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Monday’s observations about the great harm done to Niagara Falls by the Gazette allowing Shredd and Ragan to trash it almost daily struck a nerve.
I received comments, new subscribers and new donations. Thank you all.
I remember when I started working at the Gazette. I was in awe of Rick Pfeiffer’s relationship with the radio show. I hadn’t yet invested in the community so I didn’t understand why it was bad.
It took living here for 3 years, wondering why the value of real estate remains depressed, before it dawned on me.
Trashing the Falls, its people and “Falls chicks” is among the longest-running shticks on the top-rated radio morning show in Buffalo.
It’s also the answer to why when I told friends and family we were moving from Clarence to the Falls the universal reaction was “you have lost your mind. You will be shot. The Falls is a shithole.”
We trusted our eyes and wondered why a 1760 square foot home here, 3 bedroom, 1.5 baths built in 1930 and loaded with architectural detail like oak woodwork, leaded glass, and hardwood was less than $200,000 two blocks from 3 state parks and in earshot of the Whirlpool Rapids.
In any other Western New York Community, that house is worth $500,000 or more.
When we saw it, we took advantage but we didn’t know why it was so. There had to be a catch. There is none.
I met a nice couple at the DeVeaux Woods dog park Monday afternoon with Gord, young Niagara Falls teachers.
They, too, live in the neighborhood, in part to comply with the residency requirement and in part because they could afford a $200,000 house here when they’d have to save for 10 years to buy a home in an inflated market like Lewiston or Wheatfield while working in another school district that pays less and doesn’t have a residency requirement. Here they earn more and start building equity immediately. They will also be eligible for student loan forgiveness for working in the Falls school district which pays more than any other district in the Niagara Region.
Monday I biked to Lewiston to run some errands. It took 13 minutes. Buying a house there, for us, would have made sense 30 years ago. Today, it is cost prohibitive.
I stopped before the downhill to admire Toronto from the Fort Gray overlook which is only accessible from the bikepath or a mile walk.
I also stopped to admire the new trail from the escarpment down the hill into Artpark. Soon you will be able to get from DeVeaux into the state park on a bike without setting foot in the Village of Lewiston.
Sorry for hitting the same note for another day but hey, as Todd Rundgren said, “I don’t want to work. I just want to bang on the drum all day.”
