While awaiting a ruling on the future of a multimillion-dollar project intending to cap part of the Kensington Expressway while planting trees on top of it, the Partnership for the Public Good is calling for the full removal of the highway altogether.

In a new report, the nonprofit community organization, which describes itself as a “community-based think tank that builds a more just, sustainable, and culturally vibrant community through action-oriented research, policy development, and civic engagement,” lists as its top priority for 2025 the full removal of the Kensington and Scajaquada expressways as the starting point for the full restoration of Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision for Humboldt Parkway.

“In the 20th century, white flight to the suburbs led to government agencies gutting the Humboldt Parkway to build an expressway, devastating surrounding neighborhoods and Black communities,” the report says. “Now, the highway’s pollution contributes to some of the worst cancer, heart disease, and asthma outcomes in the nation. It promotes disinvestment in the East Side, harming residents and businesses alike. Restoring the Olmsted Park system through expressway removal will lead to an improved economy, higher home values, and increased opportunity for wealth-building in Buffalo. It will reestablish the city’s commitment to the environment and to the health and diversity of our population.”

The lead partners for this effort are identified in the report as the East Side Parkways Coalition, Citizens for Regional Transit, and the Western New York Youth Climate Council, all of which are parties to the several lawsuits awaiting decision in a Buffalo court as early as this week.

Each year the Partnership for the Public Good brings together its member organizations to discuss and determine a community agenda, which the group says is a blueprint containing “10 ways the state and local government can act to improve Buffalo Niagara in the coming year.”

Among the member groups in the partnership are the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, the John R. Oishei Foundation, the Western New York Foundation, the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, the Open Society Foundation, M&T Bank, PUSH Buffalo, Cornell University, and others.

Other items on the agenda include:

  • Using state funds to establish a community responder program in Buffalo to be the first to arrive for low-risk calls for behavioral or mental health concerns.
  • Establish a Community Benefits Agreement Law in Erie County for all development projects that receive public land or tax breaks of $1 million or more, which would require neighbors to the project to have a seat at the table to discuss the project’s impact on their lives.
  • End unfair suspensions in Buffalo Public Schools by adopting the New York State Education Department’s recommendations, eliminating suspensions for students in pre-K through third grade, suspensions longer than 20 days and suspensions for insubordination and low-level subjective offenses.
  • Adopt ranked choice voting in Buffalo for primary and general elections to show a preferential ranking of candidates to encourage political discourse and community involvement.
  • Pass Good Cause Eviction protections, limiting the reasons why someone can be evicted to specific problems, including non-payment of rent and breaking a lease, while also capping rent increases to 5-10% annually, to help address housing issues while allowing landlords to keep up with increased maintenance costs.
  • Calls on the state legislature to pass the Treatment Not Jail Act to redirect people with mental health and substance use issues to a treatment program instead of jail to get people the help they need, which they would not receive if incarcerated.
  • Implement proactive rental inspections requiring landlords to maintain and repair all rental units to protect the safety and health of tenants.

Peek Inside The Scajaquada Creek Tunnel Drain In Western New York

Nearly 4 miles of the 13-mile-long Scajaquada Creek is buried between Cheektowaga Town Park and Delaware Park.

The information shared here is meant for entertainment and educational purposes only. Under no circumstances should you enter this tunnel drain. Doing so risks bodily harm and/or arrest and prosecution for trespassing. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you do not attempt to investigate the inside of these tunnels without proper knowledge, experience, and legal authorization.

Gallery Credit: Ed Nice

More From We are Buffalo