Who should really be blamed for shorted festival hours?

THE TONAWANDAS - So, was having to leave the festival one hour earlier that big of a deal?

Probably not.

But this decision did cause a bit of controversy between City of Tonawanda Mayor Ron Pilozzi and the common council and the Canal Fest Committee.

Sometimes, the safety of residents needs to be put ahead of the amount of fun provided for residents.

When three city leaders, specifically Pilozzi, Chief of Police (....Ivanic) and Chief of Fire Charles Stuart all agree implementing this change is for the best - we should listen.

These official are in these positions to make the best possible decision for the city, an that includes safety.

Maybe a face-to-face conversation regarding the change was owed to the Secretary of Canal Fest Randy Fahs; however, whose decision was this to make?

City officials and city law enforcement own the right to make those changes, not an appointed committee selected to coordinated the amount of fun provided to the cities for the eight days of festivities.

Sometimes, when things work one way for 30 years, people are apprehensive about change. They might even ask the question, “Why fix it, if it’s not broken?”

However, some of those parties involved should consider that maybe it (the festival) was broken. The intent of Canal Fest is to provide a family-friendly environment for residents to bring their families an play some games. Not, for the teenagers to hang out under the bridges, wait for law enforcement to turn their heads and then cause mischief.

This topic was visited before and again, the blame should not fall on the city for “ruining the fun,” the blame should fall on the parents who let their young teenagers head to the canal unsupervised.

A suggestion for a possible solution, so that maybe next year the festival won’t be forced to close early, would be to provide parental supervision and stop depending on local law enforcement to enforce the rules for the teenagers in the city.

Teenagers need rules and laws to live by. Hanging out by the canal after dark is not a good way to start enforcing those rules.

Implement a curfew for your children, before the city does that too.

Take responsibility for those who are causing the ruckus n teach them to take responsibility for themselves, That way, everyone has a day that ends well. Better yet, head to Canal Fest with your children, be there to supervise and see if it makes a difference.