City gives PBA deadline on neglected Busti Avenue properties

Buffalo’s commissioner of inspections and demolitions, James Comerford, has given the Public Bridge Authority until May 1 to stabilize and make necessary repairs to eight buildings on Busti Avenue it has owned for over 13 years, according to several neighborhood activists who say they attended a meeting with him last week. They report that the commissioner told them he has sent a directive to the authority with specified actions that must be taken by that date.

Neighborhood activists have long protested the alleged neglect of the eight houses—which run from 757 to 793 Busti—saying they have been intentionally neglected by the authority for years, and that bridge officials want this to lead to demolition. Among the eight homes is the “Colonel Nicholson House” at 771 Busti, a widely recognized historical landmark.

Carol Perla, a neighborhood resident and member of the Niagara Gateway Columbus Park Association, said that “Comerford has promised” action will be forthcoming and the houses secured. She and several others at the meeting say the commissioner told them the bridge authority has committed itself to an action plan with regard to these houses. After what they say is years of stalling by the city and bridge officials, association members filed a hazardous conditions complaint with the Common Council in October.

Attempts to verify the report with Comerford’s office produced no response. One person who attended the meeting said Comerford asked attendees not to speak publicly about the details he related to them.

Perla told Artvoice, “We will be satisfied” when the commissioner’s office sends association members a list of the repairs that are to be made.

Former councilmember Albert Coppola, who has been working with the association to stop both the bridge authority’s blighting of the neighborhood and its plans for bridge expansion, said Comerford is the first city official “to respect the community’s concerns.”

—george sax