Kensington Expressway is Buffalo's Berlin Wall
When the Kensington Expressway was built, it separated east and west Buffalonians and created results that are eerily like the disparities that were revealed to the world when the Berlin Wall came down.
Currently, the discussion is whether a portion of the Kensington should be covered and a tunnel running underneath or whether it should be filled in to restore the Olmstead Parkway.
Although eminent domain was used to burrow Kensington through our communities, these past actions cannot be the model for today’s choice. The decision on what to do to end the east & west divide is not the exclusive domain of a racial group, a select few, political class, or commercial interests.
No one group or effort should expect to have exclusive rights to make decisions that will have citywide impact. The mistakes in the 1950s do not have to be repeated. Working together, across racial and geographic divides, we can create a solution that will free our children from the segregationist mentality that has been following us around.
Thanks you for your comments. I try my best to honor those who came before us and their work of helping to shape America’s national identity. The Olmstead Parkway is a manifestation of idealists who dared to dream the impossible dream. It is part of the American Family Scrapbook. It is our collective inheritance, and we are obligated to preserve the treasures we inherit and pass them on.
The fact that our infrastructure, which is also a part of our inheritance has become so neglected, is an indication that we have allowed leaders to drive the poverty mentality of taking from Peter to pay Paul. It is a mentality that is promoted so that our leaders are free to use our money for agendas that are not aligned with our best interest locally or nationally.
To this day many bad decisions continue to impact us. Driving the Expressway through Olmsted Parkway is just one of them. The fact we were pushed away from being strong producers and towards reliance on countries who envy us – for manufacturing life-saving medicines amongst other things, is not a dream.
Wonderful argument. This should be submitted to the Buffalo News. There is an eerie disenfranchisement of many who would be affected by this plan and that's not acceptable. Also concerned that the real aim isn't to correct past decisions but rather to limit everyone's freedom of movement, just as with the lowering of the Scajaquada speed limit (wouldn't barrier fencing have sufficed?) and the oft-proposed teardown of the Skyway. They don't like highways or free travel and there is an obsession with corralling us into smaller, more controllable, less free spaces.