ROCC member calls to fill in Kensington as opposition to current plan grows

“I am speaking out now because the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy did that, and there is a growing set of concerns against covering the expressway over,” said Bradley Bethel, 37, who conducts research and coordinates social media for Restore Our Community Coalition, also known as ROCC.

“It’s time for the Department of Transportation to start listening to the people rather than the 75,000 vehicles that they use as their fallback for every single one of their answers,” Bethel said.

The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy on Oct. 25 told the state DOT in a letter that its preference is to restore the full parkway and for another agency with a broader focus to be put in charge of the planning process.

Conservancy leaders have also called for study of that option and a more robust analysis that better evaluates the health, environmental and other concerns associated with the project.

The conservancy on Tuesday sent out an SOS to the Cultural Landscape Foundation, warning its 31,000 subscribers that covering the expressway instead of filling it in represented a “threat” to the historic parkway that put its future “at stake.”

Bethel’s comments came as the East Side Parkway Coalition drew more than 100 people Wednesday evening to the Delavan-Grider Community Center, where group leaders also called for a more thorough environmental analysis of the nearly $1 billion project.

They also said they want to see more…