City October 10, 2011 1:23 PM

"The Beauty of the Buffalo Bid"

Buffalo Rising 22

By Jessica Edwards:

There is a noticeable amount of sprucing up happening in downtown, and other neighborhood corridors. New signage decorating the streets to welcome visitors, flowers and trees popping up where there once were none, and vibrant murals replacing tattered walls on the sides of buildings. This clean up blitz is for the stream of conferences Buffalo is hosting this month.

One in particular, has been getting majority of the attention, the National Preservation Conference. This is because the conference isn't going to be confined to inside the walls of the Convention Center. It will be pouring out into multiple sites around the city. Although the conference officially starts October 19th, there will be a full week of scheduled events starting Saturday, October 15th. Both attendees and residents alike will have access to walking tours, exhibits, and creative field sessions (hands-on exploration of Buffalo) that will showcase the local historic beauty. This surely will be a week to experience the best of Buffalo's arts and culture.

With all the excitement and preparation currently taking place, it might be difficult to recognize the amount of work put forth to actually win the bid as the host city.

A major collaboration took place to get this conference here. It started back in 2006, when Catherine Schweitzer (Executive Director of the Baird Foundation), Bob Skerker (CEO of Think Solutions), Ed Healy (Vice President of marketing at Visit Buffalo Niagara), and a few others decided to get the word out that Buffalo would be interested in hosting the conference. However, at that time they were met with some resistance, the non-native chatter unaware of Buffalo's remarkable abundance of national historic landmarks and celebrated architecture.

The timing of this pursuit aligned perfectly with the new direction of Visit Buffalo Niagara. They are targeting the educated crowd who would come to the region to enjoy the various arts and cultures. It was then decided that every measure taken would need to be aggressive and persistent, so that the only option would be "We HAVE to go to Buffalo" explains Mike Even, Visit Buffalo Niagara's vice president of sales.

It took a rather long courtship to convince Richard Moe (President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation) that Buffalo should be a serious contender. He was personally led around the city to various historical sites, there was a dinner held in his honor at Kleinhans Music Hall, and he met many local leaders that encouraged him to support Buffalo's bid. All of this wooing, combined with an unprecedented move of raising the $350,000 needed prior to even placing the bid made this strategy look triumphant. And Richard Moe's own words when speaking to Mike Even after his visit reassured that, "I can't tell you for sure...but you'll be pleased with the decision". The announcement that Buffalo won shortly followed.

The excitement to secure the conference set off a chain of cooperation that has rippled through the community. WNED will be showing programming all week that coincides with the themes of the conference. The NFTA and Metro will be accommodating conference-goers. There are groups involved that aren't directly related to historic preservation, but are driven by civic pride. For example, storeowners, local universities, block clubs, Junior League, Boy Scout troops, and individuals have all volunteered for this event.

This willingness to participate shouldn't be underutilized, and the conference organizers are conscious of that. Both Preservation Buffalo Niagara, and Visit Buffalo Niagara are taking steps to continue the momentum. There will be a debriefing after the conference to discuss the successes, and possible residual initiatives to come out of the week's creative field sessions.

Preservation Buffalo Niagara will be annually assessing the field sessions that were not selected for the conference. Buffalo Tours is out of their office, and might be a potential outlet for some of the ideas.

Visit Buffalo Niagara now has in place a "Buffalo Ambassador Program", where people who want to volunteer for similar events in the future, and spread the word about Buffalo's many assets can do so.

The National Preservation Conference is a very prestigious event, and only selects a location in the Northeast every 5 or 6 years. This conference is important because it is like the "Good Housekeeping seal of approval" said Mike Even. Hosting the conference carries a certain amount of recognition. There will be visitors from 33 states, and an estimated 400 from New York State alone. Allowing people to come and explore the dynamic aspects of the city is a tremendous opportunity. This is the perfect time to start "branding Buffalo as a historic city to see" said Henry McCartney (Executive Director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara). More importantly, having visitors return home with a fond perception of Buffalo is priceless publicity.

Photos top left clockwise: 1) City, County, VBN, Buffalo Place, Elmwood press announcement 2) Preparing for grain elevator tours 3) Wheat pasting Elmwood mural 4) Bike rack yarn bombing

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Comments

22 Comments Leave a comment

grad94

October 10, 2011 12:32 PM

the buffalo niagara cvb really led the whole bid process. if anyone should get credit for our successful bid, it is ed healy.

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Score: 2 ( 4 votes )

bydesign

October 10, 2011 2:08 PM

Kudos to Ed then - he has always been the quiet strength of the CVB.

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Score: 1 ( 1 votes )

Travelrrr

October 10, 2011 2:45 PM

Here's to Ed and team replicating this bid process hundreds of times over. This one event is having a tremendous (internal and external) impact on Buffalo-imagine the economic/social impact of 4-5 of these annually?

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Score: 1 ( 1 votes )

Lego1981

October 10, 2011 4:45 PM

I luv the sprucing up the city is doing, but why did it take a major conference in order for this city to take action and clean it self up???? WE live here, PAY Tax's, and would expect our local government to re-pave it's downtown streets, re-plant dead tree's, ect. regardless of a convention. Does this not make anyone else as mad as me???

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Score: 7 ( 9 votes )

Buffalogni

October 10, 2011 4:55 PM

Excellent comment. Why indeed isn't this standard operating procedure? And don't say cost. A lot can be done, like repainting, planting trees etc., for not a lot of money.

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replied to Lego1981

Score: 8 ( 8 votes )

Lego1981

October 10, 2011 5:09 PM

Makes me wonder, 'WHERE' did the money just suddenly come from to repare blocks and blocks of sideswalks. Everyone along Chippewa Street has been pushing the city for years to help fix those sidewalks and it took one day to touch them up. ALL for this convention. Maby we need more of the large conferences to come in just to get our city 'leaders' to finally do thier job?

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replied to Buffalogni

Score: 8 ( 8 votes )

flyguy

October 10, 2011 6:05 PM

As someone who will be traveling in for the National Trust Conference very soon I certainly do appreciate the gesture to clean up and beautify the city. At the same time I do wonder why it takes a convention to do what should have been done years ago and should be done on a consistent basis? The community as a whole deserves better 365 days a year. Certainly its great that the city is spiffed up for a convention such as this but maybe so much work wouldnt need to be done this year had the items of need been monitored and fixed in the first place year in and year out. Someone needs to either develop or enforce a standard operating procedure for upkeep and aesthetics in the community. First impressions are huge and its great to see Buffalo attempting to make that impression and I do hope this inspiration lives on to be an expected day in and day out effort. Being very familiar with Buffalo I am not coming in blind for the conference. I would like to think the pretty-up job isnt just smoke and mirrors for tourists in town for a few days because thats fake! If they come back in 12 months by themselves I hope they see just a spiffed up city.

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Score: 3 ( 3 votes )

queenseyes

October 10, 2011 7:09 PM

flyguy, speaking first hand, you should know that over the last 5-10 years the grassroots community has done everything from waterfront cleanups to planting community gardens, fixing up houses and rallying neighbors and friends. That's a major reason that I founded Buffalo Rising - to highlight all of the inspiring initiatives that we see on a daily basis in Buffalo. As the neighborhoods have begun to transform, there is now a heightened awareness that eyes are upon us. The spotlight is good for our city - it's kind of like keeping a tidy house and giving it an extra cleaning before party guests arrive. Welcome back to Buffalo.

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replied to flyguy

Score: 4 ( 8 votes )

brownteeth

October 11, 2011 7:17 AM

Just a week or two ago I walked around my block picking up trash. I filled an entire heavy duty contractor bag and all I did was make one loop around my block! Everyone looked at me like I was crazy for picking up trash except for a few who thanked me.

However, I think the problem is two-fold. The city does not do enough basic maintenance on the roads and infrastructure which makes the city appear run-down.

On the other hand a lot of people still throw their trash on the ground wherever they happen to be walking at that moment. It is a very large quality of life problem in my part of town. This however should not be the city's responsibility. Why should we pay taxes for a city worker to pick up other people's garbage?

Perhaps one solution would be to either actively fine litterers and place more public garbage cans in residential neighborhoods that border commercial districts? Start embarrassing these people and make them pay for the clean-up if they are simply too lazy to throw their trash in a can. Most of the time there is large city blue bin within 20' of where they are walking!

Can we get a small task force (like the meter maids) that address these issues funded by fines? Or can we add that responsibility to the meter maids?

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replied to queenseyes

Score: 5 ( 5 votes )

MRodgers

October 11, 2011 7:38 AM

Back in the day there used to be trash receptacles throughout the city. Of course, people were a little more mindful of disposing of litter back then, too. However, when we had additional totes placed on Johnson Park, there was a heck of a lot less litter floating around. All the city needs to do is distribute either totes or painted 50 gallon drums and have those emptied in the neighborhoods during their regular trash runs.

And, thanks, brownteeth, for taking pride in our 'hood!

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replied to brownteeth

Score: 4 ( 4 votes )

Buffalo All Star

October 10, 2011 10:26 PM

Agreed...what about sprucing things up for the residents? I could probably find 100 park benches that need painting and double that amount in flower beds that need weeding..

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Score: 2 ( 2 votes )

MRodgers

October 11, 2011 7:42 AM

I heartily agree with most of the commentors here that wonder why it takes a conference. As a matter of fact, I have been discussing the issues in the past few days that the areas the conference is hitting are the areas getting the cash for streets, sidewalks and curbs while other neighborhoods that have been needing these services for as long as a decade or so still continue to be neglected.

I sure hope the trolleys and other forms of transpo take a ride along S Elmwood between Chippewa and Virginia Street so everyone can experience "riding the rail" as I call it - in other words - keep your drivers' side wheels as close to the yellow line to avoid under carriage damage as the street is so poorly maintained.

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Score: 2 ( 2 votes )

grad94

October 11, 2011 7:55 AM

ease up a little, people.

when you have the whole family coming to town, don't you scramble to clean your house up more than usual? sure, you should keep it that way all the time but few of us do.

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Score: 8 ( 10 votes )

brownteeth

October 11, 2011 9:47 AM

I do use situations like that as a deadline for projects that I have been too busy to get in to. However I also do not have the resources and funds the city does to handle those "chores".

I guess it is ultimately positive that this conference spurred some much needed maintenance. I only worry that it will be neglected again once the visitors leave town. All I am asking for is a better plan for the day to day upkeep, like city placed garbage receptacles in the problem locations.

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replied to grad94

Score: 5 ( 5 votes )

Buffalogni

October 11, 2011 12:32 PM

"...more than usual?" That is the part that bugs me. Why is this amount more than usual? This should be baseline, basic, everyday work by the city and the citizens.

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replied to grad94

Score: 1 ( 1 votes )

grad94

October 11, 2011 12:41 PM

all of this derision puts the city in a catch-22 situation.

no clean-up prior to such an important conference? we'd be screaming bloody murder and lambasting the brown administration for its indifference and ineptitude. and i am hardly a brown fan.

so what do we do when we see visible clean-up? we scream bloody murder. jeeze, people, would it kill you to say -nice job- once in a while?

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replied to Buffalogni

Score: 5 ( 5 votes )

Lego1981

October 11, 2011 2:22 PM

Our point is, the city should'nt have to wait to CLEAN UP just because a conference is coming to town. It should ALWAYS keep it's sidewalks, streets, curbs and trees looking good- for those of us WHO LIVE HERE, PAY TAX'S, WORK HERE, SPEND OUR MONEY HERE!!!!! We would LUV to see the city lookiing good every day, all year long, regardless of a convention coming into town. THAT is our point, THA is why we are mad.

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replied to grad94

Score: 0 ( 2 votes )

grad94

October 11, 2011 7:29 PM

then quit screaming bloody murder about your taxes. i swear most americans think government is santa claus, required to deliver all kinds of goodies for nothing.

you can't demand on one hand that city hall reduce its payroll and then turn around and expect the city to cough up workers to plant chrysanthemums everywhere.

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replied to Lego1981

Score: 2 ( 2 votes )

Buffalogni

October 11, 2011 3:24 PM

It isn't a Catch-22. They need to keep the city spruced up by doing basic maintenance. Then we will be happy. Simple.

[ Reply ]

replied to grad94

Score: 1 ( 1 votes )

flyguy

October 11, 2011 12:42 PM

queenseyes I 100% agree with you and applaud you and BuffaloRising and the entire community (that cares about the condition of their city) for making noticeable changes within it. I have enjoyed at least participating in Buffalo rising for geez...like 10 years now, and always hopeful to offer my input and thoughts.

With all the improvements (and there are many) I also notice that the majority of wins within Buffalo are within the areas that money is going and people are improving those areas tremendously. As a former Buffalonian I think of the out of town tourist coming to Buffalo for the first time who fly's into the airport and decides they want to take in the city and decide to avoid the highways. So...leaving the airport their path to downtown may be via Genessee or Walden, Broadway, etc. Talk about first impressions! Yikes! What of those neighborhoods? First impressions make lasting impressions. All the burned out and boarded up buildings, vacant garbage filled lots dont exactly scream yay! historic preservation! and wow this community cares! Have they been spruced up as well or are they still graffiti filled and litter strewn with infrastructure in horrible condition? Those are HUGE areas of the city as well. I just hope the City takes a real close look at its upkeep and maintenance and assures every neighborhood is uplifted 365 days a year because travellers and tourists dont just enter from four or 5 most attractive touristy points. It may be a never ending fight but in the end good should always win! I look forward to a day that all corners of Buffalo can share the Buffalove equally and all citizens are community and neighbor minded. Right now unfortunately I just fear it still is not so.

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Score: 1 ( 1 votes )

buffaloroamer

October 11, 2011 8:11 PM

keep them off the 400 and 500 block of Main after 5 pm. Pretty embarrassing atmosphere after the working class has left the area.

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Score: 0 ( 0 votes )

DOC

October 12, 2011 4:07 PM

All store owners on Elmwood, Chip., Delaware, Hertel,Allen, Main, etc. should be out pruning trees, bushes, pulling weeds that have grown-up along the sides of their buildings. I am sure if every store/shop/business owner spent just 30 minutes doing this...there would be a miraculous transformation. Get up off your butts and get some well-deserved exercise. Do yourself and your city a favor.

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Score: 4 ( 4 votes )