Hamilton Knows, Albany is No Friend of Ours

The power is generated here in Niagara County and, as the map below shows, it heads out, in a circuitous route to New York City to make those good folks well lit, at our expense of course...

Democracy is not 97 New York City wolves (Assembly members) and a Niagara Falls lamb (assembly member) voting on what to have for lunch, or, for that matter, what to do with Niagara's hydro power or tourism, or how to give the Seneca Indians superior legal rights to Americans living in Niagara Falls, in order that the Indians can make more money and send it to Albany.

Freedom comes from the recognition of certain rights which may not be taken, not even by a 99% vote, like the right for a city to profit from its local assets.

Ken Hamilton, Niagara Gazette columnist and local activist, has an opinion on everything.

And he has something to say on just about anything.

In fact, it was Sal Paonessa, the host of the Niagara Broadcast Network ,who first discovered this fact and added that, consequently, it was his opinion that Hamilton had the right, if he so chose, to sign his name with the post nominal initials: EOE.

"Expert On Everything."

Everyone knows Ken Hamilton, EOE.

Not everybody loves him. Not everyone agrees with him. Not even his own editors at the Gazette.

But Hamilton may be one of the few writers in town that actually understands what happened in and to Niagara Falls.

In Hamilton's column, entitled Election 2013: Is it Albany or us? the Gazette makes it clear that Hamilton's opinions are his own.

Referring to the proposed Hamister hotel, Hamilton wrote: "I was a little surprised at how many local citizens were also surprised that Gov. Andrew Cuomo not only came to town to support a five-story, 100-room conception hotel in downtown Niagara Falls, but went on further to endorse two of the incumbents who were willing to endorse the deal of a developer who admitted that he had neither a major hotel chain partner and/or reservation system, nor the money to build the hotel without the city first giving him the land for what could clearly be argued pennies on the dollar.

"Most Niagarans have long thought, rightly or wrongly, that Albany has never been the solution. In fact, with agencies surrounding us like the Office of Parks and Historic Preservation, the New York State Power Authority, the Robert Moses Parkway, the Niagara Falls Bridge Authority, the Niagara Falls Water Board and the Seneca Nation's casino contract - which excluded the input and participation of anyone living in Niagara Falls, most Niagarans believe that Albany is the problem!

"I suppose that most Niagarans have become accustomed to such oversight and interference, a situation that has left our city in near-dire straits... I wish that the governor had exercised his influence in a much better way; such as offering the interest payments that the city lost due to the racino issue that Albany instituted as a part of the city's compensation for the casino, allowing city input into the extension of the Seneca contract, closing down the parking lots on Goat Island and Prospect Park and allowing the city to collect that revenue, increasing the amount of low-cost power for local residents, removing the tolls from the Grand Island bridges and such. I think that such would have been good government for the city and region.

"Instead, I fear that his interference will result in local tax increases without offsetting benefits to the residents who pay them."

Yes, Hamilton is right. In Niagara Falls, Albany has been the enemy. Based on its natural assets, Niagara Falls should be one of the wealthiest cities in the USA. But tourism and hydropower have been snatched by Albany. A tax-free casino has been sucking the life out of the city and it was licensed and created by Albany- for Albany's profit.

The biggest problem facing Niagara Falls is Albany taking the wealth out of Niagara Falls and siphoning it off to the people with the votes: New York City.

Call it the fact that New York City has more elected voting representatives in Albany than the rest of the state combined.

Albany screwed us. Few in the media understand it. Fewer still admit it. Hamilton knows.

Among experts on anything, Hamilton is one of the few who knows.