Meeting summary on Future of Buffalo’s Waterfront held on 08-12-2009

§ August 25th, 2009 § Filed under Meeting Reports
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On 08-12-09 a public meeting on the “Future of Buffalo’s Waterfront” was held at Pearl St. Grill and Brewery.
Over 40 people attended.
Several break-out sessions were held on a variety of topics.
The following are Session Notes (in progress) from these sessions:

Break-out 1

Issue: The Nautical Mile

Bill Zimmermann moderated a session group discussing the concept of The Nautical Mile.

In brief, the Nautical Mile takes in the concept of linking the non-profits and profit entities that line the waterfront and riverway in Buffalo. Examples are the USS LIttle Rock, the Great Lakes Maritime Museum, the Cotter Fireboat, the Buffalo Old Stone Lighthouse, the Frank Lloyd Wright Boathouse, as well as profit entities such as Swanee House, Pearl Street Brewery, etc.

Highlights are:

  • FOCUS: individual entities now vie for public attention based on meager promotional budgets, if any, to reach and entice the public’s attention for their services and open hours of attendance.
  • FUTURE: consider that the Nautical Mile stretches actually several miles along the waterfront– a ready made billion dollar infrastructure of entities that can link together for co-promotion, and establish a reputation as a pathway of sites to visit, much like the Riverwalk in San Antonio.
  • FUNDING: collaborative fundraising” could be established for a shared promotional budget featuring the assets along the Nautical Mile
  • FENCES: The free flow concept of “friction of space” along the Nautical Mile has several areas that hold fences between them (e.g., LaSalle Park is fenced by Waterfront Village, etc) and these could be negotiated for a renovated gateway system of continual access and flow.
  • FLOWERS: “flowers without fences” is a concept of patching the areas inbetween waterfront assets with a spray flow of flower parks and pathways, involving the participation and support of the entire community.

The Sea Base at Buffalo’s Nautical Mile was also introduced– a pre-designed first phase project of the Nautical Mile– an arrangement of a sea Base summer camp for Teens to spend a week in Buffalo, residing at The USS Little Rock, and earning certifications in SCUBA, Sailing and other water sports, utilizing electives at the museums, the Flickinger Pool, etc.

Open Discussion:

  • Liz Loes spoke about her dream of a continual floral pathway along the waterfront, which she has done her hefty part to begin, specifically a park she soley developed with her own investment and labor, beautifully situated at Exit #2 to the I90 on Niagara Street. She wished to engage others to join her efforts and continue to develop and expand this theme.
  • Earl Ketry joined in and agreed to make it a goal of connecting the floral pathway, citing the development he oversaw at Erie Hills and the establishment of the Floral District.
  • Rocco Termini is a project partner with Earl Ketry on the Floral District, and cited the need to make a centerpiece location for the Nautical Mile, suggesting the DL&W Complex, and citing its second floor for opportunities in retail and public use. The group chimed in with several points of support for this idea.
  • It was agreed that the DL&W complex would be one of the first efforts– to engage public support, engage the UB Architecture School and others in design concepts.
  • Allen Hemingway suggested the group Nautical Mile be incorporated and set itself up as an entity seeking to direct its intended efforts.
  • Discussion arose concerning consolidation of assets, but the group agreed in concept that a certain focus could consolidate new and old assets in the proposed project concerning the DL&W complex, but also feature a collaboration of assets that are necessarily geographically dispersed along the waterfront.
  • Greg Stevens encouraged the group to seek associations with every other waterfront group– from Buffalo Place to each support group that focuses on the waterfront, including Riverkeepers, to which all agreed.
  • Stuart Bridge runs www.buffalowaterfront.com and has done so for about 15 years. It was agreed that The Nautical Mile program would find its initial virtual home base on his website, and he would serve as webmaster for the growing process of the project.
  • Jill Mendoza introduced herself as newly arriving in Buffalo. She hails from Boulder, Colorado and has moved to Buffalo with her family from Tennessee where she recently held the position as Executive Director for a major development agency– Jill lent her support to this project and its collaborative design.
  • Mellissa Daley spoke to the group and offered to lend her support as a graphic artist and design specialist.
  • Rocco Termini’s wife offered to seek to engage the Junior League in the group’s efforts.
  • It was agreed we should seek a meeting in September gathering all the non-profits and profits who are potential stakeholders in the Nautical Mile.

After the meeting Earl Ketry held an additional meeting extension to discuss with Liz Loes and others present about the ways to link floral pathways.

At the end, Dr. Kumar Bahuleyan asked the group “Now with this discussion, what are we to say we’ve accomplished and what do we do next?” The group answered with comments of what we accomplished:

  1. We have a clearer picture of our intent and goals, and who the various stakeholders are.
  2. We’ve established that we’ll make our web-home part of the pre-existing www.buffalowaterfront.com site headed by Stuart Bridge.
  3. We will plan a meeting for September to invite all the stakeholders along the waterfront who may want to participate in this collaboration called The Nautical Mile
  4. We’ll investigate various possibilities of focusing efforts on the DL&W complex as the centerpiece feature of the Nautical Mile.
  5. Earl Ketry and Liz Loes and others will collect a larger focus of possible goals for a floral pathway along the Nautical Miles.
  6. An outreach will be made to diverse waterfront groups to recognize the existence of the concept and group called the Nautical Mile, and engage their support.

Once the website is established, rather quickly, the support of the CVB and others will be sought and developed.

Respectfully Submitted,

Bill Zimmermann

Executive Director, The MAIN Foundation & Seven Seas Sailing School

Break-out 2

Issue: Public Access

Conveners: Stuart Bridge and Larry Brooks

Participants: Phil Ciallela, Brian Ludwiczak, Tearria Wright, Laura Chestnut, Grace Sheehy, Betsy Rammaccia, Joseph Allen, John Kennedy,

Christine Lee Collins, Amanda L. Kwaczala, Marilyn Gallivan

Summary of Discussion:

What does ‘public access’ mean?

  • People walking
  • Bicycles – paths and markings
  • Automobiles – connection from Southtowns
  • Access is confusing.
  1. Once we get there, we can’t access the water. If you want to touch the water, it’s like you’re breaking some kind of law.
  2. Worried about Michigan Street bridge being proposed: if it’s put back in it would destroy the marina (RCR Yachts), cutting off access to the slips downstream of the bridge, about 100 slips. Hope that boaters don’t lose what they have so that people can dip their toes in the water.
  3. No free place to park to walk along the waterfront
  4. No bathrooms
  5. Will this waterfront be a destination for tourists? (What would you like to see?) Atlantic City, Chicago, Boston. A nice place for entertainment, street performers, casino, souvenir shops, amusement rides.
  6. How do we make change? How do we communicate our desires? Go to public meetings. Sign up for ECHDC (Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp.) public hearings and tell them what you want.
  7. Waterfront resident and a kayaker have a problem: new summertime concerts at Erie Canal Park close off access. Possible solutions: better ID system and run it free like Thursday in the Square.

We need focus—the project is too large, too broad for people to get behind.

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