Community development organization dedicated to the recovery of Humboldt Parkway.
07/29/2025
Our hard-fought efforts have once again been acknowledged by the Congress for New Urbanism, as communities across America fight to reclaim their neighborhoods. We have previously made the Freeways Without Future list in 2019 and 2021.
Stay tuned for updates about time and location for our next public meeting on THURSDAY, AUGUST 21. We remain committed to the environmental and economic value of Buffalo’s East Side and will continue working with community partners to bring forth a new Humboldt Parkway for future generations. 💚
For over 20 years, CNU’s Highways to Boulevards work has been at the vanguard of removing unnecessary freeways from cities. Ramming freeways through city neighborhoods did astronomical damage to cities in the 20th Century and continue to burden communities with the significant health hazards of ve...
07/15/2025
Community Can Food Drive will be held this week at different city locations this week (July 13 - July 18).
- Greater Works Christian Fellowship Food Pantry
18 Southampton Street
- Group Ministries Food Pantry
1333 Jefferson Avenue
- Candice's Mobile Food Pantry
410 East Street
- Doris Records Community Refrigerator
286 East Ferry Street
- Delavan-Grider Community Refrigerator
877 East Delavan Avenue
Let's do our part to help our families and friends in need! 💚
07/14/2025
An important community meeting will be held at Mt. Olive Baptist Church (701 East Delavan Ave) on Tuesday, July 15th @ 6PM. The courts have made their decision that a full Environmental Impact Statement is required for the Humboldt Parkway project. Everyone is welcome to attend regarding the future of Buffalo’s neighborhoods!
09/18/2024
ROCC on the road!
Last week, we had the pleasure of meeting with community leaders in St. Paul, Minnesota for the 2nd Annual Reconencting Communities Summit. Hosted by ReConnect Rondo, we're expanding our advocacy for and justice in cities across the country! 💚
09/03/2024
The 22nd Annual Olmsted Gala will be hosted at Martin Luther King Park on Friday, September 6th @ 6PM!
Community updates for projects at Martin Luther King Park will be hosted by the Olmsted Community Alliance on Tuesday, August 27th at the MLK Park Shelter.
Rain date will be on Wednesday August 28th.
07/30/2024
Two of Robert Coles' best-known works, including his home studio at 321 Humboldt Parkway, are receiving preservation funds from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
Special thanks to Preservation Buffalo Niagara for their due diligence in this effort! 💚
They are among 30 sites that received a total of $1.2 million from Conserving Black Modernism grants, which preserves and promotes the work of African American architects.
07/16/2024
The intersection of Humboldt Parkway and East Ferry Street (c. 1953)
A testament to the value Humboldt once brought to the neighborhood was how local businesses, as seen on the left, were named after the parkway.
To the far right is what at the time was Public School 93. In recent years, it was one of several locations for the Community Action Organization.
04/29/2024
Another freeway cap! Announcement by VP Harris today in Atlanta.
Currently, the project is on track for a 2026 construction start date, according to a release.
04/04/2024
Olmsted Parks needs volunteers to assist with the view of the eclipse on Monday, April 8th!
We want to thank our followers for getting us this far in the journey to restore Humboldt Parkway. We also want to thank our allies in the East Side Parkways Coalition for their continued support and quick action in advocating for the East Side.
We take comfort in the fact that Mrs. Stephanie Barber Geter's efforts have not been in vain. While we have our differences in how this project has been shaped, we're ultimately working towards a shared goal of reducing the generational damage caused by the 33 expressway. 💚
The State Department of Transportation's environmental assessment of the Kensington Expressway project has received a "finding of no significant harm" from the Federal Highway Administration, allowing the project to move forward. Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected in Buffalo on Friday to make the announc...
01/12/2024
We are sad to report that our Chairperson, Stephanie Barber Geter, completed her mission on Earth yesterday morning.
She will forever be remembered beyond the quest to restore Humboldt Parkway, but more broadly as a diligent advocate for Buffalo’s East Side. In addition to serving as Chairperson of ROCC, she was the President of the Hamlin Park Community & Taxpayer's Association, among many other achievements.
Thanks for the hard work and dedication you have instilled in all of us, Stephanie! 💚
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Famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed Humboldt Parkway in the 1870’s to allow users to travel from The Park (now the nationally-renowned Delaware Park) to The Parade (now Martin Luther King Park). Having previously designed Central Park for New York City, Buffalo would soon host America’s very first park system, where the city’s main parks would be linked by a series of parkways and roundabouts. Users could travel through neighborhoods without leaving the serenity of a park-like atmosphere. Throughout the first half of the 20th Century, six rows of large maple trees provided a canopy for the boulevard, creating value to the newly established Hamlin Park neighborhood, as well as a formal gateway to the Buffalo Museum of Science.
Also included in the Olmsted Park System were Bidwell and Chapin Parkways on Buffalo’s Upper West Side. Both boulevards provide two present-day examples of what Humboldt Parkway once provided for Buffalo’s East Side.
A national trend following World War II attracted scores of families to the outskirts of central cities. The decision to destroy Humboldt Parkway with an expressway was introduced 1946, with little to no knowledge among targeted residents. Despite limited knowledge among residents, a series of illegal tactics in the real estate market, including blockbusting and redlining, ultimately brought change at the direct expense of city residents. With business interests superseding residential concerns, residents remaining in Hamlin Park would witness the horror of a masterpiece landscape disappear throughout the 1960’s.
The new expressway affected Buffalo neighborhoods both physically and psychologically. Significant portions of the city street grid were broken, ironically creating more logistical problems. Many homes were demolished or relocated from the expressway’s path. Property values quickly plummeted. Jefferson and North Fillmore Avenues, the two “main streets” book-ending Hamlin Park, saw dozens of shops and businesses close in the years to come.
Two generations later, the Kensington Expressway would be remembered as one of several planning mistakes that contributed to Buffalo’s post-WWII decline.
Plans for Humboldt Parkway’s revival began in the 1990’s. Clark E. Eaton (1934-2017), owner of Eaton Associates, Inc. proposed building a promenade that would resemble the original boulevard. This idea had already proven successful in Seattle and Phoenix. State funding for a feasibility study came in 2001, which would recover about fourteen acres leading to Martin Luther King Park.
The Restore Our Community Coalition was incorporated as a 501c3 (non-profit organization) in 2010. Four years later, the “I Remember” campaign was launched, attracting hundreds of supporters around the Western New York region.
The core ROCC members consist of dedicated community leaders from the Hamlin Park Tax Payers Association, Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Buffalo Museum of Science, and the Western New York Black Chamber of Commerce. Additional support from the Scajaquada Corridor Coalition, the Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council, as well as the Humboldt Parkway community at large, are all actively pursuing neighborhood revitalization. Community advocacy for Humboldt Parkway’s revival is geared towards integrating Hamlin Park with the much-touted cultural and economic vibrancy of Buffalo’s renaissance.
