Business View Civil Municipal - July 2023

197 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 7 And according to Daredevils of Niagara Falls, since 1850, some 5,000 people have gone over the falls, either as purposeful stunts for fame and/ or money or as attempted suicides, and only 16 have survived––all of them at Horseshoe Falls, located on the Canadian side. Over the years, many daredevils have used fanciful contraptions to survive the plunge, from glorified wooden barrels to metallic missile-like structures. The first successful such attempt was by schoolteacher Annie Taylor, who went over the falls in a barrel, back in the good, old days of 1901. Another chap (they’re often anonymous and kept deliberately so by authorities, who of course naturally want to discourage such potentially fatal foolishness), just a few years ago, miraculously survived the plunge, simply swimming nearly naked, without so much as a lifejacket. Authorities summarily found him calmly sitting atop a rock at the base of the falls. We recently spoke with His Worship, James Diodati, the 23rd mayor of Niagara Falls. Diodati told us more about himself and the city (about 95,000 residents) that he loves so much. According to Niagara This Week, Diodati was first elected to the mayorship in 2010, following seven years on the city council. Self-employed, he is well known for his volunteer work, including serving on the Niagara Catholic District School Board Accommodation Review Committee and its Vision 20/20 Advisory Committee. He also established the “Sleep Cheap, Charities Reap” fundraiser, which has brought in more than $1.8 million for local charity organisations. Diodati and wife Yvonne have three children. “Niagara Falls is the number-one leisure destination in Canada,” the mayor said, “with 22 million visits per year. Some are multiple returning visitors, so we are used to and we count on tourism. And during COVID, we shut the taps of tourism right off. We closed the borders, and it was devastating. ‘Devastating’ is an understatement. The good news is this past season in 2022, domestic tourism was back to pre-pandemic levels, and that was very significant for us. Typically, 50 percent of our revenue comes to us from international visitors, and the majority NIAGARA FALLS , ONTARIO