back to Niagara Falls Reporter archive
Today Ron N. Hyde is meeting me at Mom's Restaurant.
"Nice morning to be in La Salle, Ron."
"Yes, it is, and do I have some stuff for you!" Ron answers with a chuckle in his voice.
Ron wants to talk about the golf course.
We get our coffee and place our order and I let Ron tell me what he's chuckling about.
"Paul Colangelo says that last year he was able to save $400,000 at DPW. He's going to keep saving money by trying new things. He's finding new ways to perform certain tasks at the golf course. For instance, to aerate the greens at the gold course, he's going to use Barbara Geracitano's desire to do everything in high heels. He's going to sponsor Evening Walks with Barbara. Apparently, Barbara's high heels are the same length and thickness as the spikes on the aerating machine for the golf course."
"That's great!" I say. "If Paul can get Mayor Elia and Fran Iusi to wear spikes and walk with Barbara, I'll buy tickets."
Ron looks up at me and says, "Not so fast, Vince, you're going to be involved too."
So I let him continue.
"To keep the grass mowed in the fairways, he's going to ask his Calabrese and Abruzzese friends to herd sheep and goats there. For weed control, I heard, he's going to ask you and your Sicilian friends to start a Chicoria and Cardoon Festival. He's going to ask you to be in charge."
Now I have to interrupt.
"Ron, now I know you're lying. How can there be an event anywhere with the word 'festival' or 'parade' and not have Jerry Wolfgang in charge? Come on, let's get serious. What's going on at City Hall?"
"Boy, you have to give Mayor Elia credit for being tenacious," Ron says. "She is constantly working at neutralizing any opposition to her efforts to have total control of city government."
"Well," I say, "She's already on record as saying that, in this coming election, she wants all new faces for the Council. She and her staff made it seem that way at the Duke Center the other night. All the Mayor needs to control is one more vote and the 'proposed budget' will be the 'adopted budget' in a wink of an eye."
"I've got to cut this meeting short. Give me those papers and I'll see you at Pine Plaza Cafe next time."