Neanderthals and Racism: One City's Problem

Ayn Rand wrote in 1963 "Racism claims that the content of a man's mind...is inherited". She went on to say that this notion of racism "is the caveman's version of the doctrine of innate ideas...which has been thoroughly refuted by philosophy and science".

Forty-six years later, in spite of the rest of the world forging well into the 21st century, we now have definitive analysis supporting the idea that, indeed, neanderthals are running the city of Niagara Falls.

Racism is certainly not a new problem in the city of Niagara Falls, but a recent seismic upheaval can be credited to one Willie Santiago. You see, Willis is tired of the same old nonsense, being made out to be a bad guy by others who accused him of racist behavior. Why, it would seem that Willie--a 27 year veteran of the Niagara Falls Department of Public Works--is almost a bleeding heart of 'why can't everyone just get along'. Leading an understandably anonymous contingent directly to the Niagara Falls Gazette in an effort to plead his case, he worries that "someone is going to get hurt" because of increasing racial tensions with the DPW.

One would think Will Santiago had enough of his fifteen minutes of fame.

Take a minute to remember what an upstanding citizen Willie Santiago really is, starting in 2001 with the Reporter's coverage of his reckless activities. Named in numerous complaints for bullying and racism, along with the felonious theft of city materials, he exemplifies what altruism is not. Had any of the rest of us misappropriated tens of thousands of dollars worth of asphalt millings and cut our own personal deal to move it, we would be in jail. But with the help of fellow neanderthals like former city administrator Al Joseph and the law department's Tom O'Donnell, Santiago got off easy with a thirty day voluntary suspension, a slap on the wrist and followed with plea bargain for disorderly conduct. Certainly not the felony charge he deserved.

The crux of the present escalating dissension is the lawsuit file in 2003 by six DPW employees alleging ongoing discrimination and overt racism in the workplace. Six years later that lawsuit should be fading into history instead of increasing hysteria. Six years and three administrations worth of hoping the problem would go away has done nothing but inflame workers in the DPW and accelerate the racist behavior within its ranks. Since it is nigh impossible to be fired from the city once hired, most of the employees in the DPW have been there twenty years or more. Thus the Old guard remains intact, held steadfastly in place by the ineffective New Guard: current city officials constrained by impotent leadership and adversarial city hall relationships.

One would hope the person running the city would be the illustrious and not so new mayor, Paul Dyster, or perhaps the newer yet frequently absent city administrator, Donna Owens. One comes a bit closer to the truth of who exactly is running the city of Niagara Falls when one realizes the edicts passed down originate elsewhere, from the likes of assistant corporation counsel Tom O'Donnell--who is too overwhelmed or too afraid to make the right decision to settle this case--or from Roy "Butch" Harvey, the union representative ready to fight for workers' rights with ridiculously designed contracts that perpetuate and protect bad behavior. Ultimately all at the expense of their trusting constituency.

Since the city of Niagara Falls appears unable to save itself from the tar pits of institutional racism, it is clear that state and federal interventions be ongoing to extract her from the self-made quagmire. It is time city elected officials accept the fact that the problem is out of control, and they are either unwilling or incapable of providing and maintaining a safe and efficacious work environ. The bottom line? They can't get out of this muck by themselves.

If the city is to evolve into the bustling world class city it could and should be, Mayor Dyster and his trusted but elusive sidekick, Ms. Owens must immediately and decisively emerge from the caves of city hall and lead the city into a new era. It's a no brainer: settle the DPW Six lawsuit now, and impose swift and serious consequences to any and all who insist on perpetuating racial intolerance within the city's ranks. City officials must leave their paleolithic past behind and accept the facts that the wheel has been invented, fire is good and racism in any form has no place in the future of the city of Niagara Falls.