Urbanist Tim Tielman (Campaign for Greater Buffalo) has a bee in his bonnet. He and his film crew have paid a visit to the Seneca One Tower development, to take a look at the new towering walls that are being installed. In the video, Tielman points out that the addition of the foreboding walls will go down in history as another great Buffalo blunder, akin to the Convention Center, The Central Library, Main Place Mall, all of which replaced invaluable civil architecture.
“Buffalo has been victimized by many bad planning decisions that we all rue, castigate, excoriate, and mourn. Well, 60 years after pioneers like Jane Jacobs told us how not to do things, we are doing it again. Check out our video on the terrible, no good, very bad wall going up around the Seneca One tower.” – Tim Teilman
It is interesting to note that back in 1984, a giant 40 foot tall shaded windscreen was proposed for Main Street, which was shot down by the preservationists and factions of the business community. Maybe the “more humanist” yet bizarre windscreen would have solved the problem of Mother Nature’s blustering elements interfering with business operations at the Tower – something that would have alleviated the need for these giant walls to begin with?
One thing is for sure – the addition of these looming walls could benefit greatly from a visit by the Albright-Knox’s public art squad that is in the business of adding artistic vibrancy to some of the city’s vapid streetscapes. Something more 3-dimensional perhaps?