Joe
Tomasulo grew up on Buffalo’s Italian West Side many years ago. Now, through
his work with the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation, he’s rebuilding it into
what he calls an international marketplace.
Tomasulo’s
office, in the heart of Grant Street, is a satellite to BERC in Buffalo’s City
Hall. Offered to him for use by
Sam Guercio of Guercio’s Market, Tomasulo keeps company with boxes and stacks
of Guercio’s paperwork, but he’s very happy to be in this anchor building, one
of three that Guercio owns on the same block as the market. According to Tomasulo, the phone and
copy machine are from city hall, but Guercio covers heat and electric,
something he would have paid for anyway because he also uses the office.
One
might ask what’s in this arrangement for Guercio other than being a good
citizen. However, when you stop
and consider that Guercio rode the wave of Grant Street’s decline, sticking it
out through the mean years, it’s easy to understand why he’d be generous and
grateful for BERC’s presence and contribution to the area’s revival; and no one
does it better than Tomasulo.
“What
this has done is to help a diversity of the low-to-moderate income
population. We service businesses
and residents,” Tomasulo says.
“We’re very versatile, from recycling bins and smoke detectors and
windows for the residents, to loans, awnings and façade improvements for the
businesses. Tomasulo’s office
helped put $160K in Commercial Area Revitalization Effort (CARE) funds into the
upgrade of 33 storefronts last year.
In
addition, though Tomasulo says he doesn’t get too involved with real estate,
prospective business owners can see the notebook he’s amassed of available
properties, with pictures and statistics.
His knowledge of the area is limitless due to his extensive research,
aided by valuable summer interns.
The
man who spent 45 years in Buffalo City Hall knows all of the ins and outs of
bureaucracy. His office is described
as being like a mini city hall–not surprising when you consider Tomasulo served
under 5 mayors. “l love this job,” he says. “I get to help people I’ve known for years…people
who’ve stuck it out in this neighborhood and all of the new ones. I keep an inventory of vacancies, and I
fill them. And I can put together
plans, mission statements…”
Tomasulo
understands the dire need for the revitalization of the neighborhood he used to
walk with his mother when he was growing up there. “To rebuild an area in trouble, you need to help the whole
neighborhood, and it relies on patience. We’ve had success on Niagara, Ferry
and Grant,” Tomasulo rightly boasts.
“New people are moving in–there’s a renaissance coming.” He rattles off some names, “Allied Mechanical, Schrock Metal,
Abaca Press…they’re not frightened by the neighborhood. They have the vision to turn it around
and change it.”
The
neighborhood certainly has changed from back in the day. “We have 11 different ethnic
groups in this small area, and over 4,000 Somalians, some who speak
Italian,” Tomasulo says.
“We want to take care of the people who live here. It will take time, but it will
happen.”
In
addition to his BERC job, Tomasulo sits on the Buffalo State College
Presidential Advisory Board to keep a pulse on Grant Street. He too laments that some of the area
homes, already poor housing stock, were bought by “investors without a
plan.” Again, Tomasulo
says this can be turned around in time.
“I’ve
spent a great deal of time–not just beautifying the streets, but with public
safety and housing. The
process starts from the time clients come in, and we go all the way through the
process with them–with the same person,” Tomasulo says. “Loans, water and sewer, you name
it. We’re one-stop
shopping.”
There
are two other BERC satellite offices; one in South Buffalo, called the South
Buffalo Resource Center and the Apollo Small Business Resource Center on the
East Side.