The New York State Urban Development Corporation (ESDC), as Lead Agency on behalf of its subsidiary corporation, the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC), will be preparing a generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) to assess the economic, social and environmental effects of undertaking the Canal Side project, a mixed-use waterfront development within the City of Buffalo's historic Erie Canal Harbor district. Your input is needed to help identify and define the scope of issues that will be examined in the draft GEIS.
This notice is issued in accordance with Part 617 of the implementing regulations pertaining to Article 8 (State Environmental Quality Review Act) of the New York State Environmental Conservation Law.
Wednesday,
February 25, 7:00PM
The
Waterfront School
95 4th
Street
Buffalo,
NY 14202
Written
comments will also be accepted until 5:00 P.M. on March 13, 2009. Comments may
be submitted to: Paul Tronolone, Empire State Development Corporation 95 Perry
Street, Buffalo, NY 14203.
The draft
scoping report for the project can be viewed at:
ESDC/ECHDC
offices - 95 Perry Street, Suite 500, Buffalo, NY 14203-3030
Buffalo
and Erie County Historical Society
Buffalo
and Erie County Library - Downtown Branch
Online
at: eriecanalharbor.com
Questions: eriecanalharbor@empire.state.ny.us
The recent Buffalo News article on the Wednesday (25th) meeting implied that it was a form of public meeting wherein citizens would have the opportunity to make comments and suggestions on proprosed Erie Canal development. Rather, it seems it will be a typical GEIS presentation, where some plans are presented and the public will be asked about concerns regarding impacts of the plan.
I would like to see a public meeting where some of the forward-thinking ideas of citizens culd be considered for implementation. I'm going to the GEIS meeting, but I don't know how much I'll be able to say.
I'm Angelo F. Coniglio, a lifelong resident of the Buffalo area.
I'm a retired civil engineer who served the Corps of Engineers as an expert on the Great Lakes and local waterways, including the Erie Canal. I taught for 25 years at UB as an adjunct professor of hydraulics and hydrology. In retirement, I am a genealogist lecturing on the subject and writing for several publications.
My own family first moved to Buffalo in the 1920s and settled in the Canal District, one block from the Erie Canal, in an area that now encompasses the Marine Drive Apartments and parts of the Inner Harbor.
I'm a proponent of an Ellis Island-type Buffalo-Erie Canal Museum and database where Americans could see Erie Canal memorabilia, enroll their ancestors on a Wall of Honor for Erie Canal travelers, and search online for passenger histories.
Among the features I propose are:
• Signage at every major entry road to Buffalo, reading "BUFFALO - WESTERN TERMINUS OF THE ERIE CANAL";
• A statue of Dewitt Clinton pouring real water into the Commercial Slip;
• Canal excursions and "traveling plays" on reproduction Canal packet boats, starting from and returning to ***Buffalo's Commercial Slip***.
• A physical Buffal-Erie Canal museum with artifacts, reproductions, and mementos of the Canal.
• An on-line database allowing local and nationwide researchers to locate information about ancestors who passed though Buffalo on the Canal.
• Formation of a Buffalo-Erie Canal Foundation, supported by individual citizen contributions and purchases. This would include an Erie Canal Wall of Honor, on which citizens could have their ancestors' names inscribed, with framed certificates for families to keep, commemorating their forebears' travels.
• Finally, recognition of the role played by the Erie Canal in the westward migration of thousands of pioneers heading Westward, including many of the founders of the Mormon Church who eventually settled in Utah.
I have a web page explaining my concept at: http://www.conigliofamily.com/BuffaloErieCanalFoundation.htm
and I have begun proceedings to incorporate a 501c called the "Buffalo-Erie Canal Foundation" to carry out that concept.
Angelo F. Coniglio
genealogytips@aol.com
832-3790