Buffalo's Opportunity

Gerald W. Adelmann: President, Canal Corridor Association

Thank you very much. It’s truly a pleasure to be here tonight, and an honor to be a part of what is clearly a very important moment in the life of this city.

I want you to know that I have been blown away by the City of Buffalo. I had been through your town many times in the past. It was on one of the driving routes from Chicago to Washington where I went to school at Georgetown. But I was always driving through and never got to see the city until now.

Buffalo is a truly remarkable place. I’m talking about all of the great buildings by the American masters: the Guaranty Building, the Darwin Martin House, H.H. Richardson’s State Hospital. I’m talking about other wonderful buildings like Buffalo City Hall. But I’m also talking about an incredibly rich fabric of city and neighborhoods you have, a very rich material culture. It’s something to cherish, and protect, and build upon.

Tonight I want to try to put in context the issues you will be grappling with tomorrow, as the conference proceeds, and in the weeks and months, indeed, in the years to come. Because what you decide here in Buffalo will have implications for the rest of the nation, and what is happening across America will have an impact on you.