Bi-national mayor's coalition has focus
on border crossings

By Larry Austin
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, October 23, 2004

Six mayors from towns along the Niagara River met in Lewiston to announce the formation of a coalition to address issues regarding border crossings.

The mayors of Buffalo, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Lewiston, Ft. Erie, Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Niagara Falls, Ont., began meeting in June to deal with issues common to their communities, said Lewiston Mayor Richard Soluri.

They met at the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission Tuesday to announce the formation of the Niagara River Bi-National Border Mayors’ Coalition.

“We’re here to share with you the importance of the partnership that our six border communities have formed in this alliance,” said Soluri, the host of the meeting. “Through it, we intend to develop strategies and address issues aimed at improving all of Niagara’s four border crossings.”

Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello said the mayors hope to put a face on the issues of border crossings as they relate to commerce in the Golden Horseshoe area. He said the goal is to make the crossings efficient for motorists and commerce by addressing problems with infrastructure, technology, and personnel on both sides of the river.

“We want, collectively, the best technology, the best equipment, the best intelligence, the best personnel all working together at these border crossings to expedite moving people and goods because it’s important to our economic viability,” Masiello said. “To settle for mediocrity, to settle for something less than that, quite frankly, we’re not going to do that anymore.”

Masiello said the meeting is a sign of unity to maximize the assets of the Niagara River crossings and to make sure the local officials act together in Albany and in parliament with strength and conviction.

“We’re here today to speak with one voice,” Masiello said. “Six mayors, one voice.”

Niagara Falls, N.Y., Mayor Vince Anello said most people outside the area do not understand that families on both sides of the river visit each other on a regular basis.

“So the bridge is important for commerce, but it’s what kept these communities together,” Anello said.

Working as a team in Washington and Ottawa is vital to commercial success, Anello added, because for local businesses and their commercial success, the crossings are not just a border.

“The federal governments on both sides of the border have to understand that these bridges are the lifeline - the lifeline - to our communities,” Anello said.

Niagara-on-the-Lake Mayor Gary Burroughs said his area is “heavily dependent on tourism” and less involved in industry than other areas.

Consistency of traffic across the bridges, he said, is “terribly, terribly important to our community” and the province as a whole.

“We need that traffic, the billions of dollars that cross on a regular basis,” he said.

Niagara Falls, Ont., Mayor Ted Salci said he has told Anello: “We are really a community with a river running between it.” Moving across the border with some degree of certainty that a shopping trip will not include sitting for hours in a line-up at the bridge is important to his city. He said he is “fighting to get more access” to the Whirlpool Bridge for local traffic.

Ft. Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop said the bridges are “fundamental” to the economies of the two countries.

“As many of you know, about 20 percent of all trade between Canada and the United States crosses at one of the border crossings in Niagara,” he said. “Now that’s a pretty impressive number when you consider that Canada and the United States are the two greatest trading partners in the world.”

The mayors have joined, he said, because they believe the two federal governments must provide shared border management to move people and goods quickly with the best technology available. At one time, the Peace Bridge had 23 lanes open to move traffic. Today, a norm is ten lanes.

“A solution identified and not implemented is really no solution at all,” Redekop said.