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Mayor Irene Elia's unilateral decision to award an exclusive concession contract for the West Mall to a company headed by caterer Louis Antonacci quickly blew up in her face.
Thomas Hanna -- who already had an exclusive contract -- sued the city, the mayor's unfortunate use of the word "Disneyesque" to describe Antonacci's plan for a miniature golf course was the subject of much mirth and even the new-look City Council, generally loath to disagree with the administration, was forced to table the measure.
What went wrong? Just about everything. To begin with, the Elia administration has shown a disdain for signed contracts that belies the mayor's alleged business background. Currently, we are paying more than $60,000 to a union-busting Albany law firm to deal with the lawsuits that will inevitably result from Elia's attempts to change the provisions of city workers' health care plans.
Canceling Hanna's contract and attempting to push through a pact with Antonacci not only assured a lawsuit from the spurned contractor, but if Antonacci now is rejected, he'll have grounds for a suit as well. In the meantime, the city will be left with no concessionaires on the West Mall, to say nothing of a miniature golf course.
Compounding the problem is the mayor's unfortunate tendency to exaggerate. Last summer, when Nabisco, Teletech, Occidental and other industries were in the process of laying off thousands of workers here, Elia touted Mike Davis' Great American Balloon Ride as the business that would rescue Niagara Falls from its malaise.
Now, the balloon ride is a very nice little attraction. But the mayor's repeated and overblown hyping was embarrassing to Davis and resulted in significant backlash against his enterprise on the part of many locals. Antonacci is being put through the same thing, and it isn't doing him any good, either.
We believe the mayor is sincere in her desire to improve the city. But we're afraid that -- given her own personal idiosyncrasies and lack of competent advisors -- she may be in over her head.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 26 2002 |