The Process is Important

If the experts’ clearest and strongest advice could be boiled down to a single phrase it would be “find a way to work together.” Although they agreed it made sense to take time to consider the implications of new discoveries at the Commercial Slip site, the invited guests also warned about the dangers of protracted stalemate, “polarized opinion,” and seeing the issues only in “black and white.” Tom Gallaher emphasized the need for “good humor and good will” and he urged all of us here to “declare The Peace of Buffalo” and get on with doing what is best for the community and the region.

Working out just what that is, everyone agreed, will require a continuation of the conversation the conference epitomized. It doesn’t always need to lead to complete consensus, Carmichael noted, but it does need to be civil and reasoned and open to the possibilities that an examination of “shades of gray” offers. Open information, full participation, inclusive decision-making, and a process that all recognize as legitimate are the requirements for success.

Beyond the immediate controversies, the experts agreed across the board that collaboration and partnerships are essential to success in heritage development. The days when a single agency could do the whole job are now gone if they were ever here. The process needs to bridge overlapping and multiple jurisdictions, include multiple stakeholders, forge diverse partnerships, build new constituencies for change, bring in new players and mend some fences, too. As Homer Russell put it in a slightly different context, no one makes a city, everyone does.

This will mean getting leadership and support from a lot of different places. Catherine Schweitzer noted in opening the conference the significance of the involvement of County Executive Giambra and Mayor Masiello. Gallaher remarked on the prevalence of younger faces in the audience and suggested that leadership was being passed to a new generation. Others stressed the need for leadership from the private sector. Several noted the important role volunteers have played in other communities, and the need to develop broad public support for heritage development initiatives.

Buffalo has made its share of mistakes in city-making. We talk about them often. The guests at A Canal Conversation advised that it is important both to learn from such mistakes and to work to fix them. As Homer Russell noted, Boston made more than its share of mistakes over the years. But when the city-making process is measured in decades, it is possible to go back and make some repairs, step by step. Russell’s advice for the future was similar. Make no big plans, he said, countering the famous Burnham quotation. Big visions plus big money often result in big mistakes. Or, as one citizen put it, “no grandiose plan. Let it unfold.”

To make that work will require some intangibles and a little bit of good luck. Boston was lucky back in the 1970s when a developer named James Rouse showed up to redevelop Quincy Market. Augusta, Georgia was lucky to find an old canal boat at the bottom of its canal. Buffalo has some of these things going for it. We have some precious momentum in the process, as Carmichael noted. According to Adelmann, we have an emerging collective vision. Moriarity and Wendy Nicholas both observed that we have citizens who care about places. And, as Kevin Gaughan put it, we have a great stock of “human capital.”

Finally, there is optimism. Schweitzer noted the quality in Gaughan, the founder and organizer of A Canal Conversation. But given the level of involvement, interest and commitment to the Canal and all the issues attached, given all those who attended, listened, and thought, it is clear we all retain some vital measure of optimism. Which is, perhaps, the most important result of all.

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