Your Personal Message by Eric Handler

Q: To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is burning deep inside of you? If you could spread your personal message RIGHT NOW to 1 million people, what would you say?

A: If I could spread my message right now to 1 million people I would tell them about the vision to remove the Robert Moses Gorge Parkway from the Niagara Gorge Rim and restore ecologically the unique botanical landscape of Niagara Falls, NY and the Niagara River Gorge. I would direct them to www.niagaraheritage.org to sign the on line petition and then I would ask them to write and mail a letter by July 1, 2011 to New York State's Governor Cuomo and NYS Parks' Commissioner Rose Harvey, and to NYS Senators George Maizarz and Kirsten Gillibrand, to Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, to Assemblyman John Ceretto, and state they want to see the vision for NYS Parks and the Niagara Gorge Rim as put forth and advocated for these last 15 years by The Niagara Heritage Partnership and Wild Ones Niagara Falls and River Region chapter embraced, funded, and implemented within the next three years.

I would ask each to say he or she believe this vision will economically benefit not only the residents of a challenged city, but will benefit the tourists who come to see Frederick Law Olmsted's unparalleled 1880 vision for NY's first and oldest State Park.

Finally, I would ask them to state unequivocally that anything less than a full restoration does a global, state, and local disservice to the multitudes that travel to this world destination and to those who live in the western New York region.