Renowned Planner's Proposals
For Canal
by Donna Ashby
Reprinted from ARTVOICE, May 25-31, 2000
with permission from the author
Central Wharf in 1868. Members of Board
of Trade pose in front of their offices at launching of the first steam-powered canal
boat, the "William Newman." Newman was a cement merchant who had offices
at 20 Central Wharf.
"There's a difference between real and fake, and people know the value of
that difference." Those were the words Roy B. Mann, principal of the Rivers
Saldio landscape architects and waterfront planners of Austin, Texas, spoke to a
group of about 75 enthusiastic supporters of the Canal District on a recent overcast
Sunday. The group had gathered to learn why the remnants of the Erie Canal should
be saved.
Mann, who has been involved in numerous river and historical canal restorations ó
from the Middlesex Canal in Massachusetts during the late '6Os to the Rockaway River
and Morris Canal in New Jersey in the late '90s ó and whose work has won more than
25 national awards, said that nationwide, "City after city is scrambling to
find historic resources like this (the western terminus of the Erie Canal), because
heritage has become the byword in U.S. tourism today."
In its prime, the canal was instrumental in the commercial and industrial development
of Buffalo, the opening of the interior of the United States and Canada, and the
growth of cities across New York State, from Western New York right through to New
York City.
Given this history, and the economic impact a preserved and restored Erie Canal could
mean to this area (estimated at $3 to $4 million per year by some), it is amazing
that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESD), the state authority that is
brazenly bulldozing the Inner Harbor area prior to completion of a court-ordered
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) continues its work. The lawsuit,
filed by the Preservation Coalition, seeks to preserve and rebuild the canal and
surrounding streets. ESD insists on reburying artifacts including the walls of the
Commercial Slip that was, in its heyday, the western terminus of the Erie Canal.
This week, on Wednesday, May 24, at 7 p.m., the battle continued during a Public
Hearing on the issue at Erie County Community College's City Campus Auditorium. The
public has until Wednesday, May 31, to make its views known, and the Preservation
Coalition has scheduled an event to encourage participation.
What the Erie Canal Could Mean
Preservation of the Canal, which, when it opened in 1825, both helped define the
settlement of Buffalo and fueled the exponential commercial growth of Buffalo and
New York City, will give Western New York a national and international attraction.
After all, as Mann pointed out, the Erie Canal played an integral role in the development
of the interiors of both the United States and Canada. But preservation does more
than memorialize ó it also gives the people who live here an opportunity to celebrate
"pride of place," as Mann puts it.
"By seeing and participating in the restored components of a heritage waterfront,
people gain a heightened sense of citizenship, community, family," he says.
"It is just not the same when they read something on a plaque or see a few stones
displayed as relics of a waterfront lost. To the contrary, finding those stones mounted
in the landscape can only raise awareness of the travesty that was committed here,
of a legacy squandered and dismissed by uncaring institutions. It would speak to
the lunacy of the system that commits so cruel a joke."
From the beginning of this battle, the Preservation Coalition has not just stood
idly by, criticizing local, state and federal government plans to fill in the Commercial
Slip, cover the historic cobblestone streets and building foundations, and construct
a "replica slip" to serve as a yacht basin. The Coalition has always had
an optional plan that preserved the historic elements. In hiring Mann this week the
Coalition went one step further. Mann has recommended several plan elements for the
waterfront, as well as endorsed the Preservation Coalition's position.
"ESD believes they will be preserving the site by burying it," says Tim
Tielman, executive director of the Coalition. "Preservationists, however, believe
that in order to preserve something, it has to be kept visible for the public. Roy
is giving us several options for doing just that."
All of Mann's options fully restore the Commercial Slip, and open it to public access
and the berthing of historic canal craft. ESD claims that these options are not viable
ó that the freeze-thaw cycle of Buffalo winters will destroy the Canal walls' limestone
blocks. Geologists for the Coalition, however, dispute ETD's ' claims that exposed
limestone will quickly deteriorate due to the expansion and contraction of moisture.
New Options: Open Waterfront to Public Use
Mann proposes several alternatives that ESL's SEIS overlooked. His proposals preserve
the Union Block (a link for escaped slaves in the underground railroad), maintain
all historic streets in their l9th century layout, restore the Commercial Slip and
Central Wharf, and highlight the surface of the Prime Slip as an interactive theme
experience.
"I was not even aware of Central Wharf until I arrived here," he says,
"and I think it is one of the most critical elements of the site."
The Central Wharf originally footed three- to four-story buildings that housed retail
ventures, like ship chandlers' shops, on the ground floors, and the corporate headquarters
of banks, insurance companies and other vital businesses on the floors above.
"You can tell by the windows (several photos of the Central Wharf still exist),
which were large and elegant, that these were lavish offices where important decisions
regarding commerce, shipping, grain, banking and industry were once made," according
to Mann. "What we usually hear is that the Canal District was a rather seamy
place, but what we should really be hearing is that Buffalo was the keystone to much
of America's 19th century progress. That is the the real story."
The beauty of the original style of the Central Wharf, he said, is that its balconies
and porticos are similar to those featured in many waterfront commercial districts
today. By replicating those buildings and juxtaposing them against the original remnants
of the District, Buffalo can create a commercial section that would not only attract
tourism, but also link today's downtown to a tourist attraction in a way that will
energize the city.
While Mann's recommended alternatives center on different components of the 12-acre
Canal District site ó one on the Union Block, one on the Central Wharf, and the third
on the Prime Slip ó there are several "off-site" opportunities that he
believes could strongly reinforce Buffalo's waterfront revival.
"The tip of Kelly Island would be the ideal site for a monument to Buffalo and
the nation, commemorating the great development of commerce and industry that had
its start here," Mann says. "Then, across the river, the marina ownership
would be encouraged to develop a small complex that might be called Buffalo River
Landing, a site for a restaurant, cafe, marine supplies and shops that could draw
both boaters and the general public. That's just a natural for that side."
The new Naval Museum would have to be situated 90 feet further to the west in order
to save Commercial Slip. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial would therefore need to be
moved, but only 20 feet to the north of its current site.
In his proposal focusing on Prime Slip, (which in the ESD plan would remain buried)
Mann has included options for interactive technology to engage visitors in the life
of the Erie Canal. Historic craft would be berthed in the Commercial Slip and one
or more historic Great Lakes ships would be tied up along Central Wharf.
"The goal in each option is to provide a true oasis for the people of Buffalo
on their waterfront, a sense of place, a celebration of heritage and a place to play,
shop, eat, to have good fun," says Mann. "Any waterfront development should
bring new energy, enhance land values and make its city a better place."
Mann Speaks with Authority
If Buffalo should trust anyone's advice on this topic, it couldn't find a better
credentialed person than Roy B. Mann. Since graduating with a master's in landscape
architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1967, Mann has focused
on river, waterfront and heritage projects, always with the goal of preserving the
historic fabric of each site. After working with Charles W. Elliot II on the Middlesex
Canal in the late 1960s, he began his solo career on the Nashua River watershed.
His portfolio includes planning the unearthing and restoration of the Morris Canal
Lock 7 East in Morris County, NJ; a canal linkage between the North Canadian River
and the downtown of Oklahoma City, opened in 1998; revitalization of the Indiana
Central Canal (1986) and consultations on the waterfronts of Boston, Toronto, St.
Louis, Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach, Winnipeg, Austin, and Baltimore's Fells Point.
Mann has won 25 major professional awards, most recently the President's Award for
Excellence in Analysis and Planning from the American Society of Landscape Architects
in 1999, and the Gold Medal at the Milwaukee International City Design Competition.
He is also the author of Rivers in the City, a book on the achievements and failures
on riversides, canals, and harbor edges in Europe and the United States.
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