Weather Experience Center–Call for an Important Volunteer
March 14th, 2009 at 4:22 pm by Don Paul under Weather Watch 4
Some of you are familiar with a major project which, up until now, has been called the Buffalo Weather Experience Center. However, the scope of this project will be National and International, so we may undergo a name change to reflect that in the near future.
We are looking for an Experienced Volunteer Fundraising Chairperson. This volunteer position will entail charting pathways for our organization to begin to enter the fundraising sector in order to move ahead with the project. Anyone who has the desire to undertake this task with the needed experience can contact me at: don.paul@wivb.com and I will forward your email to my fellow Board and Committee members.
BWEC will be designed to be a centerpiece attraction for our region and the Buffalo waterfront. This project will be a unique center in which the public may experience weather extremes with state of the art exhibition technology in a spectacular architectural housing on the waterfront. While part of the Center will house exhibits focusing on WNY weather, including an exciting “Blizzard Room”, much of the Center will be devoted to all the world’s weather extremes, including tornado storm chasing and hurricane hunter flights in an IMAX-type environment with hands-on and sensory involvement for visitors. Elements of climate change will also be incorporated into the exhibits, as well as a working world-class weather center. There is very abundant research which demonstrates enormous and consistent public interest in weather and extreme weather. All exhibits will be based on hard science, and will be flexible and changing as weather changes and as the level of our knowledge base changes. While some visitors will choose to focus on the spectacle and entertainment aspects of the exhibits, all will have both a passive and active opportunity to participate in an educational experience while enjoying the exciting entertainment offered in this Center. There is no one museum or center which has as wide a scope as we plan to bring to this project. In addition, our location will infuse visitors with the visual and tactile exposure to Great Lakes weather, including the wonderful calming lake effect we enjoy for so much of the Warm weather season. The vista to Lake Erie must be part and parcel of the total experience.
We have the ability to tap the huge tourism market in the Niagara Falls region with, again, the spectacle which can draw the Falls’ tourists to our waterfront for a unique experience. The Center will also have facilities for important meteorological and climatological research, and we plan on forming bonds with colleges and universities in our region. There will also be a capacity to house scientific and other conferences. And, of course, we will offer a year round opportunity for local and regional school field trips, as well as other local organizations.
Our goal is to be the Jewel on the waterfront which can draw visitors to a unique attraction who might not otherwise consider visiting Buffalo. Once they arrive, they’ll be able to enjoy all the other great waterfront attractions.
In the very near future, we will have our website in place, and links at wivb.com so we can keep the public updated on our progress and on what other types of volunteer help we’ll be needing. For now, our early progress has been very encouraging, and we have received Resolutions of Support from 12 municipalities (including Buffalo) and the County. The feedback has been extremely positive from day one, and we’re ready to move ahead. But we cannot do that without the help of an experienced fundraising chairperson. If you have the knowledge and the desire, we certainly would like to hear from you!
I should also add that we have on board an impressive array of energetic and accomplished people whose expertise ranges from legal and tax law,engineering and architecture to land and structure development, planners, economic development experts, marketing and communications, the political role and, certainly, meteorology. In addition to my role, Tom Niziol, the Meteorologist in Charge of the Buffalo National Weather Service Forecast Office, serves us as an enthusiastic advisor.
WOW Don! Sounds very exciting. Do you have a spot picked out yet on the waterfront? And do you have any pictures or blueprints of what the facility might look like? I will volunteer the construction of a Luge in the wintertime. HaHa.
Don…good luck with that! Anything that will enhance and promote WNY is tremendous. Wish I had time to take on a project like that…as Sled Hill said, it does sound exciting! (In the meantime…thanks for the tremendous mid March weather! Keep it coming!)
Thanks, Sled Hill and Spencer. Spot-picking is going to involve agencies such as the Erie County Harbor Development Corporation and the NFTA, and no one is in a position so early in the development process–particularly for the Outer Harbor–to “pick” spots just yet.
wow. I wish I has some fund raising experience because that sounds like a phenomenal project. I’d start with “its Buffalo, It snows…” T shirt sales.. and perhaps a few gala type deal events, some weather-related art shows (cuz I’m an artist and there are a whole bunch of talented artist in this town) and some chinese auctions…perhaps pair up with the zoo or the science museum to have joint fundraisers because everyones competing in these hard fiscal times, but together can work to draw out large crowds… get everyone involved, make it a regional mission to create this lakeside jewel…
But most of all I would love to look those progress blockers of this town square in the face and let them have a piece of my mind…you know the ones that impede our progress as a city, the ones who stomped on the Peace Bridge project, stalled the Bass Pro shop, put the Kaibash on the Casino, etc… I really hope that you dont get into all of that adversity when you try to actually get a spot and build. Lately its been an uphill struggle to get anything done in this town. Frankly I’m sick of it and I wish you the best at succeeding with this great venture!
Thank you sabresfan.
For Tim, Jason and others, please confine comments on the weather and other issues to the previous thread, or any other newer thread which will be posted later this week. This thread is only for matters concerning the Weather Experience Center.
XtaFBi comment3 ,
I’ve been active in taxes for lengthier then I care to acknowledge, both on the private side (all my working life story!!) and from a legal point of view since satisfying the bar and pursuing tax law. I’ve rendered a lot of advice and corrected a lot of wrongs, and I must say that what you’ve posted makes perfect sense. Please carry on the good work – the more people know the better they’ll be outfitted to cope with the tax man, and that’s what it’s all about.