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I have lost track of what stage the Seneca Nation and the state of New York are at on reaching agreement on opening casinos in Western New York. Last thing I heard, the Seneca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma was volunteering to use its Native American status to start the roulette wheels spinning in the Empire State. Have I missed anything?
Meanwhile, the Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center is losing $8 million in bookings a year because the politicos couldn't wait to proclaim a deal on casinos before it was done, and they refused to let logic get in the way of answering the logical question: Where are you going to put it? So the convention center gets named, even though everyone who wants a Niagara Falls casino says, "Well, it will only be temporary, while we build something somewhere or another." Then why not declare the Rainbow Centre the temporary site? It is, after all, vacant, as with so many things in our city, including local politicians' brains.
I do believe I'm seeing red.
The convention center, to put it kindly, has its down times, but in addition to conventions, it hosts crafts shows, dog and cat shows, model train shows, and at least once a Girl Scout Jamboree, or Serendipity, or something. All I know is I got an invitation because a former neighbor, who has an 11-year-old daughter and a wicked sense of humor, sent me an "alumni invitation."
An aside: I was in the Girl Scouts for two years and I qualified for one badge, fire safety. I only got that because my good friend Kath did the inspection for me, and found that overloaded plug in the kitchen. I left the Girl Scouts in shame, though I do make rather good sloppy joes.
Anyway, there is usually something going on at that rather drab but feisty focal point of our city. You may not like dried flower arrangements, hand-stitched tapestry cushions or renditions of Niagara Falls by an amateur watercolorist's hand, but a lot of people do. And they pay money to walk in the door of the convention center and stroll the aisles of mediocre pottery and occasionally stunning stained-glass panels.
Who among you is brave enough to say a cat show is expendable? I believe cats would control the universe if they could be bothered to make the effort.
If you want to get your self-confidence quotient up, take a walk down the wild side, past the luxurious pens of show cats and make eye contact. And I'm not talking about staring down the human owners, who are usually bubbling over about Bubbles, a Siamese whose eyes are as blue as Paul Newman's and glitter with the lethal gleam of Robert De Niro on a bad day. If you can out-glare a Siamese, there's isn't a boss in the world going to get in your way.
The convention center's dog shows were ever so much more relaxing. Most dogs actually like people, not just tolerate them because they bring home the Friskies salmon in lobster sauce.
Dogs smell you more than they look at you, and if you've had a rare steak or a close encounter with a dog of another sex in the last hour or so, you become their best friend. However, I can forgive drooling on my suede shoes because Corky, the name we gave our cocker spaniel (we were young, OK, and Corky seemed a damned good name) used to eat the parts of evening meals my brother and I couldn't stomach. Corker got extremely fond of liver, bacon and onions, a combination that still makes my tummy roil with disgust.
Don't care about dogs, cats, Girl Scouts? A lot of people in Niagara County and beyond do, and they used to show up in our city, pay admission to our convention center, and enjoy. Maybe they even bought a watercolor by a local artist. But those attractions are no longer booking the convention center, because who knows when everyone will stop the power tango and authorize a casino and perhaps put it in the convention center? With not much thought to people who have booked that Girl Scout get-together.
I hate to get back to my constant whine, but does anyone in this state know what they are freaking doing? Why would the state announce with fanfare the impending introduction of a casino, when everyone is still dancing around the negotiation table? Why would you name the convention center as a proposed site -- a going concern I might add -- when you're five years away from getting even a slot machine ringing? The answer is Gov. George Pataki, a moronic weakling, who fed our feverish lust to get a casino to feed his -- please, Lord -- faltering hopes of carrying Western New York in elections.
Then there is our own version of leaders, who, if they didn't know announcing the convention center as a possible site was as invitation to its fiscal decline, they are even dumber than I thought. Didn't someone at City Hall point out that the annual tacky souvenir show was getting a wee bit frisky about cementing that date on the center's calendar? Like demanding a contract clause that says if the convention center cancels an event because the blackjack tables have arrived, the wounded party gets to claim $1 million in lost revenue, plus penalties for pain and suffering. It's not possible that anyone in city government has a grudge against those who manage the Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center, is it?
Oh, dear. I'm going into my conspiracy mode.
Of course, I was desperately heartened by the news that the state is going to put up $10 million for the Niagara Experience Center, a historical and cultural museum of our fair city and its environs. The governor was kind enough to mention that the museum was based on an idea of Paul Gromosiak's.
It wasn't based on his idea, you giant twerp. It IS his idea. In February 1999, the Buffalo News did a story on Gromosiak's dream of a world-class historical museum and his efforts to get the development ball rolling. At least give credit where credit is due, Pataki.
And where on earth are we going to find $90 million to make the idea, estimated to cost $100 million, a reality?
I expect the first order of business will be to allocate some of that $10 million to one of those cunning studies so beloved of city insiders on where to best put this wonderful site. I do so adore those little waste-of-money surveys.
Give me a week, a building engineer and an architect and I'll find the home for the Niagara Experience Center. And I won't charge $36,000 like the last batch of outsiders brought in to determine something or another.
Just as well.
I heard those out-of-towners are still attempting to collect on that bill.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 26 2002 |