From the Toronto Star:
As an aerialist’s bid to tightrope walk across Niagara Falls next summer hangs in the balance, the commission ruling on his proposal is facing pressure to let the event proceed.
Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the famed tightrope-walking Wallenda family, hopes to fulfill his lifelong dream of walking across the falls on a wire.
The proposal has cleared all legal hurdles on the American side, but authority to approve or reject Wallenda’s idea in Canada rests with the Niagara Parks Commission. Chair Janice Thomson has repeatedly said the walk would be a stunt contrary to the commission’s mandate to preserve the falls’ natural beauty.
Wallenda maintains his balancing act is an art form, not a stunt. He made his case before the commission two weeks ago in a 12-minute presentation. The commission is reviewing the proposal and Thomson said she expects a ruling early next week.
This is just so stupid. How ironic is it that the city with so many tacky shops & a tight roper walking across the street of Clifton Hill, is leaving it to some volunteer fat lady who only recently came aboard to decide the fate of this guy who would bring in hundreds of thousands of dollards to both the US & Canadian side of the Falls?
It’s a no-brainer decision. At the VERY least, he’s going to go through with it, because the USA has the American Falls to string a rope across from the USA side to Goat Island hopefully past Bridal Falls. However, it’d be much sweeter if he could do it completely past the entire gorge.