County Executive Chris Collins’s proposal to build a new lockup at 120-134 W. Eagle Street is not a new idea, according to this 1998 Buffalo News Article.

The original section of the Erie County Holding Center was designed by renowned architect E.B. Green, who also designed the Albright Knox Art Gallery, the First Presbyterian Church and the Market Arcade, among other area landmarks.

The article identifies the separate, W. Eagle Street building, which currently houses the Erie County Board of Elections, as a “contributing structure” to the Joseph Ellicott Historical District.

Green also designed Buffalo’s War Memorial Auditorium, which was demolished this year and is soon to be commemorated as a coffee table book. A Bass Pro store may or may not take its place.

This city has lost another great preservationist and advocate for the old New York Central Terminal. Michael Miller, president of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation and newly appointed executive director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, died last night. He’ll be missed.

Chris Byrd has post.

Statements from the CPTC and PBN are forthcoming.

You’ve heard what Michael Gainer has to say about being fired from Buffalo ReUse, the organization he co-founded and led. You’ve read statements by the board and Harvey Garrett, the interim executive director who let him go. And you’ve learned that some members have called a special meeting at which they intend to oust the current board and reinstate Gainer.

Now the money guys are putting in their two cents.

This afternoon, Robert Gioia, who is, among other things, president of the Oishei Foundation, sent out this statement via email:

The Oishei Foundation made an initial operating grant to Buffalo ReUse of $200,000 about two years ago. For about the past 10 months, on learning of a number of issues, the Oishei Foundation has been actively working on and financing a reorganization of the structure and operations of Buffalo ReUse. All of these organizational issues arose subsequent to the grant being made.

In addition to many hours of staff time of the vice president and the senior program officer, the Foundation has underwritten the costs, which now exceed $15,000, of addressing serious legal and financial compliance issues with the services of CCS-NYS (now known as New York Council on Nonprofits). In addition to the organizational and board training work that NYCON did, the Foundation separately hired their executive director, Doug Sauer, to provide executive coaching and mentoring to Michael Gainer.

Because of the seriousness of the issues involved, and the toxic stalemate that had developed between staff leadership and the board at that time, the Foundation requested that the board of Buffalo ReUse bring in an outside administrator on an interim basis to oversee the implementation of the legal and financial corrections that were required, and to establish new controls and systems for the organization going forward. Harvey Garrett was brought in as that interim administrator, and Stephanie Simeon was elected president of the board.

Since Stephanie and Harvey have begun working on BRU’s issues, a great deal has been accomplished. While still not in complete financial compliance, the majority of the financial issues have been resolved. New controls have been put into place regarding expenditures and reporting. The remaining issues should be resolved shortly. The legal issues having to do with the incorporation and early activities of BRU have been resolved. Several new board members were recruited from an open call and formal interview process (in which the Foundation had no role at all), including three that had been recommended by BRU staff. Indications were that BRU was stabilizing, and that it would emerge from its crisis intact and in position to move forward rapidly.

It was because of this concrete improvement that the Foundation agreed to release a $50,000 payment of grant funds to BRU. It was also the basis on which BRU was recommended by the Foundation to the owner of a building as an ideal candidate to receive the potential donation of the building. After several conversations between the parties, it was decided to go forward in the due diligence process. The Oishei Foundation has offered to pay for legal counsel through the initial phases, which is currently estimated to be about $10 – 12,000 over the next few months.

We recently were informed by the chairperson of the board of new, previously unrevealed and serious developments dating back more than several months. Our understanding is that action on these developments is being undertaken by the board. We are now aware of the contemplated action by some of the members of BRU to remove the board, reinstate Michael Gainer as the executive director, and presumably have staff and members select a new board.

In our view, such action would seriously set back the possibilities for BRU to move forward, and negate all the work and effort that has taken place to rectify what was, by all public accounts, a very badly managed organization under the previous leadership. We have provided extraordinary support to Michael Gainer via BRU and in other ways, and we believe he may still have a role to play at BRU. However, should such action by a subset of members take place and successfully reinstate Mr. Gainer as the CEO, the Oishei Foundation would seriously reevaluate our current and any future relationship with BRU.

We firmly believe BRU is now poised to become a truly great non-profit serving a need and a population desperately needing to be served in Buffalo. We believe that the current chairperson and the nominated (and currently serving) board members — which, again, the Foundation had no role in recruiting or selecting — are well-chosen and capable. Finally, we believe that this leadership team, particularly Ms. Simeon and Mr. Garrett in his interim role, has clearly demonstrated extraordinary competence operating under tremendous pressure. They have our complete support.

The national debate about drilling in natural areas is heating up locally as the U.S. Energy Development Corporation, located at 2350 North Forest Road in Getzville, NY, proceeds with plans to develop five new wells in Allegany State Park.

Recently, NYS Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, Larry Beahan, and other concerned citizens have been turning their attention to the state park, as they did over a decade ago when the Pataki administration was moving toward selling timber rights in the park. Back then, former 10,000 Maniac Natalie Merchant hopped on the bandwagon and public opinion swung against the lumber industry.

Now, Hoyt is spearheading efforts with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation “to forever protect Allegany from commercial logging and oil and mineral mining.”

Just as pro-drilling forces are losing their perkiest national cheerleader in the form of ex-Alaska Governor Sarah (Drill, baby, drill!) Palin—their case is further compromised by U.S. Energy Development Corporation’s recent rebuke from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, for their activities just south of Allegany State Park, across the state border in McKean and Warren counties.

On July 10, the department issued a cease and desist order to U.S. Energy “for persistent and repeated violations of environmental laws and regulations. The order prohibits the company from conducting all earth disturbance, drilling and hydro-fracturing operations throughout Pennsylvania.”

Over a period of just two years, beginning in August, 2007, U.S. Energy chalked up 302 violations of the Clean Streams Law, the Dam Safety and Encroachments Act, the Oil and Gas Act, and the Solid Waste Management Act. U.S. Energy is the owner and operator of the wells in the Alleghany National Forest in Pennsylvania, which borders Allegany State Park in New York.

According to the order, one third of the violations have been corrected, but the civil penalties for those violations have not been resolved. Among the many violations cited by the DEP are the unpermitted discharge of residual and industrial waste into the ground and the waters of the Commonwealth.

In Pennsylvania, U.S. Energy has had to “cease all gas and oil well activities including, but not limited to well stimulation, well drilling, road construction, pipeline construction and any other related well activities” in the state until the DEP notifies them in writing that they have complied with all the obligations of the order. They must also stop all “earth disturbance activities” except those necessary to fix the damage they’ve already done. View the cease and desist order here.

Prior to the park’s official designation in 1921, the area was widely drilled for oil, including the first oil well in New York State, which was completed in 1864. While the state controls the surface rights to the park land, private interests have been unwilling to relinquish ownership of what lies beneath to this day.

One bill supported by Hoyt would create a sunset provision for privately held oil and gas interests beneath the park.

U.S. Energy spokesperson Matt Iak confirmed that they have access to mineral rights in Allegany State Park, and that they are “going through the various channels” to make those wells a reality.

However, a spokesperson for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation had this to report: “U.S. Energy has never applied for drilling permits in Allegany State Park. That being said, they have been drilling wells on a regular basis in other parts of Region 9 area (Western New York), and DEC does receive drilling applications from them on a regular basis.”

When asked about the Pennsylvania DEP order, Iak said, “It’s premature for us to make a comment. I can tell you that we’re both working with the same interest at heart, and it’s in very good spirit right now.”

He would not respond to any particular charges included in the order. “I’m not saying I don’t want to respond. I’m not in a position to respond until they give you the final word on what’s going on, and I think you’ll have a different opinion at that point in time.”

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania DEP said that “the scope and magnitude” of U.S. Energy’s violations “is not commonplace, and that’s why we took the action that we did.”

Peace Bridge Neighborhood activist Peter Joe Certo is upset with The Buffalo News for playing fast and loose with its own policies. Here’s an email he sent around to dozens of media folks, including many writers at the daily paper. He offers real estate records and email strings as evidence. Read on…and on...

“A writer or household may be represented in the column only once in 60 days.”

This is to call your attention (again!) to a violation of your guidelines for publishing letters in Everybody’s Column.  This is not the first time you’ve violated/waived your own guideline for repeat publishing, nor is it the first time I’ve called your attention to it.  Below are links to two letters: one published today; the other less than “60 days” ago. They are written by members of the same “household”: neighborhood scribe and self-styled “legal” expert Barbara Battista and her home’s co-owner and co-habitant, Joseph Paternostro.  While both letters are ill-reasoned screeds, you certainly may publish them, but not in violation of your own guidelines.  This is not this first time I’ve brought this (same exact) violation to your attention (see attached e-mail of 11-17-08).  At that time, you promised to “check it out.” There is evidence you’ve exercised this restriction in the past; in fact, you’ve exercised it on me (see attached e-mail of 12-17-07).  Why you don’t do it with others is beyond me. (more…)

I’m not going to refute all the arguments with which I disagree in this Buffalo News editorial, which says that it’s dumb to force the Public Bridge Authority to maintain the houses it owns on Busti, and to prevent the PBA from demolishing them until they’re finished with the environmental review process—which is required by law, as the Federal Highway Authority reminded the PBA in this letter to general manager Ron Rienas.

But I will contend that this statement is dead wrong:

None of the houses involved rises to the level of historic or aesthetic value that would make this worth a preservationist crusade.

That’s complete hogwash. The Samuel H. Wilkeson house at 771 Busti is, in addition to being beautiful, a direct link to one of the most celebrated members of one of Buffalo’s founding families. It is precisely the sort of structure that spurs preservationist crusades, and I imagine that any effort to demolish the house—last week, next week, two years from now—will encounter opposition.

Consider its history, as researched by the Campaign for Greater Buffalo:

The three-story mansion was built around 1864 by Charles Storms, whose company—Storms & Dorer, located on Lloyd Street in the Canal District—specialized in the manufacture of buckets for grain elevators. At the time, the street was named Sixth, and the Storms lived there until 1882; in 1884 the street was renamed Front Avenue, in reference to Frederick Law Olmsted’s the Front, the park which the house overlooked. Olmsted considered the Front to be the jewel of the park and parkway system he’d designed for Buffalo in 1868, the first of its kind in the country. In 1894, Front Avenue was designated a parkway, and the city’s park commissioners remodeled it with Olmsted’s vision in mind. In 1929, Front Avenue was renamed again, this time after Paul Busti, who had worked with surveyor Joseph Ellicott to lay out Buffalo’s street grid in 1804.

Colonel Samuel H. Wilkeson moved into the house in 1885, and lived there for 18 years. He was the grandson of Samuel Wilkeson, whose gravestone at Forest Lawn reads “He built the city by building its harbor.” The elder Wilkeson is credited with securing the terminus of the Erie Canal for Buffalo, and was mayor of the city in 1836, when his grandson and namesake was born.

Samuel H. Wilkeson enlisted in the army in May 1861, as first lieutenant in Company H, 21st New York Volunteer Regiment. He was 24. Twelve of his siblings and cousins answered Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers. Two—his brother John and his cousin Bayard—would be killed in action. None distinguished himself in service as Samuel did.

In February 1862, Wilkeson was made captain of Company C, Scott’s 900, officially listed as the Eleventh New York Cavalry. Four months later he was promoted to major; in December 1862, in recognition of daring raids in and around Harpers Ferry, he was made lieutenant colonel and joined Lincoln’s cavalry escort. In the following year, he was dispatched to Mississippi, Louisiana, and West Tennessee, where his reputation continued to grow. In charge after charge, Wilkeson’s men harried the celebrated Confederate cavalry of Jeb Stuart, 900 men versus 10,000, preventing Stuart’s timely arrival at Gettysburg, to which Robert E. Lee attributed his defeat there. Promoted to full colonel, Wilkeson was stationed in Memphis when the war ended.

On returning to Buffalo, Wilkeson joined his father in managing the Wilkeson grain elevator, built in 1858, one of the first of its kind. (It burned down in 1911.) When his sister, Louise, died in 1904, Wilkeson moved into the family mansion on Niagara Square, which was torn down after Wilkeson’s death in 1915 to make room, eventually, for City Hall.

The house at 771 Busti is the city’s only remaining structure tied to the Wilkeson family. I’d say that “rises to the level of historic or aesthetic value that would make this worth a preservationist crusade.” More to the point, I think the preservation community feels that it does.

Yesterday, Peace Bridge general manager Ron Rienas, in reaction to this article on the PBA’s intention to demolish some properties that the city ordered it to repair, sent the following email to me and 45 of his closest friends, including the mayor and members of the Common Council:

Geoff,

Back in February you e-mailed me and said : “…we are, in fact, a reputable newspaper in this community”

So perhaps you can you can answer the following questions related to your article “Demolition Derby” (below) in this week’s Artvoice:

1. Would a reputable newspaper write an article about demolition, and show in the accompanying picture, houses that are on a different street, will not be demolished, and are not even within the Peace Bridge project boundaries.

2. Would a reputable newspaper say; “Rienas did not respond to numerous requests for comment…” when you did not call or e-mail me even once?

3. Would a reputable newspaper deliberately exclude the fact there was a 2004 agreement with the then Mayor Masiello and Common Council whereby the City was to demolish the Busti Ave houses and that the reason for demolition had nothing to do with the capacity expansion project?

4. Would a reputable newspaper ignore the fact that the majority of residents in the neighborhood impacted by these houses and the Peace Bridge project are supportive of the demolition of these houses?

5. Would a reputable newspaper exclude information from a professional structural engineer’s report, agreed to by the City, that recommends the demolition of three of the six  (not seven) vacant  houses?

I could go on and on about the misrepresentations and inaccuracies contained in your article but I think you get my drift. One last point – a reputable newspaper would print an apology or at least a correction when made aware of errors or omissions. Will you??

Maybe you could actually call me (884-8636) or meet with me to get the facts.

Ron Rienas

Ron Rienas (Photo by Bruce Jackson)

The February email he refers to was part of an exchange in response to a nastily worded complaint Rienas sent regarding a blog post I had made the previous summer. The blog post was in fact just a link and a quote from somebody else’s blog, but Ron directed his belated ire at me rather than at the author herself.

In any case, I replied last night to Ron (alone, not to his entire list of friends) that I had in fact emailed him three times asking for comment, to the same address from which he had sent his whinge, and had received no reply.

This morning I forwarded him the emails (which I’ll paste after the jump) and this reply to his other complaints:

Hi Ron,

Please find below the three emails I sent from mu work computer asking for comment on this issue. I can’t imagine they were caught in a spam filter, as you and I have corresponded frequently in the past with no trouble at all, using these addresses.

As for your other complaints:

5. I specifically mentioned that three of the properties had “major roof issues” and that the city would consider agreeing to demolition of those properties. It’s in the article, Ron, what more do you want? Especially given that you did not respond to me and so forfeited the chance to share the details of the report—which I likely would have summarized in exactly the same way, anyway?

4. I’m unaware of any poll of West Side residents conducted on the issue of demolishing these houses. What independent body did the poll, Quinnipiac? Feel free to share the numbers and the sample parameters with me. (E.g. If it was a survey of residents “impacted…by the Peace Bridge project,” did it include the entire West Side or just property owners in the immediate vicinity? Which property owners?)

3. The 2004 agreement is immaterial to this article; that was five years and a mayoral administration ago. This article was about this mayoral administration’s current demand that the PBA address the houses’ code issues by May 1, and the PBA’s reaction to that demand. That is the crux of the article, and I note that in your email contains no corrections of my apprehension of the core issue.

2. See emails below.

1. I used that photo, which is the one used by the National Trust to illustrate the neighborhood’s profile on its Most Endangered list, because I thought it made sense to show the neighborhood that the opposition to plaza expansion thinks is in jeopardy. Perhaps that misled some readers to believe these were the houses that the PBA owns and wishes to demolish. I’ll print a clarification in next week’s paper.

In summary,  one of your complaints (#1) has some merit, two (#4 and #3) are senseless, and two (#5 and #2) are false. Please note that I replied to you alone, not to the entire list you compiled yesterday. That seemed to me the adult thing to do. It also seems to me that an adult would write back to that list today and apologize for being wrong and for wasting their time. Please let me know if you intend to do so as soon as possible.

Best

Geoff Kelly
Editor, Artvoice
office: 716.881.6604
mobile: 716.480.0723
www.artvoice.com

Forgive the typos. I wrote quickly.

I have not heard back from him, so I guess he’s not going to apologize for calling me a liar, as I suggested he ought to. Thus, I’m posting his email and mine and welcoming Ron into the company of churls who fail to respond to Artvoice’s request for comment and then whine publicly that we never tried to talk to them. That company includes Brian Davis, the check-bouncing councilman; Steve Casey, the bullying deputy mayor; and even Mayor Byron Brown, who has not once spoken to this reporter in three and a half years, despite many invitations to comment on numerous subjects, many of which represented opportunities to cast the administration in  a positive light.

Welcome, Ron. I’ll send you more questions regarding the proposed demolitions this weekend. I expect you’ll ignore them.

After the jump are the three emails I sent soliciting comment from Rienas.

(more…)

The New York Times featured another article by Nicolai Ouroussoff, pointing to Buffalo as perhaps “the most intriguing test case for reimagining our failing cities.” Ouroussoff laments the Department of Homeland Security plan that “would require the demolition of five and a half blocks in a diverse working-class neighborhood with a rich architectural history, from late-19th-century Italianate mansions to modest two-family homes built in the 1920s.”

Meanwhile, yesterday’s Buffalo News ran a story quoting Clarence Republican Chris Lee on the issue: “We’re beating a dead horse here,” he said. “We need to focus on the project at hand, which is to get a new Peace Bridge built.” Buffalo Democrat Brian Higgins also chimes in on the issue: “Western New York residents and businesses are sick of studies and setbacks, they just want to see a bridge built. This is a move in the wrong direction.”

Meanwhile, Representative Louise Slaughter says, “Shared border management not only presents the best possible solution to the security and legal issues facing a new Peace Bridge plaza, but also prevents the residents of the historic Peace Bridge neighborhood from being displaced.”

Which begs the question: Is Louise Slaughter the only local politician who reads the New York Times?

All around Hoyt Lake in Delaware Park, one can see signs that the seasons are changing. Shakespeare Hill offers the following warning. (click on any image to enlarge)

Another sign cautions against a different winter pastime, no matter how tempting the big open lake may appear.

Here’s a recent sign reminding you who to thank for the Delaware Park Pathways: David Paterson, Governor; Carol Ash, Commissioner of New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and State Historic Preservation Officer; Byron W. Brown, Mayor. All part of a 1986 Environmental Quality Bond Act Project. In the background, it looks like the lake is ready for a cleanup. The sign, however, appears to be in excellent shape.

And last but not least, my favorite. The most beautiful, colorful, and positive among the bunch. Also possibly unauthorized and illegal, so get out and enjoy these tell-tale signs of spring before they’re gone.

Tonight at 6:30pm in the auditorium of the downtown library, everyone is invited to attend a public hearing on the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus—North End Projects. Among the projects planned are a 300,000 square foot Medical Office Building to be owned and operated by Ciminelli Development Company, Inc., which will lease medical office space to a variety of tenants. Also planned is a 200,000 square foot skilled nursing facility, and a “multi-modal transportation structure that can accommodate 1,200 to 1,600 cars”—not to be confused with a parking garage.

The most ballyhooed project is the 500,000-600,000 square foot Global Vascular Institute, which, according to the report sponsored by BNMC, Kaleida Health, Ciminelli Development Compan, Inc, and the University at Buffalo, will be a “first-of-its-kind, multi-dimensional medical institute focused on the full spectrum of vascular health care, and will bring together physicians, researchers and educators to address heart and vascular diseases.” The report states that the Institute will be operated by Kaleida Health and the University at Buffalo.

The plans call for the removal of six residential structures, the closure of Goodrich Street, the demolition of the Community Mental Health Facility, and would require the removal of two properties eligible for recognition by the National Register of Historic Places.

The lead agency holding tonight’s meeting is the City of Buffalo Planning Board. The report, and relevant maps can be downloaded at the links below.

DRAFT GENERIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT

MAPS

The deadline for written comments regarding the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement is November 18, 2008. Written comments should be sent to:

William P. Grillo

c/o City of Buffalo Planning Board

901 City Hall

Buffalo, NY 14202