Tour Tales

About every 10th visitor to Niagara Falls State Park who takes a tour with me asks the same question. “What the heck happened to the city.”

They have wandered in their cars past the state park into the squalor filled with abandoned buildings, poverty, struggling people and some pockets of hope from people who still believe.

My answer is always the same.

“Niagara Falls is what happens when a city with 102,000 residents in 1960 loses the majority of the 40,000 chemical industry jobs that once existed here.

“When the city government has no vision to capitalize on the unique opportunities or embrace investors proposing a $1.5 billion development, the status quo never changes. It also doesn’t help the State doesn’t care about its host city.”

Consider the location of the $48 million Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Visitor’s Center, strategically with the State Park so supposedly 9 million visitors a year never leave the pleasant, green tourist attraction and see the reality of the city Albany forgot.

The state pays tax on its Adirondack Park lands. It pays nothing for the state park. Some visitors stay in hotels and pay bed taxes or wander to Old Falls Street and patronize a food truck or visit the One Niagara Tourist Center. Sometimes people pay to park. Other times they get a parking ticket.

You know what the city doesn’t get? Any revenue from those cars that pay $15 to Park in Lot 1 or 2. or any of the revenue from the Maid of the Mist or the Cave of the Winds. Or any property tax not just on the parkland but on all of the land it owns in the city, the most valuable real estate here. All that beautiful waterfrong.

You know what else the state gets? Revenue from Delaware North which completely fleeces residents in its concession stands. You can get a Sahlens Italian Sausage for $13.99, a hot dog for $7.99 or a slice of DiCamillo’s old fashioned pizza for $10.99. Broccoli and cheese will set you back $11.99.

Of course, if you are smart you will head to Sullivan’s or Porky’s for a better deal on grilled sandwich or, better yet, visit DiCamillo’s on Linwood Avenue where a fresher slice of any of that pizza will set you back less than $4.

In 1956, when the Schoellkopf Power Plant slid into the river, it represented 25% of the commercial tax base in the city (The city still uses a homestead/nonhomestead rate system, which is nearly as archaic as the lack of updated assessments).

The State used the New York Power Authority, under the loathsome Robert Moses, to trick the Tuscarora out of land to build a massive reservoir and new plant in Lewiston.

Some revenue gets shared with host communities, for example the funds from the Greenway Commission used to fix up city parks, a great investment, but when you consider the massive loss of tax base from the Schoellkopf plant, the state replaced a solid stream of revenue with a trickle. Niagara Falls residents should not only benefit from property tax paid on the conduits that carry water but from cheap utilities

Instead, the Power Authority generates almost $1 billion annually in profits and the host communities get a pittance in return under a 50-year contract municipalities foolishly renewed about 20 years ago. Consider the power plant in pour backyard generates about 10% of all the electricity needed to power our entire state and yet the host communities pay among the highest electric rates in the nation.

And that, my friends is how New York state doesn't care about Niagara Falls.