Over the years I have been to Buffalo more times than I can remember. Buffalo is a beautiful city where a ten-minute walk can transport you from the center of downtown to beautiful tree line streets and parks designed by Fredrick Olmstead, the landscape architect responsible for designing Central Park. Olmsted was responsible for convincing Buffalo city leaders back in 1868 to create a system of parks and parkways that came to define the beauty and forward thinking of the city. His work in Buffalo continues to be recognized over a 150 years later; as Buffalo’s system of parks and parkways are still considered among the best in the world. A visit to Buffalo’s beautiful parks and neighborhoods, and you will see a textbook example of how preservation serves to help build stronger communities
Of course, like many big cities, highways have sliced through city downtowns and in doing so have created physical boundaries that divide the rich from the poor. A highway paved over one of Olmstead’s parkways divided the west side of Buffalo from the east side. And in doing so left the east side of Buffalo without a supermarket. That is until Tops came in and provided a supermarket that was a lifeline for its residents, something so many Americans takes for granted.
I always looked forward to visiting Buffalo. I always found the people of Buffalo to be warm, welcoming, and proud of their city. Whether it was the cab drivers, restaurant workers or the people at the Hyatt where I usually stayed, my memories are overall good. I always stayed at the Hyatt and some memories stand out like the time I was going through the revolving doors just as Steve Martin and John Candy were coming through those same doors. They were filming Planes, Trains, and Automobiles in Buffalo because it was the only place in the country at the time that had snow. The bar area had a large parrot that the hotel permitted guests to take out of the cage and the parrot would perch on their arms. One night my colleague thought he would give the bird a try. The parrot hops out of the cage and onto his arm. The parrot then reaches down and plucks one of his suit buttons on his arm and swallows it. My colleague stares at the bird, so eventually the bird looks back at him and with a look that says; “well if you are going to be dumb enough,” and then promptly reaches down and eats a second button. I still have trouble thinking about that parrot without laughing. Mostly I remember the kindness of the folks at the Hyatt. One Sunday afternoon painting my house in New Jersey in 75-degree weather, I quickly packed my stuff and rushed to Newark International to grab the last flight to Buffalo. Unfortunately, it was not seventy-five and sunny in Buffalo. We landed in Buffalo to a foot of snow and sub-freezing temperatures. The good folks at the Hyatt found me an overcoat that someone left behind during my stay.
Like so many I will never think of Buffalo the same way again. The people of Buffalo are good, industrious decent people. Buffalo will survive and continue to thrive. Life will go on but there is now a gaping wound that Buffalo must now live with. I do not care if the killer is mentally ill, picked last in gym or had trouble getting a date for the prom. What I do care about is how this kid obtained these guns and military armor while being a resident of the state with the strongest gun regulations in the country. It is sheer insanity that someone in a State like New York can obtain weaponry that has no business in the possession of anyone other than law enforcement or the military.
We can and have been talking forever about identifying these folks before they slaughter innocent men, woman, and children. We also keep talking about ways to restrict what can be read or not seen on the internet and closing the gaps in our fragmented mental health system. But until we have the courage as a nation to pass national legislation barring any person other than law enforcement from obtaining these types of weapons, it will only be a matter of time until what happened in Buffalo comes to a supermarket, school, church, or synagogue near you.
The only good that will come out of this horrendous slaughtering of people is that today all over New York State, most of us will be spending more time embracing our neighbors and fellow citizens with different skin pigmentation and trying all harder to treat each other with the respect that everyone deserves and make an even greater effort to greet each other with love in our hearts.
