Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Demolition began just before 10 a.m. ET Friday morning of the historic Great Northern grain elevator in Buffalo's "Old First Ward".
Crews went to work on tearing down the 1897 grain elevator, as a crane started by removing sections of the North wall that was partially destroyed by a wind storm last December. At which point, work then began towards tearing out the large steel grain bins inside the Great Northern.
Just as demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator commenced on Friday, a group of 20-25 protestors and preservationists gathered across Ganson Street to voice their displeasures with demolition starting to take place.
"I'm gravely disappointed, as I think all Buffalonians should be, at the Brown administration for panicking and issuing an emergency demolition order, really - let's not quibble about this - at the behest of Archer-Daniels-Midland Corporation, which has in 30 years of ownership, done nothing but attempt to drive this building into the ground," said Tim Tielman, Director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo. "It's a matter of record, and they don't deny it, they have tried officially three times to demolish it in the past. It's been rejected by the Common Council three times. Their solution [was an] emergency demolition declaration, which evades any type of public review. As I said earlier, what belies the emergency status is the fact that we're standing here doing this interview while a machine is whacking the Great Northern grain elevator."
Tielman and the Campaign for Greater Buffalo have been actively working through the court system to save and preserve the grain elevator since the City of Buffalo granted ADM Milling Co. the emergency demolition of the building back in December.
"The city has never taken any precautions to protect the public from the Great Northern elevator, because the public doesn't need protecting from it. The building is not going to fall down on us. That brings to the [forefront] our point for the appeal, that it was done irrationally, it wasn't done based on a thorough examination of the documents that were available or even talking to people who could offer a different opinion than one that ADM's paid engineers were giving the city," Tielman said.
"What's going on here is terrible, we're disappointed, but we are still going to go through with the appeal and we hope to get a temporary restraining order to stop the demolition. This thing is 400 feet long, it's 140 feet wide, it is built like a tank, and at the end of business today, we hope to get a stop put on this, [and] that building can continue to stand. Maybe it can stand as a monument of citizens saving Buffalo's heritage when our leadership wouldn't."
The demolition of the Great Northern on Friday began just one day after a petition to halt demolition was dismissed by State Supreme Court Judge Emilio Colaiacovo, which actually helped the Campaign move forward with an appeal process with an Appellate Court in Rochester.
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"We can submit documents in Buffalo. The court actually sits in Rochester, but they have a Buffalo office and, depending on the judge who's assigned, a decision on a restraining order can be issued today, and we're hopeful of that," Tielman said. "This is a key point, we felt and argued that it was our constitutional rights; now we have two issues - We have the issue of the grain elevator, but not being able to appeal by an effective judicial blockade on appealing was a violation of our constitutional rights."
New York State Senator Sean Ryan was also on-hand for Friday morning's protest regarding the demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator. While work is already underway towards the demolition of the historic grain elevator, Senator Ryan is optimistic that Tielman and the Campaign will come through and obtain another restraining order.
"The silver lining is Preservation Buffalo Niagara made a proposal to ADM [Thursday], saying they'll take over all the cost of maintenance, they'll repair the wall, lease it from ADM and just mothball it. [They'll] fix it and keep it up and going. And I really hope ADM will consider that," said Ryan. "It's estimated they're going to spend over $3 million to take this building down, and what you see today is just the easy stuff. They're going to be here [6-8] months from now, which all sorts of shows the lie they've been telling that this is somehow some unstable building that's about to fall down. That's always been a lie, and we hope we can get ADM to come to the table, finally, and be an assistance to the City of Buffalo in preserving our historic legacy."
Ryan is in the same ballpark at Tielman and other preservationists trying to save the Great Northern, believing that the structural integrity of the building was in a state where the grain elevator was not going to just crumble to the ground.
"The truth is the brick on this building is really akin to aluminum siding on a house. That's not what holds it up. It's a metal building that's being held up by a big metal substructure," the Senator said. "They knew how to build this brick wall 125 years ago, and they know how to rebuild that brick wall today. That can be very easily remedied."
If Tielman and the Campaign are successful with their latest attempt to save the Great Northern and, at this point, restore the structure, Senator Ryan would like to see the grain elevator, essentially, cleaned out from the inside and preserve it for future use.
"If you look at what's going on in Silo City, nobody knew 10 years ago what that was going to become. But because it was standing and preserved, it was able to be used again," Ryan said. "ADM is not going to be here in 50 years, but if this building is allowed to be preserved, it'll be here in another 150 years. So this is part of our legacy. And to just think they want to park on it, I mean, it's preposterous how they're acting towards our community."
The Senator also says New York State has made appeals and asked for meetings with ADM, and even told the company it would pay for the cost of repairs. However, all their motions have gone without any response from ADM.
"They're really acting like a heartless multibillion dollar corporation," Senator Ryan said.
