Newell wasn’t able to join News Director Mark Scott and me at WBFO for this week’s Buffalo Rising Roundtable, so I asked Michael Miller into the studio. Michael is president of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation, the new executive director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara and co-founder of Broadway-Fillmore Alive.
What did we talk about? It’s more like what didn’t we talk about. Michael has been plugging away tirelessly to keep the terminal at the forefront for funding, restoration and the possible use as a hub for high-speed rail. That was the beginning topic, what with the terminal being on the state DOT list as a hub, then off the list, than back on the list in recent weeks. That’s a lot of significant movement for a landmark building that was once the center of activity on the East Side of Buffalo – one that may find itself in that position again if all goes well.
The half hour conversation segued into the terminal’s past, both distant and recent, and other kinds of preservation efforts around Buffalo and the groups involved with bringing local treasures back to life – no small feat in these tough economic times. Michael also talked about what he would have to do in order to get the building to a point where he could market it and continue its life in phased restoration.
Let me say this about Michael Miller – he is an avid preservationist, but a staunch realist. He is as real and savvy as they come, so he doesn’t get too caught up in the niggling details of preservation, but looks to a building’s salvation (the rest comes later). Though he tends to the purist side, he is not a zealot, and if buildings have a soul, the terminal’s should be soothed with Michael as an advocate. Anyone interested in preservation should take half of their lunch hour to have a listen to Michael’s views. Like the terminal he hopes to revive, he is a bit of a local treasure himself.
Image: Bella Cala Buscarino, Central Terminal from a train.