EDITORIAL: Funding cuts make no sense

Opinion

Discussion

February 6, 2013

EDITORIAL: Funding cuts make no sense

-- Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Wed Feb 06, 2013, 06:24 PM EST

Niagara Gazette — The people spoke during Monday's meeting of the Niagara Falls City Council.

They packed a standing-room-only City Hall. More than 30 of them approached the podium to address city lawmakers.

The majority — all but a few — spoke in favor of continuing city funding for three longstanding community groups, including the Niagara Beautification Commission, the Niagara Falls Block Club and the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center.

They're right.

While we understand the unfortunate position of the city in light of the ongoing stalemate over casino revenue, now is not the time to reduce funding to the NBC or the block club, two groups whose volunteer members serve on the front lines in this community's never-ending battle against blight, crime and other quality of life concerns.

There is never a good time to eviscerate a valued community institution like the NACC, a place where — as dozens of speakers noted Monday — residents and families gather to enjoy music, art, theatre and dance.

Such things may not be budgetary necessities and are certainly not as vital as, say, public safety.

But, they have value as demonstrated by those 100 plus people, many of them taxpaying residents — who showed up Monday night to plea for the city's help in sustaining them.

While we agree the NBC and the block clubs perform vital services, we feel compelled to echo the sentiment of the majority of the council meeting speakers who consider the NACC an especially important part of the Niagara Falls community.

In addition to the community services offered on site, there are the 80 or so artists who rent space inside the building — talented people from the Falls, Lewiston, Buffalo and other parts of Western New York and even other parts of the country. The NACC has become a home away from home for many of them and they are contributing to the local economy every time they buy lunch at a restaurant on Pine Avenue or stop at a local convenience store for gas station. Indeed, several of these artists have taken up residence near the building, occupying previously unwanted properties on side streets near the intersection of Pine Avenue and Portage Road.

The former Niagara Falls High School building, once destined for a date with the wrecking ball, is alive and well today, occupying a key corner on one end of the Pine Avenue Business District.

It deserves better than to have $30,000 in city bed tax revenue cut from its bottom line, just weeks after the was allocated as part of the city's 2013 budget.

It's a shame the three members of the council majority — Chairman Glenn Choolokian and his colleagues Sam Fruscione and Robert Anderson Jr. — did not recognize the obvious before they voted to pull the NACC's funding.

Dozens of speakers — some of them school-aged children — summed it pretty well. They said NBC and the block clubs are hard-working organizations, deserving of financial support from the city. They made it clear that the NACC is now considered a critical community resource, a place unlike any other within the city limits of Niagara Falls.

It's hard to argue with their line of thinking and baffling to realize that three leaders elected to protect their interests would think otherwise.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Opinion

CITY DESK: Buffalo bears, oh my! It's bad enough those "secretive" Buffalo interests are always trying to co-op our city and our good name with all their grant money and what not.
May 20, 2013 1 Photo
HIGGS: Still in high school Local Architect Clinton Brown recently described the style of the 168,000-square-foot building housing the Niagara Falls High School at the corner of Portage Road and Pine Avenue as "a three-story structure with concrete and steel structure, cut stone and masonry façade and classical inspired details. These include the hierarchical and symmetrical main and secondary facades, a central porch with six two-story engaged columns and the balustrade main staircase to the front doors and upper porch. The original four-over-four hung windows have been replaced with shorter aluminum sliding windows with
May 20, 2013 1 Photo
EDITORIAL: Get out and vote in the school elections on Tuesday We all have some important decisions to make Tuesday. Unfortunately, if recent history is any indication, very few will make the effort.
May 20, 2013
GUEST VIEW: Seneca Niagara Casino is all we need Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking about. I hear and read about people chastising the Seneca-run casino in Niagara Falls.
May 20, 2013 1 Photo
GLYNN: 'Bums Park' short walk from falls
Shame on those for allowing a couple of properties within walking distance of the nation's oldest state park to deteriorate to skid row status. There's plenty of blame to share.

May 19, 2013 1 Photo
EDITORIAL: Plan B needed on casino funds The city of Niagara Falls has been facing significant problems for many years.
May 19, 2013
GUEST VIEW: Niagara-Wheatfield school board doing best it can In a recent reader view, a resident brought up numerous points that paint a picture of government deception, bullying and a lack of compassion to those on fixed income by the Niagara-Wheatfield Board of Education. I can without equivocation say that his views are the furthest from reality.
May 19, 2013
LETTERS FROM THE ISLAND: The 'write' way to do things In memory of the late grammarian and linguist J.J. Kilpatrick, Doug presents his quarterly roundup of sentence-structure demolition, as effected by people who oughta' know better. English finals soon? Pay attention:
May 18, 2013 1 Photo
GUEST VIEW: Breaking down the Lew-Port budget vote Einstein once said he did not understand our tax system; well, I fear, most of us do not either. I want to share a few facts about your school district and taxes.
May 18, 2013
HAMILTON: Falls 'dumbs down' school board petitions I guess that, after 20 or more years, if you cannot teach your own favorite board members how to do something as simple as getting 100 of their own friends and neighbors to properly sign their petitions, then the next best thing to do is to dumb down those petitions.
May 17, 2013 1 Photo
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Discussion

EDITORIAL: Funding cuts make no sense

Site Map

Contact Us