Open-air bus tours with Tim Tielman
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It was only a matter of time before someone capitalized on some sort of city open bus tour. In the past, the idea of trolleys and double-decker buses has been floated around, but that's about it. Then, a couple of weeks ago Mike Hananel (Horizon Realty) told me that he had taken an awesome open-air bus tour around the city. I had not seen any sort of buses around town and figured that I would eventually see what he was referring to.
This past Friday RoBear sent me a text message informing me that the bus was sitting down at the Erie Basin Marina and it was waiting for people to jump an-board. Since I was already at the marina I biked over to see what the tour was all about. Of course it was preservationist Tim Tielman who was greeting people as they walked up to the bus. And he had a grin on his face that would have put the Cheshire Cat to shame. He told me that the tours ran seven days a week and were designed to get people out on the streets looking at our treasure-trove of architecture. Some may say that Tim is a controversial fellow, in that he is sometimes referred to as an obstructionist. Others regard Tim as a an architectural guardian of our historical building stock. Whatever your thoughts are regarding Tim Tielman, you must admit that it's pretty cool to see him out on the road with his open air bus showing people all of the structures that are near and dear to his heart. And if anyone out there has some interesting stories to go along with the tour, it has got to be Tim. See the video for the detailed information. Or go to Open-Air Buffalo.org.
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hamp
Tim Tielman is great. He does wonderful things for the city.
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gaustad
Why didn't Tim preserve this bus - tearing the roof off and rehabbing it are against my beliefs. the bus itself does not mesh with our urban fabric as it rides down the street.
We need to file a lawsuit and stop these bus tours asap.
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MRodgers
gaustad - too funny......
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MisterChips
Twenty years of hard work on the part of Tim Tielman and the Preservation Coaltion (and later Campaign for Buffalo) is one of the main reasons Buffalo is so cool today. But I guess it is the hip thing on BRO to diss preservationists, so everyone can chuckle amongst themselves at how beyond preservation they are.
So I'm rerunning an earlier rant, with apologies to those who already saw it.
Designating the West Village as a historic district was preservation. Reinhabiting Chippewa Street was preservation. Continually reusing existing buildings on Elmwood for small businesses, some of which succeed and some of which do not, is preservation. Putting lofts and apartments in empty downtown buildings is preservation. Restoring our Olmsted parks is preservation.
Preservation is the only meaningful economic development that we've seen in the last 3 or 4 decades, and it has made Buffalo a profoundly better place to live. I defy anyone to say the same had we instead pursued the standard program of ample "shovel ready lots," surface parking, and gazillion dollar silver bullet projects.
It burns me to watch people bite one of the only hands that has been feeding them lately. Marilyn should know better.
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frieda
Its quite a stretch to call l tearing out the fronts of biuildings on Chippewa street and putting in garage doors preservation.
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MRodgers
MisterChips, please review the sites offered for tours.
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hamp
Mister Chips you make a great point. We've got so much here already that other places often mentioned like Las Vegas and Charlotte, don't have (and never will).
Preservation has been a great redevelopment tool for the city. It also meets most of the goals of "sustainable design":
Older buildings are typically closer to public transit and walkable neighborhoods. Older buildings take less energy and fossil fuels to develop than new buildings. Older buildings save our cultural and historical resources. Older builidings are (mostly) better designed and more civic than newer ones.
Save energy, save a building. And reduce your ecological footprint.
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ronnier
Yeah poor Las Vegas and Charlotte. All they have are thousands of High paying new jobs added every month. They should be like Buffalo, which was Just rated one of the ten worst areas in the US for small business growth. But we can certainly put a spin on it.
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MRodgers
Preservation is essential for our city - if
- it is proactive and not reactive
- it encompasses all preservation aspects and not a chosen few
- it searches out programs and projects that benefit the whole community and not selective as it appears to be in Buffalo
and - if - all preservation groups can just pull it together and work with the community so that preservation standards are kept for all in the community and not "winked at" for a few.
Thousands of dollars have been spent chasing and chastising events and projects after the fact where, had these dollars gone for proactive preservation, we would have less demolition of important sites and structures; we would have educational opportunities for preservation that appeal to all age groups effectively creating the preservationists of the future; and we would have additional economic dollars generated through tourism for our city. Instead, these dollars are essentially ambulance chasers with many more important sites and structures left to the demolition ball.
Mr. Tielman's idea here is a great one, however it is selective in its routes and that selectivity continues the spiral of decay through neglect of true preservation. Look at the Coe Place project - nothing there, eh? West Village? - Nope (eventhough Mr. Tielman's office is located in the WV). Fruitbelt? Nada.
Think about it, instead of practicing proactive preservation, these tours rely on the same old-same old and these other areas are left to fend for themselves while thousands of dollars lie waste to frivolous lawsuits that, if we had been practicing proactive preservation, would not have to take place. The worst part is, we still haven't learned the lesson and continue to neglect what can and should be done under the stewardship of preservation.
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MisterChips
Marilyn, no blames ambulance crews for failing to proactively prevent accidents. In a city of needy buildings and distorted incentives (a tax structure that rewards demolition by neglect), we'd have a deeply diminished urban environment if we didn't have preservation first responders.
Saving the Richardson complex? Restoring the Commercial Slip and the canal district? Hardly frivolous lawsuits.
Get a clue: Tim designed tours that BuffaloTours.org is not already offering. Competition has its virtues. For Coe Place, see BuffaloTours' Artspace Backyard walking tour, offered every Saturday. See also their Polonia tour..
I'm sure BuffaloTours would welcome you as a tour guide in the WV or the Fruit Belt.
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chrish
Marilyn, the Campaign for Greater Buffalo was instrumental in saving the Hamilton Ward House on Coe Place and has proposed making the street a preservation district.
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MRodgers
Chris, thanks for the info - apologize for that part of my rant -
However, I still insist we need more proactive preservation today. It's not just a matter of trying to save those that are now threatened. It's assisting homeowners of low income to help save their buildings before they fall apart and coming up with a form of communication to involve the community-at-large instead of the "percieved" ivory tower effect that preservation seems to have taken on in this town.
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PMAC
MRodgers, Give me a break, I give those tours with Tim, they are for entertainment and education, and if someone walks away with some information and appreciation of Buffalo architecture thats great. That's about as proactive as you can be. Have you seen the tour guide? To saddle our little non profit group with the responsibility of "assisting homeowners of low income to help save their buildings" and "coming up with a form of communication to involve the community-at-large instead of the "perceived" ivory tower effect preservation seems to have taken on in this town. We are very grass roots and the very nature of the tours is epitome of communication and community involvement.
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TheWhyNotGuy
I want to chime in to defend the preservationists.
New builds aren't always progress. The Convention Center and the Scajaqueda highway were once new builds, and don't you wish someone had stopped them?
Of course, the other side of the coin is true as well. Saving the old isn't always the best choice either.
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Will
Preservation is fine as long as it doesn't prevent progress. In a city like Buffalo that is trying to get business, people, and a new image Tim and his friends get in the way of new ideas and new hope through constant lawsuits. Wake up, people outside of Buffalo could care less about Buffalo's history. They simply see Buffalo as an old decaying rustbelt city with a lot of old buildings. You want to save a building? What will that do for Buffalo and it's bad economy? What do you have planned that will help downtown become a city that people see and that will attract business. Simply saving a building because of it's architecture in a city like Buffalo no longer works!
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