From the Niagara Falls Review:
If Grand Canyon visitors can ride donkeys down to the bank of the Colorado River, surely people in Niagara Falls can handle a 150-metre nature trail to walk down the escarpment. It was a surprise at Monday’s council meeting to hear disparaging comments about the Jolley Cut, the trail that extends from the east end of Robinson Street into Queen Victoria Park.
Architect Emilio Raimondo, working for Canadian Niagara Hotels, called the Jolley Cut an “inhospitable environment.”
Coun. Jim Didoati said it was “quite a challenge” to walk down the trail. Coun. Bart Maves called it “dangerous” and said it was in “bad shape.”
As an architect, Raimondo has an eye for esthetics. He does a lot of work for the hotel company and also designed the attractive A Young Garden on Stanley Avenue. But when it comes to the merits of the Jolley Cut, we’ll have to agree to disagree.
The Jolley Cut came up during a planning meeting for the Westin Fallsview, the 26-storey project Canadian Niagara Hotels plans to build atop the escarpment.
No one suggested reopening the always-controversial ownership issue, but the tone of the discussion would make you wonder if Canadian Niagara Hotels and some city councillors might like to see the rustic path upgraded to something a bit more hospitable. Paved walkway? Interlocking brick? Landscaping? Streetlights?
Canadian Niagara Hotels will invest $130 million to build Niagara’s first five-star hotel next door. It’s easy to see why the company might want to encourage a more refined walkway connecting Robinson Street, at the top of the escarpment, to the Niagara Parks Commission land below.