Erie Canal Heritage

16 Apr

Read the press release from 2000.

A map of Buffalo 1896. Note the disturbing lack of greenspace down by the docks!

Back in 2000, the issue wasn’t parking lots and shopping. It was rewatering the canal terminus/commercial slip and the prime slip. That hasn’t been undone.

As a matter of fact, the Empire State Development plan that the PresCo so vehemently opposed included a public plaza.

My favorite part of the PresCo’s “authentic replica” plan is “parking under skyway“.

Here’s the December 2006 Canal Side plan, which no one called an “abomination”. The only difference between it and March 2007 is that the park is now a Bass Pro.

See, the point is that there’s definitely a middle ground here that might forestall any lawsuits and another 7 years’ worth of waiting around. But conciliatory persuasion doesn’t make the headlines that rhetorical bomb-throwing does.

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2 Responses to “Erie Canal Heritage”

  1. Denizen April 16, 2007 at 12:10 pm #

    The “greenspace” hippies should stick to tossing frisbees on Bidwell Parkway.

    Reply

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  1. Punaro.com » Blog Archive » Revertionism - April 16, 2007

    […] The only way to prevent this from happening is to assign a new term to these people, one that more aptly describes their goals. I’m going to call them “revertionists.” A revertionist is a person that wants to revert an area to an arbitrary point in it’s history, regardless of feasibility, inconvenient alternative historical points, current state, or future plans. In the case of a situation like bemoaning the loss of green space that was never there in the first place, we call this revisionist revertionism. In no case whatsoever should this be mistaken for “preservation” where the goal is to keep a significant building or area around for future use and enjoyment. Preservation is most effective when coupled with either “restoration” – the returning of that item to it’s original state, use, or condition, or “adaptive reuse” – applying a new purpose for the object in question that preserves some, but not all, of the historical aspect in it’s new use. […]

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