Buffalo’s Race for Place is about “advancing the City of Buffalo and the Western New York region by supporting talent attraction and our modern workforce through the creation of innovative and attractive environments—both indoors and out.” “This effort is a big deal for talent attraction and infrastructure development in the City of Buffalo. Buffalo’s Race for Place is an outside-the-box strategy that demonstrates the type of aggressive response that regions must undertake to stay relevant in the global race for talent, while at the same time ensuring economic equity and inclusivity.” – Brandye Merriweather, Vice President, BUDC

The upcoming Smart Street Design public meeting is being “intentionally held in the street – while planning to activate it in different ways to get people to see how their streets might function differently for them. This won’t be your typical public meeting.”

Location: Mohawk Street, between Washington and Ellicott Streets

Time: 5:30pm – 7pm

“Douglas Development will be at the event to share its plans for the future of the Mohawk Ramp and the broader Electric District, which includes hundreds of new apartments, new commercial space, and a mobility hub. They’ll also discuss a plan for a shuttle downtown. In sum, Mayor Brown invites the community to stop by early to support our downtown restaurants during happy hour, then stop by the event to learn what Buffalo is doing to build a smarter and more livable downtown community, and finally end the night at Fountain Plaza enjoying local favorite Strictly Hip.” – Brendan R. Mehaffy, Office of Strategic Planning and Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA) Vice-Chairman

The overall focus if the Race for Place initiative includes:

  • Advancement of the downtown infrastructure plan, streetscape improvements, and placemaking in key investment corridors and nodes
  • The strengthening of anchors located along the Main Street “Knowledge Corridor”
  • Progressive land-use policies that prioritize traffic calming, demand and load management, and pedestrian and bicycle friendly activity, as well as promotion of public transit usage, and continuation of Cars Sharing Main Street
  • Implementation of additional Smart City technology solutions and capabilities within such corridors and beyond
  • Additive public safety solutions to further community and new resident confidence
  • Increased urban vibrancy and activation through implementation and feedback inputs from citizens and employees/employers (via City of Buffalo, Buffalo Urban Development Corporation, and community outreach)
  • Integration with existing talent attraction activities, organizations, and region-wide campaigns, such as Be in Buffalo

After the public meeting, attendees are encouraged to stick around downtown, to eat and drink at nearby restaurants (Big Ditch, Tappo, Deep South, Casa Di Pizza, etc.) Also, at Fountain Plaza, Strictly Hip will be playing, as part of the Thursday & Main concert series. Additionally, there will be a food truck, as well as e-scooter and e-bike, and other Smart City tech demonstrations.

Anyone that is interested in performing chalk art demonstrations or any other performance art at the public meeting should contact Crystal Middleton, Director of Planning and Zoning at the City of Buffalo. To learn more about the Race for Place initiative, click here.