From the Niagara Falls Review:
The Niagara Parks Commission missed the boat by automatically renewing its lease with the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co., says the manager of another company interested in taking over the fabled boat tours.
Ripley’s Entertainment wanted to discuss taking over the lease for the Maid of the Mist property but felt rebuffed by the commission’s reluctance to negotiate, said Tim Parker, manager of Ripley’s attractions in Niagara Falls.
“This is a private business on government property that has been operating far before the government got there. When the lease comes up … there should be an opportunity for other people (to bid on it),” Parker said in an interview about correspondence he had with Liberal MPP Kim Craitor on the issue.
Parker was “very disappointed” the commission apparently renewed the lease with the steamboat company that has operated the tours since 1846 despite the interest Ripley’s expressed in it.
“We would have thought that having two options, rather than just one, would benefit the Niagara Parks Commission and tourism in Niagara Falls,” Parker wrote in a letter to Craitor, a copy of which was obtained by The Niagara Falls Review.