Suppose some nationwide civic group with a good reputation and solid finances came to the tourist bureau and said:
“About 50 of us like to come and spend most of the summer in and around Niagara Falls. We have good appetites, drive big cars and many will need places to rest our heads . And, gratis, we’ll do some civic work in the community. The downside is that we don’t drink, gamble or carouse a lot, and on occasion one or more of us might flash a big smile and say how much we love the Lord.”
We can only imagine the visitors’ board exclaiming, “Hallelujah! How can we help?”
Instead, the Niagara Power, nine pristine years in town, got basically the bum’s rush in its attempt to negotiate a new contract for Sal Maglie Stadium. They’re gone, never to return.
Base Paths will try to stay away from the negotiations. Wouldn’t do any good if he did, it’s over, finished, City wins on a walk-off. Or does it?
What went wrong? Well, the team wanted a reasonable reduction in the $605-a-night rent (that’s hearsay, subject to rebuttal.) Base Paths bets that could be fixed. Far more important to the team was the reasonable assurance that games would be played as scheduled. At least three times this year, playable games were postponed, a double body blow to the team, both in revenue stream (a trickle in the best of times) and scheduling.
Each time, Kern feels certain that with players helping out, the field could have been prepared. They were reminded sternly that union rules require that only card-holders staff the rakes.
Base Paths, a two-time union labor negotiator, understands the mindset. Generations ago, truly put-upon laborers gave their living and their lives for fair conditions. It is in their DNA today that any weakening of codes earned at such pain, does disservice to the forbears. But now, the jobs are gone altogether, along with those who’d served the visitors.
If Mayor Paul Dyster walked on water, some would trumpet “Dyster Can’t Swim!” To them, this is all his fault. Another earlier mayor, who all but ran the Rapids out of town, avidly downs Dyster in this matter. Base Paths likes the Mayor, both personally and professionally, and similarly likes and respects many of his most vocal detractors. Base Paths does NOT blame His Honor, directly, but…
He has known mayors, notably Buffalo’s Griffin and Sedita, who would have locked the negotiators into a room, closed the windows, turned up the heat, tossed in a head of cabbage or clove of garlic and said: “Nobody comes out until we have a plan. City attorneys, don’t give away the store. Cal, stop praying so damn much. Now fix it.”
Too late now. For shame. Base Paths considers this the city’s biggest embarrassment since toxins turned up in the Love Canal.
Signal back to Base Paths via pollyndoug@hotmail.com
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