James Hufnagel, writing for this paper, raised an interesting point about Niagara Gazette reporter Don Glynn.
Don's news beat at the Gazette has been, for decades, the Niagara Falls State Park.
His brother, James Glynn, operates the Maid of the Mist boat tours ($7 million annually), the Observation Deck ($1.2 million) and a large-scale souvenir store in the park ($1.6 million), bringing in for James about $9.8 million annually -- about 55 percent of all revenue generated in the park.
The combined revenues from non-Glynn enterprises in the park -- such as parking, Cave of the Winds, Delaware North's souvenir and restaurant concessions, etc. -- are about $7.5 million.
In short, total revenues for the Niagara Falls State Park are nearly $17.5 million, and James Glynn gets almost $10 million of it.
Hufnagel wrote, "Given the fact that the Glynn family makes millions of dollars every year from their Maid of the Mist monopoly in the Niagara Falls State Park, doesn't having Gazette staff writer and columnist Don Glynn cover state parks issues constitute a blatant conflict of interest?"
There may be no connection, but last week, brother Don took a swipe at my operation, One Niagara, where parking lot employees use flags to encourage tourists to park in our lot before they get into the state's parking lot.
"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity," as King Solomon said.
I have been one of James Glynn's harshest critics. My businesses compete with the Glynn family businesses. If cars park in the state park, they often wind up in James' souvenir store. They almost have to, since, whenever anybody goes on the Observation Deck, or Maid of the Mist, they are forced to exit through his souvenir store. One could almost call Glynn's souvenir store a "must see," since you either must see it or leap over the fence when you leave the Observation Deck.
When tourists park at One Niagara, they see our souvenir stores. When they go into the state park and the Observation Deck, and are forced to go through Glynn's store, they see James' store is more expensive. Many elect not to purchase souvenirs from James, but at the economical One Niagara.
One Niagara retail operations have cost James perhaps $1 million from people who might have never seen our retail operations if they had parked in the state park first. No wonder Don attacks.
As Antisthenes observed, "When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life."
Mike Hudson, the editor of this publication, with whom I do not always agree, was condemnatory of Don's article.
Don wrote that "an Ohio driver attempting to turn ... into the state lot encountered a young One Niagara attendant ... waving the flag. ... The driver yielded (and parked in One Niagara's lot)."
Don mentioned a Niagara college professor who said that "first impressions" are important. Don wrote flaggers are not a good first impression.
"Forget about the conflict of Don Glynn even writing about the state park because that is where all his family's money comes from, the most egregious part of the article is that it is mainly un-sourced," Hudson said. "He refers to a Niagara college professor? Which professor? This family from Ohio. Which family? How did this Ohio family come to Don's attention?
"So flaggers hurt the tourists more than the four-hour wait at the Maid of the Mist?" Hudson added.
As we have reported, James Glynn has only two boats. With 300 standing capacity on each, he can take 600 people at a time. Sometimes there are 5,000 people waiting, which means tourists wait for hours.
Sometimes the tourist's first impression is that there is a four-hour wait in the hot sun for the 15-minute boat ride. Sometimes there is a long wait just for the elevators to get back up. Once at the top of the gorge, tourists wait again to get inside Glynn's souvenir store, simply to get off the deck and to freedom.
When lines are long at the Maid of the Mist -- if people park with us -- we advise them accordingly. Sometimes these people go the Whirlpool Jet Boat, where you make a reservation and do not wait at all.
One Niagara costs the Glynn operation money.
"Help your brother's boat across, and your own will reach the shore," as the Hindu Proverb says, and in the brothers Glynn case somewhat literally.
Over the years, Don has reported on the state park and attacked me often.
Sometimes I think Don has helped protect his brother by preventing the public from realizing the Niagara Falls State Park is no longer what it is advertised as -- an "Olmsted park."
In 1885, Frederick Law Olmsted got New York state to reserve land around the falls. Olmsted's plan required the park to be all-green and free of commercialism. Olmsted called the prohibition of stores "a cardinal necessity of the (Olmsted) plan." There was also to be no parking, since "many trees must be destroyed."
In 1987, park officials felt the urge to fell acres of trees to make a giant parking lot near the Maid of the Mist entrance. Prior to 1987, people visiting Niagara Falls parked in city lots and, consequently, patronized shops there. The state destroyed Olmsted's plan, and the city lost millions in parking and tourism. It has been said that James Glynn had a hand in persuading park officials that, if they made an expansive parking lot near his attraction, both he and the park would make more money. James might have tipped the scale, and the park went from "Olmsted" to an aggressive parking, souvenir and restaurant business -- increasingly in partnership with James and in competition with the city.
Over the years, park officials gave James one sweetheart deal after another -- including, amazingly, in 2002, when they built him a souvenir store, gave him the lion's share of the profits on the state-owned, newly rebuilt Observation Deck, and threw in an unheard-of 40-year lease on his boat ride -- all done in secret.
James, as it turned out, got most of the park-generated money. Don did most of the reporting for the daily paper.
Now I have not one word of criticism to say against the present staff at the Niagara Gazette. Since Don came on board half a century ago, editors, reporters and publishers have changed many times. The only constant through the decades is Don, always writing about the park and his brother's concerns. Every present staff member came to work with it being established for decades that the park was Don's turf.
The editorial team -- Matt Winterhalter, Rick Forgione, Rick Pfeiffer, Mark Scheer and Nick Mattera -- is extremely competent. Pfeiffer's writing pace and style I enjoy, and Scheer makes even mundane stories subtle with understanding and judgment. These guys have all written controversial but balanced stories involving me. They have every reason to dislike me, since I write for a rival paper that has been critical of their publication.
As for Don, one has to wonder what has kept him glued to a comparatively low-paying position for decades, writing about topics that affect his brother's interests.
Inside the park, James Glynn jockeys for control, position and influence. He is the giant, the royalty, the millionaire among mid-level state officials and low-paid state employees.
If you study Don's columns over the years, he is full of praise for many of these park officials. Consider stories Don wrote about former deputy parks commissioner Ed Rutkowski who signed the lease that gave James his secret rent-reduction on his boat tours.
On June 28, 2007, Don wrote, perhaps unconsciously using the boat metaphor, "Rutkowski was known to run a good ship, with tact and diplomacy. He was a responsible and caring steward of the nation's oldest state park. ... Since his appointment in 1995, he witnessed a number of major improvements within the park (e.g., the rebuilt Prospect Park Observation Tower)."
Rutkowski also signed the lease that gave control of the "rebuilt" Observation Tower to James Glynn. Rutkowski knows how to "run a good ship."
Don also covers the state park commission meetings where his brother's contracts are supposed to be discussed. It cannot be lost on any of the commissioners that the biggest businessman in the park is brother James, while brother Don writes about whatever these commissioners discuss in their meetings.
I have written about Don's brother, that James worked with Niagara Parks commissioners in Ontario to secretly lower his rent for his Ontario Maid of the Mist concession. What I wrote made national news in Canada. The Ontario government ultimately put the contract out to bid.
I was the one to break the story that state parks secretly negotiated a deal with James in 2002 that dropped James' rent from him paying the taxpayers 10 percent to the taxpayers paying him, costing the park $1.5 million in fair-market rent annually.
Don has lamented the park budget crisis, but never mentioned his brother has the most lucrative concessions in the park and pays no rent.
I wrote that the state plan to "reconstruct" the Robert Moses Parkway would move the state park's entranceway to right in front of James' Comfort Inn hotel and stores -- at a cost of about $13 million in taxpayer money.
Don has written favorably about the plan.
Don has written favorably about taxpayer-funded remodeling of Old Falls Street in front of brother James' hotel.
Don savages my operations at One Niagara.
As Marc Brown once observed, "Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 13, 2010 |