Blogzerpts / Opinions from Niagara Views on buffalonews.com
Readers of Niagara Views — the Niagara County-focused blog at buffalonews.com — had a lot to say about recent tourism-related stories. Online comments come from registered users, but — unlike reviewed and verified for Letters to the Editor — can be posted under pen names.
The Wintergarden: Several readers commented on Denise Jewell Gee’s blog about the state’s decision to buy the Wintergarden for $1.6 million, with aims to knock it down and make travel easier between Niagara Falls State Park and the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel. Chancellor Carlyle Roberts II wrote: They should never have built the thing in the first place! It is a monument to how urban renewal destroyed Niagara Falls.
Rip it down!
Wende said:
This is so sad! I went there maybe twice, and I enjoyed it in there. Why is Niagara Falls . . . being so neglected and falling about? If you want tourist to come see the city and places in it, you need to do a lot of up-keeping! This Wintergarden should have never deteriorated. I think Niagara Falls ought to be ashamed of themselves.
And Michael weighed in: How ironic. Closed due to skyrocketing utility rates, with hydropower a few feet away.
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Third Street woes: Chancellor Carlyle Roberts II had this to say about a blog on increased crime in the Falls entertainment district:
When the drinking age was 18, oh so many years ago, they weren’t underage.
The problem isn’t their age. The problem isn’t that the state has this perverse need to dictate to people what substances they may ingest (or at least at what age they may ingest these substances). The problem is simply that individual people choose to engage in disruptive behavior.
Instead of dealing with this as if it was some sort of esoteric problem like “underage drinking” deal with the disruptive people individually. Instead of fighting some abstract concept called “crime,” fight the criminals.
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On Thruway information centers: In a response to Denise Jewell Gee’s blog on Niagara Majestic, a private Falls tour company, being considered to run two public information centers in Clarence and Angola on the Thruway, Jim wrote:
Absolutely. I think private operations are just fine, as long as all attractions have the opportunity to have their materials displayed.
From what I have seen, the current tourist centers leave a lot to be desired.
Wende Rowland added:
I remember back about 25 years ago when there was a big investigation by the IRS and NY State crime and task force about private tour companies having their booths near the Thruway exits and on Niagara Falls Blvd. . . . [One] company was telling tourists that the only way they could get a good hotel near the Niagara Falls and sightseeing tour was to purchase from them. Of course they got kickbacks from the hotel owners that they sent tourists to. Are we starting that all over again?? And Debbie said:
For everyone who knows [Niagara Majestic owner] Doreen O’Connor, they know she is a true champion of tourism for the entire area. She was involved with the original Niagara Falls CVB for many years and subsequently served on the NTCC’s board of directors.
I’m sure that she will operate the centers in a fair and equitable way for the entire region.
