Governor's Visit to Buffalo Goes Where Few Have Trod

By James Fink
Business First of Buffalo
8/3/2007

In more ways than one, Gov. Eliot Spitzer's July 24 visit to Buffalo was unprecedented.

For more than eight hours, Spitzer traveled around Buffalo - and to Amherst - with economic development as the driving force on his agenda. Observers cannot recall another time when a sitting governor spent so much time in the Buffalo Niagara region and with economic development as the primary draw.

"It was a very powerful day," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.

Typically, governors - or senators, for that matter - fly into town, make a few profound statements at a press conference, pose for a photo or two and then go their merry way.

Brown met Spitzer at Buffalo Niagara International Airport shortly after his plane arrived - a commercial carrier, not a state jet. The two toured a half-dozen development projects including the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, a couple of Delaware Avenue sites including the 285 Delaware Avenue Building, St. John the Baptist Hospice Center in the Fruit Belt and the Towne Home Garden apartments on the East Side.

"He wanted to see, firsthand, what was going on in Buffalo," Brown said.

The tour resonated with Spitzer.

During a press conference at the Inner Harbor construction site, he told Brown and others to prioritize the city and region's development agenda.

"If capital is what's at issue, then Albany will provide the capital," Spitzer said. "Nothing is more important to me than rebuilding Buffalo."

After spending a couple of hours in Amherst with suburban economic development and private-sector leaders, Spitzer returned to downtown Buffalo and did something no other governor has ever done - he went to the Buffalo Common Council meeting to urge the lawmakers to approve a draft environmental statement on the proposed Peace Bridge and bridge plaza expansion. The council's approval was needed to set into motion a series of events, culminating in the long-awaited construction of a second Peace Bridge by 2009.

At issue was not the EIS, per se, but the possible impact of the project on a proud lower West Side neighborhood. There are vocal opponents to the $350 million project who fear it will hurt the neighborhood.

The plaza was relocated back to the U.S. side after the Department of Homeland Security dropped plans to shift American customs operations to the Fort Erie side of the border because of myriad issues including whether federal laws can apply on Canadian soil.

Spitzer acknowledged that backing the EIS and U.S. plaza option was a tough one for the council, given the neighborhood concerns, but it was a necessary one.

"It wasn't the easiest choice, but it was the right choice," he said. "I think we all can appreciate the impact that cross-border traffic has on the Buffalo economy."

As he was heading out of Buffalo City Hall, Spitzer said his day-long stay will be the first of many.

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