Eastside Parkways Coalition (ESP) announced they have filed an appeal in court claiming the original Kensington Expressway project violated the public trust doctrine and wrongfully took away public park land. It’s a lengthy step up from their February court victory which halted the state Department of Transportation's plans to transform the current Kensington Expressway into a tunnel while restoring the previous Humboldt Parkway on top of it.
Coalition attorney Alan Bozer said the appellate court has a chance to completely change life here in Buffalo
“The courts, every once in a while, get huge cases that completely changed the trajectory of law and life in America. Brown v. Board of Education, it took 80-70 years for them to correct a mistake that was made. Can the appellate division say that, yes, this was unlawfully taken? The answer is a resounding yes."
However not everyone is sounding optimistic about this appeal. Restore Our Communities Coalition (ROCC), who supported the state’s original plan of the underground tunnel, called ESP’s latest move a dangerous distraction. Sydney Brown, the chair of ROCC, pointed out that ESP’s solution would lead to more street traffic and idling cars.
“Now when you're at East ferry, I've sat there through three and four lights because there's only one lane of traffic that can go straight. You sit there and idling cars is more dangerous to our community, which is why this is a dangerous distraction. Just about all the streets, in the city of Buffalo have been minimized from two lanes of traffic to one lane of traffic because we have some parking and bike lanes.”
Brown also rejected public calls from ESP for collaboration
“No one in the history of Buffalo advocates for 5, 10, 15, 20 years, gets a viable project, for someone to say abandon your project and do what we want, that's ludicrous to say. For us to come and try to compromise on something when we've already done our due diligence to get to the point and actually get funding for it. [No] There's nothing to continue to talk about with that."
The appeal will be heard by the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division in Rochester before the end of the year.
