ROTOSCOPE NOVEMBER 3, 2014

Posted by Vern Anderson 
on Nov 03, 2014
 

Meeting Call to Order / RING BELL:          6:20 p.m.

  • Pledge of Allegiance by:                        Ed Stachura
  • Rotary  4-Way Test by:                           Roger Gross
  • Invocation by:                                           John Crawford
  • Fine Master:                                              Mike Prinzbach
  • 50/50 (Ace of Heart) Ticket Sales:     Adam Guglielmi

Introduction of Visiting Rotarians and Guests:   6:23 p.m.

  • Ron Papa
  • Two members from the Buffalo Rotary Club (Harold Ruslander & Barbara Campagna)

Minor announcements; introduction of Guest Speaker by sponsor:         David Colligan, Director ECHDC

Guest Speaker; then closing remarks and token gift presentation; photograph: 6:25 – 7:15 p.m.

  • Paul Banas introduced the speaker:
    • Chairman of Launch New York.
    • 1 of 5 Directors of ECHDC.
    • 1 of 9 members of Advisory Committee for Outer Harbor
    • Past Chairman for Buffalo Olmstead Conservancy.
    • Past Co-chair of Re-Tree WNY.
    • Former member of Business Backs Bills.
  • Longest serving member of the Board of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation - waterfront development project.
  • Governor Spitzer talked about the vision for the harbor in 2007
  • This summer they reached over a million visitor mark.
  • Guiding principles are important for this level of master planning
    • Is it pedestrian friendly and creates pride?
      • Accessibility (activating water’s edge, public use, welcoming)
    • Is it something to do every day?
    • Is it safe clean and neighborly?
      • design (seasons, green sustainable, community involvement)
        • Ice Skating is an example
        • Expecting to have a winter carnival there
    • Are there local business opportunities.
      • diverse use,
  • Buffalo waterfront has 3 zones: Canal side, Outer harbor, Buffalo river/Ohio street
  • Canal side is designed to be all walkable. All sorts of parking around for Sabres games etc.
  • The Water side of the canal has been activated and there are several points of interest. (Queen City ferry, water ferry, there are potential 8 points to stop via the ferry). Skyway lighting is on the way. Permanent washrooms. There is a Beer Garden, Naval Museum with a restaurant. New restaurant coming up across Marine Drive.
  • East of main street has a lot going on also. 1 canal side is one of the most attractive building in Buffalo. It has a hotel with valet parking. It is well landscaped and there is a Beer garden expected around the east of Main Street.
  • Harbor center future plans are almost coming to completion. There was a Canisius College hockey game there last week.
  • The future South AUD Block will have the Children’s museum located there.
  • There is a “Sea of Change” down in the area around the AUD, east of Main Street and the water front.
  • There are 10 spots where you can put a boat and light water vessels down in the Buffalo River.
  • Buffalo’s Grain Elevator Map was shown and where the new solar plant is going to go and how it will look with lighting.
  • Ambiance Design and Grain Elevator lighting will be done by next summer.
  • Ohio Street Parkway a yellow brick road is under construction and is expected to be beautiful by next summer.
  • The concept has sidewalk, thru traffic, planned buffer, bicycle path and pedestrian path. The goal is to get people out and walking in the city of Buffalo.
  • Synergy exists because of the various things that are happening around the yellow brick parkway. Projects are being proposed around the work that is already being done around that area.
  • Buffalo river works is the entertainment complex. This is where the pond hockey will happen.
  • Buffalo rowing club will be located here.
  • Buffalo River landing is not built as yet.
  • Outer Harbor Commitment – New State Parks is already in works and the north side is being developed by ECHDC.
  • Wilkeson Pointe is under construction. One of its features is the wind chimes. The wind chimes are rated to 120 mph.
  • Outer Harbor housing will be serviced by a water taxy
  • Good payback on the investment. $280 million in investment.
  • Good press coming Buffalo’s way as a result of these developments.
  • Brian Higgins was able to get 379 million and ECHDC was able to get the rest to make it about a billion dollars and that provided the opportunity to move things. It is not top down as much as things have been in the past.
  • The way to support is to have 2000 housing units to pay for part of the ongoing maintenance cost and partly from the increase in tax base.
  • There is no warm up hut close to the skating rink as yet. Harbor center is close by so people could go in there to warm up.
  • There has been a lot of talk around Broadway Market and Chippewa Market potentially being moved down. There are a lot of opportunities around it but the Broadway Market is one that people do not want moved from its original location.  There is no current plans for a market at this time.
  • Parking is available for a fee. ECHDC was going to build a parking ramp but it did not pan out for a variety of reasons.
  • The future of skyway is unknown but it is expected that there will be a traffic calming aspect at the end of the skyway to bring the speed down and there will be through lanes.
  • There is a location that could be a potential for the stadium however David did not have any inside information on it.

Dinner:                                 6:50 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Talk and Q&A continued through dinner.

Club Business:

  • The Angels from Gateway-Longview are here. Please sign up and be generous.  We need the gifts by first week of December. Gifts can be brought to the meeting or be given to  Bill Thuman at RBC.
  • The foundation will be meeting at Vicki’s office. This is a reminder and an open invite
  • Wine Celebration will be on March 7th, 2015 at Park Club.
  • Application is available for those that want to go on a vocational training trip. The deadline to apply is November 7th and the interviews are on November 15th. It will be in St. Martins to teach sporting activities to young children.
  • District Rotary Foundation meeting will be on November 21st and the Williamsville club will be recognized for their contribution to the Polio Plus project.
  • Please pay attention to the calendar that Doug is keeping up to date.
  • The 50/50 pot has started all over as we had a winner last time.
  • Please get in touch with Mathew if you can help with the Cub Scout veteran park trip issue.
  • Lee Broad has stepped down and Gary Skaylo has accepted to step into that position.

Fines:

  • Welcome fines (Bob)
  • Tie Fine (Vern)
  • No Pin fines (Steve)
  • No Badge Fines (Steve)
  • Cub Scout Veterans Park visit (Mathew)
  • Happy Sabres win
  • Happy Williamsville south win
  • Happy Scotland trip
  • Happy about the Angels program.
  • Happy Ft Lauderdale trip and return.

Ace of Hearts (50/50) Raffle

  • Starting 50/50 Amount:                $  0.00
  • Today’s 50/50 Collection:              $77.00
  • Total in 50/50 Pot:                            $77.00
  • Gary Skaylo pulled the Ace of Spades and donated it back. He got a consolation prize a gift card from Napolis which was a leftover from the Golf event.

Next Week’s speaker is:                               Roger Gross, Vignettes of D Day.

7:32 PM - “Any other business for the good of Rotary?”  / Thank You for attending.  You could have been anywhere else, but you chose to be here, honoring your Rotary commitment.  / Close Meeting

Bell was promptly rung at 7:32 J