A Year in ReviewSelected projects & partnerships of the University Heights Tool Library, 2011-2012

To facilitate self-reliance, civic engagement, and grassroots reinvestment in neighborhoods by empowering residents to affect the positive change they want to see.

- TOOL LIBRARY MISSION STATEMENT

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To facilitate self-reliance, civic engagement, and grassroots reinvestment in neighborhoods by empowering

To facilitate self-reliance, civic engagement, and grassroots reinvestment in neighborhoods by empowering

During the Tool Library’s current operation our most prevalent addition to the community has been in our ability to facilitate other’s projects. We have successfully built a number of project-based partnerships with UB’s Office of Community Relations, The Center for Urban Studies, UB’s Center for Student Leadership & Community Engagement, the Capen Garden Walk, University District Block Club Coalition, Heath Street Block Club, Minnesota Avenue Block Club, and a number of other community-based organizations. As we build our network of partners we are also able to bridge the disconnect between many of these organizations, so that their activities are complementary rather than competitive. As the Tool Library has grown, however, we have begun to build our capacity in initiating our own projects through the support of various community stakeholders and by utilizing the unique skill sets of our dedicated group of volunteers. The following section is a snapshot of our growing portfolio of projects that we have partnered on or led.

PROJECTS

Partnering with the University at Buffalo’s Center for Urban Studies, several members of the Tool Library along with a large supply of the Tool Library’s tools were used in several community development projects tied to the Center’s work on the Perry Choice Neighborhood (PCN). PCN is one of a handful of public housing developments in the nation chosen to receive a planning grant from HUD to create a multi-pronged redevelopment strategy that would see the Perry Projects redeveloped into a mixed income, mixed-use urban neighborhood. The Perry Choice Neighborhood seeks to empower residents to make positive changes in their community much the same way that the Tool Library does. Using the Tool Library’s tools, residents and staff members created a multi-generational community vegetable garden. These raised beds not only served to unite residents in tackling quality of life issues, but also created a practical solution to a lack of fresh produce in the neighborhood.

MULTI-GENERATIONAL COMMUNITY GARDEN

CAPACITY BUILDING

GREEN SPACE

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

FOOD PLANNING

PROJECT THEMES:While reviewing the projects that the Tool Library has participated in, we recognized a pattern of different categories the projects fell into.

The four categories we identified were:

Another aspect of the PCN project was a summer camp held on UB’s South Campus in the University Heights. The camp taught the children in the Perry Choice Neighborhood about things like urban farmer, sustainability, and the ramifications things like land use planning can have on their every day lives. Utilizing Tool Library tools, students and staff members constructed a pilot aquaponics system. What this entails is a closed loop sustainable system that combines aquaculture and hydroponics to create a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants. This system cuts down on waste products and further expands the options for food security in urban neighborhoods.

AQUAPONICS & URBAN AGRICULTURE

FOOD PLANNING

This project involved the maintenance and improvement of a triangular green space at the intersection of Tyler, Bruce, and Flower Streets in the Heights. Residents, along with Tool Library volunteers and a UB student group known as the Urban Collective were, able to utilize tools from the Tool Library to clear out pre-existing flower beds, replant them, and maintain them throughout the summer. This public garden and green space was featured on the Capen Garden Walk and has led to increased interest among students for an on-campus community garden. Since that time, the Tool Library has also helped reclaim four other flower beds located at the triangular green space at Tyler and West Winspear. Working with the West Winspear Block Club and Main Street Garden Group, the Tool Library provided the tools and volunteer labor, while the Main Street Garden Group provided the plants and garden material. Both greenspaces have since been targeted for capital improvement by the city with new sidewalks, granite curbs, and ADA-compliant pedestrian crossings.

POCKET PARKS & GREEN SPACE RECLAMATION

The Block Club on Minnesota Avenue has been incredibly active over the past several years. They have taken a long neglected median running down the middle of their street and turned it into a source of pride for the neighborhood, with each block planting a colorful assortment of perennials and annuals. The gardens are inspired by the national urban garden movement to reclaim, refurbish and redesign public spaces for the enjoyment of all. The Tool Library has supplied tools and volunteers during the Block Club’s major cleanups and was able to get an article published in Buffalo Rising shining a light on the amazing amount of work this group of dedicated residents have accomplished. The median is also a highlight of the annual Samuel P. Capen Garden Walk, which takes place every summer in the University Heights.

MINNESOTA ST MEDIAN COMMUNITY GARDEN

Running along the western border of the University Heights is Linear Park, a much loved yet often unappreciated neighborhood green space. Once an old railroad right-of-way, the linear tract of land stretching from LaSalle Metro Station to Kenmore Avenue is home to a paved bike path, pedestrian walkway, mature trees, and an expansive lawn used by area residents. However, neglected for many years, used as an illegal dumping ground, and overrun by invasive plant species, Linear Park was in desperate need of attention and investment. Spearheaded by the Heath Street Block Club and a group of dedicated residents, numerous cleanups have been held in partnership with neighborhood institutions such as UB and St. Joseph Parish bringing well over 200 volunteers out to clean up and improve the space. Working closely with the City’s Department of Public Works, several tons of debris have been removed and planned upgrades to the park’s infrastructure (signage, garbage cans, pathway) are in the works. Volunteers from the Tool Library also purchased and installed over a dozen tree gator watering bags to help sustain newly planted trees.

LINEAR PARK CLEANUP AND REHABILITATION

BUFFALO TRAX ANTI-GRAFFITI INITIATIVE

Inspired by a building across the street from the Tool Library that had fallen victim to graffiti, and the immediate impact a few coats of paint had on improving the apprear of the entire block, the Tool Library applied for a “Graffiti Hurts” grant through the national organization Keep America Beautiful. The Tool Library’s grant submission entitled “Buffalo Trax Graffiti” was selected from an applicant pool of over 150 as the top proposal. The submission outlined an anti-graffiti program that would crowdsource graffiti identification and removal to citizens of the neighborhood. Utilizing an GPS enabled smart phone app called Cloud GIS, users can walk a neighborhood and “geotag” pictures of graffiti. These pictures, along with a short description of type and amount of graffiti is then pinned on a central Google map that can be accessed remotely. The Tool Library, working in conjunction with the University Heights Collaborative and the Civic Engagement Academy at the University at Buffalo, will create a map of all graffiti incidences in the University Heights neighborhood and then sponsor a comprehensive clean-up and arm volunteers with the map.

While the University Heights remained a relatively dense and intact residential neighborhood, there are several vacant lots scattered throughout its streets. Most of these are the result of house fires and the resulting lots are almost never put back into productive use. Most sit vacant and garbage-strewn. The Tool Library has initiated a pilot project by building two raised beds on a parcel of land directly adjacent to Linear Park. The purpose of the project is to gauge the neighborhood’s interest and ability to sustain a community garden initiative. The hope is that if enough people show interest, the Tool Library can approach the owners of the vacant lots in the neighborhood and ask them to allow the Tool Library to maintain them for the purpose of raised bed community gardens. Not only would this provide an opportunity for residents to grow fresh produce in their own neighborhood, but the excess produce could then be sold at the University Community Farmers Market to help supplement the cost of materials and labor that go into the raised beds.

LINEAR PARK COMMUNITY GARDEN & RAISED BEDS

Originally seen as a project to decorate vacant storefronts, Light the Heights has transformed into a seasonal beautification project working with vacant property owners as well as existing businesses and the Businessmen’s Association to beautify Main Street for the Holidays. Relying primarily on donated decorations and lights, the Tool Library was able to decorate five active storefronts and one vacant storefront. This is another low cost high impact project that will help improve neighborhood perceptions and continue to build relationships between different stakeholders in the community. It is our hope that the initiative will continue to grow each year and may expand to include lighting street trees and hanging wreaths from street lights.

LIGHT THE HEIGHTS INITIATIVE

The first of many exhibits to be held in the Tool Library’s community space. The events The Tool Library host shine a light on Buffalo and similar Rust Belt cities across the country as they seek innovative ways to address issues of poverty, disinvestment, and depopulation. From 2000 to 2010, the total number of vacant housing units in the United States grew by over 4.5 million, an increase of 44 percent. Empty houses—along with abandoned industrial and commercial properties—are disproportionately concentrated in many older industrial cities. Chris Romano from UB’s School of Architecture and Planning presented work from the 2011 Ecological Practices Research Studio which explored the possibility to reconceptualize, reuse, or repurpose the estimated 12,000 vacant houses in the City of Buffalo. Design projects sought to develop regenerative housing solutions that were not purely based on economics but posed questions and critiques about issues of domesticity, density, demolition, and material use.

TAXONOMY OF THE POST-INDUSTRIAL HOUSE

To coincide with National Food Day, a nationwide celebration and a movement toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food, the Tool Library hosted a canning workshop. The workshop focused on utilizing low cost, low tech ways to can and preserve food. Seasonal, locally-grown produce was selected, such as peppers, tomatoes, and beets, to encourage people to eat locally even during colder months. With the increasing attractiveness of urban agriculture as a way to put vacant lots back into productive use, canning provides a practical way to broaden the practice’s impact on the regional food system. Residents of the University Heights as well as University at Buffalo students attended the workshop held in the Tool Library’s community space and all went home with produce they helped can.

TOOL LIBRARY CANNING WORKSHOP

A group of volunteers from the University Heights Collaborative signed up with Re-Tree Western New York’s fall planting effort and received over twenty five trees to plant along streets and in parks in the University Heights. Merrimac Avenue,Tyler Street, Heath Street, Englewood Avenue, and Triangle Park all received new trees. The Tool Library provided the tools needed to accomplish the task over the course of one afternoon. Many of the streets in the University Heights are punctuated by a mature street canopy. Various studies have indicated that the benefits of street trees, such as increase in property values, far outweigh their costs. An increase in urbanforestry investment in Buffalo is likely to yield substantial benefits. The UHC will continue to partner with Re-Tree WNY in the future with the ultimate goal of restoring the Height’s tree canopy.

RE-TREE THE HEIGHTS

To facilitate self-reliance, civic engagement, and grassroots reinvestment in neighborhoods by empowering

University Heights Tool Library5 W. Northrup Pl.Buffalo, NY 14214An Initiative of the University Heights Collaborative

Phone: 716-510-1745E-mail: uhtl@ourheights.orgWeb: www.thetoollibrary.org

University Heights

Tool Library

Capitalizing on a renewed dedication to localism and a hands-on approach to neighborhood involvement, the University Heights Tool Library functions as a hub for projects and products that have a tangible benefit to the community. The Tool Library also brings together a diverse mix of people from different walks of life and allows them to meet, create a dialogic space with one another, exchange ideas, and build a foundation for their neighborhood renewal. By building capacity among residents, communities will sow their own seeds of revitalization.