Buffalo Central Terminal

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!

Sara and I met with Mike Quinniey and Tyrone Christopher of the Western New York Minority Media Professionals on Saturday to establish a partnership with them that will hopefully help us both in our restoration efforts. They are just beginning efforts to restore the beautiful old Sattler Theater at 512 Broadway. You can read more about it in today’s Buffalo News.

Mike and Tyrone are great guys and we are looking forward to working with them!

From www.trentonian.com:

By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman

TRENTON — The city’s vision to revitalize downtown Trenton began with the renovation of the historic Broad Street Bank. As such, it was only natural for the residential high-rise to host the “Central Terminal” documentary yesterday for Day 2 of the Trenton Film Festival.

The film’s producers, Scott Richardson and Kirsten A. Jahn, were in town to debut the documentary here, which they completed about a year ago as Canisius College Video Institute students in western New York.

“Central Terminal” is a 29-minute film about a train station in Buffalo, N.Y., that was a thriving hub in the 1920s which closed down in the 1970s.

Then the Central Terminal, much like the Broad Street Bank, underwent decades of blight and deterioration until area residents intervened in an effort to save it from destruction.

“I think it’s a nice fit that a building like the Broad Street Bank — that has been renovated — is the host of a film about a building in Buffalo, N.Y., that everyone is hoping to be renovated some day,” said Dr. Barbara Irwin, who mentored Richardson and Jahn as director of the Canisius College Video Institute.

Production of the film began shortly after Jahn contacted the Central Terminal Restoration Corp. in 2006 to see if they’d be interested in having a documentary made on their efforts to save and renovate the terminal.

But filming during the brutal winter months was challenging to the filmmaking duo.

“It was really cold. That was the major problem,” Jahn said yesterday following the documentary’s screening to more than 20 attendees.

“The terminal building is not heated,” Richardson told The Trentonian yesterday. “We were shooting in February and March. The president of the Central Terminal Restoration Corp., we shot his interview at the terminal in the middle of March, and we were freezing.”

Marilyn Campbell, a fourth-time volunteer with the film festival, said the event is always a blast. “They’re great films,” she said. “It’s really nice to see films that aren’t the usual movie theater films.”

David Henderson, president of the Trenton Film Festival, said he was happy to have the opportunity to showcase the “Central Terminal” documentary in the Broad Street Bank. And he noted the film festival is going to be even bigger as it concludes tonight with a showing of “The Flyboys” at the Masonic Temple on 100 Barrack St. following the 7 p.m. awards ceremony.

“Trenton is the center of the international film world for one weekend,” Henderson said.

And for the two Canisius students, they arrived in the city yesterday morning as participants in Trenton’s fifth annual film festival.

After months of research and filming, Richardson and Jahn said they started to get emotionally involved in the restoration effort of the Central Terminal.

“We got very connected,” Richardson said. “The group that is working to restore the building is very tight-knit. We actually ended up in their Dingus Day parade,” he said, referring to the Polish holiday.

“It’s a big Polish neighborhood around there. They ended up putting us on a float in the back of the Dingus Day parade, so we became pretty connected,” Richardson added.

“I had never actually been inside the building before we started working on the film, and by the end of it I was ‘farrah, save the terminal.’”

The Trenton Film Festival always brings in creative artists like Richardson and Jahn to showcase independent motion pictures.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for our students to have their work shown at a venue like this,” Dr. Irwin said.

From my neighborhood friend Pam Arbogast:

I never really thought about it before.

Today, I was walking my dog and happened to notice the color. The sky was shades of gray with white blue swirls. There were sunbeams peeking out from the clouds and the birds were flying overhead. Even with the chill in the air, I felt warm. All around me there was color and life. I never really thought of it before.

This is the property surrounding the Central Terminal. I live in her shadow.

Since I moved here 15 years ago, I’ve watched the evolution! When I first moved in, there were mounds of dirt and garbage. The tire piles were huge. You couldn’t walk around the parking lot, there was too much trash, crumbled pavement and broken glass; walking around was considered unsafe. There were many nights of fire, with flaming invoices from years long past, billowing out the windows. The sound of vandals screaming from the towers and breaking glass was nothing new.

Then something happened. Someone showed they cared. Crews of volunteers started cleaning up the property. Then the roof got fixed. The windows were patched. The towers were magically lit. The clocks restored. New pavement. New trees. Old trees carved into new treasures! Daffodils! I even think I saw a cherry tree in full blossom today!

Every day, one of my dogs and I take our walk. My puppy is in training, so he gets unleashed; I only hope that he’ll remember to pay attention to me when I call. He’s so busy chasing bunnies and birds and smelling all the good smells of spring that he forgets himself! My other dog has short legs and tries her best to keep up, but she always stops to smell the flowers.

The three of us treasure this building. We are thankful for all the love and hard work that has made this such a wonderful place to walk and enjoy.

I’m noticing new faces. I’m noticing other people walking their dogs. I’m noticing other people walking the concourse. Just yesterday, I saw a little boy clutching his grandfather’s hand as they enjoyed the scenery. Grand dad was pointing to something high in the tower; it was probably the family of hawks that are living in there. On Fridays, if I’m lucky, I’ll even get to watch Cousin Kelly work on his tree carvings! (more…)