BUFFALO, N.Y. — Dr. Ben Cashaw, president of the Fruit Belt Coalition, describes the parking in the Fruit Belt as “horrendous.” Now with the recent opening of the John R. Oishei Children's Hospital, he feels things could get a lot worse.  

"The issue again is that there is not adequate parking,” said Cashaw. “I think that new parking garage that they're not even finished with. They tore down one that was small and they said that they're building a big one but that's just a Band-Aid to the problem, let's be real. That's not going to accommodate a tenth of what is going on as far as the parking is concerned.”

Cashaw said he fought to get some relief with a variance that gives residents who display a certain sticker in their window priority parking in the neighborhood. But he says it's not always enforced.

"They're allowed to park on streets that are inconspicuous and they still park there. I'm trying to find out why the parking patrol people are allowing that," said Cashaw.

Despite the complaints, Common Council President Darius Pridgen, who also represents the Ellicott District, says the city is working closely with the hospital to ensure residents have adequate parking.

"I think that we have done a lot to ensure that the parking issues in the Fruit Belt, we've been proactive so that even before this came on, the residents are still assured spaces," said Pridgen.

Still, Cashaw thinks the city needs to come up with a better solution before UB opens its new medical school.

"That's going to make a greater impact because you're going to have students from all over the city and county coming in and a lot of them, because of the make-up of the city of Buffalo, they want to drive. They have to realize that Buffalo is not that small city that we used to be. You have to use the mass transit, bike, walk, this is what they've been trying to push, in order not to congest the area where you're being serviced at, which is the medical corridor," said Cashaw.