Daily Archive for November 17th, 2006

The future of AccessNiagara

Wow! I can’t believe the number of comments that have been left on the posting about the fight at the Firefly. As of this posting there are 42! I appreciate your contributions, and also appreciate the kinds words with regards to the work I’ve put into the site. I figured now was as good a time as any to update you on some of the plans I have for the AccessNiagara.com site.

I had originally planned on AccessNiagara to be a destination site similar to InfoNiagara. Unfortunately I just don’t have the time to do that. So I think I’m going to turn it into a “wiki” of all things Niagara Falls. Similar to Wikipedia, visitors will be able to add content for attractions, hotels, restaurants and more, both past and preset. I had thought of getting a separate domain name, but rather than do that, I figured I’d keep everything consolidated on one site.

I also should have a forum ready to launch soon. Some of you have noticed that I already have something setup that you can get to from the blog. Registration info is shared with the blog, so once you are registered on one, you are registered on the other. There is still a forum system that I want to try, so don’t get too attached to the “test” one. One question… would you prefer one like I have now that is essentially part of the blog, or would you prefer a separate forum system?
Ultimately, I see the site as being driven by the visitors. You can contribute by posting comments on the blog (/blog), write up things on the wiki (/wiki or /? (any suggestions), talk with the community on the forum (/forum) and/or even post your own pictures (/gallery) (did you know you can do that?).

I plan on working on this over the winter and hopefully by the end of March I can have a complete site ready to go for the new tourist season. Please leave your suggestions and comments.

Ellen Avenue Boutique Hotel progress

I’ve posted recently about the construction happening beside the Greg Frewin Theatre. The former dairy location is going to be a boutique hotel. It really seemed to be at a stand-still until recently. They now seem to be making good progress.

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WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? Whirlpool Bridge sign

From the Niagara Gazette:

A Canadian rock radio station and out-of-service information hotlines probably weren’t what local tourism officials wanted to use to greet visitors crossing the Whirlpool Bridge into the Falls.

But that’s just what appeared on a tourist information sign that hung on Whirlpool Street until Wednesday afternoon.