Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Accelerates Projects to Improve Access to Buffalo's Waterfront

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the acceleration of several significant projects along Buffalo's waterfront. Advanced funding from the New York Power Authority to the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation will jumpstart four major projects on the Outer Harbor and at Canalside. These projects complement recreation and transportation measures that will promote pedestrian access and continued equitable growth of the waterfront. This accelerated plan builds on more than a decade of progress spearheaded by ECHDC to restore 21 historic acres at Canalside and 200 acres on Buffalo's Outer Harbor that has resulted in more than $300 million in new development and over 1,000 annual events.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

What a glorious morning this is. So delighted to be back here in my hometown. Yes, the entire state knows where I'm from because I talk about Buffalo ad nauseam in their minds, but just the right amount in mine. So delighted to be here with all of you on this quintessential Buffalo morning. People always say, "Is that really like this in this?"

Yes, this is very typical for us.

But I'm joined by true leaders, people that I've had the pleasure of working with. Many starting since I was a town board member just a few miles down the road and then a county clerk, and Congress and all the way up to Lieutenant Governor. So, I see people who I have really deep relationships with and great admiration for.

First of all, our Congressman, Brian Higgins, when you think about transformative figures in the history of Western New York, and they talk about us decades from now, maybe a century from now, his name will be prominent in the vision he had at a time when there were few believers, the obstacles he had overcome and the successes that he was still around long enough to witness. And so let's give a huge round of applause to my great friend, Brian Higgins.

I want to recognize also my leadership team, the professionals who we pulled together a year ago and decided to chart a new course for New York State. And our Commissioner of DOT, Commissioner Dominguez, I want to thank you for spotlighting projects all over the state that are important, but also realizing that we can write the wrongs of the past by using infrastructure dollars. And again, thank you, Joe Biden. Thank you, Chuck Schumer. Thank you, Brian Higgins, and others who delivered for us.

And in so doing, we can do something and we talked about it a little while back, which is reconnecting the east side of Buffalo with the Kensington and making that area going to be an extraordinary community once again - rebuilding and bringing it back together. My point on that and as well as many projects, Commissioner Dominguez, thank you.

Our Commissioner of Parks, Erik Kulleseid. Parks - people always have fun. I'm usually kayaking with him somewhere, riding a bike or announcing something fun and seeing beautiful glamping. I used to grow up in a tent. I didn't know what glamping was. You could have a chandelier in a tent apparently. So, we have great opportunities to really talk about how we can create that human connection with nature through our parks. And that is what you are charged with, and I thank you for what you're doing in the vision we have for the water frontier as well.

John, Koelmel, the Chair of the Water Authority - Power, I'm sorry. The Power Authority. Tremendous leadership and has generated the power that has given us the generators used to be able to continue many projects started long ago, but started still again.

And Robert Gioia, the Chair of the Erie Canal Harbor Corporation. We've done a great deal together. And there's just a transformation that continues to be unfolding before our very eyes, but also much of this gets done because I have great partners in state government.

And I don't know if you know how fortunate we are because I hear about it all over the state. To have the Chair of the Transportation Committee, one of our own. That is power and that power has been exercised to do good. And I want to thank Senator Tim Kennedy. Let's give him a round of applause for what he has done. Being there for us, being there for this community, but also communities all over New York State that need that long overdue investment in something that sounds boring, but it's not. And that is infrastructure and transportation products. So, thank you, Senator Kennedy.

Also, someone I've worked with for many, many years is our Senator, Sean Ryan. He has brought his heart to his job and is very passionate about the issues that he champions in our state government. And he has a voice to be heard and reckoned with. And so I thank him for his friendship, and his advocacy and representation of this area as well.

We also are blessed to have so many great Assemblymembers with us. We have Karen McMahon joining us, and Monica Wallace, and Bill Conrad and Jonathan Rivera and Pat Burke. I want to thank all of you for what you do in our Capital. I know it's technically a break, but it's really not. I know this is when you really get to work in your districts.

And County Executive, Mark Poloncarz, again, this region is being transformed. Look what's happening at the former Bethlehem Steel site, with investments and a vision from the County of Erie working with all of us. I mean, this is how you change people's lives. It's not just changing a community, it's changing people's lives. And I want to thank you for doing such an incredible job in that as well.

Mayor Byron Brown could not be with us today because of a family commitment, but the city has been so vested in these projects as well, that we're really making a difference. Also, I think Timothy Hogues is here too? Yes? I thought he was here too. Well, sorry I stole him from you. He is now formerly Buffalo, but now, New York State's Commissioner of Civil Service as well. So, I think I've recognized some key people here and also my local partners, Randy Hoak and other local government officials are here.

This day has a lot of emotion for me because I feel we're standing at the crossroads of the intersection of the past, the glorious past. And you only have to look at photographs of what the waterfront of Buffalo is like when it's dominated by a lot of Irish longshoremen, including one of my great uncles and others who built this community. Starting in the 1800s, Brian knows the history better than I do. If you have about five hours, he'll tell you the history of that, and he wears it with great pride. But also, we know that story. We know the story of the industries that were here and built up an entire economy, the connection with the Erie Canal, and how that changed a little village down in New York City into a powerhouse because of the ability to ship goods through our community and off to the Great Lakes.

We know that story. And we also know the postscript of that story, that there was a decline, that for reasons that'll be studied for years to come, we lost that energy, the businesses, the commerce that defined our waterfront. And it was a long decline, that was most of my life. Again, knowing a lot of people would just grow up in places like Hamburg, and I see Mayor Masiello is here. It was a tough time to be in government, when people would say, "Last one out, turn out the lights." It's not exactly a slogan you want to have when you're trying to have a Chamber of Commerce Day and promote people to come here, "Last one here, turn out the lights. Last one leaving, turn out the lights. So, we've come back, and I've been around long enough to witness this transformation. And those would say, "Yeah, we've done a lot. We're there, we talk about the past and now we're in the present. The present's good. It's great," It is good and great. But my eyes are always on the future. What else can we be doing to take advantage of the extraordinary resources we have here, this beautiful lake? Someone said, "Do you have any lakes up your way? He said, yeah, The Great Lake, we call it. It is known as a great lake. So we're proud of this. We're proud of our rivers. We're proud of our magnificent natural beauty here, but how can we continue to enhance it? How will we, on this day in 2022, be able to say, "We had a path to go forward. We had a plan," and that's what I'm here to talk about today.

And I'm not just talking about here because I want to remind everyone what we just came through. You don't need a reminder, but, I was asked yesterday when I was at the Chautauqua Institution. Someone said to me after what happened in Chautauqua and then what happened on the east side of Buffalo, east Buffalo. This means Buffalo in Western New York is a target now. I said, no, it's not a target. It is not a target. These are individual acts of violence that could have happened anywhere, and they don't define us and they never will.

What we will be defined by is how we came back after that horrific shooting, and how East Buffalo will never again look or feel the same because it's going to have that sense of opportunity and optimism and something that it never really felt before is that it truly matters. And the community rose up and said to you, "You may live there, but we live here. We are still one community." And we made significant investments. And I came here and talked about them many times, and I was here two weeks ago for our day of healing. Many of you participated.

And so, we are making those investments in the people and the places and the infrastructure, and we're just getting warmed up there. And let's continue our work here. Let's talk about what the opportunities are here on this beautiful stretch of land known as the Outer Harbor, as well as connected to the Canalside. And we've also talked about spending a lot of money here, and I'm proud to say that today I'm ready to announce four major projects along Buffalo's waterfront. We'll increase recreation, accessibility, boost economic development - something we're going to continue to do and to build on the decade of progress. I was asking this morning, I said, "When did everything start at Canalside?" And I remember that first Christmas tree we had, it was a pile of mud down there. We were going to have our first tree lighting down there. We were all walking around in boots, it was kind of a cold yucky day. It was like, "Is this really going to be what they're showing in these pictures? Is this possible? Can this really be Buffalo?"

And now when you go down there, and I have staff visiting all the time, I said, "You must go visit this. You must see what vision translated into reality looks." So, we've done a lot, but now we have an opportunity to work with Erie Canal Harbor Corporation and restore over 21 more acres at Canalside. Believe it or not, there are 21 more acres that can be developed and 200 more acres on the outer Harbor. And this will be over $300 million of development and create over 1,000 events. This is going to be remarkable. And I'm going to explain how we're going to do this.

First of all, NYPA, thank you, once again. Because of the brilliance of Congressman Higgins years ago to address the relicensing in a way that had a steady stream of money for Western New York's projects, but now to expedite them, let's get the impact of that money, not in 2029, but let's get it today. And I thank the board for approving over - it'll be $54 million, expedited money that was going to come over time, but as my team learned, as I had a conversation, they say, you know, I'm really impatient. I don't know when 2029's going to get here. I don't want to wait until then. You have $5 million a year until then. What does that really do? You combine it all together, then you have real impact and that's exactly what we're going to be doing. So, that builds on the $72 million that has already been distributed. So, we'll break that down.

We're going to be investing $10 million to rebuild Wilkinson Point. We all love it. It's a big attraction, but it doesn't quite have the amenities that it should have. New spaces for events, programming, a seasonal comfort station. You know, moms have to be able to take their kids into places, clean them up, wash their hands. New restrooms, seating areas, restaurants, and improved landscaping. So, this will be the real epicenter of activity down on our waterfront, and we expect that to be completed, they tell me 2025. I like to shave off a little time there, but we'll talk about that afterward. Let's get that moving.

We're also investing $5.83 million in the Bell Slip. This is the north of the slip where we transformed with more landscaping. We're going to show - are you showing the pictures here? Restrooms, and we're going to welcome visitors to the new Bell Slip in 2024.

There's something to be known as a Gateway Building, right in Canalside. You think about when we go down there, there really isn't one place where people know to get information, where to gather. We're going to invest $12.6 million in the Gateway Building. And that's going to be the formerly occupied building. It's going to be a home to canal collectors, the line boat offices. We're going to be bringing more passenger freight, passenger cruise ships to Buffalo. What a radical idea, what a radical idea, and we're going to get it done.

I remember I was at a meeting of the Great Lakes Governors and Canadian Premieres up in Quebec and there was a person who ran a very profitable cruise ship line and he showed on a map, all the places he was coming through, and they came through from the North Atlantic. They came through Lake Ontario. They stopped in Toronto. They came to the Erie Canal. Oh, not that. Yeah, not the Erie Canal, the Welland Canal - I don't even want to say that because we know the history - and then it goes on to Erie, Pennsylvania is their next stop. I said, "News flash. There's a place called Buffalo." And I have a feeling that people find a lot more to do, and I love Erie, Pennsylvania, but there's a lot more to do here, but we have to have the amenities. You have to have a welcome center. You have a place people can take showers and be able to get off and have transportation to other places to visit. That's how you bring in people who have the means to be able to spend a lot of money on these trips. They come to Buffalo, they explore, we take them to the Michigan Street Corridor. We let them know the African American history that's right here. They're able to go down to our waterfront and see our Naval history. Our incredible resources, there's so much they're going to be able to see. And all we have to do is get them the connections here. So, we're focusing on a site that's going to be a welcome center for those individuals as well as others.

We're also going to be having a one-stop shop for all of our guest services right there in public restrooms. Again, public restrooms are really important and in consolidating all those, and that all be just in time for the Erie Canal bicentennial celebrations, which we kicked off, which will be wrapping up in a couple of years.

Also, the Buffalo River Walk. I love to walk. I ride my bike down here. I'm always checking out our opportunities here and we're going to have a feasibility study for the Buffalo River Walk. We're going to transform that into elevated walkways, fishing, piers, docks, promenades and connect - here's what we need to do - connect the outer Harbor with Canalside. That's the missing link, my friends, we get that done. We can do that as well. And I want to thank the Ralph Wilson Foundation and the City of Buffalo for their support of this project as well.

So, what I just talked about is just part of what we're talking about to come through Erie Canal Harbor Corporation, $54 million to announce that, but now we have some DOT projects and we're going to be announcing another number of projects. I've been talking to our two champions of these products for a long time, and we're going to improve the roadways along Mile Strip, fix the waterfront parkway as well as enhance safety along the Mile Strip Road area. And that's going to be part of our five-year DOT Capital Plan. So, that's going to be focused on as well.

And that's going to be traffic calming. A new bridge, $25 million for a new bridge to beautify the landscape and the streetscape along the parkway along Louisiana Street, something we've talked about for a long time. A $25 million investment in traffic coming at the waterfront at Tifft Street, as well as design enhancement at Mile Strip Road to improve traffic signals. So again, federal money. Thank you, Brian Higgins. Thanks to the federal government combined with state resources. This is how we're going to get things done here.

We're also going to be doing something that I find a lot of fun here. And this is why we have our Commissioner of Parks here. People go down to our waterfront here, and they think they're going to swim. Now we got to work on that issue. Okay. I keep talking about how we want to swim there, but we can't just yet because of a lot of reasons. But I said, "But people want to be near water. They want to feel wet. They want to cool off on a hot day." So, what would be more fun than a splash pad? A big splash pad down at the State Park.

And it has nothing to do with the fact that I have a new grandbaby. Okay? But I go down there, you know, Bill and I walked down there even just a few weekends ago just to recharge. This is where you nourish the soul when you're that close to the water and you see the beauty. And yeah, we just think about that beautiful State Park and it, it is extraordinary.

It is just incredible. And people are just playing everywhere, and kids throwing footballs, teenagers throwing footballs, and babies playing on the grass with their parents and kids just riding their bikes. It's beautiful, but I can imagine even more people want to come there. What another magnet, this will be to have a really beautiful splash pad and we even have this crazy vision. Maybe you put a big buffalo at the top of it. And a lot of family photos will be taken there, maybe wedding pictures, I don't know. But we're really excited about just having fun down there as well. So, we'll be working on that project. And so that's just going to be unfolding. We're going to get started, jumpstarting on that project.

And as well as you know, creating nicer restrooms down there. I said, "I don't really want to see johnny-on-the-spots and porta-potties down on my waterfront. Okay?" I think we can do something about that. So, we're going to have the right size restrooms to accommodate people and also, and ultimately have the opportunity in the next phase.

We'll talk about that at another time, but I'd love to see little cottages and little buildings to have different kinds of food down there because you know, people really want to be able to just enjoy the whole experience, spend a whole day there. So, I would say between our work with the NYPA projects, Canalside, what we're doing with DOT and Parks, we're bringing it all together right here, right now.

And this is how we have a transformative impact on the next generation, building on the success of the past. And again, we're going to be talking about this building and what's happening there. We've got some other project. I'm not going to say it all today. Because we have a lot going on, but also the DL&W Terminal.

I want to let you know that we are working very intensely on that to me, as someone who goes by it all the time. Well, I landed on water. I think that is going to be the crown jewel of what we're doing down there because it has mocked people for too many years. It's vacant, it's hollow, but you realize the grandeur of its past and how we can bring that back and the upper floors and the outside deck.

I mean, you're only limited by your imagination and what we can do there. So, I do believe that as we bring people down the residents, the out-of-town tourists, the boaters, they're going to come here and have a place to congregate that it's just going to be extraordinary. Capitalizing on the building itself, the location, but also the vision to have something really incredible going on inside.

So, this is, again, a continuation of Buffalo's comeback. I don't want to say this is the start because we've been doing this for a long time, but this is a continuation. Again, I'm really proud to be able to announce these three pots of funding sources to really get this going as well as fast, and let me reemphasize to my commissioners, as fast as humanly possible.

And I know you'll, you'll rise to the occasion. So, with that, I'd like to bring up Brian Higgins, who has reflections and thoughts on where we're going. And he has brought many of these projects to me from the very beginning. And today they're going to get done, Brian. Congratulations.