Buffalo Central Terminal

For Immediate Release

Project Title: Lunchtime Training with Julie Perini

Date and Time: Saturday, June 21, 2008, 1:00pm

Location: Buffalo Central Terminal, 495 Paderewski Drive, Buffalo, NY

Julie Perini, a 2007 Fellow with the New York Foundation for the Arts, will bring her interdisciplinary art practice to the Buffalo Central Terminal on Saturday, June 21 at 1:00pm. Her event, Lunchtime Training with Julie Perini, will involve an audience of between 20 and 50 people from the Buffalo community. The event takes place at the Buffalo Central Terminal. The artist welcomes anyone who would like to participate.

To honor the history of the building, Perini has designed a participatory event for The Terminal. When the audience arrives, they will see a long banquet table occupying the center of the main concourse of The Terminal. Each audience member will be given instructions at his or her seat, along with an ingredient for a summer salad. The audience members will pass large bowls down the rows of the banquet table, filling them with their ingredients, simulating a “train” picking up passengers as it moves along a line. The bowls of food will meet in the center of the table and then the audience will have the opportunity to enjoy the lunch that they have helped to create.

While the audience members eat their lunch, Julie will do a presentation about Lunchtime Training with Julie Perini and other projects that involve audience participation. She will discuss her influences and her reasons for involving audience members directly in her live events. This presentation fulfills of the Artist & Audience Exchange project requirement for the NYFA Individual Artist Fellowship.

More info: www.julieperini.org/events/terminal.org
Email: julie@julieperini.org

Thank you to all the volunteers who came out in the rain – again – to help get Central Terminal ready for the event season. We pushed the date back this year in hopes to finally get a good weather day, but it seems we are cursed! Everyone did a great job and the grounds look great.

Check out some photos of the clean up by volunteer Chris at his flickr account: click here
or from Channel 7: click here

From Buffalo Rising:

Senator Hilary Clinton is urging the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to give “full consideration” to the Broadway Fillmore Neighborhood regarding their application to become a Preserve America community.

From the release: “The Broadway Fillmore Neighborhood has played a pivotal role in the history and culture of the City of Buffalo,” said Senator Clinton. “Since the 1880s the neighborhood has helped to define Buffalo’s national identity and cultural heritage, and it is home to renowned and historic architecture. Naming the Broadway Fillmore Neighborhood as a Preserve America community would help preserve a piece of Buffalo’s culture and tradition for future generations of Americans.”

In a letter to Ronald Anzalone Director of the Office of Preservation Initiative, Preserve America Communities and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Clinton pointed out the rich Polish-American heritage of the Broadway Fillmore community on Buffalo’s East Side. In particular, Clinton stressed the important part this neighborhood played in the development of Buffalo as a manufacturing and industrial giant, followed by the eventual economic decline that has left large parts of the community suffering today.

The letter further states: As a designated Preserve America community, the Broadway Fillmore Neighborhood and the City of Buffalo will be able to preserve the rich culture, architectural history, and diversity of this area.

Broadway Fillmore Alive’s (BFA) co-founder Christopher Byrd is happy about Clinton’s efforts, saying, “This is something we’ve known all along, and the history of this neighborhood speaks for itself.”

In explaining what this designation would mean to the area, Byrd said it would open the door to standards that would prevent tearing down certain buildings that he called “symbols of the past”. He added, “The Eastern European architecture is evident in this neighborhood with a walk down Broadway. The buildings, even through their decline, tell a story of Buffalo’s past.”

Another BFA co-founder, Michael Miller, said, “I am thrilled that Senator Clinton is backing this initiative. I submitted my letter of support for this just last week, on behalf of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation. I am glad to see that the Broadway Fillmore District is getting the attention it so rightfully deserves, after such a long period of being overlooked. This could go a long way in helping to save some of our most treasured and endangered buildings such as the terminal and countless others in the district.”

Byrd stated, “This designation will go a long way toward preserving what really should be preserved.”

from today’s Buffalo Rising:

Michael Miller is the new President of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation (CTRC) after serving 5 years as a board member. Miller succeeds Russell Pawlak who recently stepped down after 8 years as president.

“This is one of my passions in life, and I want to see this project done in my lifetime,” Miller said of the efforts to turn the terminal into a mixed-use facility that will house offices, restaurants and include light industrial use of the baggage building. “It’s so large a project. Our goal has never been to restore it to the sole function of being a train station, but if we can build foot traffic, the terminal will have purpose again and could possibly be used for Amtrak and light rail.”

The terminal, which is structurally sound, according to Miller, suffered most of its demise in a 12 year period starting in the early 90’s. The damage that was done involved removing many of the original fixtures and the wear that came with weather and vandalism. But those seeking to save and renew the terminal do so with an eye toward the future and the best of intentions toward saving the historic landmark.

“We have a very diverse board, and many of us have been around for years. Yuri has been on the board for 7 years, while Edward Werick, Sara Etten and I came at the same time,” Miller said. Mark Lewandowski is Treasurer and Vice President, and Sara Etten is Secretary, along with Kate Resetarits, Yuri Hreschyshyn and Ed Werick, who will remain on the board of directors. “We will be looking to fill 3 vacant board positions before the end of the year,” Miller announced.

Current projects are the renovation of the restaurant area for use as a small event or conference facility, the preparation of the 4th floor of the tower for use as a model for redevelopment and the preparation of an upper tower floor for use as an observation area.

We’ve had great benefactors such as M&T, who gave $25K in 2005 for the purchase of the original clock. “Local companies and individuals have been very good to us. We have good working partnerships, and this is a such a large job,” Miller said of the overall project. “Dollars have really been our biggest obstacle. And we can always use more people whose strength and experience lies in getting a project like this moving forward.”

Miller said that he has people with will and an extra pair of hands who help get the job done, but can always use more. Email volunteercoord@buffalocentralterminal.org or visit www.buffalocentralterminal.org for more information. Miller would like to see a full house for this year’s Spring Clean Up on Saturday, May 17, from 9AM to 1PM, and free lunch and beverages will be provided to all volunteers.

Miller, who never aspired to be president and was just happy to be a part of the CTRC effort said the presidency came as a little surprise to him. When asked if it was a matter of him stepping forward, or his colleagues on the board taking a step back and pointing at him, he said it was more of the former. “But,” Miller added, “I want everyone to know the project is in good hands.”

As you all are aware by now, Russell Pawlak has stepped down after 8 years as President and more than 10 years of involvement with the project. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Russell for his unyielding dedication, passion and hard work. At the beginning of his term as President, Russell battled against all odds and the conventional wisdom at that time to draw local, national and international attention to the terminal and was instrumental in starting its rebirth as the treasured community asset it is today.

I am confident that the CTRC’s collective experience and vision as a team will continue to work towards the same goals that Russell had strived for during the last decade. We all wish him the very best personally, as well as in his future endeavors on the Preservation Board and as a new board member of the Broadway Market. I am certain that his drive and passion will be of great benefit to these efforts, as well as to the entire city of Buffalo.

Effective immediately, I will assume the duties of President, Mark Lewandowski will remain our Treasurer, as well as assuming the duties of Vice President, and Sara Etten will remain our Secretary. Kate Resetarits, Yuri Hreschyshyn and Ed Werick also will remain on the board of directors. We will be looking to fill 3 vacant board positions before the end of the year.

As we eagerly look forward to another busy season of great events, I would like to take this time to remind everyone that restoration and preservation progress also continues. If you’ve driven by the terminal recently, you may have noticed that several Plexiglas window coverings in the tower have been blown out at different times during our blustery Buffalo winter. Given the tower’s raised prominence, it is frequently subjected to sustained winds that make the replacement of these windows from the inside quite a dangerous time-and-resource consuming task. While the majority of missing coverings have been reinstalled, completion remains a priority and efforts will continue as conditions and volunteer resources permit.

Also continuing is our collaboration with BOCES on the construction of restroom facilities within the former waiting room area, repairs to interior drainpipes that were affected by the winter freeze and the ongoing maintenance and preparation of the concourse, its peripheral rooms and the surrounding acreage for another event season. Continuing our annual tradition, the public is invited to once again participate in our 11th annual Spring Clean Up on Saturday, May 17th, from 9am to 1pm. As always, free lunch and beverages will be provided to all volunteers.

I would also like to announce a few new projects for which we are currently assembling resource requirements:

· The renovation of the restaurant area for use as a small event or conference facility

· The preparation of the 4th floor of the tower for use as a model for redevelopment

· The preparation of an upper tower floor for use as an observation floor

This is a pretty challenging agenda for our relatively small group of unpaid volunteers, but we believe that we are up for the challenge as we have proven in the past. If you would like to help us reach our goals, please contact us at volunteercoord@buffalocentralterminal.org or visit our website at www.buffalocentralterminal.org. We are always looking for extra help with everything from building trades, to event staffing and administrative skills. Everyone is welcome!

Finally, I’d like to thank our many supporters for their donations of time and money. Without you, the city of Buffalo would have lost an important and historic landmark. Your continuing support will be, as always, greatly appreciated.

We firmly believe that it is no longer a matter of if the Central Terminal will be restored, but rather of when it will be restored. Thank you for your belief in this project and in us. We look forward to seeing you all this season!