BUFFALO, N.Y. — For the first time since September 27th, the NYSDOT met with the public regarding the Kensington Expressway project. The meeting was hosted by the Buffalo NAACP at the Northland Workforce Training Center.
While the DOT holds a monthly stakeholder meeting, those meetings are not publicized and or considered open to the public.
NAACP president Rev. Mark Blue says he hosted the meeting to combat, what he called, misinformation in the community about the project.
"Just a whisper of untruth can blow up a whole community," Rev. Blue said. "We want to make sure that the community again, receives the information that is due and help to make the right decisions."
More than 75 people attended the meeting. Reverend Blue kicked things off by informing everyone that it would not be a free for all, and that people would be allowed to ask questions, but not go off on tangents, or hijack the meeting.
Former Buffalo Common Councilmember, and current DOT employee Rich Fontana, along with Regional Design Engineer Sanjyot Vaidya presented to the crowd.
Vaidya highlighted the overall design of the tunnel, impact on air-quality and outlined the plan by the DOT to blast portions of the road.
Fontana spoke briefly about the DOT's goal of ensuring 15% of the workforce on the project comes from local minority communities.
As for the final decision about whether to move forward with the $1B tunnel idea, or conduct an environmental impact statement, the NYSDOT spokesperson at the meeting was non-committal.
"We extended the comment period a little bit which extended the evaluation time but you know, I think we'll have a decision very soon," said regional regional public information officer Susan Surdej.
2 On Your Side pressed Surdej whether soon meant days, weeks or months.
"I couldn't tell you," Surdej said.