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An unwieldy 19-member board of directors, the loss of as many as 20 jobs at the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau, a shift in emphasis from Niagara Falls to Lockport and the under-representation of the hotel owners, who pay all the bills.
These will be a few of the "benefits" generated by the establishment of something called the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp.
At a lunchtime meeting last week, CVB officials discussed the details of their own organization's annihilation. Other than the Reporter, no news media attended the gathering.
Matt Weber, an attorney who aided in the dissolution of the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce and the creation of the Buffalo-controlled Niagara USA Chamber, told the CVB they needed either to merge with the NTCC or simply cease to exist.
Under a merger plan, Weber said, both the assets and liabilities of the CVB would be transferred to the new organization. Liabilities would include unemployment for laid-off workers, 401(k) and COBRA plans and other employee benefits.
If, on the other hand, the CVB chooses dissolution, it could then turn its assets over to the new organization -- primarily its agreement with the city for around $1 million in bed tax money annually -- without burdening the NTCC with any liabilities.
Good news for the NTCC, bad news for current CVB employees.
"It's a touchy situation," Weber said, "because the NTCC would then decide (which CVB employees) they would want to take on."
David Fleck, owner of the Howard Johnson's on Main Street, said he was unhappy with what happened with the Chamber merger, and didn't want to see the same thing happen with the CVB.
"I can't see bringing someone in here from out of town as the CEO and bringing in a whole new staff," he said.
Hotelier Genarro Villella expressed dismay over the plan as outlined by Weber.
"This goes against what we have been talking about for months, the merger of the CVB and the county tourism department," he said. "I don't want to spend time arguing and fighting. I want to come to these meetings to work on the betterment of our business."
Weber replied that county Legislature Chairman Bradley Erck expressed his support for the new plan, and has led the push to eliminate the county tourism department altogether. Legislature sources told the Reporter that Erck wants to combine any number of Niagara County agencies, including the Chamber, the NTCC, and the Industrial Development Authority with their counterparts in Buffalo.
The new agency's board of directors will be headed by Maid of the Mist honcho Chris Glynn, and Doreen O'Connor, head of Majestic Tours and wife of county Legislator Sean O'Connor.
Despite the fact that all of the funding for the NTCC will come from bed tax revenues generated by the county's hotels, just three hoteliers -- Villella, Fleck and Holiday Inn Select executive Laurie Walton -- will sit on the board.
"It's completely unfair that tour operators and the owners of attractions will be running this thing when we're the only ones who are called upon to pay for it," said one hotelier who asked not to be identified.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 16 2002 |