Published: April 17, 2009 12:27 am      

LETTERS: Closing parkway would hurt area

The Robert Moses Parkway travels along the Upper Niagara River and connects with the 1-190, the LaSalle arterials in Niagara Falls. The northern parkway connects with Lake Road (Route 18) and passes through several quaint little towns along the route to the Lake Ontario Parkway and on to Rochester. There are 11 beautiful state parks situated on some of the most picturesque property in the state along this route.

The Town of Wilson is proud to be home to Wilson Tuscarora State Park. The park has gone through many renovations and improvements over the past few years, including newly constructed playgrounds, expanded picnic areas and nature trails and boasts of one of the most beautiful sandy beaches in the area. Tuscarora, along with our unique harbor, allows convenient access to Lake Ontario and our fine waterways. The park’s excellent boat launching and docking facilities are full of activity with residents, out-of-state fishermen and pleasure boaters as well.

Many tourists traveling along Route 18 stop to enjoy all that our park has to offer, or frequent our popular roadside stands. Many of them choose to spend time visiting our unique business establishments or travel along the flourishing wine trails that our state officials have worked so diligently to create.

I believe the closure of the Robert Moses Parkway would seriously disrupt the flow of traffic to the Town of Wilson and other towns along the Lake Ontario shore and would have a devastating impact on the economic stability of the area.

Joseph A. Jastrzemski

Supervisor, Town of Wilson



Open the books NTCC

At the April 6 City Council meeting, I presented a resolution calling for the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. to provide the city with a full and complete accounting as to how its agency is spending the approximately $2 million in funds that the city annually gives to them.

That resolution passed unanimously, and at this time, city government awaits the complete accounting of operation from the NTCC. If the NTCC fails to respond in a sufficient manner by Monday, I will move to send a letter to the state Committee on Open Government requesting that they review and provide an opinion as to the responsibility of the NTCC to present a transparent account as to how it spends our dollars.

I want the residents of Niagara Falls to know that this request for compliance and accountability of the NTCC is a request that has been in the works for several years. I have made numerous attempts in the past to get a full accounting as to operational practices from the NTCC. All reasonable attempts have failed with the NTCC stonewalling city government. The reports the NTCC has shared with the city have been unacceptable in that they provide only the most cursory details with no substantive information whatsoever.

If the NTCC fails to meet our reasonable request by Monday, the City Council will take the next step of contacting the state Committee on Open Government for an opinion. It is my sincere belief that because the NTCC yearly receives millions of dollars from the city, it is only right that the NTCC rise to a level of acceptable transparency for the taxpayers of the City of Niagara Falls.

Samuel Fruscione, member

Niagara Falls City Council