Gord Downie presented with Key to City

Read the complete story at Buffalo Rising.

In efforts to find a better day for the city, Mayor Dyster is clearly a mayor who gets it (see some of his comments on the opening of Old Falls Street here). Also the USA Niagara Development Corporation, an arm of Empire State Development, which is now thankfully led by a no-nonsense guy from my neck of the woods who knows what it takes to make things happen on this side of the soda-pop line. It’s great to see Niagara Falls getting less tragic and more hip — and more green.

And about the green: at some point in the concert (perhaps around 7PM), Mayor Dyster will be honoring Gord for his environmental advocacy with a proclamation and a key to the city (mayors do these things). And as Gord is a big supporter of the Waterkeeper Alliance — an international network of organizations which work to keep their local water bodies “swimmable, fishable, drinkable,” and which includes WNY’s own Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper — Julie Barrett O’Neill, executive director and Riverkeeper, will be speaking as well.