As many local residents know, when the Convention and Civic Center was converted to the new Seneca Niagara Casino, it meant major changes to the exterior, too.
For example, the E. Dent Lackey Plaza — named for a former mayor, although it was hard to prove because someone swiped the bronze marker years ago — was wiped out to make way for a parking lot.
While the plaza itself always was a little grimy, it included one attraction that should have been a favorite with visitors as well as local residents — an ice skating rink.
“It’s larger than the one in Rockefeller Center in Manhattan,” Mayor Lackey once boasted to a group of VIPs touring the South End.
As longtime residents recall, the rink was plagued with problems from the day it opened, whether the faulty piping system or a zamboni that was often down for repairs. There were other maintenance concerns as well.
So when Joseph (Smokin Joe) Anderson, the Tuscarora entrepreneur, built his Snow Park in downtown Niagara Falls, just a couple of blocks from the falls, it was initially welcomed as an ideal attraction to encourage tourists to stay longer.
Besides the 50-foot high, eight-lane snow tubing hill, there is a skating rink matching the dimensions of a National Hockey League playing surface.
Unfortunately, for the passersby, the rink is dwarfed by the big hill and, to compound matters, shrouded by the fence and boards around the ice. At a glance along Second Street, it’s hard to tell what’s inside.
Is it possible that Anderson might have unwittingly inspired the Winter Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls, Ont., to build an ice rink near the Journey Behind the Falls (the former Table Rock House) where skaters will be afforded an unmatched view of the Horseshoe Falls?
It will be called ‘The Rink by the Brink.’
A partner in that project is the Niagara Parks Commission, the agency responsible for much of the parkland bordering the river and the falls, from Fort Erie, Ont., to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
The festival committee is expected to unveil all the details at a media briefing next month.
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ON THE ROAD: For the countless motorists who drive between upstate New York and central Pennsylvania, there’s good news from the state Department of Transportation.
That last leg of four-lane Route 15, from Presho, N.Y., to Lindley, N.Y., near the Pennsylvania state line, should be completed by 2012. The 5.5-mile project costs $80 million.
•••
SIGNS OF TIMES: In front of the vacant Crown Mart gas station on Cayuga Street, Lewiston, “Regular Unleaded, $2.99.”
• The “Welcome to Niagara Falls” message on the billboard on Whirlpool Street, greeting people entering the U.S., bears the signature of (former) mayor Vincenzo Anello. (It’s obvious the white-out they used didn’t work.)
• A sign extending across the front of the building is for The Sunlight Chinese Restaurant (former site of the Harmony Lounge), 320 Niagara St. Although that Sunlight was never in business, the only sign in the window is still in place several years after the property was sold: “Yes, We’re Open!”
Contact reporter Don Glynn at 282-2311, ext. 2246.
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suggested head:
Skating rink to be built close to falls
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Ice rink planned close to the falls
Columns
GLYNN: Battle of the rinks
- Columns
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HAMILTON: Dandelions, parades, broken poles and people
There are still those remnants of the fading bouquets of floral tributes that still hang at that base of a tree on city hall’s lawn. It is near where, last year, from his shiny silvery cart, Melvin Johnson sold hot dogs and sausages to both city employees and passerbys while his tiny white dog excitingly yelped at anyone that came near.
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GLYNN: Gillibrand seeks help for prime bread-winners
A recent report shows that working mothers across the Empire State earn nearly 15 percent lower pay for the same work as men.
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BRADBERRY: There really are spirits in the water
Over the centuries since it was “discovered” hundreds of millions of people have traveled from every corner of the world to visit Niagara Falls making it the most visited of the great waterfalls on the planet.
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CONFER: The reality of rationed health care
The ongoing debate over Obamacare has brought to light the concept of rationed healthcare. Opponents of health care reform keenly point out that while the bill never explicitly calls out rationing, it features certain provisions that will lead the markets to adjust to strict federal demands and, therefore, dispense certain procedures in smaller amounts or not at all. Because of it being the first time that the subject has really come up in public circles, most people, especially on the right, believe that rationing is something new. It’s not. The free markets have been practicing that for quite some time. I should know; with a 4-inch long, 1-inch wide scar running south of my belly button – and a couple of related scars around my groin – I could be the poster child for rationed health care.
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CITY DESK: A regrettable error
We owe Carol Sensabough an apology.
Several weeks ago, the long-time reader and Niagara Falls resident sent a letter to the editor explaining that she took offense to some of the things written by a syndicated columnist, Stephen Dick. -
HIGGS: Niagara Falls' own West Side story
Trusello’s Bakery was on Elmwood behind the family home at 840 19th St. The family, Richard, William (Billy) and Sam along with two sisters, lived in the house.
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GLYNN: Falls, Ont., rolls out red carpet for Wallenda
Before Nik Wallenda even started practicing his high-wire routine in downtown Niagara Falls, state Sen.George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, had noted the warm welcome the tightrope walker received across the river.
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HAMILTON: Civic ‘ParticipAction’ can work too
Back in the 1970s, our Neighbors to the North ran a national campaign called ParticipAction to encourage Canadians to get off their butts and do things for the sakes of their bodies.
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GLYNN: Graduates find they’re in staggering debt
Countless senior citizens often gripe about something, sometimes even with good reason. Perhaps they should consider themselves fortunate, compared with the younger generation.
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