A high-profile housing group has been helping to revive a West Side neighborhood. PUSH – People United for Sustainable Housing – continues to launch projects that create affordable dwellings for West Side residents.
Jen Mecozzi, PUSH’s director of community organizing, took The Buffalo News’ Brian Meyer on a tour of the 25-block target area. Here is a summary of some of the issues that were discussed in an interview that is part of the weekly “In Focus” series. Watch the full five-minute video at BuffaloNews.com/video.
Meyer: There are some very interesting things going on in this 25-block radius of the West Side. Tell us what you’re doing with PUSH.
Mecozzi: Our main mission is to … figure out a way for people in the neighborhood to stay in the neighborhood, yet be able to live in affordable, energy-efficient housing.
Meyer: PUSH for years has been working hard on rehabbing some of these dwellings.
Mecozzi: We early on took on a project and did some community work around revitalizing two different structures. … It was a learning process. But what we did realize is that due to the fact that the housing stock is so old in this area, weatherization is so necessary. … When you’re heating bill is a little larger than your rent, then it tends to become a [problem].
Meyer: Some interesting trends are occurring here. We’re actually seeing, according to realtors, an increase in property values in pockets of the West Side.
Mecozzi: We are doing our best to land-bank, so to speak. … We’re noticing that there have been some renovations going on where the cost of living and the rents are almost double what we would charge.
Meyer: Some of that has to be the [result] of what PUSH is doing. Do you sometimes feel like you’re actually in a self-defeating kind of mode in some ways?
Mecozzi: I don’t want to call it self-defeating. I’ve been quoted as saying that we may be stepping on our own toes. But I step on my own toes every day and [by] accident. It’s OK. We know what we have to do. … I myself live right in this neighborhood.
Meyer: You were born and raised on the West Side, You moved away for a while, but then came back as very young adult. Tell us, how has it changed?
Mecozzi: How it’s changed is that we are probably … one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the entire state. The West Side has a refugee population. We have Somalians, we have Burmese, we have so many cultures that live in this area.
Meyer: When you talk about reviving a neighborhood, there’s often a philosophical tug of war between demolitions – particularly if there’s a lot of older housing – and rehab.
Mecozzi: Nobody wants to demolish a building or any type of structure that’s worth rehabbing. … Just the fact that vacant space is going to be all that’s left is kind of depressing. … You want to be able to rehab structures. They’re beautiful structures. I mean you can say we have the oldest housing stock. But if we weatherize it and we rehabilitate it, we also have some of the most beauitful architecture.
Jen Mecozzi, PUSH’s director of community organizing, took The Buffalo News’ Brian Meyer on a tour of the 25-block target area. Here is a summary of some of the issues that were discussed in an interview that is part of the weekly “In Focus” series. Watch the full five-minute video at BuffaloNews.com/video.
Meyer: There are some very interesting things going on in this 25-block radius of the West Side. Tell us what you’re doing with PUSH.
Mecozzi: Our main mission is to … figure out a way for people in the neighborhood to stay in the neighborhood, yet be able to live in affordable, energy-efficient housing.
Meyer: PUSH for years has been working hard on rehabbing some of these dwellings.
Mecozzi: We early on took on a project and did some community work around revitalizing two different structures. … It was a learning process. But what we did realize is that due to the fact that the housing stock is so old in this area, weatherization is so necessary. … When you’re heating bill is a little larger than your rent, then it tends to become a [problem].
Meyer: Some interesting trends are occurring here. We’re actually seeing, according to realtors, an increase in property values in pockets of the West Side.
Mecozzi: We are doing our best to land-bank, so to speak. … We’re noticing that there have been some renovations going on where the cost of living and the rents are almost double what we would charge.
Meyer: Some of that has to be the [result] of what PUSH is doing. Do you sometimes feel like you’re actually in a self-defeating kind of mode in some ways?
Mecozzi: I don’t want to call it self-defeating. I’ve been quoted as saying that we may be stepping on our own toes. But I step on my own toes every day and [by] accident. It’s OK. We know what we have to do. … I myself live right in this neighborhood.
Meyer: You were born and raised on the West Side, You moved away for a while, but then came back as very young adult. Tell us, how has it changed?
Mecozzi: How it’s changed is that we are probably … one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the entire state. The West Side has a refugee population. We have Somalians, we have Burmese, we have so many cultures that live in this area.
Meyer: When you talk about reviving a neighborhood, there’s often a philosophical tug of war between demolitions – particularly if there’s a lot of older housing – and rehab.
Mecozzi: Nobody wants to demolish a building or any type of structure that’s worth rehabbing. … Just the fact that vacant space is going to be all that’s left is kind of depressing. … You want to be able to rehab structures. They’re beautiful structures. I mean you can say we have the oldest housing stock. But if we weatherize it and we rehabilitate it, we also have some of the most beauitful architecture.
