After years of neglect, a shelter in Front Park is getting a much needed overhaul. The shelter was first designed and constructed in 1898. At the time, it was adorned with a beautiful red Spanish tile roof, which gave it much of its character. In the 60's that roof was replaced with temporary roll roof, and then asphalt shingles were added as a rather long lasting and unfortunate repair.
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An interesting fact is that the structure was originally built as an enclosed shelter. In the 50s the shelter was reconstructed as an open air pavilion with views out onto the park (see history of Front Park).
Today, thanks to $92,000 from the Niagara Greenway Fund, the red Spanish tiles are making a comeback. Along with the roof, the rafters are being repaired, the concrete slab floor is being replaced, and the masonry is being repointed. The burned out grills that were once part of the shelter's interior are getting scrapped, in lieu of new grills that will be placed adjacent to the shelter.
^Photo: Olmsted Parks Conservancy
In recent years Front Park has become a hub of soccer activity for refugees who practice and host games on a regular basis. Soccer has become a popular pastime for scholastic clubs at this location as well. Front Park also has a children's playground, monuments, tennis courts, and beautifully planted gardens along The Terrace, which was also restored a few years back. It is the hope of many to see the old Civil War cannons (see here) replaced at the site in coming years, and there are some who are even pushing for the rebuilding of the original Lake House, which could double as a visitors' center.
Nice to see but, honestly, wouldn’t it be better if the Peace Bridge Authority relocated the Storms-Wilkeson House (771 Busti Avenue) to this site as a gesture of actually being a good neighbor?
I am creating total anarchy by this statement and expect no less than 100 or so responses pro and con.
No, it wouldn't be a good idea to use public toll revenue to move the Wilkeson House house and then forever have to keep spending on its upkeep, etc.
If people who feel the house should be saved want to chip in donations and move it, why not raise the $ (using Kickstarter, etc.) and go ahead?
The PBA announced it would make available those houses for moving if anybody is seriously willing to do it.
That's right. It's not a good idea because I said so. If people want to move old houses up they will have to do so on my terms.
Yes, kettle/whathave, lol, that's right…
anyone in the public commenting about what the Public Bridge Authority should or shouldn't do using public toll revenue is exactly the same as the commenter dictating terms of what movers of the old houses "will have to do".
Great interpretation! Yay!
My Kickstarter idea was just a helpful suggestion, not dictating terms. If they don't like that idea, there's many possibilities - they could hold car washes, raffles, maybe have cover charges at happy hours, … or ask wealthy preservationists to donate, …
btw - what did the alleged groupthink hive write about you before it got deleted?
Anything funny?
Eh. Nothing that was intentionally funny. It was one of Karl's predictable homophobic insults similar to others he has made here a million times before.
What I find amusing is how he and others rush to your aid whenever I poke a little fun at you. Strange because you don't seem to have any problem dealing with it but your virtual posse rides to your aid nevertheless.
Not to reduce your amusement, but Karl often weighs in about the Peace Bridge topic.
So I don't know if his reply to you was based on me having commented in this, or rushing to anyone's aid after you had 'rushed' to my ... (what's opposite of aid? lol)
As for others previously, I can't say for sure but more so than aiding me some might've been criticizing your previous longer drawn out fake "in character" debates you did for a while. Seeing some innocents get drawn into arguing back & forth with a fake persona looked maybe beyond the usual hit-or-miss satire people do on here.
Anyhow, this thread is still way short of Resurrection's 100 comment expectation. Maybe that's a sign there isn't much controversy about the Wilkeson.