HAMILTON: Will a female government get us to read the directions?

Ken Hamilton

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January 19, 2012

By Ken Hamilton Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Thu Jan 19, 2012, 06:52 PM EST

Column by Ken Hamilton — The broadest distance in the city of Niagara Falls is the distance between the city’s great potential and our lagging progress.

Our city charter, which is the operating instructions for our government, is there for a reason, people. It already accounts for most of the many assets that we have that most other American cities do not.

I have said it over and over for many years — we either have to fix and follow the charter, or enjoy our continuing slide into the pit of poverty and decay.

Perhaps the solution is an all-female government; because we males have one fatal flaw — our strict adherence to the principle that it is only when all else fails that we will bother to read the directions.

Our great and manageable assets include:

• A great network of rail service to our many industrial areas

• Though needing some repair, an excellent streets and roads network

• An excellent educational infrastructure, though likewise lacking in results

• An abundance of electrical power, with one of the world’s largest hydropower plants only minutes away

• Three bridges that lead to the Greater Toronto Area, the fifth largest metropolitan area on the continent (which is only one and one-half hours away)

• An on-ramp to the world’s greatest interstate system

• One of the longest reinforced airport runways in the northeast United States;

• An oversized wastewater treatment plant that can safely handle many times its volume

• A tourist base that is 140-times the city’s population, while NYC’s tourist ratio is a mere five tourists for every one resident

• An abundance of fresh, potable water — so much so that:

• Most of that fresh water spills over the largest set of waterfalls in the world, as measured by volume and accessibility

While both citizens and elected officials have a political ‘wish’ to make the city great again, there is little political ‘will’ to do the necessary homework and management to accomplish it.

Am I blaming the city council, the mayor or the citizens? No, I am blaming the city council, the mayor AND the citizens for our failure to just follow the instructions.

We once practiced a committee form of council, hence the name for the Committee of the Whole Room next to council chambers. If each councilperson would read the city charter, chose what committee that they want to head, form a resident/professional expert panel, deeply study the issues of that committee and then become the resident experts in that area, then — and only then — will council meetings be less like firefighting the issues and more like the productive and educational forum that the citizens deserve.

Council members then can better direct the mayor, and former councilman, into the areas of opportunity that already exists here in one of the greatest cities on Earth.

Guys, the ladies already know how to read directions. Do we really need an all-female government to teach us to do the same to reach our full potential?

Teachers and administrators vs. the Niagara Falls Board of Education

Speaking of teaching and improving the school district in the city, it is interesting to try to figure out where the end of this ball of string should be.

Currently, retired teachers and administrators are suing their former bosses for changing their contractual health benefits packages without their consent. In the most recent development, I am told that after much research, the New York State United Teachers, a statewide professional organization, has agreed to carry water for the teachers, while courtroom pit bull attorney Ned Perlman will continue to fight for the administrators.

Given the state of both the economy and of educational achievement in our schools, it is difficult for me to feel sorry for many of these people, as they are at least partially responsible for the poor results of the district.

But a contract is a contract, and unless it is legally overturned, then the parties should adhere to it.

I am not sure if I more want the district to save money by correcting their policies before the trial, if need be; or for the cases to run their way through the court system to uncover more infractions that may be needing correction.

Either way, we pay for it with the books that little Johnny won’t have because of it.

Contact Ken Hamilton at kenhamilton930@aol.com.

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