About two years ago Christopher Byrd fell into a conversation with Michael Miller of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation, the organization which helped to save the hulking East Side vestige of Buffalo’s more prosperous days from the wrecking ball, and which continues to seek the means to rehabilitate and reinvigorate the building. Like Miller, Bird has a strong affinity for the struggling Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood, and the two discussed the need for an umbrella organization that would unite the voices of the neighborhood’s various community and church groups. Thus Broadway Fillmore Alive (broadwayfillmore alive.org) was born, co-founded by Byrd, Miller and housing activist Michele Johnson. AV recently met with Byrd at the Broadway Market to ask him about his group and its aims:

Artvoice: What led you to start Broadway Fillmore Alive?

Christopher Byrd: We tried to put together an umbrella organization for the neighborhood that doesn’t look at one thing specifically, like the Central Terminal or the Broadway Market or the churches. A group that would promote everything in the Broadway-Fillmore area. We’re trying to get all the organizations in the area to work as one…we all have different interests, but there are crossover issues, things that concern us all.

AV: What are some of those issues?

CB: A big thing is the housing issue. That’s critical. The future of the neighborhood lies in addressing what we’re going to do with vacant and abandoned properties—not only homes but businesses along Broadway that are vacant.

AV: Explain how you joined the parish at Corpus Christi.

CB: About four years ago, Corpus Christi was on the brink of closing. Franciscan friars ran the church, and they were going to basically leave the church abandoned. A bunch of community leaders stepped up and searched—religiously—for an order of priests that would be interested in moving in. The community leaders contacted the Pauline priests, who have had a number of success stories in Newark and New York City with resurrecting inner-city parishes. So the Pauline fathers came in to Corpus Christi and saved the day. Soon afterwards I joined the parish because I thought, “What a cool story. This is my neighborhood, my roots.”

AV: What are your favorite places in the neighborhood?

CB: I have a lot of different favorite places, depending what mood I’m in. The Broadway Market is always cool to come to. It smells the same exact way when you walk in the door as it did when I was kid. It’s something that’s not tangible. I love hanging out at Arty’s—it’s a cool little old gin mill, as we used to call them around here. You can get a shot and a beer for three bucks. It’s a very good deal.

AV: Better deal than Chippewa.

CB: Buffalo has many different parts that are cool—we have the Chippewa scene and the Elmwood scene. But there’s something very cool about coming back to old Buffalo. It’s cool in its own right. This is authentic; you can’t re-invent it. It’s old Buffalo with new Buffalo cool to it.