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Like a battered spouse, the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority--and their lackeys at the Niagara Gazette and The Buffalo News--seem to be whimpering to anyone who will listen, "This time, it's going to be different."
Let's be frank. As currently proposed, the 99-year lease between the NFTA and Cintra SA stinks. Officials of both the company and the authority argue that if "the operation of the airport is threatened," the NFTA can step in and take the facility back. Let's not forget that this is the same NFTA that currently claims the airport now is "operational," despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
There is no provision in the lease requiring Cintra to bring in any new passenger traffic over the next century, no provision requiring them to meet any quota for cargo shipments. Union jobs will be eliminated under the contract, and New York taxpayers will be liable for any legal action that results. While the lease calls for the formation of an "advisory group" made up of Niagara County businessmen and elected officials, it also specifically states that Cintra is under no obligation whatsoever to listen to anything the group has to say.
And there's the real rub.
If Cintra wanted to show some good faith, if they had the slightest scintilla of concern for the people of Niagara County, they'd be making some calls. They'd call representatives of the Hyatt hotel chain, who are opening the new casino across the river. They'd call Maid of the Mist owner Jimmy Glynn and, most of all, they'd call Niagara Falls hotelier John Prozeralik who, it seems, may be on the verge of single-handedly torpedoing this deal using a one-two combination of knowledge and common sense.
The lease allows Cintra to bring in partners on this deal, and if the best they can do is $100,000 a year marketing the airport and the Falls internationally, they're clearly going to need some partners.
We can't wait eight years for overseas tourists to begin landing at the airport--we can't wait four years. Prozeralik says he can have charter passenger service up and running in six months.
Niagara Falls has a 40-year history of being taken by outside developers who come in with big plans that never materialize. Unless Cintra shows a willingness to work with the community in a meaningful way, we shouldn't let it happen again.