I want to tell you a story, but I need to tell you this one first.
I started in the tourism business in 1993 selling sightseeing tours for Gray Line of Niagara Falls. Gray Line was owned by Gene Guido and the company was something of a pariah in the industry. In the mid-to-late '80s, Gene was involved in a bitter battle with Benjamin Tirabassi, who owned the competing Bridal Veil Tours.
The fight between the two men was a no-holds-barred, knock-down, drag-out affair that would offend the sensibilities of even the most hardened Ultimate Fighting fan. It was not uncommon during that period for official directional signs pointing to the falls to disappear. Tourists, unable to find a direct route, would then stop at roadside information stands run by one or the other of the tour companies. Less signage on the road meant more cars in the parking lots of the information centers. It wasn't unheard of for one tour company to paint over the billboards directing tourists to the parking lot of a competitor.
Things came to a head in the summer of 1986. A contentious situation nearly turned deadly. First a rock was thrown through the window of a Gray Line bus filled with tourists, sending shattered glass everywhere. Then a firebomb exploded at an information center located on the I-90 operated by Tirabassi. A firebomb ripped through a tour booth operated by another tour operator, Alphonse Gavin.
Media attention to the outbreaks of violence was intense, and even The New York Times took notice.
"I'm just a little guy. I think I got caught in a crossfire,'' a stunned Gavin told the Times reporter. Guido told the paper that shots had been fired at his home on numerous occasions. He claimed to have hired armed guards and purchased an attack dog.
Tirabassi was quick to tell the Times what he believed to be the root of the problem.
"I got tired of being under Gene Guido's thumb. He can decide which motels will be full and which will be empty," he said. Even former mayor Michael O'Laughlin weighed in on the matter.
"Gene Guido simply has the political clout,'' O'Laughlin said. "He has the power."
Guido certainly had a lot of power, but he also had a lot of enemies. A former police detective, Guido found himself being investigated by authorities for a myriad of alleged offenses, and narrowly escaped jail time. Many tour agents working for Guido became causalities of the investigation and were brought up on tax evasion charges for failing to declare the income they made selling tours. Most pled guilty to felony charges in return for a sentence that included payment of taxes and penalties owed, but no jail time.
The stench of that foul period still lingered when I started in the industry in the early '90s. If the local media commented on the bus tour industry, it was only to condemn it to hell and beyond. The Gazette ran a series of articles about the industry that were sold to the public as an expose. After rehashing the events of the '80s, the paper sent a reporter incognito on a Gray Line bus to experience an American-side tour.
The piece was set up with a teaser that breathlessly promised a look at what really goes on during a Gray Line tour. The reporter had only positive things to say, probably much to the chagrin of his editors. The worst revelation was that some tourists on the bus looked longingly at the Cave of the Winds, which was not part of the tour.
Along with the series, an editorial cartoon ran showing a frightened nuclear family inside an information center hearing a tour pitch from a sales agent depicted as a ravenous crocodile -- the not-so-subtle implication being that tour agents were unscrupulous predators.
As I mentioned in the opening, I told you that story so that I could tell you this one.
Despite its uneven past, the tour bus industry is one of the shining jewels of Niagara Falls, N.Y. In my many years of service, I've met hundreds of intelligent, caring people who work as tour agents or tour guides, all of whom are wonderful ambassadors for Niagara Falls.
Despite the great work these people do on a daily basis, you'd be hard pressed to find a good word that's ever been written about the industry. Search on Google, and little is returned that isn't judgmental or condemning. Maybe what happened recently will be the first step in changing that perception.
I'm involved with a grassroots organization called Niagara Rises. I rarely mention it here because it's just one aspect of who I am, and I never want my column to become a shill for any idea. In this case, however, it's salient to the conversation, as the group organized a historic event in the grand history of Niagara Falls.
On May 17 and 18, the city's three major tour companies -- Niagara Majestic, Over the Falls and Gray Line -- came together and provided a tour for 200 locals.
The group that went out over the two days was as eclectic as the citizenry of the city itself. There were dignitaries like Acting City Administrator Bill Bradberry and Tourism Advisory Board members Randy Ubriaco and Robert Drozdowski. There were school teachers and hostel owners. There were hoteliers and business people. On one bus there were foreign exchange students, and on two others over 50 kids involved in programs at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center.
The four-hour tour took in all the sights and sounds of the New York State Park and gorge route at Niagara. The participants rode the Maid of the Mist boat, watched the Niagara movie operated by IMAX, toured the Niagara Power Project and visited the grounds of Whirlpool State Park.
The tour guides who conducted the excursions were the stars of the day. Art, Sam and John from Gray Line, Larry and Vince from Niagara Majestic, and Rob from Over the Falls all were exemplary. I rode on Sam's bus, and the middle-school teacher regaled the group with superbly spun tales of Niagara's past. By the time the tour was through, even the oldest riders on the bus had learned many new facts about the people and history of Niagara.
The owners of the companies -- Doreen O'Connor of Niagara Majestic, John Guido of Gray Line and Rob Nicholas of Over the Falls -- are to be commended for offering their buses, drivers and attraction costs free of charge to the people of Niagara Falls. They proved what I've long known to be true -- that the ghosts of a belligerent past can be exorcised in favor of a unified future.
When the buses returned from the tour, hundreds of happy faces departed -- all more determined than ever to help a city they love pull itself up by its bootstraps. I'll remember much about the day, but I'll remember most the words of Niagara Falls born and raised Theresa Brockman.
Like many locals, the purchasing clerk for the Niagara Falls School District has spent her whole life here and had never ridden the Maid of the Mist. I was next to Theresa on the deck of the boat, and it was easy to see the unbridled joy on her face as we approached the Horseshoe Falls. She grinned from ear to ear as she exited the boat.
"I just never knew how beautiful the falls were until this moment," she told me.
I thought about how far the bus industry had come from the day I sold my first tour, and realized I felt the exact same way.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | May 27 2008 |