Buffalo Central Terminal

UPDATE: Please note, this event has been rescheduled for October 11th. Please see this post for more details.

Mobility Across the Ages
September 20, 2008 [3PM – 11pm]

Step into Western New York’s transportation history, and discover its future, as Buffalo’s Central Terminal comes alive with music, art, brews, and a sustainable future for all.

Mobility Across the Ages is an interactive event that will serve to engage and entertain the public while presenting both the historical context and the current reality of transportation and energy in our region. It is the first collaborative event of its kind to bring together all the sectors necessary to develop an efficient sustainable transportation system.

Planners, policy makers, community members, academics, businessmen and visionaries will converge – in a behemoth of Buffalo’s transportation past – to initiate a public dialogue about the region’s future in what is becoming an increasingly energy-driven society. The event will highlight a variety of local plans for regional transportation development, including a high speed rail connecting Buffalo to major regional hubs like Toronto and New York City, the development of sustainable sources of automotive fuel, and the expansion of intermodal transit facilities for rail, trucks and shipping.

“As we approach a period of heightened energy prices, Western New York planners must set goals for the improvement of its transportation systems, in terms of convenience for riders and—more than ever– energy efficiency”.

“If we look at Buffalo area’s birth and not so distant past, our geography has endowed us with the benefits as a hub of transportation. Western New York needs to confront high energy prices as an opportunity for economic growth and development”.

Attendees will be treated to a day of live music spanning the eras of the terminal’s life – from the roaring 1920s to the electronic future – with Flying Bison and delectable goodies from several local restaurants. The event will likely feel akin other successful Central Terminal fests, the historic venue brought back to life through art, music and good beer.

From 3 p.m. on, a museum will host displays and a speaker series that will focus on the History of Transportation, Timing the Energy Transition, The Hydrogen Economy and Opportunities for Regional Leadership. Throughout the day university members, local and regional government, the NFTA, the Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transit Council (GBNRTC), the rail industry and the New York State Department of Transportation will present their plans.

In the evening hours, the terminal will be decked out with transportation-themed installations from local artists. Dinner will be available at 5:30 p.m. and the music of the 60’s will lead into the nighttime festivities.

Mobility Across The Ages is being put on by student chapters of Engineers for a Sustainable World from the University At Buffalo and the University of Rochester, in cooperation with the GBNRTC, the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation and Flying Bison Brewery.

Educational resources and transit plans and will be presented by The New York State Department of Transportation, the NFTA, Citizens for Regional Transit Corp., ESPA, the Toronto Party Transportation Committee, the Office of Sam Hoyt and the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Through the production of this event, Engineers for a Sustainable World hopes to initiate dialogue, involve and educate the public, and support a forward-thinking regional transportation strategy.

Any profits from the event will be used to fund future projects by student organizations working on transportation feasibility studies for and the reuse of the Central Terminal as a transit hub.

Tickets are $5 presale at Brown Paper Tickets or $8 at the door.

While we were working at the Buffalo Federation of Women’s Clubs fundraiser at the terminal a couple of weeks ago, founder of the Breast Cancer Awareness Garden (in the Memorial Drive traffic circle) Pat Klebes told me a great story. A couple of weeks prior, Pat, Carole Mc Dade and Mary Ellen Glynn were doing some weeding in the garden and community volunteer organizer, Ms. Elizabeth Triggs, brought a group of local teens by to see if they could help.

Pat’s first impression, based on the new jeans and sneakers they were wearing, was that the kids would be more of a hindrance than help. And it was true that these kids had little or no experience with gardening, but after a little coaching, the kids really got into it. One of them asked Pat, “who pays you for doing this?”. When Pat replied that no one did, it must have made a lasting impression on these kids.

Ms. Triggs later called Pat and said “I don’t know what you said to them, but you touched their hearts. They call you the “Hope Ladies”!”. Pat told me that she cried when she heard that, and indeed, had tears in her eyes as she told that part of the story. I think those kids were touched by the fact that these ladies would actually volunteer their own time and money to make their neighborhood a little prettier.

Ms. Triggs returned with the kids the following week with about a hundred dollars worth of new flowers and mulch. The kids felt that the garden needed more flowers. And the best part, Pat told me last night that she, Mary Ellen and Carole had attended a couple of the kids’ graduation ceremony the night before, as special guests. The “Hope Ladies”, indeed. They brought hope to a generation that didn’t have much experience with hope.

Thank you Pat, Carole, Mary Ellen and all the regular volunteers of the BFWC who tend the Breast Cancer Awareness Garden. You touch all of our hearts!

Enjoy these photos from Blues Brews & BBQ!

Here’s a story I wrote for Buffalo Rising:

When passenger rail service declined throughout the ‘50’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s, the majority of America’s magnificent old train stations were rendered obsolete. In Buffalo, we know the dire consequences of this decline as experienced at our own magnificent Art Deco masterpiece, the Central Terminal. Cavernous train stations are a difficult fit for many adaptive reuses and due to the quality of the original materials and levels of decay experienced by many of these great stations, restoration can prove to be very costly.

Entering the picture last year with an intriguing solution is my friend, colleague and CTRC team member, Nick Kraus, who wrote his master thesis on the use of federal transportation funding sources such as SAFETEA-LU, which was the subject of a public meeting held Monday at Medaille College, as facilitated by Congressman Brian Higgins. In Nick’s thesis, he explains how Worcester, Massachusetts successfully used a combination of federal transportation funding sources (preceding SAFETEA-LU) to finance approximately 80% of the 2000 rehabilitation of their beautiful Beaux Arts Union Station from a decaying shell to an intermodal transportation facility.

You can read the whole story here.