Column by Don Glynn —
High-wire artist Nik Wallenda has been bounced around more during the past week than a rubber ball over the falls.
Wallenda, 32, a member of the famous Flying Wallenda circus family, met for 1 1/2 hours Friday with Ontario Minister of Tourism Michael Chan to seek permission for that planned tightrope walk across the Niagara Gorge.
The Niagara Parks Commission, which controls all the parklands surrounding the falls on the Canadian side, had already rejected Wallenda’s request, ruling that it would blatantly violate its long-standing policy of prohibiting such stunts.
Wallenda has taken sharp issue with the commission stand.
“Our family has been doing this for 200 years. This is my passion. This is what we do. I started walking on the wire when I was 2-years old. I’m in control when I’m on that wire,” he said.
A skilled aerialist, Wallenda was under the firm impression that Chan, a cabinet member serving under Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, was empowered to decide whether the wire-walk would be allowed. In fact, Wallenda had been urged to provide Chan with more information on security plans and the economic impact of an event destined to draw countless visitors to both sides of the border.
Instead, Chan sent Wallenda packing with a flip-flop reminder that Niagara Parks Commission — its thumbs-down already on record — would have the final say. Its chairman apparently is agreed to another meeting.
That same day, New York State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey released a statement that the Albany-based parks agency would only approve Wallenda’s request if it were a binational stroll.
Harvey cited the costs to the state — estimated at $1 million in direct expenses — and the measures to protect the public.
Wallenda was understandably upset by the way the whole matter was handled. “I think it’s somewhat disrespectable that the statement goes to the media before it goes to me and my team,” he said.
Center stage in the whole issue is politics, in Ontario as well as in the Empire State.
Kim Craitor of Niagara Falls, Ont., said Saturday he was surprised by the state parks decision but not concerned. “It’s always been a walk from the U.S. to Canada so that statement (by Harvey) is irrelevant. It doesn’t change the focus. (It will if Wallenda can’t climb onto the wire on the U.S. side).
Craitor notes the event would be covered by media outlets from around the world.
State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, a prime sponsor the for highwire performance, still thinks that it may be possible for Wallenda to walk between Prospect Point and Goat Island. (Trying to keep the reporters, photographers and TV crews off Luna Island would be a nightmare).
A parks spokesman in Albany said that the bill Gov. Cuomo signed last year required the parks agency to participate in the event if the tightrope walk is from the U.S. to Canada.
Harvey pointed out that because of the physical topography of Niagara Falls and crowd-safety concerns, the number of people who would watch such a walk would be extremely limited.
What the parks commissioner didn’t mention was why would anyone bother trying to find a place to stand or park on Goat Island or anywhere else around the Niagara Falls State Park?
In keeping with a centuries-old tradition, most of the visitors would simply head to the Ontario side for that unmatched view.
Don Glynn
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GLYNN: No walk in the park for Wallenda
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