Buffalo Rising Online

Jan 29th, 1:07pm By Rev. Fred Jensen

Every springtime; General Motors and the Olmsted Parks Conservancy team up to beautify and maintain the historical and much-loved Riverside Park in the Black Rock/Riverside neighborhood of the Western part of Buffalo.

“We try to coordinate it with Earth Day,” says Mary Ann Brown, the Plant Communications Manager at the General Motors Powertrain Tonawanda Engine Plant, “but sometimes there is still snow on the ground then, so we do it a little later. We make a picnic out of it.”

Powertrain has about 1800 employees, and between thirty and sixty of them put a day’s worth of “sweat equity” into Riverside Park every year. Tasks include the planting of two thousand daffodils, trimming trees, re-painting structures, and repairing the benches. When vandals stole the copper plate with names of Veterans off the World War I monument, GM and the Veterans committee of the United Auto Workers 774 worked to rededicate it. They re-created the memorial plate, cleaned around the monument, and mulched it. “We have a very good relationship with the United Auto Workers” Mary Ann explains.

When asked why GM gives so much time to the park, Mary Ann says, “People don’t realize just how much GM gives back to the community.” She cites a great number of community initiatives, including support for Public School 53, Re-Tree Western New York, the American Cancer Society, and Cradle Beach Camp; to name just a few. As for Riverside Park itself, many of the employees use the park during the year, so it makes them feel good and the work day is mutually beneficial for both the park and the plant.

Riverside Park is historically significant because it was the last of the parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in Buffalo. Olmsted was a revolutionary park designer in the late 1860’s, designing parks to be accessible to all citizens regardless of socio-economic class. The park is a part of the greater Parkway System which was a novel plan to build parks in a city that were coordinated with each other. The Parkway System is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the present, the park is much used by the residents of Riverside who enjoy it’s numerous sports and recreation facilities.

The relationship between Powertrain and the Olmsted Conservancy began when the Conservancy approached the Engine Plant and made a presentation inviting GM to reach out to the neighborhood. “They came to us with a wish-list,” says Mary Ann, “It was a good fit.”

Joy Testa Cinquino, PR manager for the Conservancy, says, “We are proud of our relationship with GM. They were the first local corporation to step up to the plate and provide support for our work at Riverside.”

Though such an alliance may seem unlikely; car manufacturers and conservationists, for-profit and non-profit, both give back to the community together once a year at Riverside Park.