of scape; Kate Orff decided to revive New York City’s waters through the use of oysters. Oysters had been very prominent in the waters of NYC and could be found sold everywhere in the early development of NYC. Her plan consisted of creating a sort of soft netting that was extremely inexpensive and placing it in the waters beginning to grow oysters. Doing so brought back much of the ecosystem that the waters were home to preceding the pollution. A large collection Pg.Pg. 3 103

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of oyster shells used to clean up the NYC harbor can be seen in Figure 10.4. Planners and relevant environmental groups in Buffalo can look at this precedent as a validation for cleanup efforts and encouragement for volunteers, and programs aimed at restoring the ecological and aesthetic qualities of the creek.

Buffalo’s planners should focus on revitalizing the Scajaquada Creek and its Figure 10.4: NYC Harbor ecosystem which has been damaged through the years due to water, noise, and air and water pollution caused by the expressway and local businesses. The current ecological conditions of the creek are best described as very poor. According to the Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper “Over time, the resulting effects of sewage overflow, storm water runoff and degraded habitat have destroyed neighborhoods and created an unhealthy waterway for both people and wildlife. Consequently, Scajaquada Creek has a federal designation as a “source area” of contaminants to the Niagara River (Niagara River ‘Area of Concern’).”

Formulating a plan to restore the creek would be a great stepping stone into restoring the relationship between the creek and the communities surrounding it.

With the help of the local Waterkeeper and other environmental coalitions, planning efforts can be made to reduce pollution, divert waste from the water flow, and to produce additional infrastructure to accommodate waste and grey water that often pours into the creek. In the event of heavy rainfall, water treatment plants cannot store all of the sewer water and rainfall and therefore raw sewage is let into the creek.

By improving the capacity of water treatment plants or building new ones altogether, the pollution to the creek can be reduced. This however would be a very costly project that many towns in the county believe that they could not simply afford. Allocating the necessary funds to improve storm water and sewer water capacity should be a major discussion within future town budget meetings in Erie County. This is a necessary step in preventing further unsightly pollution to Scajaquada Creek.

4. Stakeholder Brian Dold: Olmsted Parks Conservancy______________________________ The Olmsted Parks Conservancy was established in the early 2000’s to serve as an advocacy group for Fredrick Law Olmsted’s Buffalo Parks and Parkway Systems.

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Olmsted, along with Joseph Ellicott were instrumental in shaping the design of the City of Buffalo both in landscape and transportation infrastructure. Olmsted is particularly important to the history of Buffalo in creating parks and parkways designed to immerse the community in nature to remove themselves temporarily from the hustle and bustle of city life. Figure 10.5 details Olmsted’s implemented plan for the Scajaquada Parkway as an aerial image from 1951. In Green, the Scajaquada Parkway. In Yellow, the Reccreational Complex. In blue, the fishing pond.

Figure 10.5: details of implemented plan

During the 1950’s the City of Buffalo Planning Commission determined that expressways better linking the city and expediting travel times to and from would be a benefit to the community. The Commission thereby destroyed the Humboldt and Scajaquada parkways designed by Olmsted and replaced them with high speed expressways. In addition, the Scajaquada Expressway was constructed through Delaware Park, destroying valuable park acreage and dividing and limiting access. In turn, high speed traffic persists through a portion of Delaware Park.

There was little to no organized pushback from any relevant environmental groups or agencies and the OPC had not yet established itself, so thus the expressway projects proceeded as planned. The OPC is now in the thick of attempting to restore the destruction caused by the Buffalo Planning Commission to Olmsted’s original Pg.Pg. 3 105

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design intentions. The installation of Route 198 and the Kensington Expressway devastated the Scajaquada and Humboldt Parkways respectively and disturbed the integrity and peacefulness of Delaware Park; bulldozing right through it to create a high-speed expressway. The Kensington Expressway also serves as the city’s socioeconomic divide, with the construction of the expressway dividing the entire city of Buffalo into two. Route 33 is an aggravating scar marking the divide between the East Side and the West Side in Buffalo; further promoting racial and economic dissonance.

In addition to destroying two beautifully landscaped parkways and compromising the natural setting of Delaware Park with loud and intrusive traffic noise and sights, the 1950’s infrastructure served to cut off residential neighborhoods, decrease accessibility to the park and waterfront, divide Delaware Park into two less accessible halves, deteriorate the area economically, decrease property values, cause a decrease in quality of life, and provide an intrusive barrier to local safety and circulation.

In the short term, the OPC has been working to eliminate high speed expressway traffic and propose 30 mph speed limits for all roads and highways within the Scajaquada Corridor. The OPC has also been working to restore sections of Olmsted’s parkway system most adjacent to Delaware Park. The OPC has also teamed up with the Scajaquada Corridor Coalition; an advocacy group focusing its efforts on the enhancement and restoration of the Scajaquada Corridor. The OPC established this relationship to better increase public awareness on the importance of the Olmsted Park System, and the intrusions that the 1950’s expressways have made to his work, and the quality of life of neighboring communities. The OPC has engaged in short term remediations such as barriers, walls, and landscaping in an attempt to mask the sights and noise of expressway traffic, yet a more forward-thinking restoration process is desired. The OPC is reluctant to make any revolutionary changes to Delaware Park or the parkway systems in the absence of a complete master plan in place for the Scajaquada Corridor. This is due to the reality that any change may be later destroyed as the Department of Transportation, Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council, and Olmsted Parks Conservancy all work together to find a common solution for the expressway and corridor as a whole.

Concerning the long-term goals of the OPC, a complete restoration of the Scajaquada Corridor and Olmsted Parks/Parkway Systems is the desired outcome. With the intentions of doing so, the complete removal of the Scajaquada and Kensington Expressways is a necessary step. In turn, new boulevards can be designed upon the previous parkways in agreement with Olmsted’s philosophies of submerging nature into the surrounding urbanity. In addition, the OPC is determined to prevent future obtrusions to Delaware Park through ill-advised roadways. The OPC desires to improve and restore landscaping features as well as multimodal park access and infrastructure.

The OPC hopes to lower all intersections neighboring Delaware Park to grade to Pg. 106 Pg. 2

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alleviate the obtrusiveness of heightened and high-speed visual/auditory distractions.

Traffic calming measures will be put in place to divert vehicular traffic from the park and encourage pedestrian activity. Lastly, the OPC will work alongside the DOT to revitalize the entire corridor in response to improved community input and stakeholder cooperation.

5. Stakeholder Hall Morse: Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council_____________________________________________________________________________________ The Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council is the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the City of Buffalo in terms of comprehensive and coordinated transportation planning efforts. The GBNRTC is responsible for establishing a coordinated region wide transportation and planning process and system. The BNRTC is involved with issues concerning transportation, land use, air quality, energy, economic development, and commerce among others.

One of the major stakeholders involved in this area, Hal Morse of the Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council was brought aboard for an interview concerning transportation policy in the Scajaquada corridor. As Mr. Morse made it apparent, the BNRTC is a part of the Metropolitan Planning Organization along with the DOT and other agencies which oversees planning efforts in many cities across the country. Government officials within the regional planning efforts for Buffalo embark on creating short term; five-year plans and long term; fifteen-year plans for the city.

For the proposed plans within the Metropolitan Planning Organization to move forward, all government officials present must agree to the proposals.

Within the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the BNRTC as well as the DOT are present among the board. The BRTC is also in direct contact with the Olmsted Parks Conservancy and the communities affected by the Scajaquada Corridor to improve the future of the area. Transportation investments involving the BNRTC and the DOT are likewise fueled and facilitated by the perceived needs of the community at large.

One of the BNRTC’s main priorities is working on a variety of studies pertaining to the Scajaquada corridor and are involving the community in an effort to come up with a collaborative process to improve the area with the best interest of Buffalo’s citizens in mind. This collaborative study is aimed at putting a finger on comprehensive community vision for the Scajaquada corridor and its nearby/ relevant citizens. This study will look to take advantage of the assets present within the Scajaquada corridor communities and accentuate the positives of these assets. In addition, the BNRTC is keen on developing beneficial partnerships in addition to the relevant stakeholders it has already identified as well as attracting investors in shaping the desired planning outcomes for the region.

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The BNRTC is in the process of conducting efforts aimed at developing transportations systems which accentuate the desired qualities of the Scajaquada corridor both in the present and in the future. These transportation systems may be multi-modal, thereby accommodating pedestrians, bike and vehicle traffic, as well as public transportation such as buses and ride-share programs. Any and all future improvements are aimed at meeting the desires of the surrounding citizens, businesses, and organizations at large. The BNRTC is also committed to preserving and protecting the cherished Olmsted Park/Parkway system that so many Buffalonians utilize every day.

The BNRTC’s and DOT are collaborating on programs that will provide digital modeling of traffic flow along both the Scajaquada and Kensington Expressway to simulate current traffic patterns, and also ways in which the proposed improvements to the Scajaquada Expressway could have an effect on traffic. In the future, the BNRTC is dedicated to meeting the mobility needs of the community at large as it pertains to the Scajaquada expressway. The BNRTC considers proposals including all modes of transportation such as the pedestrian, vehicle, and shuttle.

As it pertains to the original intentions for Delaware park and its parkway systems, the BNRTC acknowledges the importance and legacy of Olmsted’s work to Buffalo citizens and the history of Buffalo. The BNRTC believes that it fosters transportation proposals that benefit the community at large, and they also believe that Olmsted was a proponent of planning efforts that benefit the community, citizen mobility, and proper transportation. Likewise, the BNRTC attempts to bring to light planning efforts aimed at benefiting the Buffalo community. Within the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the BNRTC is at the table and contributes to adopting mutually agreeable planning decisions affecting the entire region as a whole.

As for the BNRTC’s stake in the Scajaquada corridor, there are no current legal issues involving the organization. The BNRTC, along with other organizations, are studying the potential property value effects of alterations to the Scajaquada expressway, and are taking on a broader scope of research beyond merely traffic.

The BNRTC is interested in developing the Scajaquada corridor in parallel with the emerging needs of the community.

Dating back as far as twenty to thirty years, many studies have been conducted concerning the viability of the Scajaquada Expressway, and in turn many potential improvement propositions for the future. The possibility for the Scajaquada corridor to be rethought or even redesigned has been brought to light extensively in this time, although there is not a consensus among planners concerning the best course of action. Until a consensus can be developed amongst relevant planners, stakeholders, and members of the communities at large, the eventual project has no basis to advance further. The BNRTC is likewise aiming to come to a consensus amongst its relevant partners and members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization in an attempt to Pg. Pg.108 2

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move forward in improving the corridor for its residents.

6. Stakeholder: Department of Transportation________________________________________ Despite a public hearing in 2017 concerning the Department of Transportation’s proposed revitalization of the Scajaquada Corridor and a heavily researched environmental statement regarding the proposal, more than two out of three stakeholders were in opposition of the DOT’s proposed plan. It was concluded that the proposed revitalization of the expressway would not be able to meet the needs of the region and community and it was ultimately discarded. Likewise, a consensus has not been reached regarding the future of Scajaquada amongst the DOT and other relevant agencies.

7. Future of the Scajaquada Corridor____________________________________________________ One of the major goals while taking on this project is to find a way to open up the creek and restore it to its original beauty while still maintaining proper traffic flow. Buffalo is a moderately populated city, and the use of the Scajaquada Expressway as a means for many citizens to commute to work and other destinations downtown efficiently cannot be overlooked. A balance must be reached to accommodate for traffic flow while not damaging and intruding on the historic Delaware Park and Parkways that Olmsted built. This project ultimately aims to provide safe access to the creek, and restore the creek as well as nearby public space and parks within the corridor. This in turn would help to improve safety, quality of life, encourage resident interaction within the community, and allow for locals to feel comfortable and immersed in their surroundings.

One route that can be taken is restoring the expressway to a parkway; thereby lowering the speed limit and creating a more scenic route to travel. This would help restore and preserve the local environment and help revive some of Olmsted’s beautiful creations. The Olmsted Parks and Parkways System is vitally important and historically significant to the City of Buffalo. By accounting for the previously destroyed parks and parkways and replacing pavement with green space, street trees, and landscaping, the overall quality and aesthetic of the corridor can be improved.

This would help to increase accessibility to public space and scenic areas for residents to enjoy. By reducing the reliance on expressways and instead opting for parkways and park features, more environmentally conscious and sustainable solutions are possible. While the original Olmsted Parks and Parkways may never be fully restored and perhaps shouldn’t be; as they were designed for the outdated 1860’s/1870’s Buffalonian lifestyle as opposed to the more intricate demands of the 21st century, efforts should still be made to improve green space, accessibility, and park and Pg.Pg. 3 109

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landscape functions in memory and inspiration of his conceptual intentions. A full restoration to Olmsted’s original intentions may not be feasible and/or advised yet environmental improvements and additions of public space, landscaping, and greenspace to the corridor would be greatly beneficial and appreciated by members of the region. Cleaning up the creek, and improving on the public space options for its local residents would be a great step in the right direction.

For example, Figure 10.6 examines potential improvements aimed at restoring components of the landscape destroyed by the Scajaquada Expressway, and improving access to Hoyt Lake within Delaware Park. This is one of the many design plans that could improve accessibility and bring back some of Figure 10.6: Sketch of potential improvements the natural landscape of the area.

An additional route that can be taken focuses on access and safety of the creek and the environment/ecosystem surrounding it while diverting traffic back to local streets. Over time, the viability of changing traffic flow patterns could be diligently studied. This would help to assess whether or not businesses and people are returning to this corridor and along the current Kensington Expressway as well. In this route, preserving and maintaining the ecosystem and environment is one of the top priorities as well as the importance of pedestrian safety. Efforts could be made to increase the capacity of water treatment plants to accommodate for all wastewater and potential pollution and to prevent future pollution of the creek. This route would involve improved storage infrastructure to nearly eliminate the possibility for drastic pollution to the creek. This route would help to improve the ecological state of the creek and restore the creek area to its former beauty. The creek would in turn be more utilized by local residents as it proves safe and ecologically viable, and additional investments to the area in terms of public space and recreational trails may be added. Additionally, the gradual shift from expressway traffic to local street grids would prove sustainable and more environmentally and economically viable for future generations.

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Overall, the Scajaquada Expressway has produced vast damage to the creek and Olmsted’s Park Systems due to construction, noise, unbuffered views, pollution, reduced landscaping/green space, reduced walkability/access, reduced community interaction, and the overall loss of peace and tranquility along the creek. In addition, the expressway served to bypass neighborhoods and take away the viability of local businesses. Fortunately, this damage can still be reversed in the future with help of planners and policy makers alike in an attempt to redesign the Scajaquada Corridor and improve the overall accessibility and quality of life for residents of the region. Just as the implementation of restoration policies was successful in case studies such as the Henry Hudson Parkway, there is potential for success in cleaning up and restoring access to Scajaquada Creek and its historic corridor.

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