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YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: CITY PUTS OUT LAME DISC AIMED AT 'MARKETING'

REVIEW By Mike Hudson

WELCOME TO NIAGARA FALLS NY: A CITY ON THE MOVE, produced by city taxpayers.

A new CD-ROM released as a marketing tool by the Anello administration last week reportedly cost more than $20,000 to produce, yet looks as though it was created by a high school student as part of a computer class project.

The mellifluous voice of city Events Coordinator Tom Darro narrates the mess, which would more accurately have been entitled "Welcome to Niagara Falls NY: A city under investigation." The narration, a text of which needlessly appears on the screen, is read over background music that might well have served as the soundtrack for a 1970s porn movie.

But still, it's nice to see Darro doing something for a change. The paucity of events he's been called upon to coordinate has left him with plenty of free time on his hands.

The clunky point-and-click technology employed on the disc may have been state of the art a decade ago, but is both cumbersome and annoying in 2005. And why artist renderings rather than actual photographs were used to depict the Third Street Entertainment District, Smokin' Joe's Family Fun Center and the new Seneca Spa Hotel remains a mystery.

Darro states that the Falls hosts 12 million visitors a year, double the 6 million claimed by the state Parks Commission. Where did the number come from? The viewer is left to wonder. And if there are actually 12 million visitors, half of whom don't go to the falls, what on earth are the rest of them doing here? Perhaps the count includes those who pass through on their way to Canada.

The disc depicts Cafe Etc. and Shadow on Third Street and the Como on Pine Avenue. All are fine places and well worth visiting. But if I were the owner of Fortuna's, La Bruschetta, the Arterial or Cocktail Bob's, I would quite correctly wonder why my tax dollars were being spent to promote competing businesses.

"What am I, chopped liver?" I would ask.

It's hard to know whether the disc's promotion of the city's Hyde Park Golf Course is serious or is meant to be some sort of in-joke. Under the management of city Golf Director Sam Granieri for the past two years, the course has deteriorated to the point of being unplayable and qualifies more as an eyesore than a recreational opportunity.

After viewing it a half-dozen times, it occurred to me that "Welcome to Niagara Falls NY" does contain one bright spot.

Our soon-to-be ex-mayor, Vincenzo V. Anello, does not make a single appearance anywhere in the production.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com Nov. 22 2005