With the grandiose downtown parking plan -- like most initiatives emanating from City Hall these days -- grinding through the courts, the meterless poles dotting streets around the Seneca Niagara Casino stand as a sad testament to what passes for urban planning around these parts.
But if you look closely, you'll notice that their numbers are dwindling.
More than a dozen poles uprooted by persons unknown over the past few weeks stand in a Public Works Department garage, a few feet from the quarter-eaters Mayor Irene Elia and City Administrator Al Joseph claim will solve the nonexistent parking crisis.
City workers were called off their appointed grass-cutting rounds late last week to fetch the latest felled pole from in front of the Arterial Lounge on Niagara Street. While others have been the apparent victims of late-night revelers who simply grabbed them and worked them back and forth until they sprang from the ground, the most recent removal took some advance preparation, and more than a little bit of work.
"They must have brought a shovel," said one city worker. "They dug all the way around and under it."
The evident ease with which the poles can be removed raises another issue, should the city foolishly proceed with its misguided money-grab. Pieces of metal pipe may only run a few bucks each, but the computers designed to sit atop them cost quite a bit more. And the change that will supposedly fill them will make the completed meters attractive to a whole new sector of late-night miscreants, more motivated than the current crop of clear-cutters.
That's assuming that there are any poles left by the time downtown businessman Frank Amendola's lawsuit gets settled.
Bar and restaurant owners, already seething over the approach of July 24 and the statewide smoking ban that takes effect that day, weren't any happier when they received pricey mailings from the Erie-Niagara Tobacco-Free Coalition last week.
"This law provides businesses, such as yours, with an opportunity to offer a smoke-free environment to your employees and the public and begin reaping the health and economic benefits of doing so," read the cover letter.
It's safe to say the businesspeople involved are generally less than thrilled at this terrific "opportunity."
"I can't wait to see all those non-smokers who are going to flood this place on July 24," said a local tavernkeeper, his voice oozing sarcasm as he looked down a bar where 11 of the 12 patrons were either smoking or had a pack sitting in front of them. "It'll be great."
By greasing state leaders to get the ban rammed through the State Legislature and signed by Gov. George Pataki in record time, free of pesky input from the people whose livelihoods the law endangers, the anti-smoking fascists trampled the rights of private business owners and short-circuited the democratic process.
They don't seem to care much for freedom of speech, either.
In announcing a series of "educational" round-table discussions, the letter tells unhappy entrepreneurs to shut up and take it with a smile.
"These meetings are purely informational; not an open debate about the pros or cons of the new law," the letter warns. "There is much misinformation surrounding the implementation of a Clean Indoor Air Act and we would like to ensure you have the facts and support you need for successful implementation."
The rest of the mailing includes a cardboard "I LOVE SMOKEFREE NY" sign, a copy of the law itself, and plenty of misinformation.
Foremost in the misleading propaganda department is a bar graph showing levels of support for smoke-free bars among current smokers, former smokers, people who never smoked and the overall population of Erie and Niagara counties. Or at least the 1,548 people with enough free time to answer a telephone survey.
The graph claims overall support of 62 percent for the ban, with 76 percent of those who have never smoked in favor. What the survey didn't ask was how many of those people will go to a bar or restaurant more often if there's no smoking. Or how many others will just stay home where they can smoke. At least for now.
For those business owners who want to be educated by the smoking police, or want to raise hell despite the letter's haughty warning, the aforementioned discussions are scheduled for July 16 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the Niagara Falls Public Library on Main Street, and July 17 at the North Tonawanda library from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and at the Lockport Public Library from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
A few days following my parole after six years of working at the Niagara Gazette, I got an e-mail from a former Gazetteer who had gone on to much bigger and better things.
"I hate to see anyone lose their job, but I'd rather see people I care about working at Arby's than at that place," the e-mail read.
Well, Miguel Rodriguez won't have to slice any roast beef any time soon. At least not to make a living.
A day after learning his was one of the 27 jobs eliminated in the Greater Niagara Newspapers purge, the ex-Gazette sportswriter was named sports editor of the News Herald in Port Clinton, Ohio.
The Gannett-owned paper was named best newspaper of its size in Ohio in 2002. Former Gazette editor Dan Bowerman holds the same position at the News Herald and its sister publication, The News-Messenger in nearby Fremont.
Rodriguez, who provided the area's best coverage of the men's and women's hockey programs at Niagara University during four-plus years at the Gazette, begins his new job the week of July 21.
We write plenty of nasty things about Greater Niagara Newspapers in these pages, but if any good came from the recent job slashing at the Gazette and its sister papers, it was the promotion of Teresa Martinez to managing editor.
The promotion gives the Gazette something it's sorely lacked in recent years -- a newsroom leader who knows Niagara Street from Niagara Avenue and who understands what it takes to be a good reporter.
We wish Teresa good luck in her new role, and fully expect her to do a vastly better job than her predecessor.
Of course, that's a pretty low bar.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 15 2003 |