Most residents in the Peace Bridge neighborhood oppose the one expansion “alternative” forced upon us because it’s simply the wrong plan. In an act of self-survival, the Peace Bridge Authority insists it is the only viable plan, rejecting 58 others. A better plan would divert trucks to a more industrial area.

If anyone is delaying “progress” it’s the authority, for pushing the same flawed plan for a decade, ignoring valuable advice from community leaders and environmentalists, while negotiating with government officials over a bird-killing “signature” bridge and shared borders.

Destroying 90 homes to double bridge capacity will irreparably devastate this densely populated area, regardless of “improved flow” and new emissions regulations. It’s still double the traffic and pollution, and triple the concrete.

Increased health care expenditures resulting from effects of truck exhaust will far outweigh any economic benefits. The authority never provided a public health study as offered in the scoping phase. And it has yet to prove its expansion is “much needed” when rail is making a comeback and travel is down. The trucks are merely passing through. Health and history are irreplaceable. Buffalo shouldn’t sell itself short by sacrificing a viable historic waterfront community for commerce. Are we supporting plans for people who want to stay or for people who want to leave?

Kate Cody

Buffalo

A recent letter of support in the Buffalo News from a resident of the long-suffering neighborhood interminably threatened by the forever gestating Peace Bridge expansion plan raises suspicion and compells response.

No studies exist that prove the plaza, as the writer states, will improve the economy. But a growing body of evidence illustrates the present and future health hazards to the neighborhood and the city.

I believe “willing to make the sacrifice” is doublespeak for “selfish enough to betray our heritage and future.” I empathize with a person of retirement age, in a larger-than-needed home, wishing to cash in and move on. I am of similar circumstance, though unwilling to swallow the Peace Bridge Authority’s rhetoric.

The writer’s home is better than the vacant ones she alludes to. It has less plywood. But the deteriorating property is all owned by the authority.

Want to “improve” the West Side? Then ban the trucks and release the hostage Front Park. Relocate them, and link them to intermodal transport options that will take us into the next century. Employ real foresight. Don’t “delay” the plaza; move it. Then homes could be sold, restored and our historic character promoted.

Build not this bridge from the past. Preserve the past. Build a bridge to the future.

Peter Joseph Certo

Buffalo