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Zoning Board’s trampling of Green Code rewards Fruit Belt speculators and emboldens gentrification

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on June 19, 2020
Posted in: B-N Medical Campus, City of Buffalo, Development, Fruit Belt, Gentrification, Green Code, Zoning Law. Leave a comment

Our state’s highest court expressed the following warning nearly a century ago concerning the power of a zoning board of appeals [ZBA] to grant “variances” from a zoning law’s requirements: “There has been confided to the Board a delicate jurisdiction and one easily abused.”  The author of such elegant prose, Chief Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo, must have foreseen an inexplicable (but, sadly, not surprising) decision on June 17, 2020 by the City of Buffalo’s ZBA.

A “variance” is described in Buffalo’s zoning code [the Uniform Development Ordinance (UDO), informally known as the “Green Code”] as follows:

“A zoning variance allows a narrowly circumscribed means by which relief may be granted from unforeseen applications of this Ordinance that create practical difficulties or particular hardships.” [UDO, 11.3.5(A)]

As the words “narrowly circumscribed” suggest, this tool is intended as a scalpel. Unfortunately, in Buffalo’s City Hall, it is relentlessly wielded as an axe.

On June 17th, a 3 to 2 vote by Buffalo’s ZBA – with “Ayes” by Chairman Rev. James A. Lewis, Janice McKinnie and James Hornung Jr., and “Nayes” by Bernice Radle and Thomas Dearing – granted the request by Symphony Property Management LLC and Michigan-Redev LLC to circumvent eleven requirements of the Green Code to allow construction of a 133-unit apartment development known as “The Lawrence.” The controversial project straddles Michigan Avenue and Maple Street, and represents both a massive encroachment into the Fruit Belt neighborhood, and, as will be addressed below, an utter disregard of the UDO/Green Code’s vision for that community.

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The site of the Symphony’s proposed project is an assemblage of 15 parcels – 6 on Michigan Avenue facing the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and zoned N-2E (“Mixed-Use Edge), and 9 on Maple Street, a residential neighborhood, zoned N-2R (“Residential”). Buffalo’s Common Council unanimously approved the UDO/Green Code on December 27, 20216. On December 23rd, just four days earlier, Michigan-Redev LLC purchased 11 of the 15 parcels (plus three adjoining lots) for the astronomical price of $1.75 million. According to an April 2014 Buffalo News article, it had only cost the sellers “about $100,000 to purchase, demolish and maintain” the parcels “The Lawrence” developers chose to buy for seventeen-and-a-half times that amount.

The intent of the N-2R zoning district on Maple Street (and, the vast majority of the Fruit Belt neighborhood) is clearly set out in the Green Code’s dimensional requirements. The N-2R zone envisions a residential district comprised of moderate size residential buildings (a maximum of 3-stories high), on moderate size lots (no wider than 60’), and separated by side yards at least 3-feet wide on each side.  And, to underscore the goal of  moderately dense N-2R neighborhoods, the UDO imposes a “Residential density” maximum of one unit for each 1,250 square feet of lot area.

Michigan-Redev LLC and its co-applicant, Symphony Property Management (by its principal, Timothy Leboeuf) never made an effort to comply with the requirements of the UDO/Green Code.  And, even more disturbing, the applicants’ attorney, Marc Romanowski, Esq., commented several months ago that Symphony was encouraged by Mayor Byron Brown’s Office of Strategic Planning staff – the folks who drafted the Green Code – to ignore the limitations mandated by the zoning code and proceed with a monumentally non-compliant proposal.

Despite the “narrowly circumscribed” role of a variance, Michigan Redev LLC and Symphony asked Buffalo’s ZBA to, in effect, decimate the UDO’s N-2R requirements in order to provide relief from a fully foreseeable and self-created hardship: that is, their need to overcome the huge price Michigan Redev had voluntarily paid for the 15-lot assemblage by allowing the developer to build a large, high-density project, out-of-scale and character with the Fruit Belt neighborhood, and requiring multiple and substantial variances.  In response, although they hemmed and hawed for months, the ZBA majority, in the end, abused its “delicate jurisdiction,” and took an axe to the Green Code’s letter and intent by approving the applicant’s March 5, 2020 proposal.

Here are the relevant figures:

– Number of units/density. By right, under the UDO, Symphony could lawfully build 21 apartment units on the 9 parcels located on Maple Street, one unit for every 1,250 square feet of lot area. By comparison, the 9 closest existing homes on Maple Street have a total of 17 units on nine parcels (which translates to one unit for every 2,345 square feet of lot area). Symphony disregarded both the Green Code’s restrictions, and the existing neighborhood density, and requested, and the ZBA approved, 68 units in the N-2R zone. In other words, thanks to its unbridled use of the variance tool, the ZBA majority will allow Symphony to construct 3.23 units for each unit permitted under the Green Code.

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– Lot width/length of building. The nine Maple Street lots owned by Michigan Redev LLC total 260-feet in width, or an average of about 30’ each. The Green Code generously allows a property owner a maximum lot width of 60 feet. In other words, under the UDO, Symphony could construct, by right , 5 buildings on 5 lots ranging in widths from 48’ to 53,’ and, in doing so, not overwhelm the adjoining residential community. From the start, however, the voracious developer proposed one 254-foot long building on the 260-foot wide lot. And, the ZBA majority (Lewis, McKinnie and Hornung) generously approved Symphony’s request.

– Side yards/open space. Reflecting the traditional, medium-density character of the residential Fruit Belt streets, the Green Code requires each lot to have a 3-foot side yard, with a minimum total side yards of 15% of the lot width. The 260-foot wide lot for “The Lawrence” would require, under the existing zoning law, 52 feet of side yards.? So, what did the greedy, speculating developer request, and the UDO-trampling ZBA majority approve? An incredible total of six-feet of side yards on a 260-foot parcel.

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– Number of stories. Not one of the nine closest homes on Maple Street exceeds two stories in height. Nonetheless, the N-2R zone allows an owner to construct a building with a maximum of three stories. Despite the scale of the existing neighboring residences, and the 3-story limit in the Green Code, Symphony requested, and the ZBA majority granted, permission to build a 4-story, 254-foot wide apartment building on Maple Street.

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Although you can’t see the height of the structures, here are site plans, showing, first, the footprint of what could be built to comply with the UDO/Green Code, and then what the June 17th variances allows:

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Also, here is the architectural drawing of the Maple Street “elevation” approved for “The Lawrence,” followed by a photograph of the three-unit, two-story residence on the 85-foot wide lot directly across Maple Street from the proposed site of “The Lawrence” (the largest of the nearby houses):

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In my opinion, the decision made by Buffalo’s Zoning Board of Appeals’ majority on June 17, 2020 will a detrimental impact on the fabric of the historic Fruit Belt neighborhood. The ZBA’s misguided determination will further embolden developers to pay outrageously high prices to assemble large parcels of land – despite the restrictions codified in Buffalo’s zoning laws – with a renewed confidence that Buffalo’s City Hall will allow them to duplicate – if not surpass – Symphony’s out-of-scale and out-of-character apartment project. In doing so, the gentrification of the Fruit Belt – that is, the process of displacing current, low-income, African-American and Hispanic residents with more affluent and whiter occupants – will proceed unabated.

In 2004, our state’s highest court expressed its belief that a municipality’s zoning board is “entrusted with safeguarding the character of the neighborhood in accordance with the zoning laws.” That court has also held that lot size, density, and the scale and style of nearby homes are relevant factors when considering a proposed project’s impacts on a neighborhood’s character.

I’ll let you decide whether Buffalo’s ZBA has lived up to its fiduciary duty to the residents of the Fruit Belt neighborhood.

With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

P.S.  Here is a copy of my most recent letter in opposition to the proposed variance application, submitted to the ZBA – by way of the Office of Strategic Planning – on June 15, 2020: The Lawrence – Giacalone 06-15-20 ltr to ZBA.

P.P.S.  When reading the post following its publication, I noticed that I had forgotten to mention the arguments, repeated ad nauseum by Symphony’s lawyer, and embraced in city hall’s staff report, on why the massive scale of the building, and flagrant disregard of the Green Code’s lot width, side-yard, density, and height restrictions, would barely be noticed by nearby residents, and would not adversely impact the existing neighborhood character:  (1) the revised plan (see the “elevation” drawing above) “break[s] up the building design” and “mimics” 3 or 4 building structures”; and, (2) two 25-foot by 20-foot recesses in the Maple Street façade – characterized by Symphony as “patios” – “create 50’ of open space within the façade, greatly minimizing the impact of a loss of side yard separation.”  In fact, UDO requires side yards to be actual open spaces, extending from the front yard to the rear yard line.  As proposed, the patios extend about a quarter of the depth of the lot, and then meet a 4-story wall and the rest of the apartment building.  The following landscape plan gives you an idea of just how minimal the patio “recesses” actual are [I’ve highlighted the patios in yellow]:

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Medical Campus pledge for racial equity rings hollow

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on June 8, 2020
Posted in: B-N Medical Campus, City of Buffalo, Development, Fruit Belt, Gentrification. Leave a comment

[My thanks to the Buffalo News edit page staff for publishing a version of this post in its “Another Voice” column, on-line June 8, 2020, and in the print version June 9.  I have written here about the unjust and unlawful gentrification of Buffalo’s Fruit Belt neighborhood on multiple occasions, including, for example, in 2015 and 2014.]

Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus President and CEO Matt Enstice has issued the BNMC’s “Pledge for Racial Equity,” expressing firm opposition to “any form of racial injustice,” and the BNMC’s “strongly held beliefs in promoting justice for all people.”  [Here’s the statement, BNMC’s Pledge for Racial Equity.]

The vast majority of women and men who work within the Medical Campus undoubtedly agree with these sentiments. And, I trust, the members of BNMC’s board of directors feel likewise.  [With a bit of scrolling, the institutions forming the BNMC, and it board members, can be found here.]

However, taking steps to displace a community of low-income people of color in the adjoining Fruit Belt neighborhood is not racial justice. Similarly, making families fear that they will be pushed out of their neighborhood and replaced by wealthier and whiter individuals – in the name of “progress” – is itself a form of racial injustice.  [Here is an informative introduction to the history and architecture of the Fruit Belt neighborhood, fruitbelt_brochure_final.]

Actions, and inactions, do speak louder than words.

In 2010, the BNMC issued a “Master Plan Update” urging the creation of “a campus-wide Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) in order to facilitate future campus development and assess the environmental, social and economic impacts of growth.” [See 2010 Master Plan Update, p. 62, 7.]  If done properly, the GEIS would have included an objective analysis of the potential for displacing the less-affluent neighbors of an expanding Medical Campus, and identified mitigation measures to reduce the adverse impacts. The GEIS was never done.

That same 2010 master plan included the following statement: “The transition between the medical campus and the Fruit Belt neighborhood must be carefully considered to take advantage of proximity while also mediating building scale, character and use.” [See 2010 Master Plan Update, p. 28, 30.]  Several years later, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, a major member institution of BNMC, ignored that call for moderation, and built a 12-story tower at the very edge of the Fruit Belt neighborhood, where the typical building is a one- or two-story home.

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Another prominent BNMC member, the University at Buffalo, caused turmoil and distrust in 2013. The 150 families living at McCarley Gardens, at the edge of the Medical Campus, learned that UB planned to purchase the site and demolish the low-income townhouse complex. They felt victimized and tossed aside, no more than collateral damage to be forced to move in the name of so-called “progress.” It took a prolonged effort by community residents and activists to convince UB to drop its plans.

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More recently, Roswell Park again demonstrated its insensitivity to the character and quality of life of the Fruit Belt neighborhood when it sold a single-family house on Maple Street to a private developer. By doing so, it provided the critical piece needed for a proposed “market rate” apartment complex that, if built, will be grossly out of scale physically with the nearby residences, and out of reach financially for most Fruit Belt residents.  [Here’s one of several iterations of “The Lawrence” project, The Lawrence – Elevations; and, here’s my opposing letter, submitted as a concerned citizen in March 2020 to the City of Buffalo Zoning Board of Appeals, The Lawrence – Giacalone 03-10-20 ltr to ZBA.]

Had Roswell Park desired inclusion and diversity, it would have insisted on an “affordable housing” requirement in the deed.

A pledge for racial equity will ring hollow in the absence of respect for the dignity of the individuals and families who live in the adjoining neighborhoods.

With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

A Buffalonian’s 2005 Walk through Christo’s The Gates

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on June 8, 2020
Posted in: Olmsted Parks. Leave a comment

Hungarian-born artist, Christo, died on May 31, 2020.  Given the variety of societal challenges we’ve been facing, I’ve wavered on whether to share photographs that I took in Central Park in February 2005.  I didn’t want to appear too trivial.  But, my indecision ended yesterday.

The June 7, 2020 print version of the Buffalo News contains, in its GustoSunday section, an article that had first appeared in the New York Times entitled, “Christo’s billowy visions were fleeting but unforgettable.”  Included in the piece was a solitary black-and-white photo from “The Gates,” a project conceived by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, his wife, twenty-six years prior to its fruition.

I had traveled to New York City on February 22, 2005 to experience The Gates first-hand.  The massive undertaking would be in existence a “fleeting” 16 days.  [Here’s the “appraisal” of the work of art published in the New York Times the day after its opening, “A billowy gift to the city, in a saffron ribbon.”]  The shades-of-gray image of The Gates in Sunday’s newspaper struck me as a wholly inadequate way to recall the iconic vision of the recently-deceased artist.  As Anna Quindlen wrote for Newsweek in March 2005:

“Said to be saffron but really a Hare Krishna orange, ‘The Gates’ consisted of a line of giant croquet wickets [7,532 in all] edging the park paths as far as the eye could see, their cross-beams hung with a flutter of fabric that embraced the walkers beneath.”

So I dug up my 2005 photos and instantly realized, as I revisited that stroll 15 years ago, how refreshingly stunning Christo’s project was.  It lifted my spirits.  And, I concluded, may well be an appreciated source of pleasure for the visitors to this blog.

I’ll let the pictures tell their own story.  But, as a Buffalonian proud of our city’s Olmsted parks, I feel compelled to share this quote from The Gates’ official brochure:  “The 16 day duration work of art, free to all, is a memorable joyous experience for the people of New York, as a democratic expression that Olmsted invoked when he conceived a ‘central’ park.”

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With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

P.S.  Here are several pages from the official brochure:

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In case you’d like at least a fighting chance to “read” the map, here it is split in two:

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Clouds encircle Niagara Square one day later

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on June 1, 2020
Posted in: City of Buffalo, WNY Photos. 4 Comments

My Sunday morning, May 31, 2020, started with the following headline in the Buffalo News:  “Downtown protest turns violent – State of Emergency Declared – Vandalism reported after peaceful start.” 

I am having a difficult time sorting through and verbalizing my many and varied emotions and thoughts in response to both the brutal, thoughtless death of George Floyd, and the nights of turmoil rocking many of our nation’s cities following his murder at the hands (knee) of a white Minneapolis police officer and his three “law enforcement” accomplices.  At this point, the best I can do is note my agreement with the sentiments expressed by Buffalo News commentator Rod Watson in his June 1, 2020 column, “Violence was wrong, but don’t feign ignorance.”

I drove to Niagara Square late Sunday afternoon.  I noticed a couple of police cars parked near the side of City Hall, a family of 5 or 6 chatting under the McKinley monument, and a handful of peaceful protestors.  What most struck me, however, was the assemblage of clouds that encircled Niagara Square.  So that’s the experience I’d like to share with you:

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With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

P.S.  Here’s one photo reflecting activity from the night before.

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Chautauqua Institution – and my kids – are on my mind

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on May 29, 2020
Posted in: Chautauqua Institution, Giacalone family, WNY Photos. Leave a comment

I need a vacation (certainly not a stay-cation)!  And, I miss my children.  I’m probably not alone.

It wasn’t all that many years ago – my children are 19 and 22 – when options (in a good year) might include the Giacalone/Clarke family spending a week in a modest cottage or apartment at Chautauqua Institution.  Although CI’s 800-acre campus and cultural and educational community in Mayville is only 70 miles or so down the I-90 from Buffalo, it always felt like a whole new world to this “working class” parent.

But, not surprisingly, even as magical a place as Chautauqua Institution can’t escape the tentacles of Covid-19.  Early in May, its board of trustees announced that CI would “suspend any in-person programs” this summer, convening its arts, education, interfaith and recreational programming online.  It’s not clear whether the public will be given an opportunity to don a face covering, purchase a day pass [or, take advantage of the free “Sunday Pass”], and stroll the grounds (maintaining social distancing, of course).

Given these realities,  I’m stuck reliving favorite family memories [yes, when my children were still “adorable”] through photos I’ve taken over the past two decades.  I’m sharing the assembled pictures with you in hopes of either refreshing your own pleasant recollections, or creating some new images for you to enjoy.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t first share two fairly recent occurrences that have tarnished my image of CI a bit:  First, harmful blue-green algae blooms have forced closings of Chautauqua’s “little beach” [as my kids called it], and curtailed other water activites.

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And, the CI board of trustees made the controversial decision in 2014 to demolish a structure, built in 1893, which the State’s Historic Preservation Office characterized as the “physical, functional, and spiritual heart of the Chautauqua Institution” – the Chautauqua Amphitheater.  When plans to demolish the Amp first went public, the National Historic Trust, a privately funded nonprofit organization that works to save America’s historic places, named the Chautauqua Amphitheater a “National Treasure,” and placed the Amp on its 2015 list of “Most Endangered Places,” expressing the following:

“The Chautauqua Amphitheater is the heart of a National Historic Landmark District located 70 miles southwest of Buffalo, NY. Internationally recognized as a forum for American culture and history, the Amp has hosted a wide range of leaders, activists, and artists over its 122-year history. FDR delivered his “I Hate War” speech there in August of 1936. William Jennings Bryan, Susan B. Anthony, Thurgood Marshall, and Bobby Kennedy all walked its boards, as did Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Marian Anderson, Susan B. Anthony, Van Cliburn, Amelia Earhart, Booker T. Washington, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Sandra Day O’Connor, to name a few.”  

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Demolition of this beloved piece of America’s cultural history occurred in 2016. [For the record, I represented a group of CI property owners and residents in State Supreme Court in a zealous-but-futile effort to stop the demolition.  If interested, please read this post,and this one.]

Anyway, here are some happier images that I hope you’ll enjoy.

My son turned one at CI:

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And my daughter mustered the courage to ride a tortoise (bunny in hand):

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The Miller Bell Tower could be heard (and, often seen) throughout the grounds.

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The “little beach” was a frequent lure.

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But we all felt a bit tired after too much sun and sand.

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The “cottages” and accommodations along the shoreline range from grand old Victorians to modern summer getaways, to the classic Atheneaum Hotel.  [Some folk certainly know how to “rough it.”]

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Our lodgings were always centrally located, and a bit more rustic, but brotherly and sisterly love abound.

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The CI campus includes many places to learn and expand your perspective.  In addition to the Amphitheater (the historic old, and its expanded replacement), daily lectures by national and international scholars and leaders also take place at the Hall of Philosophy.

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[Above: PBS’ Jim Lehrer with Mark Shields and Michael Gerson at the Amp, 07-08-2012]

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To no one’s surprise, my children preferred a place in the woods called The Nature Classroom, as well as playground activities.

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James at Chautauqua

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Works of art and places for quiet contemplation appear around many corners.

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And you can find some slightly less high-brow artistry.

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I don’t want to forget the physical center of the campus, Bestor Plaza, and a sampling of the wonderful century-old residences that hug the shady, brick walkways traversing the grounds.

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Here’s hoping that the in-person opportunity to stroll the paths, and take advantage of the cultural, educational, and recreational programming at Chautauqua Institution, are available to everyone in the foreseeable future.

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With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

 

 

 

 

 

Our long lackluster lingering winter

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on May 14, 2020
Posted in: Cazenovia Park, Giacalone family, Olmsted Parks, South Buffalo, WNY Photos. 1 Comment

Here we are.  Mid-May, longing to spend time outdoors, and dealing with snowflakes and overnight temperatures at or below freezing.

Perhaps our situation wouldn’t feel quite so uninspiring if we had experienced a more interesting winter.  But WINTER – the season that helped put Buffalo on the national map back in 1977 with the infamous Blizzard of ’77 and record annual snowfall of 199.4 inches – has been overwhelmingly dull this past season (with a few exceptions along the Queen City’s waterfront).  So I thought I would dig down (shovel?) into my photographic archives and share to two rather extreme and eerily beautiful winter experiences in our not too distant past.

January 2018 Cazenovia Creek ice floes

The casually serene elements of Cazenovia Park – reflected, I hope, in last week’s posting and photos – were transformed into a wintry moonscape in late January 2018.  A prolonged period of frigid temperatures and snow falls created thick, extensive sheets of ice on Cazenovia Creek (and, elsewhere).  The ice floes eventually were pushed over the creek’s banks, leaving behind an intense scene (which fascinated the winter walkers, such as myself, and must have confounded the park’s leashed canines).  Here’s a sampling:

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Snovember 2014 – East Aurora endures 90″ of snow in three days

Between the late evening of November 17th and the early morning of November 20, 2014, life for the Giacalone/Clarke family on Knox Road in the Village of East Aurora revolved around one activity:  shoveling and moving approximately seven-and-a-half feet of snow from our 80-foot long driveway.  Although there were Western New York naysayers who refused to believe the figures, a Syracuse-area publication, supported (I hope) by the pictures that follow, reported that the village of 6,000 people southeast of Buffalo indeed received 90.5 inches of snow (that’s 7.5 feet!) that week.  Not that we could venture off our property.  Traveling was banned.  Even huge snow-removal trucks had difficulty driving down Knox Road.  But we knew that failure to keep up with the snowy onslaught would make vehicular liberation nearly impossible once life started to return to normal.

The entire family joined in the task.  I was not quite 65 at the time, youthful enough to handle the hard work, yet old enough to understand the wisdom of pacing myself.  My slender-but-game 14-year-old son James, my seventeen-year-old daughter Lissa (who sat out the first two days of snow removal after suffering a mild concussion in gym class on November 17), and their long-suffering mother, all did their part.

Here are images from my former residence that memorable week of self-isolation, physical exertion, and wonder:

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OK.  Now that I’ve got that out of my system, I’m ready for a refreshing spring and mild summer.

Be well.  Be safe.  Be productive.

With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking for beauty in my own neighborhood

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on May 5, 2020
Posted in: Cazenovia Park, Olmsted Parks, South Buffalo, WNY Photos. 3 Comments

I hope my various photo “tours” the past 4 or 5 weeks have brought some distraction and enjoyment into the lives of those of you who may be spending more time at home than you’re used to.  [To exercise my brain and test my memory, I’m going to try to list my posts (in no particular order):  Buffalo-Erie County’s botanical gardens (I was scolded for originally referring to this wonderful place as “South Buffalo’s”); the Seneca-Iroquois national museum in Salamanca; WNY clouds; Rochester’s Lilac Festival 2019; Beaver Meadow nature preserve; and, the one I, frankly, didn’t initially remember, Buffalo’s Outer Harbor.]

This time, I’ve decided to look for the lovely, serene, or just interesting (at least, to me) right in my own neighborhood (which, fortunately, includes Cazenovia Park, one of Buffalo’s Olmsted jewels).  My home, built in 1910, is on Oschawa Avenue, a one-block long street that awkwardly straddles the Buffalo-West Seneca border.  I’m just two doors down from Indian Church Road.

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I headed out for a walk early on Sunday morning, May 3rd, with my smart phone in my pocket (it usually remains behind on my desk).  I was pleased that this lovely sight greeted me when I reached Indian Church Road:

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As I headed the four blocks down Indian Church toward Seneca Street, a number of spring time images caught my eye:

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But, as always, it was Cazenovia Park that captured my imagination.

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And, in case you’d like to hear the rushing waters of Cazenovia Creek, here’s a short video:

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It was time for me to head home.  Hopefully, you enjoyed these images from my Sunday morning stroll (prior to the arrival of restless Buffalonians, donned with masks and exhibiting various efforts to maintain social distancing).  Please let me know if you’re inspired to head out your front door in search of what’s inspiring in your neck-of-the-woods.

With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

 

 

 

 

Walking Beaver Meadow’s paths – self-isolation at its best

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on April 28, 2020
Posted in: Beaver Meadow nature preserve, Covid-19/Coronavirus, WNY Photos. 7 Comments

[Update:  Jay Burney, my friend and someone who for decades has had an immeasurable impact preserving and restoring WNY’s natural resources, sent me two links this morning you may want to click.  The first is to Jay’s Birds on the Niagara Festival website, and the second is his video of Spring Birds 2020 (with helpful bird titles!).  Enjoy seeing and learning from a professional videographer and lifelong naturalist.]

I desperately needed to not only get out of my house last Friday, but to experience something that contrasted starkly with weeks of living alone in my South Buffalo home, and wasn’t overwhelming. Mission accomplished. I drove 32 miles to Beaver Meadow in North Java, New York, and enjoyed “self-isolation” at its finest.

In case you’re not familiar with this 324-acre nature preserve, the Beaver Meadow Audubon Center – 20 minutes or so outside of East Aurora – includes meadows, ponds, wooded uplands, wetlands with a boardwalk trail, and eight miles of trails (as well as an arboretum and hawk watch). And, if the photos that follow inspire you to take your first trip there, or motivate you to revisit this ecological gem, you can quickly brush up beforehand on North America’s second largest rodent by reading the Ontario Parks blog post entitled, “The beaver in winter.”

One last comment before sharing images from my 60-minute walk. Except for the following sign upon entering the nature preserve:

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and, the closing off of a small area meant for collaborative (and, creative) activities:

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there were no reminders of the altered world I had left behind.

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Time for a rest or to quietly wait to sight beavers at work.  But, it turns out, beavers – while they don’t hibernate – tend to be more active at night this time of year.  They also locate their den a distance from shore to help protect themselves from predators:

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The currently-closed visitor’s center (but, the trails remain open!):

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With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

P.S.  By the way, Beaver Meadow nature preserve is a remarkable place to visit when autumn brings a change in colors.  I’d like to think our world will have returned to some semblance of “normalcy” by then.  Here’s a few images from perhaps 20 or 30 years ago:

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Unmasked and checking out the clouds

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on April 16, 2020
Posted in: COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic, WNY Photos. 2 Comments

I’m most likely in the minority, but I have always enjoyed doing my weekly grocery shopping.  Not today.

I wore a mask for the first time today while shopping at Wegmans.  It wasn’t pleasant, physically or mentally.  But I do fully understand the need to cover our faces to protect one another.

My adventure lasted only an hour.  So I was amazed at how stressed and tired I felt when arriving back home.  And I couldn’t help but wonder how exhausting and draining it must be for the employees who stock the shelves, check out and bag our purchases, and carrel the shopping carts.

I did find a “healthy” way to relieve – at least for the short term – that queasy feeling at the pit of my stomach.  I remembered to do what has helped me keep my feet firmly on the ground the past month or two.  I looked up and checked out the amazing clouds that adorn our Western New York skies.  That simple act is free, without adverse side effects, and can be done from a house window, back porch, or while taking a neighborhood stroll.  I highly recommend it.

So, as a public service to those of you who may be feeling a bit overwhelmed or anxious these days, here’s some images captured recently either from my home or while walking my South Buffalo neighborhood.  Please enjoy.

Regards,

Art Giacalone

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Front-line health care workers have my gratitude and – if needed – my ventilator

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on April 13, 2020
Posted in: COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic, Uncategorized. Leave a comment

[Update:  I am grateful to the Buffalo News for publishing a much-abbreviated version of this posting as a letter-to-the-editor in its Sunday print edition on April 26, 2020, under the headline, “Give health care workers more than just praise,” and then, on April 29, a more personal expression of my sentiments on this topic as a “My View” column, under the headline, “My living will is a way to aid medical workers.”  Here’s the on-line version of the letter-to-the-editor, as well as the on-line publication of the My View piece, under the headline, “Health care workers have my gratitude and – if needed – my ventilator.”]

CAVEAT: I’m a semi-retired lawyer, not a medical doctor or bioethicist. I have never represented health care officials, medical professionals, or other scientists concerning their legal and ethical duties. And, about 44 years have slipped by since I last thought about bioethical issues in an academic setting. In other words, I’m not an expert on bioethics or the subject matter of this post, and I’m certainly not attempting to give legal, ethical, or, for that matter, personal advice.

The Sunday edition of the Buffalo News includes an “Another Voice” column authored by the heads of three major Western New York health insurance companies. If you haven’t already, please read this thoughtful article. [Here’s a link, “Heroic health care workers deserve our gratitude.”]

I agree wholeheartedly with the premise and sentiment of the piece, aptly summarized in its final paragraph:

Each day – from prior to this pandemic, to well after it is resolved – we benefit from the selfless dedication of the people across our community who stand ready, when needed, to serve and care for the sick and injured. We owe them our thanks and our gratitude.

I also concur with the broad description of health care workers identified in the column as especially worthy of our gratitude during the coronavirus pandemic: doctors, nurses, health care aides, laboratory professionals, pharmacy personnel, the staff who clean and disinfect, the food service professionals, the staff that keep the buildings operational, the guards who keep the facilities safe and secure, and, importantly, the providers who serve the needs of the sick, injured and frail in patients’ own apartments and homes.

But, I would add the following risk-takers to that list: emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics and ambulance personnel who transport the sick to acute care facilities.

And, along with thanking health care workers, I intend to show my gratitude by updating my “living will” to include the following advance care directive: If, during the pandemic, I become ill – due to Covid-19, an accident, or other health issue – and I require access to ventilator therapy to keep me alive, and, at that time, there is a scarcity of ventilators, I request that a front-line health care worker have priority over me to an available ventilator.

I encourage each of you to consider whether you are willing and able (given your personal situation) to join me in taking this tangible expression of gratitude.

This step – giving health care workers priority to a ventilator during the coronavirus pandemic – is consistent with a well-reasoned and comprehensively researched article published on March 23, 2020 in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19,” by Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., et al. This insightful piece convincingly argues that the “most important” ethical value when rationing limited resources in the context of a pandemic is “maximizing benefits” – that is, saving the most individual lives – and that this paramount goal is promoted by “giving priority to those who can save others.” As expressed by Dr. Emanuel et al.:

Critical Covid-19 interventions — testing, PPE, ICU beds, ventilators, therapeutics, and vaccines — should go first to front-line health care workers and others who care for ill patients and who keep critical infrastructure operating, particularly workers who face a high risk of infection and whose training makes them difficult to replace. These workers should be given priority not because they are somehow more worthy, but because of their instrumental value: they are essential to pandemic response. If physicians and nurses are incapacitated, all patients — not just those with Covid-19 — will suffer greater mortality and years of life lost…

Certainly, our first goal in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic must be to take appropriate steps to reduce the spread of the virus. To the extent the viral spread is limited (or, at a minimum, slowed), we, in the words of Dr. Emanuel et al., “may make resource shortages less severe by narrowing the gap between medical need and the available supply of treatments.”

Each of us can assist in this effort by engaging in the well-publicized public health measures: self-isolation, social distancing when we do venture out of our homes, frequent washing of hands, wearing of face masks when appropriate, and the “cough etiquette” we teach our school-age children, coughing and sneezing into our elbows.

There is an additional action that we all can take – if we haven’t already – beyond the public health measures noted above, to limit the scarcity of ventilators, and to ensure that this critical life-saving therapy will be available when needed by a front-line health care worker: Make certain that you have an up-to-date health care proxy form – specifying the person who will make health care choices for you when you are unconscious or no longer mentally competent to communicate your health care wishes to your doctor – and document in a living will or advance directives the circumstances when you would refuse mechanical ventilation (or other life-sustaining interventions). By doing so, you will help to ensure that the staff at an acute care facility facing an onslaught of Covid-19 patients can more swiftly and efficiently utilize scarce resources.  [In the words of a resident currently caring for patients infected with COVID-19: “the worst allocation of a ventilator, is to a patient who wishes not to be ventilated.”]

If, like me, you need to take steps to update or create your health care proxy designation, “living will”/advance directives, etc., I suggest that you avail yourself to the information regarding Specific Advance Directives, prepared by End of Life Choices New York. This highly regarded not-for-profit organization can be reached on-line or by phone at (212) 726-2010. And, fortunately, the task of updating or creating a living will/advance directive in this time of self-isolation has been made a bit easier by the witness-related provisions in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order No. 202.14.

One final point. Not every effort to establish guidelines to address the allocation of ventilators in the midst of a pandemic has recommended that health care workers be given priority. In 2015, the N.Y.S. Department of Health issued, a 272-page document, “Ventilator Allocation Guidelines,” prepared by the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. The goal of these voluntary guidelines is to “provide an ethical, clinical, and legal framework [to] assist health care workers and facilities and the general public in the ethical allocation of ventilators during an influence pandemic.” [Without providing a detailed explanation, the task force determined that prioritizing health care workers or other patient categories would be too “subjective” a method for allocating scarce resources. See Ventilator Allocation Guidelines 2015 Update, p. 13.] While these guidelines are not mandatory, their existence as a framework to aid decisions made by health care workers and facilities underscores the need to expressly include in your advance care directives – if you so desire – your request that health care workers (defined broadly) be given priority over you to an available ventilator during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thank you.

With All Due Respect (and, Gratitude),

Art Giacalone

P.S.  If the topic of bioethics and the Covid-19 pandemic is of interest, you may also want to read another piece published on March 23, 2020 in the New England Journal of Medicine, “The Toughest Triage – Allocating Ventilators in a Pandemic,” by Robert D. Truog, M.D., Christine Mitchell, R.N., and Gregory Q. Daley, M.D.,PhD.