Ruminations at Third and Ferry

We went for dinner Friday evening on the patio at Wine on Third. We each had a cocktail, shared a the flambed Greek cheese appetizer and a brick oven pizza. Brandi our server was awesome as always.

We were early and the first people on the patio. The last two times we sat there were eventful. Once, we watched Niagara Falls police pop someone for no registration.

Then early last summer, we watched a Chevy Caprice go up in flames in front of the liquor store. The clerk came out and emptied two fire extinguishers into the car. One fire truck showed and, in about 20-minutes, extinguished the blaze in the now-trashed sedan.

Friday, I was left wondering why there is a blinking stoplight at the intersection. Ferry is one-way with almost no traffic. 37 of 40 vehicles traveling on Third Street either soft-rolled or didn’t slow for the light at Ferry. The NFTA buses always stop. Then I stopped counting. Why is that light there?

Truth is, it is a state issue because Walnut, Ferry and Pine avenues are state roads. Nonsensical stoplights are a traffic study away from removal.

About a month ago I spoke to someone who lives near Ferry and 22nd who said she missed the old days where every couple weeks, the neighbors would stand on the street and chat because of another accident. Now she doesn’t talk to neighbors any more. It is a loss. Some people miss the regular car crashes when they spoke to their neighbors. The state reconstructed Walnut and Ferry two years ago, adding curb bumpouts, a bike lane and making traffic one-lane. If it takes and extra 15 seconds to get from Porter Road to Main Street but reduces crashes significantly, so be it.

As we finished our pizza, spring arrived. You know, when the thugs on unlicensed 4-wheelers buzz the street because they can, sort of like a dog licking his . . . oh dang I should keep this family friendly.

Thank goodness our police have drones to give chase. Pursue a cycle or 4-wheeler in a squad car and, too often, it ends catastrophically for a misguided youth in need of a life lesson. Drones are safer.

We saw effective drone usage last week when police warned known dirtbags shooting dice at 19th and Pine to move it along. The ne'erdowells failed to comply. A drone observed them shooting dice and exchanging cash. Charges followed.

A similar fate awaits those outlaw kids, hopefully a peaceful ending better than a smashed head or fractured spine.

Meanwhile, across the street at the Gazette, I keep hoping for Nick Sabato to make the move to the Buffalo News and report on the Sabres so I don’t need to paste the URL from his work into www.removepaywall.com in order to read it.

A word about the continuing contraction of the paper: When the paper moved to the current location, it occupied most of the top two floors of 472 Third St. Today the staff uses about ¼ of that space. There are just 7 journalists listed on the Gazette and Union, Sun & Journal Website putting out 5 almost-identical papers a week in Lockport and Niagara Falls. The combined circulation is likely less than 3,000, or about what the Express has daily. They increase revenue by raising the cost of legals, obituaries and subscriptions but eventually, their parent company, CNHI will collapse and the Alabama State Teachers Retirement fund will take a massive loss as indictments follow and papers die.