Downtown Buffalo 2002! Completes First Year;
Works to Move Priority Plans Forward

During the first year of Downtown Buffalo 2002! the Implementation Campaign conducted a full review of the Downtown Strategic Plan.
It has produced a consensus report on top priority issues identifying eleven priority projects. And it described progress on planning in ten key priority topics, regularly reporting on all the work through this newsletter, a web site, technical reports, and public presentations. Even so, the campaign has only begun. We have an ambitious program for next year. One goal is to revise the strategy based on lessons learned through the first year of implementation.
A second goal is to continue the tracking of priority planning efforts and projects with attendant problem solving and reporting.

From the beginning of the Implementation Campaign, we have employed a four-way system of coordinated action.

Plan Review Process

Over 6,000 people had the opportunity to review the draft strategy in various forms. The review included a newsletter survey asking people to rank priority issues and projects, a full review of the text of the strategy by key constituents, a partial review that covered a wider array of constituents, and a day-long Downtown Summit. A technical report on the results of the full review was published in March.

The plan review process continues. Presentations with invitations to comment were given to over twenty groups representing a wide range of interests in the first year of operations. Any group interested in hearing more about the implementation campaign is invited to call or write us to schedule time in 2001. All plan review materials issued to date can be found on our website located at: intro.htm

Implementation Council

An Implementation Council, composed of the chief executives of the entities responsible for implementing the priority projects has met twice with a third meeting scheduled for January 2001. These meetings are devoted to coordinating actions among organizations and removing obstacles to the implementation of priority projects.

Action Teams

An Action Team composed of the senior staff of the agencies involved in priority projects and plans is assembled and meets monthly. The working sessions are designed to do the ongoing problem solving needed to advance the projects. Four subcommittees are working on some of the priority plans listed in this newsletter including exploring the feasibility of returning cars to Main Street, creating a cohesive Business Development Strategy, developing a comprehensive image campaign for downtown Buffalo, and creating a strategy for living downtown.

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