Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors and West Side Community Collaborative help spur neighborhood revitalization

WHAT

From one of the worst to one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods, the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors is conducting a press conference and walking tour of the Essex Street neighborhood on Buffalo's west side.

WHEN

Monday, Oct. 31, at 11 a.m.

WHERE

30 Essex St. (off Massachusetts), Buffalo

Includes walking tour of neighborhood

WHY

Healthy neighborhoods are the cornerstone of a thriving city. Several years ago, the BNAR helped to spearhead a turnaround on the west side, helping to revitalize an area that was viewed as undesirable and dangerous. The initiative continues, as illustrated by the homes that were once blighted and are now among the properties that have tripled in property value. Crime continues to drop and the pace of increased property values continues.

"Many local Realtors conducted tours on the west side of Buffalo over the years. Realtors were instrumental in turning the neighborhood around. That hands-on experience created an awareness of the issues affecting this classic Buffalo area and, in collaboration with agencies like Harvey Garrett's and government leaders, we are proud to have a key role in this revitalization," noted E. Alice Miranda, 2011 BNAR president. "Approximately 5,000 homes in that area have increased their property values significantly."

The BNAR continues to advocate for major upswings across the city, inviting its members to tour the neighborhoods and homes, leveraging the resources of the agents who work and live in Western New York.

"In a region that is losing population, in a city that is supposed to be declining, in a part of the city that was given up on as lost forever, we have a neighborhood that is reviving itself through self-determination and dwarfing all other areas of the region in growth by tripling its property values over the past 10 years," said Harvey Garrett, executive director of the West Side Community Collaborative.