User:AndreCarrotflower/East Central

East Central is in Buffalo.

By car
'streets - mostly a grid pattern. Delavan, Ferry, Best/Walden are major east-west thoroughfares; Jefferson, Fillmore, Bailey are major north-south ones. Genesee Street is the exception as a diagonal radial leading straight to downtown.'

Sycamore Street, East Utica, and Michigan Avenue too, but don't spend as much time on these - only short stretches of these streets are located in the district

'expressways - the Kensington cuts a winding path through the heart of the neighborhood; easy access to various parts of the district via Grider St, Humboldt Pkwy, Best St, and (inbound traffic only) Jefferson Ave exits. If you're coming from Black Rock, Elmwood, or Parkside, Scajaquada interchange is in this area'

'parking - realistically never going to be a problem finding a spot. In Hamlin Park, 2 hour parking on Main Street south of Delavan in effect M-Sa 7AM-7PM; parking prohibited outright on Main north of Delavan and along Jefferson between Main & Delavan ...visitors to [Canisius College] campus should ask for a parking permit at the admissions office in Lyons Hall' and then park in the lot in front of the building, or else find a spot on a side street. also 2 hour parking on Grider between the Kensington ramps and E Ferry, weekdays 7-7 If you're visiting the Erie County Medical Center in the middle of the week, either use the pay lot in the front of the hospital ($1/hour up to a maximum of $4/day; free for the first hour and 5PM-5AM) or park on one of the side streets on the other side of Grider, where spaces are generally easy to find.

By public transportation
Public transit in Buffalo and the surrounding area is provided by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). The NFTA Metro system encompasses a single-line light-rail rapid transit (LRRT) system and an extensive network of buses. The fare for a single trip on a bus or train is $2.00 regardless of length. No transfers are provided between buses or trains; travelers who will need to make multiple trips per day on public transit should consider purchasing an all-day pass for $5.00.

The east-central portion of Buffalo is better served by public transit than any of Buffalo's other districts, doubtless due to the fact that neighborhood residents tend to be less well-off and are less likely to own their own vehicle than people from other areas of the city.

By bus
The district is traversed by a number of NFTA Metro bus routes:

To and from downtown
NFTA Metro Bus #6 — Sycamore. Beginning at the Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga, Bus #6 serves Genesee-Moselle via Walden Avenue and Sycamore Street. It ends its run at the Waterfront Village Apartments downtown.

NFTA Metro Bus #8 — Main. Beginning at the University Metro Rail Station, Bus #8 proceeds down Main Street through Hamlin Park, with service to both of the district's Metro Rail stations. It ends downtown.

NFTA Metro Bus #24 — Genesee. Beginning at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga, Bus #24 proceeds through Genesee-Moselle and Humboldt Park via Genesee Street, with service to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. The route ends at the Buffalo-Exchange Street Amtrak Station downtown.

Crosstown routes
NFTA Metro Bus #12 — Utica. Beginning on the West Side, Bus #12 serves Humboldt Park via East Utica Street, Fillmore Avenue, French Street, and Kehr Street, then turning eastward at East Ferry Street to serve Genesee-Moselle. At Bailey Avenue, the bus turns northward and passes out of the district on the way to its terminus at the University Metro Rail Station.

NFTA Metro Bus #13 — Kensington. Beginning at the University Metro Rail Station, Bus #13 passes through Delavan-Grider on its route along Kensington Avenue, Grider Street, and East Ferry Street, with service to the Erie County Medical Center. Turning westward down East Ferry Street and from there southward on Main Street, the route proceeds through Hamlin Park before ending its run in Cold Spring at the Utica Metro Rail Station.

NFTA Metro Bus #18 — Jefferson. Beginning at the Delavan-Canisius College Metro Rail Station, Bus #18 passes down Jefferson Avenue through Hamlin Park. The route ends in the Old First Ward.

NFTA Metro Bus #19 — Bailey. Beginning at the University Metro Rail Station, Bus #19 passes down Bailey Avenue through Genesee-Moselle, ending in South Buffalo.

NFTA Metro Bus #22 — Porter-Best. Beginning on the West Side, Bus #22 proceeds along Best Street through Humboldt Park, with service to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park and the Buffalo Museum of Science. Continuing eastward along Walden Avenue, it passes through Genesee-Moselle and out of the district, ending ends at the Thruway Mall Transit Center in Cheektowaga.

NFTA Metro Bus #23 — Fillmore-Hertel. Beginning at the Black Rock-Riverside Transit Hub, Bus #23 proceeds along Fillmore Avenue through Humboldt Park, with service to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, before ending in South Buffalo.

NFTA Metro Bus #26 — Delavan. Beginning on the West Side, Bus #26 proceeds along East Delavan Avenue through Hamlin Park and Delavan-Grider, with service to the Delavan-Canisius College Metro Rail Station, before ending at the Thruway Mall Transit Center in Cheektowaga.

NFTA Metro Bus #29 — Wohlers. Serving Hamlin Park and Humboldt park, eastbound trips along the #29 meander through the district along Wohlers Avenue, Hager Street, and East Delavan Avenue (with service to the Deaconess Center via Riley Street, Humboldt Parkway, and Northampton Street), ending at the Delavan-Canisius College Metro Rail Station. Westbound trips continue further eastward down Delavan to Humboldt Parkway and Dodge Street before rejoining the above-described route at Wohlers Avenue. Bus #29 does not run Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.

By Metro Rail
The Metro Rail is an LRRT line that extends along Main Street from the University at Buffalo's South Campus southward to downtown, along the western border of the East Side. The Metro Rail serves as the backbone of Buffalo's public transit system, accessed directly by many bus routes. Like the buses, the fare for the Metro Rail is $2.00 ($4.00 round-trip); the $5.00 all-day passes available on Metro buses are also valid for the Metro Rail.

There are two Metro Rail stations in the district, both in Hamlin Park:


 * — Main Street at Humboldt Parkway.
 * — Main Street at East Delavan Avenue.

By bike
standard section lede, not much in the way of bike infrastructure especially if you're headed crosstown

On each side of Humboldt Parkway, there's one dedicated bike lane from Martin Luther King, Jr. Park north to East Delavan Avenue, but past there only the southwest side has one (the other side has been discontinuous since the Kensington Expressway was routed through here in 1960). To cross the expressway by bike, you can use the footbridge next to Northland Avenue or else take East Delavan, where the bike lane on the abbreviated northeast half of the parkway continues across the overpass to the other side.

in Humboldt Park, sharrows along Fillmore beginning at E Ferry become dedicated bike lanes once you reach MLK Park, they extend down into Broadway-Fillmore

There's also another connection from Martin Luther King Park to Broadway-Fillmore via sharrows on Herman Street

Bike sharing
On a more positive note, Hamlin Park and Humboldt Park between them contain four of the five Reddy Bikeshare racks on the East Side. You'll find them in Hamlin Park...


 * on the campus of Canisius College, at the rear of the Old Main Parking Lot on the north side of Hughes Avenue between Jefferson Avenue and Meech Street
 * on the campus of Canisius College, on the east side of Main Street between Jefferson and West Delavan Avenues, on the side of Science Hall

...and in Humboldt Park...


 * on the north side of Glenwood Avenue at the corner of Fillmore Avenue, on the side of the Alphonso "Rafi" Greene Masten Resource Center
 * at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, on the east side of Humboldt Parkway north of Best Street, at the entrance to the Buffalo Museum of Science

On foot
'Not a good idea. Fillmore Avenue business district north of MLK Park is the only section of the district that approaches walkability, but stick to daylight hours if you do so'

See
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Parks
there's really only one park worthy of note in the district, but it's a doozy



Architecture
section lede?



Festivals and events
section lede - MLK Park is a noteworthy East Side festival venue



Ice skating




Learn
Buffalo's third-largest institution of postsecondary education and its largest private one, 's sprawling Main Street premises have, after a vigorous period of expansion over the past two decades, come to dominate the northwest part of Hamlin Park. Founded in 1870 by a group of German Jesuit priests and originally located next to St. Michael's Catholic Church downtown, the college's current location began as a satellite campus in the first decade of the 20th Century and quickly evolved into its main one. Canisius today is a highly-regarded educational institution where some 5,000 students earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in over a hundred different fields.

Buy
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Specialty foods
With a vibrant Muslim community clustered along Fillmore Avenue north of Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, Humboldt Park is a great place to stock up on fresh halal meats and other ethnic fare.



Eat
Soul food and barbecue, barbecue and soul food — if downhome Southern cuisine is what you crave, you'll find it here in the heart of the East Side.

Pizza
standard section lede



Sleep
'where's the nearest? (Cheektowaga, probably)'

Connect
nearest post offices Broadway-Fillmore & Central Park

nearest libraries Merriweather & East Delavan Branch

JEFFREE WiFi - Hamlin Park, Jefferson Ave north to Delavan - use different verbiage than in the NES article

Stay safe
content goes here

Black churches
There are dozens upon dozens of African-American churches on the East Side, ranging from small congregations that meet in converted houses or storefronts to huge megachurches whose pastors are among the most prominent figures in the Buffalo black community. It would be impossible to list all of them in this article. Here are a few of the most important ones.



Catholic
section lede?



Mainline Protestant
section lede; more of these than you'd expect?



Muslim
section lede?





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figure this out