City Hall steps up
Action on Wiley Athletic Pavilion fulfills a long-standing obligation
When government leaders fail to do right by their constituents, they rarely lack for criticism. But what about when they step up to the plate?
That’s what Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown and City Hall have done in moving to reclaim the Johnnie B. Wiley Athletic Pavilion.
This page was critical just a few months ago because of lack of progress on the deteriorating facility. The stadium has a storied history of sold-out high school football games in the 1940s and legendary professional football battles with the American Football League.
Years of unkept promises by previous administrations presented a preservation/historical quandary over what to do with an East Side monument that holds meaning for many in the community, not to mention its namesake’s family.
Fingers were pointing in all different directions as to who was responsible for the old War Memorial Stadium site. Was it the city or the school district? And what about the $2 million from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development held by the city since 1993 that was supposed to have been used by the school system for improvements to the complex?
All of this predated Brown’s administration but, as the man sitting in the chair, the problem has become his. And he has responded.
The mayor recently announced more than $2 million in contracts and orders for a previously announced project to build a state-of-the-art football field, baseball field and refurbished track to be used by the Buffalo Public Schools and the East Side community. Moreover, a $200,000 grant for the football field was obtained through the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo office of Local Initiatives Support Corp. New Era Cap Co. also has offered grant funding.
In addition, there is a reconstituted community board consisting of Buffalo Bills luminary Thurman Thomas; a Buffalo Bisons representative; children of the late Wiley, Cedric Holloway and Joanne Wiley; and Dorothy Hill, who was a close friend.
This news should go a long way to preserving the Johnnie B. Wiley Athletic Pavilion and returning to the community a place where new stories of glory can be written.
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