PUSHing forward

 Jennifer Mecozzi, organizing director of PUSH Buffalo, right, tears up while discussing the improvements in store for West Side neighborhoods at a press conference held March 13 to announce the expansion of the Green Infrastructure project. PUSH Buffalo, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, will promote green infrastructure and storm water management in the green development zone,  a 25-square block area of the West Side. PUSH plans on completing 25 projects over the next two years to create green jobs in the neighborhood and to address problems with sewer overflows that are already at capacity.

Jenifer Kaminsky, director of housing for PUSH, left, stands next to an overflow rain garden on Massachusetts Avenue, one of four on the West Side. The project will serve as the model for other cities across the country, said Judith Enck, EPA Region 2 regional administrator. According to EPA, green infrastructure is the "patchwork of natural areas that provide habitat, flood protection, cleaner air and cleaner water." Photos by Aaron Garland, Brandon Schlager, Bryan Price and Nick Stutzman.