The Bethlehem Steel
Administration Building may be headed to the landfill officially as news
sources report demolition was slated to begin yesterday. Owners have been
reluctant to see the building reused, even after conversations that detailed
multiple approaches to save the building in a profitable way.
Don’t forget, this piece of
our heritage didn’t get this way overnight. The owners neglected this building
for the better part of three decades
since they have owned it. The building hasn’t made any
friends with Mayor Szymanski either, as he has been a proponent of its demise
from the start.
In previous news reports
Szymanski said, “Pittsburgh adjusted, Cleveland adjusted. Buffalo has not
and if we don’t start making moves and start getting rid of stuff that is
unusable, than we are going to continue to stay where we’re at, which is
nowhere.”
He must not have been aware
of Bethlehem,
PA “getting over it” as they reinvented their shuttered steel mills and
created an incredibly successful tourist attraction that is the pride of the
city. I have to assume he has never left
Lackawanna to come to nearby Buffalo and see how we have leveraged our historic
assets like the Hotel Lafayette, Larkin District, and so many more.
The degree of
shortsightedness in Lackawanna is startling and considering what has been
accomplished in Bethlehem, PA with their steel mills, serves as a great example
of what could have been and still could be if the right path is taken.
Join those who have been
fighting to save this architectural gem, which is National Register eligible. People will be on site today starting at noon
with protest signs in hand in an attempt to make a final push to make the
owners and the Mayor see past the deterioration and realize the irreplaceable
building they have. There will be a fire to keep warm and to roast marshmallows
and media will be present. Dana Saylor, one of the most vocal and active
supporters of reuse, has said, “This is a protest/rally, not a funeral. We are
fighting this one though until the end.”