The danger comes, as it has since the day when Father Hennepin first laid eyes on it, from human activity. Nowadays, Niagara Falls looks pretty good, compared with what it was towards the end of the 19th century. By that time, tourism and other industry had almost obscured the natural beauty of the falls.
The American side was lined with heavy and very dirty industries, taking advantage of cheap power and churning out tons of chemical and other pollutants. On the Canadian side, "the Front" -- the roadway seen in the photo -- had become a cross between the Vegas strip and a carnival midway. It was lined with tacky stores, saloons, and other tourist traps. A visitor couldn't even see the falls without paying to go through a hotel sited near Table Rock, then guided down a dangerous path to the foot of the falls.
In response to this unplanned, haphazard and unregulated "development", the Ontario government, in 1885, ordered the clearance of all the buildings on it side of the river and the establishment of Queen Victoria Park, seen in the lower right part of the picture. And it created the Niagara Parks Commission (NPC), which has the responsibility for not just the part, but virtually all the land on the Canadian side of the Niagara River, from Fort Erie in the south (opposite Buffalo NY) to Niagara-on-the-Lake at the north end.
According to the Commissions's Mission Statement, "Niagara Park’s [sic] mission is to protect the natural and cultural heritage along the Niagara River for the enjoyment of visitors while maintaining financial self-sufficiency." It also has a "Vision Statement". Here it is.
You don't see anything there about tourism, do you. There is a reference in the Mission Statement about the "enjoyment of visitors", but that's it. Yet for the last half-century or more, there have been people on the Commission who think NPC is all about tourism, and only tourism! In this, they are informed and supported by the Niagara Falls city council, because, since the collapse of the area's industrial sector, Niagara Falls lives or dies by tourism or lack thereof.
The conflict between promoting tourism and preserving the environment and heritage surfaces every couple of years. In 2003 it was a bunny-brained proposal by string a line of gondolas -- cable cars -- along the gorge, to amuse the tourists and mulct them even more US dollars. Five years later, it was a secret deal to give the Glynn family a sweetheart lease to continue operating its rust-bucket "Maid of the Mist" boat ride for another quarter-century. Two years ago it was Niagara Falls mayor Jim "Who's Yer Daddy" Diodati's shameless promotion of the Nik Wallenda stunt, which he said would bring millions of tourist dollars into the city. (It didn't, but Mr. Diodati is still mayor, and Niagara Region's representative on NPC.)
Now the NPC, with the encouragement of Mr. Diodati and hotel-owner Vince Kerrio (who represents the City of Niagara Falls) has revived a plan, mooted four years ago, to install a "Zipline and Aerial Adventure" attraction on the Canadian side of the gorge, to give the tourists something more to do (and spend money on).
The Niagara Falls (NY) Reporter tells us that four (count `em, 4) ziplines, carrying thousands of passengers, at an estimated $50 per ride, will embark from the Grand View Market in Queen Victoria Park and soar at high speed some 2200 feet along the west wall of the gorge to the base of the former Ontario Power Company’s generating station facing the Horseshoe Falls.
The NPC assures everyone that the ziplines are below the level of River Road, so won't be visible from Queen Victoria Park. However, visitors to the New York State Park on the American side will have a fine view of rotund tourists, clad in their colourful attire, seated in harness, hanging upside down, or "flying" in the "Superman" position. Should be quite a sight.
The other part of the "attraction" will be an aerial adventure course, where customers will move like orangutans from tree to tree using log ladders, rope swings, scrambling walls, hanging nets, spinning logs, wobbly bridges, tightropes, monkey bars and... wait for it... zip lines rising above the forest canopy. This healthful and educational activity will take place above the Niagara Whirlpool at Thompson Point, presently a part of the NPC domain where one can sit and enjoy the natural beauty in peace and quiet. No more!
Preserve Our Parks, a citizen activist group which was instrumental in fighting the Maid of the Mist deal and the cronyism and corruption which plagues NPC, has sent to the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, a statement of opposition to the proposed zipline attraction, and requesting an environmental assessment which they say was never done.
Will Preserve Our Parks and other concerned citizens succeed in protecting Niagara Parks from the commissioners and managers who seem to have lost sight of NPC's vision? Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment