Nearly 10 months after a judge ordered the halting of a project to rework the Kensington Expressway, the New York State Department of Transportation is launching a new platform for residents to stay informed about project outreach.
The Queen City Forward website includes details about listening sessions, community outreach events and how to contact the Department of Transportation.
The move is part of a concerted effort to increase communication with the community and work toward a common solution, DOT Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said.
“We can't just do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, right? We need a new way of thinking, a new way of doing things, a forward-looking process that truly is inclusive, so that we have members of the community from all of Western New York really participating.”
It’s significant that the department is taking time to let community members voice their opinions, Buffalo resident Madeline Paige said.
“Right, it's very, very important to listen to the community, because they are the ones that have to live there," she said. "And a lot of people don't like a lot of clutter and a lot of traffic, you know, coming into the neighborhood.”
The communication phase with residents will last around a year before work starts on an environmental impact study, and there already are listening sessions planned across the coming months, Dominguez said.
"We've got sessions that we're planning across neighborhoods, all across the City of Buffalo and into the suburbs," she said. "We're going to be talking to people. But let me be clear, every option is on the table during this early phase. There's nothing that's off the table right now."
Queen City Forward’s first listening session was Tuesday at Schiller Park Senior Center. The second session will be Dec. 16 at the Edward Saunders Community Center.
