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It is important to remain positive. Never lose sight of the fact that our fate here on the Niagara Frontier is in our hands. The power to improve our region belongs to us. Maintain a positive attitude and focus on solutions. Whining and complaining about the shape we're in is just the beginning of a process that will eventually make us winners.
BOND ISSUE ON THE REFERENDUM. Road building and improvement of roads. We do not want to lose our rating as the state with the highest debt in the country. The fact that this item was on the agenda is further proof of our leaders' vigilance in this matter. The runner-up in this race for the top spot is the Russian Republic and they're closing in fast.
My concern revolves around specifically the effort to improve roads leading south and out of the state, when it might be more to our benefit to close these roads to all but local traffic. One complaint about Niagara Falls is that there is nothing to keep people here once they arrive--that the average stay for these 7 million visitors annually is less than 4 hours. I suggest we maintain the roads coming in and discontinue maintenance on the roads going out. Not only is this solution elegant and simple, it will save taxpayer dollars--dollars that might be better spent building a wall to keep people in.
A wall to keep people from leaving New York State would have to stretch across our long border with Pennsylvania, as well as the states to the northeast. We could start small and simply build a wall around Niagara Falls to keep tourists here. Such a wall also could be used to keep the residents from abandoning their homes, packing their belongings into their cars and heading south to a state where debt levels are not such a matter of pride. Building the wall would provide the local unions with jobs. We could have towers with armed guards, another source of employment, which would continue beyond completion of the wall. Arms and ammunition makers would be required to have their factories here and there would be a residency law for all employees. Only after this is found to work for Niagara Falls should construction of the wall enclosing the entire state be started.
It is noteworthy that our elected leaders chose to put more debt on the referendum, rather than tempting us to vote on some silliness like casinos. Better that half a billion dollars a year go out of state than remain in. We want to keep that advantage.
SUPERVISOR OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS. This can be a relatively low-paying position. The Niagara County government, which is planning on raising taxes this year, spent in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million dollars to investigate the overpayment of two election commissioners by $3,000 each. This supervisor simply could look at the checks as they go out and if an overpayment is spotted, simply give the commissioners a call and say, "Oops, we overpaid you this week. Did you want to return it, or shall we simply deduct the overpayment from your next check?"
Even if this person were paid one tenth of what was spent this year, which is about three times the average annual income in Niagara Falls, there would be a huge savings. It is not clear to me what exactly an election commissioner does, if much of anything, or how these people are selected. I suggest that rather than being appointed, some kind of election commissioner lotto be instituted. This might remove the politics from what has long been an august and hallowed position. This person also could walk the halls of county government and, from time to time, prod the elected members with a stick to see if they are still alive.
LOTTO RATHER THAN ELECTION. This is a big subject, which I just want to introduce in this space. In the same way that one has as good a chance of picking a winning stock by throwing darts at a board as one has by investigation and what is called "due diligence," studies have shown that a simple lottery, with every citizen in the pool, works just as well in the arena of government. In essence, a person draws numbers out of a barrel. This person must be attractive, for media purposes, and may as well be called an election commissioner. The first person picked gets the job with the most power. That position, leader of the majority party in the state, is now occupied by Mr. Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan. Manhattan is an extraordinary place. It is so wonderful that people who live there are utterly unaware that anyplace else on earth exists. He is no exception. The second person picked gets to be head of the Republican party and so on until the roster is full. I am well aware there may be some constitutional obstacles to taking this route, but I'm sure they can be overcome, especially in view of the fact, which is so easy to see from this end of the state, that it doesn't matter who you elect, things just keep getting more and more like Rome just before it was invaded by the Goths. We do not style ourselves the "Empire State" for nothing. It also should be noted that we are unable to vote for or against the two gentlemen who actually are making the big decisions and seem to be unable to influence them through our representatives.
In my own small way, I present these ideas as perhaps flawed but well-meant first steps toward better local government. I remain positive, not in the way meant by the bumper sticker I was behind yesterday, which said, "Keep smiling. Everybody loves a moron," and not seemingly happy the way people look after they have inhaled mustard gas. It is apparent to me that we are well and truly governed, that our politicians listen and that just a little adjustment here and another one there is all we really need.