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The Memorial Aud: Should It Stay Or Should It Go?

The Buffalo News reported earlier this month that after almost five years of trying to bring Bass Pro to Buffalo, the retailer now plans to raze Memorial Auditorium and replace it with a brand-new facility, despite the company’s announcement two years ago that they would refurbish and reuse the 66-year-old building. This news has elicited mixed reactions from Buffalonians, ranging from calls to maintain the building and use it for alternative purposes to calls to tear the whole thing down, regardless of whether or not the Bass Pro deal pans out. The building has been sitting empty since HSBC Arena opened in 1996, so after 10 years it’s clear that something needs to be done, and soon. The question remains, then: Are we better off tearing down a building to make way for a business that may never come to Buffalo? Or should we use what we have and take steps to re-open the Aud?

Name: David

Occupation: UB professor

Residence: Allentown

Do you think the city should raze the Memorial Auditorium to make way for a new Bass Pro building? No, I don’t. I think the Aud, as inauspicious as a building it may appear on the outside, it’s really a community icon. The Knoxes would probably be rolling over in their graves if they saw it, despite the new stadium. But it really is a community icon and it deserves to stay where it is because of its rich history. Now we talk a lot about architectural and historical treasures. Well, it may not be the most architecturally distinguished, but it certainly has a distinguished history.

If you could do anything with Memorial Auditorium, what would it be? I’d ask Paul Snyder, in return for all the tax breaks he’s gotten, to bring back the Buffalo Braves or another franchise for basketball or any other sport.

If the government gave you $66 million to build something in downtown Buffalo, what would you build? A gigantic aquarium. But I wouldn’t allow any of the visitors to bring hooks, bait or tackle.

Name: Jodi

Occupation: Student and barista at Spot Coffee

Residence: Buffalo

Do you think the city should raze the Memorial Auditorium to make way for a new Bass Pro building? Absolutely not. It’s going to turn into another Main Street. There will be absolutely no traffic flow. Nobody will be able to get anywhere downtown, because it’s going to end up taking 20 years, the exact same way that Main Street is.

If you could do something, anything, with Memorial Auditorium, what would it be? I would turn it into some sort of performance venue. Maybe like an underground performance venue as opposed to a Shea’s.

If the government gave you $66 million to build something in downtown Buffalo, what would you build? I would probably build something like a halfway house or rehabilitation center to help a lot of the people that have addiction problems and are homeless because of them.

Name: Gloria (left) & Sister NeeNee

Occupation: Customer service representative & evangelist and boutique employee

Residence: Buffalo

Do you think the city should raze the Memorial Auditorium to make way for a new Bass Pro building? Gloria: I think they should have never bothered the building anyway. I grew up going to that building, going to concerts. I didn’t think anything was wrong with it for them to even close it down to begin with. Sister NeeNee: I don’t think it’s a good idea to let the building go. People should come together and do something with that building.

If you could do something, anything, with Memorial Auditorium, what would it be? Sister NeeNee: I’d use it for the youth, because they have all bad types of nightclubs. Or I would use it for conference-type things or Christian activities.

If the government were giving you $66 million to build something in downtown Buffalo, what would you build? Gloria: What I would do is think about the people right here in the city. We just need to bring people back together to see that the city can be rebuilt, instead of just saying, “Let’s take a building and tear it down.” There’s a lot we could do with the city. All we have to do is work as a team and put it back together, rather than pulling it apart.

Name: Dan

Occupation: Bartender and waiter

Residence: Buffalo

Do you think the city should raze the Memorial Auditorium to make way for a new Bass Pro building? I think the city should raze Memorial Auditorium period. We haven’t used it in 10 years. Whether or not the Bass Pro project happens, it’s been sitting there rotting for a decade.

If you could do something, anything, with Memorial Auditorium, what would it be? With the Bass Pro going up in Auburn and there’s one in Pittsburgh now, I’m not so sure that all this talk that it’s going to lure tourism to the area is necessarily sincere. I think something that they don’t have in other places would be something more appropriate, like a really cool aquarium. If we’re going to bring people into the area and we’re going try to make the waterfront appeal, let’s have something that’s waterfront-based.

If the government were giving you $66 million to build something in downtown Buffalo, what would you build? The joke that came to my mind is a gambling rehab center, because if the casino goes through we’re probably going to need it. I understand the rush to do stuff with the waterfront, because it’s dead territory that’s sitting there, but let’s face it: Nobody goes down there between mid-October and mid-April.

So what would you build? I like what’s being done with rehabbing downtown buildings for more housing, because that’s creating a critical mass of people downtown that have disposable incomes. If Main Street is going to rehab, you need residential down there. And I think we’re going in the right direction.