A Tale of Two Niagaras

Niagara Falls, NY and Niagara Falls, Ontario are a study in contrasts -- Ontario's a success story of good governance and planning, New York's the complete opposite. Rob Gurwitt has the story.

1 minute read

September 23, 2009, 2:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur


"'Ontario has developed its Niagara area with pretty good adherence to a macro-regional plan that encompasses transport, agriculture, green space, industry, residential development and tourism, and that utilizes regional governance structures,' says Bruce Fisher, who directs the Center for Economic and Policy Studies at Buffalo State College. 'That approach simply has no counterpart here.'

Most of the individual pieces that have come together to turn Niagara Falls, Ontario, into a Canadian success story also exist on the American side: the Falls themselves, a publicly owned park, a road along the river, hydropower plants, a casino. But until recently, few people in New York-not locally, and certainly not at the state level-seemed the least bit interested in making them add up.."

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 in Governing Magazine

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