Assemblyman John Ceretto says that the city of Niagara Falls -- and not a "bureaucrat from Albany" -- should be allowed to decide its own fate when it comes to advertising the businesses and attractions of the Cataract City.
Ceretto has teamed up with fellow Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak to sponsor a bill that would rescind a present state law that requires State Parks approval on any signage within 500 feet of the Niagara Falls State Park.
In the Senate, the bill has the support of Sens. George Maziarz and Mark Grisanti. As it is currently written, the law prevents any signage not approved by New York State from being placed within 500 feet of a New York State Park.
The Ceretto bill would "amend the parks, recreation and historic preservation law, in relation to allowing advertising structures in the Niagara Falls State Park."
A $100,000 digital video sign recently erected by the Hard Rock Cafe on the perimeter of Niagara Falls State Park sparked the recent controversy that has led to the introduction of the Ceretto-initiated bill.
"I think it's got a great chance of passing," Ceretto said, and then bemoaned the idea of the fate of Niagara Falls being in the hands of outsiders.
"Think about it," Ceretto said. "Mark Thomas (the regional director of the State Parks Department) doesn't even live around here. He lives in the Southern Tier. He's an Albany bureaucrat who is trying to decide what Niagara Falls gets to do with its business activities.
"That's totally ridiculous," Ceretto said.
City Council Chairman Sam Fruscione agreed, noting that the current law as written is outdated and irrelevant. "If you look at the law, the only reason it was written was because (the 1970s) was the height of urban renewal."
Fruscione said that the law was designed to protect the State Parks at that time but is no longer necessary.
It's ironic. The State Park refused to issue Hard Rock Cafe clearance for signage under the law that claims they have the right to approve signage within 500 feet of the park.
While competing directly with Hard Rock for business, with their restaurants and souvenir stores within the park, they want to dictate what kind of signage Hard Rock can have.
While telling others, like the Hard Rock, that they can't have signs, the State Park has put up an awful grouping of five State Park "parking lot" signs on the Robert Moses Parkway instructing drivers to stay on the left and essentially leading motorists away from the Hard Rock Cafe, which is on the right side of the Robert Moses as one approaches the park and the Hard Rock.
Tourists are coming to see Niagara Falls. Where they park their cars or eat is of little relevance -- they will still see the Falls. But the State Park has restaurants, too, along with souvenir stores that are in direct competition with the Hard Rock.
Hard Rock needing the approval of the State Park and their commercial enterprises is not unlike Wendy's needing McDonald's approval for signage. But of course it is worse: The State Park has the power of government behind it.
This is why the law, out of simple justice, must be changed.
In fact, it might very well be unconstitutional.
Whoever heard of a law that allows government to compete with private business -- as the State Park does -- and then allow that same government agency to dictate what signage its competitors can use?
The whole thing is maddening.
In 1886, Frederick Law Olmsted persuaded the state to pass an enactment establishing the first State Park in the nation -- the State Reservation of Niagara.
The State Parks, in hypocritically trying to assume the moral high ground, like to point out their righteousness in having the right to forbid signs within 500 feet of the park, because after all it is an Olmsted park.
Olmsted is well known as the father of landscape architecture and known also for his dedication to green and subtle designs and veering away from tacky and gaudy commerciality.
An Olmsted park needs to be protected?
At first, the Reservation operated according to Olmsted's plan. But by the mid-20th century, things changed. Albany changed the name from the State Reservation of Niagara to the Niagara Falls State Park. Olmsted carefully designed and well-worded plan required the Reservation to be all green, and free of all commercialism and even man-made embellishments like statuary and gardens.
"It may be safely assumed," Olmsted said, "that no improvement that the state can make will increase the astonishing qualities of Niagara."
Restaurants and stores were strictly forbidden in Olmsted's plan.
He wrote, "If (the park) were a commercial undertaking into which the state was entering, in competition with the people of the village of Niagara, it cannot be questioned that the restaurant could be made profitable."
But the park was supposed to help local businesses (like Hard Rock). Olmsted called the prohibition of restaurants and stores in the State Park, "a cardinal necessity of the success of the plan."
Converting green into mammoth paid parking lots, numerous restaurants -- including Hard Rock's direct competitor, the Top of the Falls Restaurant -- located in the park, and numerous stores, adding statues and man-made gardens, the state violated every one of Olmsted's cardinal design points.
The people here want home rule.
Another Niagara Falls official who supports the Ceretto bill is Jerry Genova, the chairman of the Niagara Falls Tourism Advisory Board.
"With our downtown returning to life and our development efforts beginning to pay dividends, it's important that we make it easier, not more difficult, for businesses to do business" Genova said.
State Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak sees the bill as an important way to support local businesses in Niagara Falls.
"Allowing an exception for signage and advertising is a step in the right direction to help economic efforts in Niagara Falls," Gabryszak said. "I will work with my colleagues in the legislature to see it passed."
Ceretto thinks the bill has "a great chance of passing." He believes strongly that the only voices that should have a say in the fate of Niagara Falls are the voices from Niagara Falls itself.
"That's the way it should be," Ceretto said. "The locals should be able to decide what is best for the city, not the state."
Ceretto said that he crafted the language of the bill specifically for Niagara Falls State Park in order to avoid concerns that might involve other areas in the New York State Park system.
Ceretto understands that the bill will have to navigate the Assembly as well as the Senate before landing on the desk of the governor, but he remains optimistic.
"It'll take a little while but hopefully we'll see it pass.
"The bill calls for the city of Niagara Falls to have its own jurisdiction of what they want to do in their own municipality. The current law says if you are within 500 feet of the State Park then the state can decide what to do with the signage," Ceretto said.
"Think about it: Mark Thomas, who doesn't even live around here -- he's from the Southern Tier -- gets to decide what the city of Niagara Falls can do. He's an Albany bureaucrat deciding what the Falls gets to do with its business activities."
E-mail Ron Churchill at ronchurchill@yahoo.com.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 27 2012 |