You won't read about it in the Niagara Gazette, but the current push to combine the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau with the defunct Niagara County Tourism agency represents nothing more than a prelude to a takeover by the Buffalo Niagara CVB, sources say.
The main proponents of the merger -- under which City of Niagara Falls tax dollars would be used to promote events throughout the county -- are Gazette Publisher Steve Braver, Niagara USA Chamber CEO Bobby Newman and Maid of the Mist President Chris Glynn. Both Braver and Newman are proud members of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, while Glynn has heretofore passed himself off as a local businessman looking out for the best interests of his hometown.
But in a Nov. 25 article in Buffalo's Business First, Glynn speaks glowingly of what amounts to giving the Buffalo interests control over the tourism industry in Niagara Falls.
Business First writer James Fink reports that, since Niagara Falls no longer has a convention center, a merged Buffalo-Niagara County CVB would open the doors for a huge increase in Buffalo's convention business. Glynn, Fink writes, thinks the idea is "gaining momentum."
Not surprisingly, Erie County Executive Joel Giambra is also in favor of branching out into Niagara Falls.
"We want to be partners, not predators," he said.
Yeah, right.
Business First reports that the new Niagara Falls Convention Center -- to be jury-rigged out of the long-abandoned Falls Street Faire property -- will be little more than a glorified "meeting venue," quite unsuitable for any sort of large conventions. This situation would allow for the building of a new, state-of-the-art convention center in Buffalo, without having to worry about pesky competition from Niagara Falls, with its beautiful cataracts and glitzy new casino.
Interestingly, the many articles that have appeared in the Gazette concerning the proposed merger of the city's CVB and the county tourism agency -- while quoting Glynn at length -- have never mentioned that the real motivation behind the move is to turn the whole operation over to the Buffalo interests.
Editorially, the Gazette has chastised Mayor Irene Elia and the City Council for "standing in the way of progress" because they refuse to buy into the concept that nearly $1 million in city tax money should be spent promoting the fishing at Burt Dam or the corn harvest in Wrights Corners.
The Gazette's stance wouldn't make any sense, unless you knew that the whole thing was just a scam to curry the favor of the money men in Buffalo. This is a power play, pure and simple. And the shame of it is that Braver, Newman and Glynn, who are supposed to be looking out for the interests of Niagara Falls, instead are willing to sell it down the river for what amounts to a few pieces of silver.
Braver is an advertising salesman of no fixed ability who was banished from the sunny climes of Reno, Nev., to Niagara Falls and the poverty-row Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. chain. Newman couldn't even manage to hold onto a job in his family's Buffalo business, NOCO Energy, and Glynn was born on third base and has lived his whole life believing he hit a triple.
We're being scammed, people. A vote for merging the Niagara Falls CVB and the county tourism agency is a vote for allowing a bunch of rich white guys in Buffalo to run our business for us. The last time we took that approach, we wound up with an airport that has seen virtually no commercial traffic in three decades.
Let Buffalo get its own casino. Geologists even tell me that, in 10,000 years, the falls will actually have receded to Buffalo.
Then they can have it.
Until then, people will continue to make jokes about Buffalo, even in cities like Detroit and Pittsburgh, while Niagara Falls remains a world-class destination. And, until then, we've got the falls, we've got the casino and -- with a little justice -- we'll have control of an airport capable of serving them both.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 3 2002 |