Why can't Niagara Falls, New York feed off tourism more?

[miketoronto]

Yesterday I went to Niagara Falls for the day, and for the first time, we actually walked over to the American side and took a walk around. I had already known that the American side was in pretty bad shape, but man was it empty. Aside from the State Park right on the falls, which is amazing, the rest of the downtown area is just a ghost town. We walked one block from the State Park, and it was full of vacant buildings, including two vacant high-rise buildings, one of which was a hotel at one time.
There were a few people hanging around, and other than that it was empty and most of the places looked like they had seen better days.

Then you cross over into the Canadian side(which the real downtown is in just as bad shape, but is located much farther from the falls), and their tourist area near the falls is just hopping. Half hour waits to get into restaurants, packed streets at midnight, flashy lights, etc.

Why has the New York side not been able to capture more tourism dollars and people like the Canadian side has done???

[hudkina]

I think initially it had to do with the fact that American tourists could save money by going to the Canadian side. Only a few years ago $2 American bought you $3 Canadian. So an American could have saved over $100 dollars by staying on the Canadian side with hotel, car rental, food, shopping, etc.

I guess now that the two currencies are relatively close and it will soon require a passport to get into Canada, the American side will become more popular.

[Smoker]

I was at the American side for the first and only time several years ago. The view isn't very remarkable and not pleasing to the eye. We parked in an indoor garage right beside the falls and nobody was working there that weekend. It seemed abandoned. We went to an observation deck right at the falls. There was only a few typical tourists with their cameras. It's no big deal on our side so no wonder it's a ghost town.

Whenever you see a photo or a postcard of the falls it's always from the Canadian side. It's our falls, but it's your view everyone loves. Plus you have all those touristy things like the wax museum, Ripleys, a thing that goes up into the sky, restaurants, colored lights on the falls at night, etc. I'm going from memory of years ago when I used to go to Toronto often and maybe those things aren't there anymore. I bet if they're gone something better has taken their place.

Possibly the New York side was popular years ago as Niagara Falls was a famous place to go to for a honeymoon. Imagine that. My roommate was a Chinese exchange student when I was young. He had been to the pyramids and lots of places and wanted to see Niagara Falls. I tried to talk him out of it but we ended up going anyhow. It was mid March and the falls were frozen or there was so much steam and fog over them you couldn't see water moving. At that time the NY side was jumping, at least at night. There was cops on every corner near any bars. That was in the 1960s.

When I went to the American side I was with someone who lived near there, Lock Haven or Lock Port?., and everywhere else she took me in the area was as normal as anywhere else. Crowded malls, a park with vendors selling food, a flower show, bands, all kinds of things and it wasn't a special weekend of any sort. Most places had signs, "No Canadian Money Accepted." I was told Canadians went there to buy things because it was cheaper. The folks up there had an attitude towards Canada. I don't know why.

I was amazed and impressed when told they turned the falls off to do reconstructive surgery some years ago. It was eroding away. If Canada would do something to make their side look attractive maybe the New York side could rise again in the tourist market.

Nexrt to Pittsburgh, Toronto is my favorite North American city.

[Smoker]

Originally Posted by hudkina

I think initially it had to do with the fact that American tourists could save money by going to the Canadian side. Only a few years ago $2 American bought you $3 Canadian. So an American could have saved over $100 dollars by staying on the Canadian side with hotel, car rental, food, shopping, etc.

I guess now that the two currencies are relatively close and it will soon require a passport to get into Canada, the American side will become more popular.

I took a Canadian quarter to the bank when I was little and they gave me 27 cents for it. My aunt and uncle took 5 of us kids to see the falls when we were small. At the restaurants they always asked if you were paying with Canadian or U.S. money. Then they jacked the bill up because their money was worth more. It was like that in the 1960s and '70s too.

[xzmattzx]

Bad urban planning + Mob presence + Stifling unions + High taxes = Failure

[Thundertubs]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Bad urban planning + Mob presence + Stifling unions + High taxes = Failure

This sums it up pretty accuratly, but add some of the most evil pollution in North America. The downtown is something like half brownfields. Only a mega corporation like a casino can afford the cleanup neccesary to build there. This is where a lof of the really nasty, radioactive parts of the manufacturing of atomic bombs went on (see all those hulking factory shells on Buffalo Ave). Especially during WWII, they were very secretive and lax about safety. Everyone remembers Love Canal.

I'm not sure if any other US city has razed thier downtown as thoroughly as Niagara Falls. maybe Muskegon? The bulldozing was spurred by a series of big plans that never came to fruition.

I just finished reading Inventing Niagara, by Ginger Strand. Good read. The parts about the atomic bomb manufacturing are bone-chilling.

[vid]

You can't really see the falls from their side. Niagara Falls, Ontario has the better views. And the US side is just a mess anyway. It's sad. United Office Building is one of the best art deco towers in upstate New York.

Looking at Google Maps, the area east of downtown looks like some parts of Detroit, where all the buildings are gone and the streets are still there. Depressing.

[Rico Rommheim]

I like this section in the wikipedia article on NF, NY

While its Canadian twin, Niagara Falls, Ontario, began massively building up its tourism industry in the 1990s, allowing for casinos and tall tower hotels, essentially becoming the "Las Vegas of Canada," Niagara Falls, New York, became a rat-infested, high-crime ghetto filled with boarded-up buildings and crack houses

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

I like this section in the wikipedia article on NF, NY

Only an obligatory racial slur would make that description complete.

[Downtown Bolivar]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Bad urban planning + Mob presence + Stifling unions + High taxes = Failure

I gotta weigh in on my hometown. This is definitely accurate. It's also true that pollution is an enormous problem. I think the city has or had well over 80 superfund sites. The Manhattan project was made in Niagara Falls. Just about any plant tjat had a furnace smelted uranium in the city and there were no controls on dumping. Most of it ended up in two places--Model City, NY, north of Niagara Falls and east of Lewiston. To find it on Google maps just look for "Lake Ontario Ordinance Works" or you can just find Lewport Central school, zoom and and move north and east and you'll see outlines of all kinds of old buildings and roads--all left from TNT manufacturing and later to house radioactive waste. The other place things ended up was the Linde site in Tonawanda. Small quanties were buried in the Falls, as an example apparently there is a record of about 70,000 pounds (and this is a small amount) of radiactive waste sealed in steal barrels dumped into a trench somewhere in an industrial field, only no one knows where this is now. Stories like this are common. Once it seeps to the bedrock it travels who knows where...

On a positive side the city has a great arts and jazz scene, although there aren't any clubs and not too many studios to see it. Little Italy Niagara on Pine Ave. is also great--lotsa great food and interesting people. Residents and former residents know it best and slam it hardest, although most of us still have a real soft spot...

[J. Will]

A few years ago they built a casino in NF, NY. Instead of building it on the river where it could have a hotel with great views of Horseshoe Falls, and could lead to a vibrant area with massive numbers of tourists and streetlife/nightlife, like the areas near the NF, ON casinos, they built it way, way back away from the river. It exists almost solely as a "destination" to itself instead of contributing to a vibrant neighbourhood.

[Tony]

^ I don't know the details myself but would the location happen to have anything to do with Native-American soil?

[mrskyline]

The Canadian side also has a better view of the falls.

[miketoronto]

I understand the whole view thing, however I have to say I was impressed with the American side view. Yes you don't get a postcard view. However you get to basically stand right up next to the top of the falls and get a different vantage point. So I think both sides have their good views

[Downtown Bolivar]

The two issues with getting close to the river and the waterfalls on the American side are the Robert Moses Parkway, private lands next to it and also the Niagara Reservation parklands ( the official name for all the parks that stretch from Goat Island to Fort Niagara). Robert Moses succeeded brilliantly in cutting off huge areas from their waterfront. Just about every waterfront expressway in NY state was designed and implemented by him.

[steel]

Because it is in NYS

[biscuit]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Bad urban planning + Mob presence + Stifling unions + High taxes = Failure

I don't know how much a role planning plays into NF NY state of decline as NF ON doesn't seem exactly well planned itself. Even by New York standards Niagra Falls is considered a cesspool of corruption. It has been said that nothing gets built without multiple payouts to the local bosses and politicians. And don't even think about bringing in outside crews or using non-union labor.

Driving through parts of Niagra Falls remined me of the "bad" future from Back To The Future II.

[Downtown Bolivar]

^^^you know the funny thing is you'd think that Niagara Falls would be dangerous because it looks so run down. But the thing is you can walk just about anywhere and crime is pretty low--it's tough but not violent. The sad truth is, many parts of the city are abandoned.

[sharkfood]

I think Niagara Falls (the falls, not the town) suffer from an image problem in America. I think it's viewed, to some extent, as a dorky, blue-collar destination. A destination that hit its peak in the 1920's and has been in decline ever since. Many Americans have never been there and have no reason to go. Why should they, when there's so much else to see in the Northeast (the Adirondacks, Cape Cod, New York, many parts of New England, etc.)?

For Canadians living in Ontario, however, I think the Falls are probably one of the top attractions. They're within 2 hours of Toronto (versus what 7 hours from New York City). And, frankly, Ontario being a Great Lakes province doesn't have the same natural scenery and coastline that the Northeast U.S. has.

[Downtown Bolivar]

^^^Except that Ontario residents travel pretty freely in the east of N.A. and also just as capable of heading to the east coast as anyone else. The vast area known as "cottage country" in Ontario provides a major draw away from the Falls. Don't make the mistake of assuming that those in Ontario don't have better places to go.