Squatting in Buffalo, New York: A Brief Summary

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In the latest issue of Rolling Thunder, (issue #4, Spring 2007) published by the Crimethinc Ex-Workers' Collective there is an article entitled "The Art of Staying in Limbo: Stealing Houses in the Rust Belt" by Chimney Swift and Raven of the Birdhouse Propaganda Ministry. The article is about their experience squatting in Buffalo, New York and what follows is a brief summary of the information obtained within.

Squatting in Buffalo, New York: A Brief Summary

A once-mighty economic machine is rapidly decaying into overlooked ruins

Abandoned again, Upstate strikes back! Throwing Anchor!

By Wild Turkey Desire

Orginally Posted @ Amor Fati Redux In the latest issue of Rolling Thunder, (issue #4, Spring 2007) published by the Crimethinc Ex-Workers' Collective there is an article entitled "The Art of Staying in Limbo: Stealing Houses in the Rust Belt" by Chimney Swift and Raven of the Birdhouse Propaganda Ministry. The article is about their experience squatting in Buffalo, New York and what follows is a brief summary of the information obtained within.

I have never lived in Buffalo or visited this specific squat, but I have visited Buffalo numerous times and have been a resident of the entity known as Upstate for over 23 years. I've spent my days in the City of Oswego, New York - famous for it's snow days and three nuclear power plants. I've also lived the majority of my life, outside of the City of Rochester, along the Western most Finger Lakes of Upstate, famous for their wine and two lakes with beautiful undeveloped shores. So, I'm no stranger to Upstate, and as a matter of fact one of my favourite songs goes a little something like:

Upstate, Upstate Feel it, feel it

(Okay, so maybe you can't understand how good that song actually is until you hear it and then meet the person who created it, pure brilliance, but your gonna hafta visit Oswego to find out that information)

So, while the rest of the population of Upstate, New York has vanished and moved on to other areas of the world, I've decided to stay and wait out the storm amongst the magical places I've fallen in love with, the place I will always call home, not matter where I am. If one were to travel around Upstate, especially amongst the cities one would most likely spot more than a handful of abandoned houses and factories, strewn amid the concrete highways and suburban sprawl slowly leeching it's way into the country. And this is where our story begins; to quote the article:

Everything is abandoned, everything is falling apart- and we are dancing in the ruins

The incredible inspiring story of how a group of friends squatted a mansion (yes, mansion!) located in Buffalo's West Side, just across the tracks from the river that separates Fort Erie, Ontario from Buffalo, New York goes a little something like this.

Some folks in the Buffalo area punk community heard rumors of an abandoned mansion somewhere in the B-lo area, so then

He [R.] pulled up in his mother's van and began mowing the lawn. He talked to a few skeptical neighbors and informed them that he was the new owner of the house, then broke in through the basement window, kicked the boards off the back kitchen door, and installed locks there, and began using it as the main door.

It goes on to say that the police later came and issued a trespassing violation. And that a week later:

R. called the officer whose number was on the ticket and told him he was going back to the house. The officer asked him not to, and that was that- the birth of the Fuck'em mentality. The court hadn't issued a vacancy order yet and the case was still pending. The house was trapped in limbo with no overseer; without a legitimate complaint from the landlord or the block club, they had to wait. Almost mysteriously, we've had no more trouble with the police.

And now, after a couple of years of successfully squatting the mansion and working their ways through the legal process in Buffalo, they are on their way to surrogate court to obtain the deed. The history surrounding the mansion is grand, but the history of the previous occupants goes that:

The owner died and his son, the overseer of the estate wants nothing to do with the house because of a $40,000 mortgage and back taxes. The bank wrote the house off as a loss. The house is a hazard and an eyesore to the neighborhood and the government, and this is where we come in.

After moving back in:

We forged the lease agreement to get the house inspected and they never set foot inside due to our construction efforts. After we took care of the cosmetic housing court violations, the city practically left us alone. They only contacted us periodically to invite us to court to dialogue with the judge and his liaisons about how much we want the house and how much they want to give it to us. The city knows about us, but they don't have enough money to evict or demolish us; in fact, they need us- that is, they need people to move into the thousands of vacant houses in the city

After they fixed the majority of their housing code violations, they were doing nothing wrong. Under these circumstances, it seems that the squat is of a different variety of those found in New York.

Rumor has it that if you move into an empty house here in New York and establish proof of residence there, in ten years the city has to give you the house. Ten years! In fact, this is possible, so long as you get out of housing court and no one looks up your address on the city website and gets an inspector to demand a certificate of occupancy, deed, or lease agreement. Adverse possession is the method most commonly used in squatter victories, including the famous established squats in New York City- Serenity, Casa del Sol, C Squat, ABC No Rio, and Dos Blocos.

However, as stated early this is not exactly their situation, yet. They are trapped in a "limbo". If you would like to know more of the story and check out some photos, I would suggest buying the issue of Rolling Thunder that this article appears in. Could Buffalo, New York along with the rest of Upstate become the next capital of squatting the USA? Well, we shall see, as rumors circulate of the creation of two, three many squats Upstate! Upstate!