Local grain elevators are not worth saving

[Unregistered]

In reply to the May 28 letter regarding the grain elevators in Buffalo, I live in the city and I say "get over it." I can't believe with all the problems this city is having, someone is concerned with saving one of the largest eye sores on the waterfront. You want creativity and innovation? Tear them down and put something there that's going to help save Buffalo! No one is going to take a vacation and come here to see the Grain Elevators, the Twin Span Bridge or the Central Terminal Building! We need something other than ruins and a bridge to bring us out of this crisis!
If we're going to "embrace" our past, we need to bring it to life. Look at Williamsburg, Va. Tourists don't go there just for the history or the architecture. They go there because they can get involved in the past. They can see life as it was! They can see colonial craftsmen at work. They can march with the patriots! They can have fun! Where is the fun in a grain elevator?

Until Buffalo is back on its feet, we have to be a little more selective in what parts of our past we save.

STEPHEN MILLER
Buffalo

www.buffalo.com

[TDoran]

Not all of them are worth saving that is for certain.

I think possibly converting the Great Northern into a multi-entertainment complex has possibilities. Baltimore did something similar to an old factory on their waterfront.

H-O Oats building is ugly. An eyesore for those driving down the 190. It's also right next door to the Elk Lofts. Couldn't that building be refurbished and converted into more lofts??? Or is Paladino just going to sit on that thing and let it deteriorate?

What I would like to know is the direction the Buffalo Preservation Society has in terms of the grain elevators and what they intend on doing with the elevators if they are given National Historical Registry status.

[Unregistered]

The preservationists are all crying about the loss of buildings and ignore the loss of a good economy is what is killing the region. Warped priorities.

I have read about the rash of arsons this year, despite wht militant presrvationists say that the city is just a dandy place to live.

Could it possibly be that folks who are stuck with homes in the dregs of Buffalo cannot get insurance, cannot sell teh old places but are stuck paying taxes on crumbling relics they inherited or owned?

[TDoran]

Originally posted by Unregistered
The preservationists are all crying about the loss of buildings and ignore the loss of a good economy is what is killing the region. Warped priorities.

I have read about the rash of arsons this year, despite wht militant presrvationists say that the city is just a dandy place to live.

Could it possibly be that folks who are stuck with homes in the dregs of Buffalo cannot get insurance, cannot sell teh old places but are stuck paying taxes on crumbling relics they inherited or owned?

I think some of the more militant preservationists would like to keep every structure in the city of Buffalo standing. Some of them would be happy to keep Buffalo stuck in the antebellum period of the 19th century. If they really want to do something, they should be shouting about re-constructing Humboldt Park. That might be shooting for the stars, but that park and parkway was the grandest one this city had.