I stopped by Transfiguration Church at the corner of Sycamore and Mills the other day and noticed some amazing changes. fixBuffalo readers may remember my earlier position about this long neglected architectural treasure which is detailed in the Transfiguration archive. Even though the efforts to seal the church from the elements have taken considerable time, I believe it's important to recognize the work that is being done here.
We noticed the new concrete work in front of the main entrance on Sycamore Street. The decades old sidewalk barriers have been removed and the 'urbex' basement entrance is sealed All the openings on building's slate roof have been sealed, too.
This is the sort of progress that's necessary and most welcome. Bill - Thank you.
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9 comments:
You are absolutely right, restoration efforts, should be recognized, no matter how small or tentative the initial efforts are. We all understand high costs. The owner has demonstrated a willingness and intent to save what is there.
Maybe it might have been better to find out why the work took so long - can you say city permits process? - beofe you slammed Bill and his mother so horribly.
seeing that he had to be taken to court to close all the holes in the roof, I doubt the city's permit process was to blame.
whatever is now done to this building will now cost exponentially more than it would have with proper maintenance from the start.
not sure I understand the new stamped walkway. but it looks nice.
The stamped concrete and new sidewalk don't hide the fact that there is no exterior maintenance (grass cut, sidewalks shoveled in winter, ...) the windows are boarded up, there are no utilities on, there is no exterior lighting, etc...
The roof patching is a temporary fix. The sidewalks show aome care and investment. Now, there is a beginning of a momentum towards something, finally.
For that, there should be acknowledment.
As for thanks, it's about time, and it was only done when Bill's statey license to practise law was under consideration for revocation.
On October 12, 1995 - Paul Frances Associates Inc. (Bill Trezevant and his mom) bought this building to establish a montessori school and cultural center. This sale happened for a very low price to allow the owner/operator to get in businesss as soon as possible.
It is now July 15, 2008. It is now 4,656 days after the purchase and finally holes in the roof are fixed.
When is the school and cultural center opening, and, who is going to operate it?
Say what you want, but that really is one nice sidewalk. Wow!
For the record, The process took so long because of the City Permit Process. Should you have any questions regarding this particular piece of the issue, feel free to contact Tracy Krug, the City Inspector who has been involved with the matter for the last 15 years and is fully aware of everything that went on.
You should also be aware that this matter was the subject of a deposition taken in conjunction with a lawsuit that filed against the City. On this point, Geoff Kelly of Art Voice has a copy of the deposition.
As for work only being done after my law license was "under consideration for revocation" again not true. My license has never been under review. Just as a point of clarification, in order for an attorney's license to be subject to any sort of review, a complaint must first be filed with the Attorney Grievance Committee of the State of New York. Thereafter, an investigation is commenced, etc.
You are free to check with the Attorney Grievance Committee since it is public information. You will find that I have never been the subject of ANY complaints or investigations during my 14 years of legal practice.
But once again, never let the truth get in the way when all someone wants to do is shoot their mouth off, attack and spread misinformation all under the bannar of anonymous.
Frankly, it is comments such as this, which are forever enshrined on the internet, that represent the greatest danger inasmuch as the "speaker" seeks to destroy with impugnity and with an absolute disregard for the personal destruction such words have.
As for anyone else with questions I am and have always been available at 716-842-2558. David you have known this but never informed your readers. David, I direct your attention to my previous paragraph. Your words and actions on this issue, as I have expressed to you personally on numerous occasions, have wrought more damage to both the process of dealing with the issues surrounding Transfiguration, as well as personally to people who you have never even met.
As for your comment regarding progress, perhaps this can serve as the begining of the finding of "Common Ground" which I specifically spoke with you about on various occassions over the past year and a half, even while you were publicly advocating the demolition of the building, not only on your blog but at the preservation board and elsewhere.
David, why don't you start over and maybe this time you can become part of the solution.
Bill Trezevant
General Counsel
Paul Francis Associates. Inc.
Law Office at 227 Niagara St.
Buffalo, NY 14201
716-842-2558
Transfiguration is essentially the art of changing the properties of an object. Transfiguration is a theory-based subject, including topics such as "Switching Spells" Vanishing Spells.
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Sandy
Alcohol Rehab
So ... eight months later, where are we at with this? Has there been additional progress? I do not live in Buffalo but I have been following this, and would love to know.
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