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God bless H.J. Smith and Sean Weber, who've bought up a number of properties in the city's South End and are trying to make a go of it.
God bless Paul Morreale and Frank Smith, who opened a liquor store on Third Street and their neighbors Kim and James Rose, who opened Rainbow Florists there.
God bless Mike Davis, who finally got the balloon ride going.
And let's not forget Jim Copia, Bill Glasgow, Mickey Rimmen, Frank Colucci, Steve Dillon and Jeannie Battaglia, Flo Acotto, Frank Amendola, George Wenz, David Fabrizio and the many others who have struggled over the years to keep the neighborhood from going under completely.
Privately, they all can tell you horror stories, many of which center on a city government with its hand permanently out. Each and every one of them has thought of leaving, but they stay and work, and hope that the hard work will pay off, like we were all told it would back in grade school.
The state has opened up shop in the Niagara Office Building, and has promised millions to help turn the situation around on Niagara Street. It's about time. For far too long, the neighborhood's fortunes have been in the hands of the mental midgets who roam the hallways at City Hall and the Department of Community Development.
Tens of millions of state and federal dollars funneled into the city over the past decade have gone for little more than maintaining a bloated city payroll. The various mayors and city councils have been equally to blame for the lack of vision and courage it would take to get their priorities straight.
Visiting tourists are shocked at the wretched condition of the South End, while those of us who live here have become resigned to it. The rest of the city seems not to care that the impression given most visitors to Niagara Falls is one of abandoned parking ramps, substandard housing and a lack of amenities that likely rivals the more remote stretches of Death Valley. Perhaps the state has developed a sense of shame still alien to those running things here.
But ultimately it will be the Smiths and the Copias and the Glasgows who will be responsible for a revitalized South End, and not some two-bit politician of any stripe.