Not too far from Canalside, the poster child for Buffalo’s revitalization, sits the vacant Perry Street projects — more than 200 units of abandoned public housing that haunts the south end like a ghost of the city’s hardscrabble past.
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Referred to when I was growing up as “the ghetto,” the empty properties sit rotting, a magnet for rodents, stray cats and bad news while depressing the value of nearby homes that dot Buffalo’s Old First Ward.
The fate of the Perry Street projects remain unknown. Developers who’ve expressed interest have made no headway with the city. And there are no plans to demolish the structures.
They just sit there. Rotting. A stark contrast to the re-development taking place throughout the Queen City. A unrelenting reminder of Buffalo’s history of hard times.