Published: May 11, 2008 12:35 am            

GLYNN: Experience Center is still on drawing board

As ground was broken for that new $2.4 million state-of-the-art visitor center Friday many local residents must have wondered whether the proposed Niagara Experience Center would ever be built.

Mayor Paul Dyster has made it clear — more than once — that he believes there is still need to construct the Experience Center downtown, close to the state park, a project estimated at $100 million.

The mayor noted Friday that with the North End train station funding falling into place, the Experience Center is becoming a higher lobbying priority for the city. It is designed as a first-class orientation center, featuring numerous displays to encourage visitors to extend their stay at Niagara.

Dyster cited the $700-million Upstate Revitalization Fund, unveiled earlier this year by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, as a definite source for projects to be proposed.

Taxpayers have to ponder how some $100 million can be earmarked in a state where the budget shortfall — for the fiscal year 2009 — is $4.9 billion.

If the Experience Center isn’t considered as any kind of conflict with the new tourism center at 10 Rainbow Boulevard (on the former Artisan’s Alley site), then why is an expensive waterfall model part of the plan for the information center that also will feature a souvenir store?

At a last glimpse of the architect’s sketch, visitors to the Experience Center would see a waterfall as they enter the building.

For the record, that was nearly 10 years ago and, as we’ve learned over the years, a lot of plans can change within that timeframe.

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ENERGY SAVER: Bob Emerson, executive director of the Old Fort Niagara Association, shows one way to combat rising gas prices, even on a limited scale. He rides his bike to work every day, about a two-mile trip along Lower River Road in Youngstown.

Actually Emerson has been commuting in that manner — when weather permits — long before the current concern over prices at the pump.

Co-workers note that when he arrives, he carries the bike upstairs to his office.

After all, Emerson, a stickler for historical accuracy, wouldn’t think of parking it outside at a landmark attraction that recreates life in the 18th century.

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ON THE ROAD: Polls now show that nearly 45 percent of Americans intend to spend less money on their 2008 summer vacation, compared with previous years. High fuel costs was cited as a major factor in that decision.

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THE NEXT CARDINAL?: Bishop Henry J. Mansell, 70, who headed the eight-county Buffalo Catholic Diocese before he was named archbishop of the Hartford, Conn., diocese in 2003, is frequently mentioned on the short list of candidates to succeed Cardinal Edward Egan as archbishop of the New York Diocese,

Egan, 76, submitted his retirement papers, as required for archbishops at the age of 75, although there is no indication that Pope Benedict XVI is prepared to make any change at this time.

Egan was a classmate of Monsignor J. Thomas Moran, pastor of St. Bernard’s Church, Youngstown, when they attended college in Rome prior to their ordination.

Mansell, a New York City native, was director of priests and chancellor of the archdiocese.

According to informed sources, other prospective successors to Egan are Archbishop Timothy Dolan, 58, of Milwaukee, and Archbishop Wilton Gregory, 60, of Atlanta, a former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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WHAT’S IN A NAME: Strolling along Old Falls Street recently, I was approached by a couple from Hamilton, Ont., who asked for directions to Elmer & Susan’s. “We’re told it’s an old style tavern and restaurant where you can get a good beef sandwich and a beer,” the woman said.

I explained to them the restaurant, at Hyde Park Boulevard and Ontario Avenue, now known as Mr. B’s, has undergone several changes in management over the past five decades but it’s still a big favorite for local residents as well as Canadians for many reasons.

And co-owners John Martino and Paul Gigliotti have kept the beef-on-wick, a tradition there for almost a half century.

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ON THE FLY: That eye-catching photo of two bluebirds hovering over a nest box along the Robert Moses Parkway (Page 1 in the Niagara Gazette Friday) was taken by Glenn Clark, a state Department of Transportation employee.

Contact reporter Don Glynn at 282-2311, ext. 2246.

        

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