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Memories of Falls serve as inspiration
by chocieniNIAGARA FALLS—When David Stebbins was growing
up near 15th and Pine streets, the Falls fostered a love for cities that has
carried through his decades- long career as an urban planner.
"When I was a young boy, when you walked down
Falls Street, the sidewalks were wall-to-wall people. There were shops and
restaurants and movie theaters and all kinds of stuff," said Stebbins, 57, vice
president of Buffalo Urban Development Corp. "[Now], it's not the Niagara Falls
that I knew when I grew up. I'm saddened by the decline."
He sees hope for future improvement with
ideas, perspective and collaboration from peers in his field and those related
to it: A multidisciplinary approach to planning is captured in a newly active
branch of the professional organization Urban Land Institute. Its worldwide
membership of planners, architects, real estate developers and market analysts
is about 33,000, Stebbins said.
The local ULI group has been actively
planning programs in the last year and a half. Membership has grown to about
75.
"It's better known in major markets: New
York. San Francisco. Dallas," said Stebbins. "Honestly, it's probably not as
well known in Western New York."
Next month, ULI will arrange advisory panel
meetings with out-of-town members to brainstorm possible uses for leftover
space that Niagara County Community College will not need for its new culinary
school inside the old Rainbow Centre mall. A final, public presentation is
planned for Sept. 28, with time and place yet to be announced.
Similar, past ULI advisory panels collected
ideas for Buffalo: Reusing the old Millard Fillmore Hospital at Gates Circle
and the H.H. Richardson Complex, which has incorporated the panel's boutique-
hotel suggestion into its redevelopment plan.
Last year, the group highlighted another
Niagara County success: It held an evening presentation for young ULI leaders
and others in the real estate profession at Remington Lofts in North Tonawanda.
The old Sweeney Street factory with apartments, a yoga studio and a new
Remington Tavern restaurant is a model of "adaptive reuse," said Stebbins.
What is your job?
I work for the Buffalo Urban Development
Corporation. A private nonprofit. Brownfield redevelopment. The Buffalo
Lakeside Commerce Park in South Buffalo. We make the land available for private
businesses. We do it more through real estate development, as opposed to
lending.
Can you give an example?
Ten years ago, before we got involved with
Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park, it was an abandoned industrial site with no
infrastructure. It was a steel-making facility, Hanna Furnace, which had been
there for 100 years almost.
It's about 230 acres total. Twenty acres of
park, which we call Ship Canal Commons. About 20 acres of wetlands. We've been
opening it in phases since 2004. What we do is we come in, clear the land. We
build new roads, new electrical, sewer. We subdivided it into commercial
development parcels.
What companies are there now?
Cobey Incorporated. They make pump and
compressor systems for the petrochemical industry. CertainTeed. They make
plastic fencing. Then we have Sonwil distribution centers. They are a third
party logistics company.
We still have, probably about 10 development
parcels of 80-some acres of land.
What is your training?
I am an urban planner by profession. I got my
master's in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina.
That's my day job.
How did you choose it?
My college professor, his name was Michael
Brill, he has since passed away; a professor in the UB School of Architecture
and Planning. He taught an introductory course in environmental design. It's
really about the built environment, the community you live in, the city you
live in. He just basically helped me understand that people can help shape the
environment we live in. We can work together to make good cities to live in.
He was a very engaging, charismatic person. I
always loved cities but I never thought I would make a career of it.
Why is ULI so important to you?
The beauty of Urban Land is that it's
multidisciplinary because real estate development is a multidisciplinary
activity. Brokers, appraisers, and there's more. It tries to bring together all
of these different professions in one place. To me, it's one of the things that
I treasure most.
Do you still have connections to Niagara Falls?
Of course, I still have family and friends in
Niagara Falls. I was part of Mayor Dyster's first Cabinet. We went to high
school together at Bishop Duffy. He was student council president and I was
student council vice president. He was a year ahead of me at school. The chief
planner for Niagara Falls, Thomas DeSantis, and I have been best friends since
kindergarten.
What do you like to do when you go back?
I kind of like Goat Island. I spent a lot of
time growing up, just hanging out on the island. That kind of was our beach.
Three Sisters Island. The area by the upper rapids. Walking up the gorge. Kind
of the wild side of Niagara Falls, as opposed to the falls themselves.
An interesting experience is to go see the
falls in the winter time. To try and find the less traveled part of the falls.
The gorge. The back side of Goat Island. It's a spectacular side. The falls in
winter, if you go down to Prospect Point on the American side it's a
spectacular sight, just the way the ice forms on the trees. The way the mist
looks in the winter time. It's a lovely sight. Most tourists, they don't come
to the falls in the winter. They don't get a chance to see the sun shining on
the ice.
Tell me about a city that inspires you.
A few years ago, I went to Rome, Italy. Rome
is truly a city that's over 2,000 years old. It's still a modern city. Women in
dresses and high heels riding motor scooters. People hanging out and talking
and sitting at a cafe and having fun. Ancient buildings, modern buildings. It's
still a living, breathing organism.
I'm half Italian, so that helps.
What do you love about cities?
That also embodies the whole thing about
cities. People come and go, but it's still a place that's still a center of
activity, politics, culture, that continual mix of ideas.
That's what cities are all about. It's that
mixing of people and culture and ideas that makes them really exciting.
Sidewalk cafes. Good food. Life keeps on
going. All around, all of these ancient sites. Coliseum. Forum. People raise
families. They get married. They fall in love. We go there as if it's a museum,
to see this ancient architecture and museums. It's not a museum. It's still a
busy city.
So old cities reveal the importance of gathering places?
The piazzas in Siena. The Spanish steps. How
do we create those kind of public spaces in our cities? That's probably one of
the other big lessons I've learned.
Lafayette Square would be our closest.
Niagara Square could be that. Right now, it's just kind of an island in the
middle of a traffic circle.
For me, the lesson is how do we bring that
back? I think Old Falls Street has the potential to be that in future.