Mayor Jim Diodati should pick class over crass
Mayor Jim Diodati might be auditioning to be the next Seth MacFarlane Friday with a State of the City speech he hinted might be a reprise of the comedy routine he treated last year’s audience to.
MacFarlane, the comedic brain behind TV’s Family Guy, was panned as the host of the Academy Awards show in February. As Hollywood rolled out the red carpet to celebrate its best, he went for crass instead of class.
MacFarlane, whose show pushes the envelope of good taste, raised eyebrows with some offcolour humour about domestic violence and whose “boobies” audiences have seen in movies.
What was he doing? Where did he think he was? The State of the City speech?
Crass instead of class was the same criticism levelled against His Worship after last year’s State of the City speech, a tradition many mayors have adopted from the American president’s annual State of the Union address.
It was his sophomore speech, but it was just sophomoric, peppered with off-coloured zingers for no apparent reason and more than a few B-list swear words.
For example, Diodati ribbed then-chamber of commerce chairman Tim Parker of having had sexual relations with a gorilla at Marineland, claimed his cohesive council has “everyone in the tent, pissing out,” and showed a PowerPoint slide of a buxom, bikini-clad babe to somehow illustrate his support for the “Snow Buddies” program.
It wasn’t just the juvenile locker-room jokes, it was the nearabsence of substantive issues like property taxes, managing the city’s debt and providing services.
When he defeated the heavilyscripted but always-safe Ted Salci as mayor in 2010, Diodati brought a decidedly different style to the mayor’s office. He has referred to his speaking style as “politainment” — politics and entertainment, though the 2012 version arguably missed on both counts.
Well, kids, brace for more of the same if the ads for the 2013 speech are any indication of what’s to come.
People are still scratching their heads over the 2012 speech. No doubt that’s part of the reason today’s lunchtime event at the Americana resort is sold out — at $45 a plate. City hall and the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the event, played up last year’s debacle to sell tickets to today’s speech.
An ad in last week’s Niagara Falls Review showed a big picture of his worship with the ominous caption: “What Will He Say?”
Oddsmakers are giving even money on lots of talk about Nik Wallenda and Red Bull Crashed Ice. They’re giving long odds on any talk about the financial predicament city hall faces as a result of Ontario Lottery Gaming Corp., winning appeals of the assessments on its two casinos.
He told The Review he has a big announcement in store. You’d think he would have learned from his speech in 2011, when he announced a biodiesel company would be moving to town, creating 100 factory jobs. Two years later, no sign of the plant.
Last year’s PowerPoint presentation was a thinly-veiled photo album of the mayor making good on his 2010 election promises. This year, the multimedia component is rumoured to be an “I’m With Jim” video, featuring business and community giving testimonials about how they’re on board with the mayor’s vision.
Hopefully, the Americana is brewing up some strong coffee for after lunch.
Once again, it sounds like Diodati might turn the State of the City into the “state of Jim’s adventure as mayor.”
Whether the mayor nails the speech or it bombs, it might not matter. On the Friday before March break, a lot of audience members will listen politely as they count the minutes until they arrive on a Florida beach.
After the Oscars, MacFarlane tweeted there’s “no way” he’d do an encore performance as next year’s Academy Awards host. If this year’s State of the City speech falls flat, Diodati could step in to replace him next year.