It’s hard to believe there is more money in running a parking lot than in running a motel. This is where the Maple Leaf Motel used to be.
Monthly Archive for June, 2007
From the Niagara Falls Review:
When Chris Benoit visited Niagara Falls with his wife five years ago, he couldn’t stop talking about the children.
“To be here talking to the kids - my biggest fans - is what it’s all about. There’s not a greater reward than putting a smile on a kid’s face,” Benoit told The Review in August 2002 in an interview on Clifton Hill…
After the weekend’s events, his merchandise was being removed this week from the shelves at the Niagara Falls WWE store.
“We had very little inventory (of Benoit’s), but what was there we are taking off the shelf,” said Gary MacGregor, director of marketing with Canadian Niagara Hotels, which operates the souvenir shop.
“We just feel that it’s not appropriate - especially at this point - for kids to see that. Parents don’t want to talk about this to their children and we don’t want to force anything upon anybody.”
On Sunday I received the latest newsletter from the Travelodge at the Falls. They are promoting several of their regular packages, as well as special packages for the Canada Day and Independence Day holidays.
To sign up for the newsletter, click on the Join our FREE Email Mailing List link on the side of any of the pages at Falls.com
As was mentioned previously, there is a new Quality Hotel on Ferry Street (it’s not Lundy’s Lane yet at that point).
Here is part of the press release:
Choice Hotels Canada welcomes the addition of a recently converted 145-room Quality Hotel® & Conference Centre in Niagara Falls, ON.
Located in the heart of the city’s tourist district, the property is within walking distance to the Falls, serene parkland and many popular attractions such as the Fallsview Casino, Maid of the Mist and Clifton Hill.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
A fire at the idle Crowne Plaza construction site Monday shows why it’s important to keep people out of vacant buildings and for work to proceed on schedule, says fire Chief Lee Smith.
Firefighters were called to the site at the northwest corner of Stanley Avenue and Dunn Street late Monday night.
The property is owned by Rudan Holdings.
Someone had got in and set a fire in one of the underground parking levels, Smith said Tuesday.
“This particular fire was not all that large in size, but there was enough smoke developed from it to cause obscurity,” Smith said.
There were no injuries, but when firefighters see smoke they treat it like a rescue until they can confirm there isn’t a victim.
It was the first time firefighters had been called there for a fire, though vandalism and intrusions - apparently by skateboarders who like the vast expanse of concrete flooring - has been an ongoing problem while construction is stalled.
“Until that construction gets underway and there are commonly workers in there … we’re going to probably face this type of thing,” Smith said.
We’ve mentioned this place before. It’s an eyesore, and somehow the city has to figure out a way to force him to get moving, or sell it off.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Famed wirewalker Jay Cochrane may make a “brief walk” during a press conference scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Time and weather permitting, Cochrane will step out onto a 1,000-foot-long wire stretched between two 20-storey high towers near the Skylon Tower sometime during the press conference, which is scheduled for 1 p.
m., according to Skylon Tower spokesman Lee Carr. The first of 132 full performances by Cochrane, one of the world’s most celebrated high-wire performers, is scheduled to take place Saturday at 4 p.m.
On Saturday I walked by Table Rock Center for the first time in several months. They have a good part of the building covered as they work on construction. As far as I could tell everything was still open for business.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Beverly Eckhart grew up in Buffalo. So did her husband, Sean Rooney.
They crossed the border often to visit Canada and Eckhart has a strong attachment to the Niagara region.
But unlike the Western New Yorkers who are passionate advocates of holding down the status quo when it comes to security at the border, Eckhart is equally passionate that the days of viewing the cross-border region as one big city with a river running through it are long gone.
“I’ve listened to the debate in the Western New York area. I’m from here. I’ve been crossing the border my whole life. I appreciate the nostalgia,” said Eckhart, whose husband was killed in the World Trade Center attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“But I’m also nostalgic for the days my husband was alive.”
From the Niagara Falls Review:
The head of the Department of Homeland Security hinted he might be softening his stance on the requirement to show a passport to enter the U.S., during a visit to the Buffalo side of the Peace Bridge Monday.
Michael Chertoff said enhanced driver’s licences might be an acceptable alternative after all.
“We want to work with state authorities to get that underway early next year,” Chertoff told reporters, after touring the bridge property. “This is about finding a way forward that is reasonable, but also secure.”
Until now, he has strongly supported the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, announced in 2005, which would have required everyone - including Americans - to show a passport to gain entry to the U.S. by 2008.
Chertoff also said he would be willing to work with provincial officials so Canadian driver’s licences could also be considered as an acceptable form of identification at the American border.
From the Buffalo News:
Debate over a passport mandate scheduled to take effect next year has confused visitors to the Buffalo Niagara region, and local leaders say this year’s tourist season has already been hurt by the new identification requirements.
While some believe the mandate to carry a passport to cross into the United States from Canada could keep more American tourists on the U.S. side in the short term, they worry it could ultimately hurt the region as a whole.
“There’s confusion on a daily basis, and it has been that way and it drives you crazy,†said John Percy, president and CEO of Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. “I think it’s going to affect the destination overall, just because I don’t think people sometimes realize there’s a Niagara Falls, N.Y., and a Niagara Falls, Canada. They’ll choose another vacation destination that doesn’t have a passport issue.â€
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