BUFFALO, N.Y. — Dozens of residents who live near the Kensington Expressway project zone attended an informational meeting at the Delavan Grider Community Center on Wednesday night.
The meeting was hosted by the East Side Parkways Coalition.
The main topic, the $1 billion plan proposed by the New York State Department of Transportation to create a 4,100-foot tunnel on the Kensington Expressway between Sydney Street and Best Street.
The plan will feature greenspace on the top of the tunnel.
Organizers made the point to say it wasn't an opposition meeting, but rather an informational meeting so that people could ask questions and learn how to submit comments before the Nov. 10 deadline.
For ESP Coalition director Candace Moppins, the environmental impacts of the project are a concern.
"We really need an environmental impact statement," Moppins said. "I believe that this project has been fast tracked, and we need to make sure that we're doing the due diligence."
While the NYSDOT opened an outreach center in the fall of 2022, the department did not release it's Draft Design Report/Environmental Assessment until September 2023. The public's demand for answers regarding aspects of the project led to the DOT extending the comment period to Nov. 10.
Since that announcement was made, the NYSDOT has floated that the funding for the project could be directed elsewhere to the state.
Senator Tim Kennedy's office said that would "inevitably" happen, if the tunnel project didn't go forward.
Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes also echoed the statement by Kennedy.
"If people decided to this is what they want, they don't want this to happen, then let that money go somewhere else, because there is other places they can go," Peoples-Stokes said.
Gina Davis, leader of the Jes Breathe Block Club Association, is frustrated by the veiled threats of the DOT and lawmakers.
"Don't threaten us and say, if we don't go along with the project, you're gonna take the funding away,' Davis said. "Listen to what we're saying, we're just asking you to come together with us again."
The full DDR/EA for the project can be found here.
The public can submit comments about the project until Friday, November 10 at this link.