A Progress Report on
Planning and Implementation:
Downtown Buffalo 2002!

Like cities in general, Downtown is never done. The process of planning and implementation to make any part of a city a better place to live is never ending. And so it is with Downtown Buffalo. This draft strategic plan, therefore, is simply another step in a continuous process of planning, action, and evaluation.

The 2002 Strategic Plan for Downtown Buffalo is the logical outgrowth of the strategic plan published in 1999. Although only a few years have elapsed, much has been done, and it is time to look back on what has been accomplished, reassess the current situation, and if necessary, adjust the course for the future.

In the past, there has often been too much of a time lapse between reviewing progress, sharpening the vision, and updating priorities. When the Downtown Buffalo Strategic Plan was published in 1999, it had already been 14 years since the previous plan, The Buffalo Regional Center Update, was published in 1985. And before that it had been another 14 years since the original Buffalo Regional Center Plan in 1971. Given how much has been accomplished in the two-and-a-half years since the first publication of Downtown Buffalo Strategic Plan it is not too soon to take another look.

One of the key outcomes of the 1999 strategic plan was the implementation process itself. Just prior to the release of the 1999 strategic plan; Mayor Anthony M. Masiello called for the creation of a partnership to help make the plan a reality. Named Downtown Buffalo 2002! the initiative was and continues to be a working partnership among the City of Buffalo, Buffalo Place, and the Urban Design Project of the School of Architecture and Planning, University at Buffalo. The goal of the campaign was simple: facilitate the advancement of specific high priority projects in Downtown identified through a broad professional, public, and stakeholder review.

At the December 1999 Downtown Summit, shortly after the plan was introduced, participants were asked to help identify priority issues and priority projects for Downtown development. Based on those rankings, and a broad stakeholder review of the plan, the agenda for the implementation campaign was set.

The approach was simple. Downtown Buffalo 2002! brought together all those people who could help make the priority projects happen. Representatives for eighteen different organizations met regularly. They set deadlines for tasks and helped establish clear measures of performance. They also worked together to solve problems as they occurred.

The result should not be surprising. The agenda moved forward. Of eleven priority projects, five have been “retired. “ They are complete. Four other projects were added in 2001 and one of those is completed. All the others but one are moving forward and ten will be complete by years end. A full accounting of all 15 of the priority projects is included in this report.

Any progress report on Downtown Buffalo would not be complete without mentioning the priority issue that went away. At the first Downtown Buffalo Summit in October 1994 the number one priority issue was “Feeling Safe.” As a result, the City of Buffalo, Buffalo Place Inc., the Buffalo Police Department, and building owners and tenants went to work, and by 1999 the issue of crime and feeling safe in Downtown Buffalo had dropped to number-six in the priority issue ranking. At the December 1999 Summit, a session was organized to discuss the issue. No one showed up or even wanted to discuss it.

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