By Edvardi Jackson

Dr. Jennifer D. Roberts never saw the Humboldt Parkway when it was intact, but her mother did … and that was only for seven or eight years. 

“She and my uncle have told me stories of how my grandfather would walk them all the way down, from Best, and go all the way down south to the Science Museum to go to the activities that they have for kids on Saturdays,” Roberts said. “She really was able to experience it in all its beauty — in the floral, and hear the songbirds, and the smells… all those wonderful experiences and how they titillate the senses.”

So it holds a deeply personal connection for Roberts, having seen the end result of the demolition of the Humboldt Parkway. In her words, all she ever knew was the expressway. 

“I lived right off of that on Eastwood, which runs from Main Street into Humboldt Parkway, and it’s very short — like almost a one-block street,” Roberts noted.

Roberts is the author of an upcoming book, tentatively titled “Buffalo’s Emerald Necklace:  How Racism Devastated a Community and Destroyed an Olmsted Treasure.” It is under contract with Island Press, a Washington, D.C., publisher that specializes in environmentally connected books. 

Roberts is a tenured professor in the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health and is also the founder and director of the Public Health Outcomes and Effects of the Built Environment (PHOEBE) Laboratory and the co-Founder and co-Director of NatureRx@UMD, an initiative that emphasizes the green space benefits interspersed throughout and around the Maryland campus.

Roberts believes that what her mother experienced growing up is what East Side children deserve. “I would love to be able to see something that could actually be reimagined and just kind of reclaim that space the way it was always envisioned by Olmsted,” she said. 

Buffalo, a city home to nearly three hundred thousand people, according to the 2020 census, is home to a rich history, especially in urban development. The city, which grew prominent following the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, saw a boom in industrialization before declining after 1950, with suburbanization being one of the reasons for the drop. 

Around the period of Buffalo’s expansion, Frederick Law Olmsted and close friend Calvert Vaux designed and executed their vision for Buffalo’s park system. The two are widely known for their work behind Central Park in Manhattan, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, the Capitol Grounds in Washington D.C., and the campus of Stanford University. The two worked on building this vision for buffalo between 1868 and 1896.

Roberts, a scholar focused on health equity, is fond of Olmsted’s vision for the City of Buffalo, expressing concern over the effects unequal access to parks can have on its most vulnerable population. 

In a meeting held at the Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Library on June 12, she highlighted in her presentation how historically redlined areas in Buffalo, particularly on the East Side, have fewer trees, less park access and limited investment in green space compared to other parts of the city. 

Part of this was a result of redlining, which according to the 1938 Underwriting Manual by the Federal Housing Administration would prevent “infiltration” of “lower-class occupancy” and “inharmonious racial groups.” 

Roberts calls this an example of “environmental racism”, connecting unequal access to a local park in low-income neighborhoods in Buffalo with higher rates of asthma, heat exposure and lower life expectancy. As a result,  Roberts has sounded the alarm on a proposal by the state to pave over NY33, also known as the Kensington Expressway to create a tunnel, which could reconnect communities which were split after the demolition of the Humboldt Parkway.

Roberts spoke with The Buffalo Hive about her concerns, ahead of her planned ‘BET in FLO” outdoor experience and upcoming book. The experience, geared for teens ages 13-17 will give them a two-night stay at the Richardson Hotel, a part of the Richardson-Olmsted Complex, which formerly was a mental hospital. 

The teens will explore various parks within the Buffalo Parks System and help with restoration efforts at Riverside Park. BET in FLO is planned to begin Tuesday (July 15) and end on Thursday (July  17). 

“I thought, you know, I’ve lived here in Buffalo for 50 years, and I have never been to the Richardson Olmsted Complex.” said Roberts. “I thought, as a kid who grew up part of my time on the east side, I bet this would be a great opportunity for teens to do something similar.”

A professor in the Kinesiology department at the University of Maryland, Roberts points to her studies on air equality. “There are physical and mental health benefits as well as social benefits to being exposed to nature and being engaged in nature. And so that would really give them an opportunity to really kind of learn about that.”

Looking back on the city’s history, Roberts reflected, “Buffalo was actually pre-emancipation … Buffalo represented for black Buffalonians… a gateway to freedom. When they were on their way to crossing the Niagara River to get to Canada … after emancipation, what it represented as a gateway to justice.”

Meanwhile, her book aims to detail the history of Buffalo as a city of promise for Black Americans. 

“It’s a story,” she said. “It’s kind of like my love story to Buffalo as someone who grew up here as a Black Buffalonian … (It) elevates the story of Buffalo… a city of progress.”