Gold Plated Shovels Readied For Primary Prompted GroundbreakingBy Mike Hudson August 11, 2015 |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
It’s going to be so special! The gold shovel groundbreaking of the Mark Hamister hotel project, expected as early as this week, promises to be the centerpiece in Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster’s increasingly desperate campaign to fend off an unexpectedly strong primary election challenge from city Councilman Glenn Choolokian. In addition to the struggling mayor and the do-nothing Buffalo developer, the star studded lineup on hand for the event is expected to include Councilmembers Kristen Grandinetti, Charles Walker and Andrew Touma, perhaps along with a special guests such as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and/or U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. All played important roles back in the autumn of 2013, mostly by convincing gullible Niagara Falls voters that construction would begin on the Hamister hotel and needed to be approved by the city Council as quickly as possible to ensure that the groundbreaking set for spring of last year could take place as scheduled. It was approved quickly. There was an election that year and woe was to him who questioned the deal in any way. Hamister got his green light and then nothing happened. Not nothing exactly. The projected cost of the hotel kept going up while the scope of the project kept getting cut back but, insofar as anything real actually happening, nothing happened. It’s a little known fact, but Niagara Falls is one of the best markets in the country for ceremonial groundbreaking shovels, particularly those of the gold plated variety. Literally hundreds have been wielded in recent years by private developers, city, county, state and federal officials and the ladies who clean up at City Hall and must move them around in the closets in order to dust behind them. They are purchased from specialty places such as Engraving, Awards and Gifts, a Laconia, NH-based company that claims to be the “premier source for all your ceremonial groundbreaking needs!” They offer a full line of gold plated shovels, ranging in price from $194 to $229 apiece. Undoubtedly, one of those small bulldozers known as a Cat will also be on site in order for the television news outlets to be able to film something moving. You’ll notice it puttering around behind Dyster as he blathers on about how this “transformational project” will provide the “tipping point” long needed by the downtown tourist district to “turn around.” A fun drinking game might be invented by throwing back a shot every time he utters one of the meaningless phrases that constitute his rhetorical – for lack of a better word – “style.” The odds are pretty good that by doing so you won’t make it to the end of the interview. The odds are also pretty good that, gold plated shovels or no, the Hamister hotel will never be built. No fewer than three hotels have been built and opened in Niagara Falls since Hamister announced his, with far less drama, fanfare and political intrigue. There is still plenty of time left in this year’s construction season and, if Hamister has any intention at all of undertaking the project, foundation footers will be put in before winter so that a quick start can be made at the beginning of the 2016 season. If you don’t see that happening, John Guido’s waiting in the wings, ready to reopen his grand parking lot back up to the tourists next year. He won’t even need any gold shovels.
|
