Scajaquada Creek Talks II: Art in the service of Public Education & Community Development

For many years, Scajaquada Creek has been burdened with flooding, channelization, cut and cover tunnelization, combined sewer and sanitary overflows, highway building and drainage, and industrial pollution. It has been pooped on, dumped in, buried and left for dead. It has been a forgotten orphan of Buffalo's waterfront yet it is also now being rediscovered due to the work of artists, scientists, athletes and activists.

Bogdan Fundalinski, Doreen DeBoth, Jordan Dalton, Brad Wales and Alberto Rey have helped the public see, hear and experience the Creek. Margaret Wooster, Geoff Kelly and Jim Heaney have written books and articles to illuminate the plight of the Scajaquada. Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, the Army Corps of Engineers and Olmsted Conservancy have made various studies and specific improvement projects.

Jesse Kregal, Michelle Stieglitz and Bill Hoyt waged a twenty-five year effort to envision, design, fund and build the Scajquada Bikepath connecting Delaware Park to the Niagara Riverwalk. Scajaquada Canoe Club and the Buffalo Maritime Center have spent five years re-pioneering watercraft recreation on Hoyt Lake and in the Creek. Grant Amherst Business Association, Black Rock Historical Society and Believe in Black Rock have organized neighborhood efforts to clean-up the Creek and Path, identify and demarcate sites of historical importance, and bring the Black Rock Photo Project's Scajaquada Creek Collection to the public at presentations and displays.

Now the NYS Department of Transportation is finalizing a seven-year study to re-build the Scajaquada Expressway Route 198 State Highway. Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper released a study of Scajaquada Creek within Forest Lawn Cemetery . This panel discussion will addresss the question of how artists and public venues like the Burchfield Penney and the Buffalo History Museum can serve the public in their effort to make the future defining project best reflect the will of the people.

The panelists are:

• Margaret Wooster, author, Living Waters
• Julian Montague, artistElizabethLeader, artist
• Alberto Rey, artist and educator
• Seymour Knox IV

 This is a free event.