WILL WALLENDA WALK?
Decision day for Niagara Parks Commission.
For a daredevil who risks his life professionally, Nik Wallenda’s never-say-die attitude makes perfect sense. So, until someone tells the tightrope walker “no means no,” he’ll continue planning to walk across the Niagara gorge, assuming provincial officials haven’t completely shut the door on him.
For nearly a year, Wallenda, a member of the famed Flying Wallendas circus family, has been drumming up interest in his plan to walk over the Niagara gorge — 670 metres between Goat Island on the New York side of the Horseshoe Falls and Table Rock on the Canadian side.
He has already stretched his 15 minutes of fame into 17 because neither the Niagara Parks Commission nor Ontario’s Liberal government will give him a clear-cut final answer on his proposal.
That’s why the time has come for the agency that manages public property along the Niagara River to give him an unequivocal thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
With any luck that will happen at Wednesday’s parks commission meeting, where board members are expected to vote on the idea. Again.
Commissioners already voted in December to uphold their long-standing prohibition of stunts at Niagara Falls, a move that should have thrown cold water on Wallenda’s plans. But he won’t take no for an answer, interpreting every polite brushoff as “the door’s still open.”
Wallenda commissioned his own economic impact study that suggests 125,000 people would flock to watch him try and cheat death at Niagara, giving the area a $20-million shot in the arm. And 400 million people around the world would watch it on TV. That’s more than half of the TV audience of 700 million who watched the 2010 World Cup soccer final. It’s easy to be a little cynical about those numbers.
He’s back in front of the parks commission once again, only because Ontario Tourism Minister Michael Chan wouldn’t say yes and wouldn’t say no when Wallenda came knocking on his door in January, hoping the Liberal cabinet minister would overrule the parks commission.
You can’t blame a guy for trying. Why wouldn’t Wallenda exhaust the political avenue when it’s so often the path of least resistance. Hey, it worked in New York State.
When he approached American parks authorities a year ago, they also cited their own ban on stunts. So, Wallenda went the political route. Bowled over by the prospect of something — anything — generating a little economic activity in Niagara Falls, N.Y., state legislators and Gov. Andrew Cuomo passed a law giving Wallenda a one-time exemption from the no-stunting rule. But he has to do it this summer.
So, the clock is ticking. That’s why he’s so urgently trying to win over the Niagara Parks Commission or their political masters at Queen’s Park.
What you’ve got is a Liberal government at Queen’s Park afraid to say no to something that might be popular with the masses and that might be a shot in the arm for the local economy.
But at the same time, Ontario’s provincial decisionmakers are afraid to say yes for a host of reasons — the precedent it would set, public opposition, the fear something will go wrong and the fight it would trigger with the parks commission.
Premier Dalton Mcguinty said last year it would be up to the Niagara Parks Commission to decide Wallenda’s fate. Translation: no political interference from the political big shots.
So, let’s get on with it. Make a decision, stand by it and settle this once and for all.
By now, there’s nothing left to say on the matter. Both sides know where the other stands. Wallenda wants to use the Horseshoe Falls as the backdrop for a stunt.
The Niagara Parks Commission has a standing policy against allowing stunts. There’s a giant chasm between the two sides — literally and figuratively.
Wallenda’s saga goes on and on, just because no one will give him the green light he wants and because he won’t accept the yellow and red lights the Niagara Parks Commission has signalled.