Doors Closed Niagara

Paderewski Approach – 10/14/06

I stupidly violated three separate town’s driving bans to open the doors at the Central Terminal on Saturday for Doors Open Niagara. I decided to take a detour from my usual route and drove up Delaware Avenue before heading over to the east side. I was shocked at the devastation of so many of our city’s beautiful, mature trees. I started to take pictures, but soon stopped because I didn’t have the heart to capture so much destruction. A good photojournalist, I’m not.

As I made my way over to Tim Horton’s on William and Bailey for some much needed coffee, a ferocious downpour of freezing rain pelted the car. It didn’t stop until it covered the road with its slippery pellets. Once I arrived at the terminal, I was greeted by a 3 foot wall of snow covering the entrance to the Paderewski approach. I made a small opening on the far right side with my trusty all wheel drive Volvo and headed up to the parking lot. Once on top of the plaza, I got to survey the damage: several of our newly planted bushes were toppled on their sides and several small and large trees had a few branches down. But all in all, the east side had faired much better damage-wise than it’s adjoining neighborhoods in the city.