Central Terminal celebrates progress
By JENNIFER CALHOUN
News Staff Reporter
7/24/2005
Russell Ross strolled through Buffalo's Central Terminal on Saturday, remembering
the old train station as it was when he was a child: a gleaming building where
a giant buffalo lived.
"I remember the big bison," Ross said, smiling and pointing to the
spot where the buffalo statue stood when he was a boy on a 1950 trip to Detroit
with his mother.
"It seemed like everything was so shiny," he said.
Ross, who lives in Texas now, was visiting relatives in the area when he learned about the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation's open house at the terminal Saturday.
"Restore Buffalo: A Celebration of People Effecting Change" showcased the restoration and revitalization efforts, and provided a forum for more than 20 other city advocacy organizations.
"I hate to see things destroyed or neglected," said Gary Jabczynski, a member of the corporation building committee.
Jabczynski said the shine Ross remembered as a child was most likely the chandeliers and polished copper and brass fixtures, which were sold by a former landlord years ago.
Restoration efforts have been slow, Jabczynski said, but promising. Loads of rubble and debris have been cleared, many of the leaks have been repaired and electricity has been restored.
"Realistically, we don't have the money to fully restore it," Jabczynski said, noting that the last estimate for full restoration of the terminal came in around $58 million.
"We're just trying to slowly work on one area at a time, then showcase it to the public," he said. "We try to maintain it and keep it watertight, then maybe one day a developer will want to come in and take it over."
Other Buffalo advocacy groups also accentuated the positives of Buffalo and stood up for what many of them see as a great city that's going through tough times.
"I love Buffalo because there's so much to offer," said Amy Maxwell, chairwoman of Revitalize Buffalo, a grass-roots organization helping build "a smarter and cooler Buffalo."
"There's history, architecture, museums, restaurants," said Maxwell, a North Buffalo resident, who helped start the organization after reading a series in The Buffalo News called "The Incredible Shrinking City."
The articles in the series, Maxwell said, inspired the group to help improve the city, she said. "We're trying to do our part to retain people and bring people in to Buffalo."
e-mail: jcalhoun@buffnews.com