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Thread: West Seneca wants to save the Burchfield Nature & Art Center — but at what cost?

  1. #1
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    West Seneca wants to save the Burchfield Nature & Art Center — but at what cost?

    First off I wonder why my anti-virus software gives me a warning about "We blocked a risky connections" when going to the Buffalo News website. IP 198.134.116.50. Third time this week this came up


    So who remembers this.

    Why can't the builder be sued including the people who signed off on this. Sue them for the cost to make the building usable?


    West Seneca wants to save the Burchfield Nature & Art Center — but at what cost?


    The first sign something was amiss at the Charles E. Burchfield Nature & Art Center building in West Seneca came when the windows were difficult to open.
    Then a lock snapped off a window, and in January 2017, town officials knew something was seriously wrong. The gallery section, with its vaulted ceilings, was slowly collapsing as wooden studs supporting the walls and roof rotted from the bottom.


    https://buffalonews.com/2019/03/18/w...9-bk4MJJt-CgRQ



    You simply can't make this crap up.

    There is another unusual design element in the building: Two furnaces are located in the attic space on two sides of the building, accessible by narrow, pull-down stairways. There is no way to remove them or install new ones without breaking through the roof or ceiling areas. Since the furnaces are nearly 20 years old, there is the thought that new boiler rooms should be constructed on the first floor with new furnaces.





    The center is a great place to display the Burchfield legacy, Burchfield volunteer Paula Minklei said.


    "No other community has something like this. To get it restored and get it back in use would be absolutely wonderful," she said.
    This isn't tax payer funded I hope. I bet there are people in West Seneca who never heard of Burchfield and really don't care about their legacy.

    The Friends group held nine or 10 art exhibits a year, sponsored speakers and offered classes in painting and sketching. Various groups and clubs, from garden clubs to quilters, used the building for meetings and events as well.
    Couldn't they have had the exhibits at the West Seneca Senior Center?

    West Seneca Senior Center


    "There was just always something going on in that building," Minklei said. "People in the community could walk in at any time."
    But how many people in the community actually did walk in at any time not counting the people doing the events? Now that the building has been closed where have those events been moved to?

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    The estimates are way to high. Without the furnace repairs to the building and redoing the landscaping properly to prevent this from happening again, Cost would be under $200k.

    Let the Potter rd Boces construction trade students do the work as a school project for the community.

    FYI sawsall can cut up the furnaces as could fire dept hydraulic cutters.

  3. #3
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    But why would you build them enclosed like that to begin with.

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    Lets step in the time machine and go back to 1998...Bill William Czuprynski was the building inspector when this building was being designed and built and either made adjustments and or signed off on everything...it was his "Job"

    Fast forward to 2009 he was found to be taking advantage of his position and cheating the system. He was eventually escorted out of the town hall by the Police.

    Fast forward to 2018 and William Czuprynski's apprentice and shoe in predecessor.... also left the same way as the Teacher.

    https://www.speakupwny.com/forums/sh...from-Town-Hall

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    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Quote Originally Posted by Electric Eye View Post

    Let the Potter rd Boces construction trade students do the work as a school project for the community.
    Why just not use the senior center for 9 or 10 events a year?

    Do tourist come from far and wide to the 9 or 10 events?

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    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Why would there be sitting water on the senior center roof like that?

    Shouldn't it be draining away from center to the gutters?

    Just curious but how have the solar panels been working I see installed?

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    Quote Originally Posted by WNYresident View Post
    Why would there be sitting water on the senior center roof like that?

    Shouldn't it be draining away from center to the gutters?

    Just curious but how have the solar panels been working I see installed?
    Looks like those spots are lower then the roof drains. Maybe they keep koi in them?

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    Member dtwarren's Avatar
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    The Town has perfected its appeal in Town of West Seneca - v. - Louis Design Solutions Architecture, LLC. in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, over the Burchfield Center in the Town of West Seneca.

    Scehduling Order: https://www.scribd.com/document/4230...chitecture-LLC

    Brief of Appellant: https://www.scribd.com/document/4230...LANT-S-BRIEF-4

    Record on Appeal: https://www.scribd.com/document/4230...chitecture-LLC
    “We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” ― Thomas Jefferson

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    Quote Originally Posted by dtwarren View Post
    The Town has perfected its appeal in Town of West Seneca - v. - Louis Design Solutions Architecture, LLC. in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, over the Burchfield Center in the Town of West Seneca.

    Scehduling Order: https://www.scribd.com/document/4230...chitecture-LLC

    Brief of Appellant: https://www.scribd.com/document/4230...LANT-S-BRIEF-4

    Record on Appeal: https://www.scribd.com/document/4230...chitecture-LLC
    Not sure how all this works, but in the briefs, it talks about "rooting wood", if it was supposed to be rotting wood. maybe it gets tossed out on a technicality.

  10. #10
    Member dtwarren's Avatar
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    The Appellate Division, Fourth Department has affirmed the dismissal of the Town's lawsuit against Louis Design Solutions and Kidney Architects for alleged negligence in the design and building of the Burchfield Nature and Art Center.

    http://nycourts.gov/reporter/3dserie...2020_05323.htm
    “We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” ― Thomas Jefferson

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