Reality show plans West Side story
"Extreme Makeover' will rebuild home of neighborhood activist
The luxury bus pulled up to the battered yellow house on the city's West Side just before 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
Ty Pennington, TV personality and America's favorite handyman, stepped off, stood in front of 228 Massachusetts Ave. and delivered the news that would change the life of Delores Powell.
"Gooood Mooorning Powell Family!" Pennington shouted. "C'mon out here!"
And with that introduction, Powell — a single mother of four who came to the United States from Jamaica determined to make a home for her family — knew she would be focus of the latest installment of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Deconstruction of her old six-bedroom house starts this morning and by Saturday, it will be replaced by a beautiful new home.
Powell and her children — Joel, 18, Gabrielle, 16, Deborah, 15, and Anschel, 10 — threw open their front door at the sound of Pennington's voice, bolted down the front steps and into the arms of the host and the other celebrity designers.
The family's jubilant screams could be heard half a block away.
"Oh my God! Oh my God!"
A half-hour later the camera crews would reshoot the dramatic scene, but, hey, that's show biz.
"I am very excited, very happy indeed," Powell said. "To see it on television and now it's happening to you. I was shaking. My legs were so weak."
Crews begin taking apart the Powells' home
Powell came to America from Jamaica 22 years ago, and became a U.S. citizen in 1999. As a health care aide earning $100 a week, Powell moved to Buffalo in 2002 in search of affordable housing for her family.
Powell, 49, found the home on Massachusetts Avenue and struck a deal with the owner to buy it for $7,500, without realizing the house was to be demolished.
After she pleaded for leniency, the city agreed to waive the demolition order if Powell could bring the house up to code.
So, with little money and even fewer trade skills, Powell and her family dug in on Massachusetts Avenue. There was a big hole in one of the floors, and no heat. Raw sewage backed up in the basement.
The family removed graffiti, painted the house inside and out, knocked down walls, hung drywall and installed windows.
"Delores has got to be one of the strongest women I've met in terms of her level of determination," said Eric Walker, organizing director of PUSH Buffalo, a nonprofit community housing organization. "She could have walked away from this house a dozen times, but she didn't."
Her housing problems persisted, but so did she.
"She's just so proud to have a house for her family and she's worked hard to fix it up," said Harvey Garrett, executive director of a collaborative of housing and community organizations working to revitalize the West Side. "But she just doesn't have a lot of money and it's more home she can handle."
The identity of the lucky Buffalo family selected for the show had been kept a secret until Pennington came calling Saturday morning.
Buffalo police blocked off Massachusetts, from West Avenue to 14th Street, to vehicle and foot traffic. Security for the show knocked on neighbors' doors about 8:15 a.m., asking them to move their cars.
Neighbors had received a notice a couple weeks ago that someone on their street was a finalist for the show, but it was still a surprise when Pennington and the gang rolled down Massachusetts on Saturday.
"I thought they'd never come around here to this neighborhood," said Edward Rivera, who lives nearby on Plymouth Avenue.
"I'm happy and I'm going to help," said Nicole Cruz, who lives across the street from Powell. "We need something good for this block. Hopefully, it will make it better."
Vacant lots and boarded-up homes aren't uncommon in this neighborhood, and neither are gunshots and drugs.
But property owners like Powell are trying to keep up their homes and drive out crime. With the help of police and neighborhood organizations, residents are noticing a change for the better on Massachusetts — a melting pot of white and black, Asian and Hispanic, owners and renters.
"The people who I work with from Williamsville and Clarence, they're like, "You live there?' " said Eileen Wheeler, who lives around the corner on Plymouth. "But the people who live here aren't afraid. The homeowners love this neighborhood."
In fact, Powell, a founding member of PUSH, was nominated for the show by the nonprofit, not just because she's trying to fix up her own home, but for her efforts to clean up the neighborhood block by block.
Garrett concedes that some will think it is strange to have an Extreme Makeover house on this block, but it won't be done without other improvements throughout the neighborhood.
PUSH, Western New York AmeriCorps and the builder, David Homes, are pumping tens of thousands of dollars into the rest of the neighborhood this week, unleashing 4,500 volunteers to roof or side some homes, install new sidewalks and add community gardens and murals.
Camera crews on Saturday filmed more than 1,000 volunteers, dressed in blue T-shirts and white hard hats, parading down Massachusetts.
"If the motto is the "City of Good Neighbors,' we're feeling it already," said Eduardo Xol, one of the show's designers.
The Powells were taken away in a chauffeured limousine, on their way to Disney World — their first family vacation — leaving the legion of workers to build them a new home — and a new block.
"We're going to continue your mission," David Stapleton, president of David Homes, told Powell. "When you come back next week, you'll see a new neighborhood."
jrey@buffnews.com and hjones@buffnews.com
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