From Our President and CEO: Ms. Sherry Sherrill
Notice and Official Position: Covington Associates Consulting | CAC, is pro-Removal and Remediation of NY Route 33 Kensington Expressway, in Buffalo (NY). CAC supports a complete and authentic "reconnection" of all the Humboldt Parkway Neighborhoods that the Kensington Expressway's construction severed, and thereby damaged. We propose the 1950s era Federal-Aid Highway be (officially) retired, and removed, all the way from downtown Buffalo (at its southern terminus), to Delaware Park ( in North Buffalo). Here is a link to "In Our Own Words", an important, revealing, historic Oral History/Community Health/Digital Storytelling Project that CAC is producing, concerning the widespread and broad-based East Side Community Opposition, to this generation's (controversial) New York State Department of Transportation [NYSDOT], Kensington Expressway megaproject. If you care to learn what (current and past) Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood Residents, and East Side Buffalo Community Residents, think about NYSDOT's (current version) Route 33 Kensington Expressway Project, you won't want to miss viewing "In Our Own Words". CAC also has a Petition, titled "Reconnect Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood and Its MLK Park", that you should support. Please sign it, here.
Thank you.
From the vantage of our city's Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood, and East Side Buffalo Community, this generation's Kensington Expressway Project is like "history repeating itself", all over again. We hear the (8-to-1) majority of East Side Buffalo Community Residents saying "remove it", meaning: Route 33, in no uncertain terms. Whether the means of measurement is a survey, a poll, or a simple question. It can not be stated loudly enough: The majority of Black Buffalo, told the history of NY Route 33 Kensington Expressway, express that the freeway should be removed, and Humboldt Parkway restored back to the way it (formerly) looked. Predictably, some persons also express resignation that because the damage was done, it is impossible to un-do. That mode of acceptance is extremely detrimental to the well-being of the Community, however. As persons are arrived toward resigned acceptance of horrific maltreatment, and marginalization. The Kensington Project of this generation, is an important Example of "why" and "how" the Black and African American East Side Buffalo Community's destiny was interfered with, reverse engineered, and decimated. We have grown so accustomed to second-class treatment, that we expect such, and feel powerless to offset or overcome, such. This breeds a particularly insidious variety of defeatism, that masquerades as complacency.
Marginalization is extremely dangerous. It is the enemy of empowerment. It is the opposite of capacity-building. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration's (recent) 'green-lighting' of NYSDOT's Kensington Project, marginalized Black Buffalo all over again, anew.
In response to the present generation of East Side Buffalo Community Residents having become placed "at-risk" of encountering the same fate, all over again, CAC is conducting a robust Community Reach and Outreach Effort. We are working to gauge the preference of Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood Residents, in particular, and of East Side Buffalo Community Residents, in addition. CAC is approaching these Community of Persons in opposite mode than New York State Department of Transportation. CAC is not dictating to residents, we are listening. We are not endeavoring to control the narrative of what residents convey, we are hearing them. Moreover, we are amplifying their voices. In light of NYSDOT's profoundly disrespectful and discordant Community Engagement Approach, and due to the significant Community Opposition to the agency's proposal, .CAC has also responded to what we perceived to be (possible) intimidation antics. It was communicated to our community, publicly, that stalls to the Project would endanger its funding, and that such occurrence would not only cause the Project's budget to be rescinded, the budget would be allocated to another Transportation Project, elsewhere within the State of New York. So, we convened an 'umbrella' entity titled East Side Collaborative Partnership, and residents of East Side Buffalo Community, and Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood, now have the option to join a progressive Movement that proposes to ensure that residents gain opportunities, that will include their not only becoming prospective beneficiaries of initiatives targeted to they, they will inhabit opportunities to lead those efforts, as well. East Side Parkways Coalition is a member of The Partnership, and that is a great place to gain an education in the Adverse Impacts of the Kensington Expressway.
It is important that capacity-building transpire, in East Side Buffalo. When NYSDOT's dismissive and authoritarian, short-sighted, 'tunnel vision' (no pun intended), Concrete Deck/Tunnel/Virtual Park Proposal was first introduced, is when the Concept/Alternate Option Ten Removal Proposal's preferred status, in East Side Buffalo Community, and in Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood, needed to be communicated and broadcast, far and wide, in and throughout Buffalo-Niagara Region.
Here's "why":
- The East Side Buffalo Community was not presented a Project Planning Phase that "our" community was an equal partner within, or wherein "we" were treated with seeming regard for achievement of any Project Outcome(s) that would be deemed equitable to us, and by "our" estimation.
- Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood Residents have yet to be approached, directly, by New York State Department of Transportation [NYSDOT], and which means their concerns, complaints, issues, beliefs, preferences, etc., were under-communicated to the NYSDOT Project's administrators.
- The East Side Buffalo Community is being accosted by highly-publicized announcements touting a pre-determined Project Scope, and a pre-arranged slate of Project Goals.
- Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood sustained considerable damage, during the initial Kensington Project, during the 1950s-1971, and these Adverse Impacts are (still) under-explored, under-reported, under-examined, and under-assessed.
- Did NYSDOT issue an Request For Quotes [RFQs] for a consultant, to aid the Planning Phase of their megaproject? If "yes", when, and was it announced within our Buffalo-Niagara Region's print or broadcast news outlets? If "no", why not?
- A May 27, 2021 "Can Removing Highways Fix America's Cities" article in The New York Times, identified NY Route 33 Kensington Expressway as "under official Removal Study". Where is that Study?
- Some members of East Side Buffalo Community are being misconstrued, by NYSDOT, and caused to appear as though such persons were the originators and chief proponents of the NYSDOT's preferred Concept/Alternate Option: 'Cap and Stitch' Plan. Reality appears to be, the East Side Buffalo Community's (supposed0 representatives were dictated to, told the 'Cap and Stitch' was the most they would obtain for our Community, and appears to have had little-to-no voice in shaping the NY 33 Kensington Expressway Project's scope and/or its design.
- A fake park atop a 1-mile Concrete Deck is neither Neighborhood Reconnection, Community Strengthening, Economic Development, nor Environmental Justice. Nor is it an Equitable Outcome, or a Community Redevelopment "win".
- What is far better, healthier, more equitable for a highway-burdened community: a new investment perpetuating the freeway, or its full and complete removal? That is: The Ultimate Question.
There is much room for Environmental Justice, and for improvement in achieving equitable Outcomes, in our city. The Kensington Expressway is responsible for much decimation in East Buffalo's Neighborhoods, including Humboldt Parkway. Radial (i.e. 'side') streets, downtown Buffalo, and East Side Buffalo Community Commercial Corridors, were each and all (negatively) impacted by the highway, and by its construction. Humnoldt Parkway, and its Humboldt/MLK Park, were both designed by Master Landscape Architect: Frederick Law Olmsted. Humboldt Parkway (formerly) resembled and rivaled the West Side's, and North Buffalo's, Chapin Parkway Neighborhood, Lincoln Parkway Neighborhood, and Bidwell Parkway Neighborhood. In addition, existence of Numerous Complaints of Adverse Health Impacts, attributed to the expressway's presence, were "at-risk" of being (effectively) silenced by the fast-tracking of NYSDOT's Plan. How is that "justice"? The Kensington Expressway lies in the 'heart' of a very densely populated residential community, A BNlack and African American Community. The Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood. A megaproject attached to a Billion Dollar Budget is capable of either doing very much good, or has the potential, as in this instance, of continuing a significant Measure of Unparalleled Harm.
Wherefore, CAC will continue to work on behalf of ensuring East Buffalo Community Residents, including Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood Residents, and their Supporters, are benefitted with the further and continued amplification of their (own) voices. CAC will ensure these have access to a Community Forum, as they persist to say "yes", concerning:
- Removal and Remediation of New York Route 33 Kensington Expressway.
- Restoration of Humboldt Parkway's (formerly) majestic tree-lined canopy.
- Repair of Humboldt Parkway's, and Humboldt/MLK Park's, historic "connectivity" and resemblance to North Buffalo's Delaware Park, and to the West Side's Parkways (Bidwell, Lincoln, and Chapin).
- Reconnection of (all) the severed Humboldt Parkway Neighborhoods.
- Reclamation of public land, made possible by Route 33's Removal, as well as exploration of the benefits of a Community Land Trust Arrangement.
- Development of a progressive Community Benefit Agreement.
- Pursuit of a comprehensive Adverse Health Impact Study, and Environmental Impact Statement. To learn more about the Community Health Study of Humboldt Parkway Neighborhood, that CAC is advocating for, contact CovingtonAssocConsulting@Gmail.Com .
- Need for emphasis upon Construction, and Green and Clean Energy-focused, Youth Workforce Development: Trainings, Programming, and actual real-world Employment Opportunities.
The Kensington Project, today, has a $Billion budget with which to do (so-called) Environmental Justice. However, justice is supposed to resemble what the Harmed and Injured Party views to be "compensation", not what the Perpetrator of the wrongful deed decides is deserved to be received (by the Wounded Party. For the U.S. Federal Government to dispense a $Billion for an infrastructure Project facing an Historically Economically Disadvantaged Community of Persons, without ensuring that its own Environmental Justice Mandate is being approached in integrity, and that its performance and compliance to such is being measured and reported accurately, truthfully, is incongruous with the spirit of said authorization. Stay tuned.....