Old Amp Top & New Amp Bottom – Photo Credit: From John Heffron’s Facebook Post
TO: Ladies and Gentleman of Chautauqua’s Board of Trustees/Tom Becker/The Chautauqua Foundation/All the Donors both large and small/Ciminelli Construction and all the Subcontractors/Fancher Furniture/ Et Al.
The 2017 season is upon us as Chautauqua has a new President, and the incredible New Amp is completed. I had the chance to walk around it two weekends ago and although I have followed all the construction progress and related pics since September, they just don’t do it justice compared to seeing it in person.
You deserve every Chautauquans heartfelt congratulations and appreciation on a job very well done. I’m sure that throughout the course of the season these acknowledgments will be forthcoming.
In the face of a withering storm of criticism from the Save the Amp committee and its followers, as well as one-sided negative publicity from the regional press, you stayed the course and have delivered a wonderful facility (just in time) that will meet the needs of all who assemble, work, and perform there for generations to come.
Vindication is yours, although I wouldn’t hold my breath for a mea culpa from the committee, as I can only imagine none is forth coming. But in that regard silence, as they say is golden.
News Flash
Well just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water the Chairman of the Save the Amp committee rears his ugly attitude yet again. Frankly I’m surprised that the Buffalo paper would give him the space to spout his misguided venom. Once again, right from the start he calls the old Amp a National Historic Landmark, which it is not. He seems to like misdirecting as he states the Chautauqua Platform was born in the Amp v. 2.0, and yet again he is off base. The Chautauqua platform was born in Miller Park, and moved to the ravine where the Amp sits today, with canvas strung from the trees to cover the assembly. The platform evolved in the first Amp that lasted only 14 years before they knocked that one down in 1892, completing the 2nd Amp before the start of the 1893 assembly.
Assembly in Miller Park
As I previously wrote:
I won’t bore you with my Hallmark Amp moments, but seriously, it’s just a glorified tent. It has a better; canopy, tent poles and ground cloth than its predecessors, but she has long since outlived her day and is straining at her seams. A life span greatly extended by some tender loving care, numerous operations, and yes, even an organ transplant.
In 1965 New York City passed their Landmark’s Law and the following year the the National Historic Landmark Act was passed. If the Amp had been a National Historic Landmark Chautauqua would have had to go through the lengthy and expensive process of rehabbing the Amp, as opposed to RENEWING it. Thank goodness Chautauqua’s leadership knew the D-E-M-O would happen one day in the future and did not declare the Amp a National Historic Landmark when they took $300,000 from the Feds when they poured $2 Million into the Amp from 1979-82’ as Chautauqua kicked off the 2nd Century Campaign.
Tremendous foresight indeed!
My best regards,
George Seaver ~ or the Chautauquan previously known as Jeff Holroyd
When I started this blog site anonymously as George T. Seaver I had to figure out a pen name. My Chautauqua Grandfather was named George and my son is Thomas so I decided to start there. Then it struck me that George Thomas was the first and middle name of my boyhood hero George Thomas Seaver a.k.a Tom Seaver (Tom Terrific & The Franchise), the Hall of Fame Pitcher who played most of his career with my favorite team, the New York Mets. So that’s how all of this started!
Drift of the Day 