Everything to make Buffalo better

In a wide-ranging article by the News’ Mark Sommer, readers learn about the Syracuse native who grew up in St. Petersburg, Fla., and has lived all over the country. Fortunately for Buffalo and Western New York, Montague landed in Buffalo in 1984, bringing a vision that would translate into educational programs introducing city children to shipbuilding and a love of the lake Erie. Building the Seneca Chief required the work of experienced mentors and volunteers, some who traveled hundreds of miles to work on the boat.

As Sommer wrote, Montague, now 79, proposed the project to the now-defunct Horizons Waterfront Commission in 1997. It was sparked by Buffalo’s municipal seal, which shows a lighthouse, sailboats and a river boat on the lake.

By 1984, it was clear to Montague, who would become the founder of the Buffalo Maritime Center, that Buffalo was experiencing an identity crisis. So why not explore Buffalo’s origin story?

He first proposed building the boat when the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal, marking Buffalo’s role as its western terminus, was 28 years away.

Now this celebration will take place next year. The Seneca Chief replica will depart on a bicentennial celebration excursion that will begin in Buffalo and make stops along the Erie Canal, as well as along the Hudson River as it heads from Albany to New York.

• had a dream after attending an event at Nichols School last year and seeing the private school’s two hockey rinks, new turf sports fields and gymnasiums, as Ben Tsujimoto wrote of the News.
• Polat, executive director of the Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School, embarked on a mission that resulted in a “multi-year push by BuffSci leadership to create better facilities.”

Plans are currently underway to transform the former Medaille University into a new BuffSci campus. The campus was purchased earlier this month for $9.9 million by Charter School Development Corp. and is leased to BuffSci.

BuffSci High School, now located at 190 Franklin St., will move into two buildings on the 15-acre former Medaille grounds in September.

The renovations are expected to be completed by Aug. 15, according to Polat.

Perhaps the school’s broader mission, as Polat described it, will be realized: providing better facilities for Buffalo’s “underrepresented and underresourced children.”

KeyBank is among entities whose commitment to improving outcomes on the East Side involves ongoing critical contributions. The bank is making significant donations to two of its healthy food expansion partners. KeyBank opened the Delavan-Grider Farmers Market on Thursday. The bank announced a generous donation of $450,000, including $300,000 to Buffalo Go Green and $150,000 to Buffalo’s Independent Health Foundation.