Canal Side: Citizen Waterfront Forum

1. Canal Side: Citizen Waterfront Forum • City of Buffalo Public Opinion Solicitation Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning Byron W. Brown, Mayor Brendan R. Mehaffy, Esq., Executive Director

2. Significant progress has been made. • - Buffalonians have consistently demanded access to the water. • - Federal, state, and local officials have responded with new streets, public spaces, walking and cycling paths. • - The waterfront is now more accessible than it has been in decades. • - Canal Side infrastructure is nearly complete and significant development-ready parcels are ready for build-out.

4. Mayor Brown issues call for ideas. • - Mayor Byron W. Brown issued a call to the public for ideas for the development of Canal Side on August 10, 2010, and the public came back with an overwhelming response. • - Solicitations for public feedback from hundreds of people were collected by e-mail, personal letters, and the City’s 311 web form and call line.

5. 856 people RESPONSE TO MAYOR’S CALL 1,757 ideas

6. 311 Web Form was a huge success.

7. A wide range of responses emerged from across the region and beyond.

8. What does the public have to say? ?

9. We have access to the water. Now the public is demanding we take the next step.

10. The ideas from the public were wide ranging, creative, and comprehensive, yet prominent themes emerge that offer direction on a course for action.

11. As simply stated by one respondent, “Buffalonians love to eat, drink, and be entertained.”

12. 1,757 ideas...

13. STRONG PUBLIC SUPPORT National specialty restaurants and retail chains, particularly those that are not yet located in the Buffalo area. The public overwhelmingly supports the waterfront’s development as a setting for restaurants, coffee houses, and bars. Civic gathering places and access to the water have widespread support. There is a strong desire for recreational, leisure, and sporting activities at the water’s edge. There is a strong desire for museum and interpretive experiences that relate strongly to Buffalo’s heritage, culture, and Great Lakes/Erie Canal location. The public stresses the importance of historical and cultural authenticity in the waterfront’s build-out.

14. LIMITED PUBLIC SUPPORT There is only limited support for use of the water’s edge as an office location, indicating a widespread preference for its development as a “resort” or an “escape from the 9 to 5” destination. • While there was a call for local retailers, there was a greater call for national retailers. • The public expressed some concern about environmental standards, but did not express any concern for a living wage as a prerequisite to waterfront development.

15. The common thread across all the responses is a desire for the waterfront to become an exciting urban place, where restaurants, retail, entertainment, recreational activities, and cultural and family destinations - in short, “things to do” - are embedded into an authentic, walkable district.

16. The feedback from the public reinforces many of the overriding goals and objectives of the Canal Side Master Plan.