CONCEPT

2006-03-22T22:09:00.000-05:00

Preservation in the City of Buffalo has been a mixed bag of organizations and governmental departments that may not seem "user-friendly." While most of the preservation nonprofits work to fight demolition or provide tours to the historic districts and buildings they are most familiar with, there has not been an organization that successfully addresses the needs and concerns of homeowners and prospective buyers in all areas of the city, whether designated historic districts, or neighborhoods without such designation that simply need to be preserved for their residents.

1. Preserve Buffalo Now! will work with all areas of the City of Buffalo to determine need and solutions ensuring each neighborhood has the opportunity for either historic or "peace-of-mind" preservation.

2. Preserve Buffalo Now! will administer the funding needs and acquisition for the Gap Fund, to assist low-income homeowners in Buffalo's Historic Districts with the difference in repair costs due to the prescribed repair standards by the US Secretary of the Interior.

3. Preserve Buffalo Now! will act as a conduit of information relating to tax incentives and other programs that assist residential property owners attempting to preserve the architectural heritage of their buildings. To this date we have searched for the City of Buffalo's Historic Property Tax Exemption information and have found various references to it, but no definitions or guidelines.

(See Federal Tax Incentives, and State Tax Incentives.)

4. Preserve Buffalo Now! will create a forum for all historic district property owners to document their actions, victories, and frustrations in dealing with preservation standards and repair. This documentation will allow the Board to assess needs and remediation to assist these homeowners in acquiring best practice programs while alleviating log jams in their quest.

Please be explicit with the steps and costs taken. If you have comparative costs, please include them.

In entering your information, realize the audience who will read your text. The information you supply should be to-the-point and direct without "slamming" an individual, company, organization, or department. However, if you received poor customer service from either the private or public sector, it is imperative that you provide that information. On the other hand, if customer service was adequate or excellent, that should be included in your ratings.

This open forum will provide direction for proactive measures to assure time efficient and focused remedies. Once data is collected it will be measured in various ways to offer organizations, government, and other entities recommendations for change and our future.

Please send your information to: PreserveBuffaloNow@hotmail.com. The PBN staff reserves the right to edit or exclude content that is inflammatory. We wish to create a proactive and respectful forum. Our first entry is online now from a resident of the Lower West Side. Click here to read it.

Readers may post comments and offer solutions, present experiences, and generally provide "conversation" that offers support and positive direction.

Please use your district or neighborhood name for yours. For example, "Lower West Side, " "Fruitbelt," or "Hamlin Park." Readers may use the same signage for their entries. Your e-mail address will be confidential and not provided to any other entity.

We thank you for your participation.

5. Preserve Buffalo Now! will work to create proactive measures for preservation in the City of Buffalo utilizing a Board comprised of homeowners and neighborhood groups to assure the voice of the taxpayer is heard.