Improvements coming to Broderick Park
The city of Buffalo and numerous partners are working to improve a historic park along the waterfront. As YNN's Kaitlyn Lionti reports, they shared some of the changes coming to Broderick Park during a shoreline cleanup event Saturday.
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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- As an access point to the water, Buffalo's Broderick Park is a place for both recreation and reflection.
"It's significant because this was a stop along the Underground Railroad. People who were enslaved were able to escape and this was the terminus of the Underground Railroad before freed people were able to escape to their final freedom and full freedom in Canada," said Byron Brown, Buffalo's mayor.
Now, the city of Buffalo is investing $1.5 million from its capital budget and working with various organizations to improve the park.
Saturday, community members got a look at some of the changes planned during a cleanup event organized by one of those partners - Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER.
"Broderick Park really serves an example of how you can connect the waterfront and the environmental issues of the waterfront to the cultural history and the human access to the water as well," said Jill Jedlicka from Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER.
Brown said,"Some of the structures that have been damaged will be completely replaced, there will be monuments, there will be signage, there will be places where people can sit and reflect, there will also be active places in the park where people can fish, where people can picnic."
Brown says there will also be millions of dollars spent to renovate the bridge leading into the park.
Buffalo's deputy commissioner of Parks and Recreation says they're currently creating a master plan for the project through a community-based process.
The city hopes to break ground by the end of the summer and finish up some time next year.
"This will be a destination hopefully, that people from around the country and internationally will come to to see the underground railroad history that exists in Buffalo and how people from Buffalo and Western New York have come together to renovate this park and also to improve and protect our environment," said Brown.