Our community is investing large sums of public money in the Canal Side redevelopment—including demolition, land clearance, infrastructure improvements and tax subsidies for Benderson Development and, potentially, Bass Pro. In return, the community needs binding guarantees that the project will produce public, and not just private, benefits.

One of the 10 planks in the Partnership for the Public Good’s 2009 Community Agenda is that, in developing Canal Side, no subsidies should be given without a community benefit agreement requiring living-wage jobs, environmentally friendly building and operations and a building and site design appropriate to the location.

More than 50 community groups have endorsed the Community Agenda—a broad array including Buffalo Urban League, Catholic Charities, Community Action of Erie County, Hispanics United of Buffalo, the League of Women Voters, True Bethel Baptist Church and the Western New York Area Labor Federation.

The Environmental Impact Statement for Canal Side includes positive but vague language about living-wage jobs, green design and local businesses. To turn those goals into realities, we need specific, enforceable measures embodied in a community benefits agreement to ensure high-quality development.

Sam Magavern

Co-Director Partnership for the Public Good