A Place With a Story to Tell:
Experts, Public Call for Doing the Real Canal Thing
By Donna Ashby
Reprinted with permission from
Artvoice, September 21, 2000
One speaker at local regionalism guru Kevin Gaughan's Canal Conversation - held in
Buffalo on September 11 and 12 ñ told of a child she met in Zimbabwe breaking into
a canal song when he found out the speaker was from near the Erie Canal. Such is
the reach and power of the Erie Canal's history,
There are three key points underlying urban development in historic areas: authenticity,
authenticity, authenticity. That was the message heard loud and clear at Kevin Gaughan's
Canal Conversation. The goal of the conference was to demonstrate "how community
consensus around an urban cultural park emphasizing heritage tourism can serve the
Buffalo-Niagara region." Gaughan spent four months gathering speakers of national
stature and promoting the Canal Conversation. His efforts were well rewarded. More
than 400 members of the public and County executive Joel Giambra and mayor Anthony
M. Masiello turned out for the opening dinner September 11, and for the workshops
the following day.
Plans by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESD) for the site, which sits
at the foot of Main Street behind Memorial Auditorium, came under considerable controversy
as more and more of the walls of the original Commercial Slip, intact streets and
sidewalks, and the Central Wharf came to light during archaeological excavations
and preparatory work on a "replica" canal slip and a yacht basin. The unearthing
of the slip walls and other artifacts that make up and important cultural landscape
prompted the Preservation Coalition of Erie County to file a lawsuit to stop the
wholesale destruction. ESD was directed to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement by a federal judge. In the meantime, the county and city are reexamining
the project and a groundswell of public support to, as hundreds of Preservation Coalition
ñ sponsored lawn signs say, "Do the Real Thing".
While ESD representatives and supporters tried to spin comments to their usual conclusion
that "celebrating" authenticity can include burying it, tokenizing it,
or destroying it so long as you erect nice, interpretive gravestones, the speakers
- save for one who formerly worked for ESD - were unanimous in calling for authenticity.
The audience generally agreed. Beyond the familiar faces of ESD loyalists, it was
hard to find anyone who wanted a "replica"slip or any part of the ESD plan.
Speakers included Thomas Gallaher, a national heritage consultant; Ann Koval, the
executive director of Illinois' Canal Corridor Association; Gerald Adelman, the founder
of Open Lands Project in Chicago; Karen Engelke of the Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor
Commission, and two consultants whose firms have done work for ESD: Elaine Carmichael
of Economics Research Associates. Even the developers the city has chosen for the
site agree that authenticity sells: David Cordish told the Buffalo News last year
that "we have found anytime you can tie an attraction you're building to local
history, something that's indigenous, you are way ahead of the game. Authenticity
is terrific."
Cordish is right, say tourism professionals. Charleston, South Carolina, for 70 years
a national leader in historic preservation, does an annual tourism study. Cheryl
Hargrove, a heritage tourism professional, noted in a journal article that, "according
to Helen Hill, executive director of the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau,
visitors remark on the value of ëseeing something realí and express their experience
as one of ëliving historyí and ëshow an interest in plans for continued preservation.í".
This last point is particularly interesting, in that it indicates that the historiography
of urban development through preservation and its ongoing processes are themselves
of high interest to visitors. John Kenneth Galbraithís observed these singularities
of the preservation movement: that "there is never retrospective controversy
or regret" about saving a building or site, and that "preservationists
are the only people in the world invariably confirmed in their wisdom after the fact".
According to Hill, "people feel uplifted by participating in the triumph over
urban renewal that their visit represents. They become part of a new Charleston story."
Hill sums up the value of authenticity from a business perspective by saying, "The
individuality of authentic sites provide a competitive edge for marketing, funding,
partnerships, tourism, and increased community pride."
Although the former Canal District site has been called a "potential gold mine"
by waterfront designer Roy Mann of the Rivers Studio of Texas and others, several
speakers emphasized that, putting aside any expectations regarding tourism or potential
development, Buffalo ought to do what is right for Buffalo. Cities should build for
themselves first. "any development needs to address the residents first,"
said Karen Engelke, executive director, Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor Commission,
"because you live here and the drive is to have your youth stay here, which
means you need to create jobs, housing, attractions and the like, that will sustain
local growth." Heritage tourism, said Thomas of Economics Research Associates,
is a "huge business with profound economic and development impacts, but it is
not without its downside. Whatever is done in the Canal District needs to be part
of a much bigger picture that fits into the economic values of Buffalo. The Peace
Bridge and the Convention Center must also be considered, and we should expect the
process to be a lengthy one."
Moriority offered a design guideline: "the site should be a strong place for
the family," he said. "If the children come, the parents will come too.
We need to create a place where families will come together...The site should be
first a place for residents and for festivals, graduations, and civic occasions...and
tourism will follow because its a great place to be."
"Tourism," Moriority concluded, "is not the goal, it is a benefit."
Thomas Gallaher, who has advised Charleston and Savannah, Georgia, among others,
offered a nine - point list of elements common to successful heritage development
cities, and found Western New York to fulfill some of them. "The story of how
the western terminus of the Erie Canal opened the West and drove the economic development
of New York state is truly compelling," Gallaher said "With Lake Erie,
the Buffalo river, and the Niagara escarpment, your geography is not just interesting
- it is unique. You are moving towards regional thinking; significant funding has
already been committed to this project ($28.2 million), and, above all, you people
have the patience of Job." He also mentioned that "the ideas should be
grassroots and homegrown, but mature" - that is, fully thought out.
Gallaher cautioned that, done right, one step at a time rather than as an all-at-once
megaproject, developing a heritage tourism site and marketing it can take time, and
that it is seen as a downside by some. And, although the region will benefit from
tourists who bring dollars to the area (the average amount spent on visits to Buffalo
in 1997 was $1,259), and though the region would not have to provide additional services
or infrastructure such as roads and transportation, which can increase traffic and
road maintenance.
Economic benefits, in any case, are not the only way a region benefits from developing
a cultural landscape such as the Canal District, Thomas Moriority said. There is
a sense of community and shared experience that links people, and there is historical
continuity. "Neighborhoods here have historical context and a sense of community,"
he said. "Therefore, the identity of the site should be real...today's public
wants authenticity." Elaine Carmichael of Economic Stewardship, Inc., emphasized
the need to think beyond the impact of heritage tourism. "Preservation is really
important, but fulfilling it doesn't guarantee visitation," she said. "It
may require subsidization, and you have to know who is going to run it - you have
to have committed people." There are problems with the site which must be overcome,
Carmichael said. For example, "both figuratively and literally, the Skyway throws
a large shadow over the area. Additionally, there are seasonality issues, and whatever
the final outcome, these must be considered in order to get the maximum use from
the site."
Although Buffalo may never achieve total consensus on any one issue, there seems
to be solid - perhaps overwhelming - public sentiment to embrace an economic model
of development on the waterfront which maximizes retention and rehabilitation of
the authentic and internationally important Canal District. To move forward, Moriority
suggested, "Declare the 'Peace of Buffalo' and get on with it."