7/15/2003

To the Editor:

Every once in a while an idea enters the public consciousness that is so beautiful in its simplicity, so compelling in its rationale and eminent sense, that it takes root and grows into an irresistable opportunity for positive change.

The Erie Canal was such an idea. Conceived by an inmate in debtors' prison, ridiculed by New York's political elite and actively opposed by no less than President Thomas Jefferson, the state-wide canal that made New York State rich beyond the wildest imagination would not have happened were it not for DeWitt Clinton, and his contemporaries of similar vision, who convinced an initially skeptical public of its numerous benefits.

Similarly, the attempt to restore natural surroundings to the rim of the Niagara Gorge, started by a handful of folks six years ago, has mushroomed to include thousands of local citizens and dozens of local organizations. You can see them all at niagaraheritage.org.

Of course, the dream at hand is of a State Park that stretches along the 12,000-year-old natural wonder called the Niagara Gorge. A State Park filled with trails, paths, wildflowers, birds and butterflies, and trees. Benches, picnic tables and educational opportunities for the youngsters. A State Park accessible to young and old, abled and disabled, local and foreign, joggers, hikers, women pushing baby carriages, open for fishing, biking, music and art, or just a refuge from the heat and concrete and a chance to lose yourself in something bigger.

Obviously, none of this is possible as long as a high-speed, limited-access expressway runs through it. How can you enjoy a park while choking on exhaust fumes, listening to dangerously close traffic whizzing by? How many parks are inundated with tons of salt every winter? How many parks require a chain-link fence for public safety? Crosswalks that require an act of faith to cross? Ugly concrete barriers and orange traffic cones?

I continue to be surprised and puzzled by your columnist Mike Hudson, who is taking an increasingly strident and vituperative tone in voicing his opposition to a new state park along the Niagara Gorge. As the putative newspaper of reform for the City of Niagara Falls, while the appeal of a world-class park may escape some of your staff, you should at the very least have a more open-minded approach to the Parkway issue.

A few words about my friend Bob Baxter. Bob is a tall fellow with a deep voice, firm grip and manly bearing. His time is split between his efforts for a better Niagara Falls and working on his Ransomville farm, where I've seen him outpace men half his age. If you ever get a chance, at a Parkway Removal meeting or Niagara Heritage Partnership presentation to the public, introduce yourself to him. He is friendly and self-effacing and the furthest thing from pompous I can imagine.

Jim Hufnagel
Wilson