Preservationists Rally to Save Canal District
Eric Ortner
North Buffalo Rocket / West Side Times
Tim Tielman leads a rally outside the Inner Harbor Project's chain link fence on Sunday, May 21. photo: Eric Ortner
The dreary weather on Sunday, May 21, 2000, was not enough to keep a group of more than 50 protestors away from the controversial Inner Harbor Project. The protestors oppose Empire State Development Corporation's plan to rebury the recently unearthed Commercial Slip from the Erie Canal and build a replica slip in its place. They favor instead a plan to repair and restore Buffalo's last vestige of Erie Canal history.
A key purpose of the rally was to bring the public's attention to a hearing on the Inner Harbor/Canal District debate. The public hearing will be held in Erie Community College's City Campus on Wednesday, May 24, at 7 p.m. Sue McCartney, chair of the Preservation Coalition, called the hearing, "The big showdown." She said, she "want(s) as many people to come out as possible."
The protest was led by Tim Tielman, who is Executive Director of the Buffalo and Erie County Preservation Coalition. However, Warren Glover, President of the Landmark Society from Niagara County also made some brief remarks. He said, "There's an inherent difference between genuine and fake... The market knows how to distinguish between the two."
Tim Tielman then went on to give a distance learning tour of the site. The developers have been unwilling to allow people to visit the archeological site. Therefore, the group gathered around the chain link fence that keeps people out of the Inner Harbor Project. From behind the fence, Mr. Tielman pointed out the locations of the unearthed walls and streets that once surrounded the terminus of the Erie Canal. One such street was Commercial Street. The Commercial Slip gets its name because it was adjacent to this street.
More than fifty preservationists gathered near the Inner Harbor Project on Sunday Morning to show their dissatisfaction with Empire State Development's Plans. photo: Eric Ortner
Tim also explained in detail the geography of the area including the former locations of Little Buffalo and Big Buffalo Creek. These were the waterways that would eventually become the terminus of the Erie Canal.
The tour then continued inside the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. The protestors paid five dollars a head to gain entry into the museum. Once inside, Tim Tielman resumed the discussion about exactly what had been discovered. The large crowd lined up on the USS Little Rock to gain a birds-eye view of the excavation. Meanwhile, Mr. Tielman pointed to the various structures that included a pier constructed on top of stones that originally made up the Erie Canal.
Tim Tielman commented about the tour, "If the state plan is built as proposed, this may be the public's last chance to ever see the actual terminus of the Erie Canal and first streets of Buffalo." Perhaps the dreary drizzle was the appropriate weather for such a momentous occasion.
