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Mayor Paul Dyster shames us all by his generosity with the people's money.
While he may not have the funds to keep the little league baseball diamonds in top condition, he can still dedicate his time to pose with the young players. |
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Polo is something that Hyde Park should not be without.... |
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Last week the Niagara Falls Reporter detailed how Mayor Paul Dyster met with a group of cricket enthusiasts from out of town who were hoping the mayor would build them a cricket field.
This article isn’t going to rehash the cricket devotee’s desire for a field.
Instead it will consider how Mayor Dyster took the cricket field of dreams and spun it by raising the issue of “diversity.”
Dyster frequently relies upon what we call “Dyster triangulation politics” to paint his critics into a corner by flipping the subject and dodging the root argument.
Triangulation in Dyster’s world, for example, works like this:
- If you don’t support his $45,000,000 train station you’re anti tourism.
- If you don’t support his $13,000,000 ice pavilion renovation you’re against youth hockey.
- If you criticize the mayor’s multi-million dollar trash and recycling program you’re an enemy of the environment.
- If you didn’t support his award of $150,000 in casino funds to Community Missions you have no empathy for the disadvantaged.
Picture a triangle with Dyster on one point, his debate opponent on the second point and Dyster’s red herring on the third point. You can research to see how the mayor has consistently used this technique to change the focus of the debate in order to promote his programs and expenditures.
The mayor recently met with cricket enthusiasts from greater Western New York and then ordered public works director John Caso to research the cost and location of a cricket field.
When the Reporter exposed Dyster’s fast track to a cricket field the mayor craftily shifted into ”triangulation mode” during a Channel 4 May 20 story titled, “Cricket on the rise in WNY, Niagara Falls could offer the sport a home.”
The script of the story reads in part:
But the Niagara Falls Mayor says he was approached by the Buffalo-Niagara Cricket League which has a growing membership. He says the sport is a sign of the booming diversity in the city, and the growing interest in cricket.
“Indian Americans are an important part of our culture now and we’re always looking for ways to accommodate people. Cricket may be unfamiliar to a lot of us but that doesn’t mean it’s not something that people enjoy playing, if we could find an opportunity for them to do that, we always want to accommodate.”
He says the cricket league is looking for a big-open field, and if their request is granted, it would not interfere with any of the little league’s baseball diamonds. The mayor says there are other options for where the cricket field could be built. He’s considering other parks and fields in this area as well.
Can you see how the argument moved from the root questions concerning: cost, implementation, and the accusation that he delayed and denied the interests of local Little League baseball?
Note how the mayor introduced the word “diversity” into the debate.
Simply hitting the “diversity” hot button wasn’t enough so he went on to say “Indian Americans are an important part of our culture” deserving of accommodation.
The debate over a cricket field isn’t about “diversity” or what “culture” is “important”.
The mayor alone took this debate down diversity road, a road that leads to the implied suggestion that unfair treatment could be in play rather than the city budget, city parks and youth baseball.
While the mayor busies himself with a cricket field for non-residents we wonder why he hasn’t taken a more sincere interest for the city residents who suffered all winter with frozen pipes.
We wonder why he failed to recognize the American tradition of petitioning the government as Cayuga Island residents pleaded with him to leave Jayne Park alone. We question why he traumatized the city with a poorly thought out trash plan that remains unsettled one year after launch. We wonder why he raised taxes on the residents last year after tearing through taxpayer casino revenue.
We recommend that he returns to the subject at hand and do no further damage to the Little League organizers and the city.