We need better tourism vision

By Ken Cosentino

Special to the Express

(Editor's note: Cosentino did not give permission to post this status we culled from Facebook but it seemed important enough I had to.)

Niagara Falls is so backasswards.

Chadwick Boseman filmed several critical scenes for the movie “Marshall” - the biopic of Thurgood Marshall - at the LaSalle Public Library.

There should be a nice plaque with a still image from the movie at that location.

Tourists should be enticed and encouraged to go visit the historic jail cell and the “courtroom” there. These locations could be pre-prepped for photo ops.

This would drive traffic up Buffalo Avenue into LaSalle, if only it was properly advertised. Unfortunately, our marketing is predominantly handled by out of town gatekeepers who solely promote the state park, Old Falls Street and their partners.

We should have an annual festival for new inventions and technology (like the World’s Fair), which should include a Nikola Tesla lookalike contest. Instead, we lost the Festival of Lights.

Everywhere you look, there should be historic markers and statues: The Underground Railroad, the birthplace of alternating current, bootlegging history, the War of 1812, the French and Indian War, the American Revolution… Hell, the birth of a nation.

Tourists should be swarming all over our city to take photos at these historic locations.

Nope. Nothing. Can’t even put up a plaque in the library. No vision, no effort. Just greed and political corruption.