Niagara Falls Reporter
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APR 07 - APR 14, 2015

Letters to the Editor

April 07, 2015

Sweeney Payne Not Appealing to Some

Who is this hysterical "Sweeney Payne character anyway?

This person speaks as though they actually believe the drivel that they write of every week.

The waste of ink that involves Brownfield issues in North Tonawanda in the March 31 Reporter cites numerous remedial projects in the City of North Tonawanda. In his looney haste to disparage the current NT leadership the writer calls out the "Shoreline Apartments" in the City of Tonawanda. There ARE no "Shoreline Apartments" in the CoT. What I presume that he's speaking of are owner occupied Townhouses on Niagara Shore Drive. This loose, oversight is simple yet typical of the "why let facts get in the way of story" genre Sweeney Payne seems to put out every week.

This week's entry asks the reader to disregard New York State Dept of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Dept. of Health standards of remediation & health protection and hitch on to his bandwagon of endlessly blaming of the current City leadership. Further, he wants residents to extend the hysteria by calling City representatives, as if the DEC ad DoH reported to City Officials. We didn't elect our reps to take on the duties of Chemical or Medical PhDs, or even play them on TV.

What would Sweeney Payne have my representatives do? Does he want us to balk at what our State experts say is safe as if their mandates were untried, untested, attempts to purposely sicken residents? Does he want us to throw in the towel and chain link fence the whole city off as not worthy of decontamination? Does he want other cities and towns to take advantage of Brownfield grants while we sit on the sidelines, let the Brownfield districts die, and whimper about it like he does?

If he thinks that the NYS DEC & NYS DoH are uneducated, pawns of politicians, pushover, "yes" men & women, then I know that he has never worked with them. They do not take their jobs lightly. They don't allow City politicians of any party to sway their decisions. If Sweeney Payne believes differently, then I now believe that he is more of a fool than I have thought of him from the start.

Kevin J. O'Connor

N. Tonawanda, NY 14120

***

Subject: reader critique and Polish Fest Announcement

I was quite impressed with the layout and readability of the current

edition of your paper. It is the first time I have seen it and wanted

to compliment you on this quality production.

Bill Poole, Lt. Col. USAR, ret

On another note, my wife Dottie is chairperson of her 6th annual

Polish Fest at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in the city of Tonawanda.

For those who missed or didn't get enough traditional Popolski

celebration around Dyngus Day - take heart. This Polish Fest on April

25,2015 will be preceded by a folk mass in the church at 4:30 pm. The

Polish Fest is held at 70 Adam St. in the church hall and doors open

following the 4:30 mass. $15 for adults and $1 for youth under 14,

features home-made Polish food;

beverages, and dessert. Music by Joe Macielag ensemble and

traditional Polish dance in traditional costume by the Harmony Folk

Dancers. Tickets available at the rectory 693-1150 or call Dottie at

694-0026.

***

Tony,

Good article about ECC. It's just the tip of the ice.

Michael

***

Need to read the Reporter to find out the real trash (plan)

I read The Reporter and found out I cannot throw out extra bags of garbage on bulk pickup for Spring. No wonder the city looks war torn. People trying to throw out stuff and keep their neighborhood clean are now told they cannot do so. Dyster should not be re-elected. He has spent money and wasted millions of dollars and now we the people are potential criminals if we violate his garbage ordinance.

Who would even consider trash totes as small as the ones in Niagara Falls? Certainly not anyone with critical thinking skills. People who never worked in the private sector and only employed by the public sector are devoid of economic reality. What a waste of money. Is the recycle compensation from Modern based on a contracted fixed rate/ ton or on a variable commodity market rate/ton? If it is the later that is a problem.

According to the WSJ Monday April 6, 2015, "Recycling Becomes a Tougher Sell As Prices Drop", is a good article to read.

As a homeowner and taxpayer why was I given a smaller trash tote than Niagara Falls Housing Authority residents? As a resident I often wonder what has this administration really done to enhance my quality of life. I know one thing I can do in the future to help change things and that is vote against Dyster!

Great job Reporter!,

Lynn, N.F.,N.Y.

***

Reporter is Holier than Thou

Your editor likes to repeat a bible verse. "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, If any will not work, neither let him eat." 2 Thessalonians 3:10

It's in your paper all the time. He thinks it's an excuse to call poor people lazy.

But Christ never said those words. They are the words of Paul of Tarsus, a man who never met Christ. They were spoken in anticipation of Christ's return; he was referring to Christians who had stopped working in anticipation of Jesus’ Second Coming.

The message was about living an active faith, not passing judgment on the poor. One should always interpret religious texts in the spirit in which they were written, not as justification for an air or superiority or intolerance.

Al Rotundo

Niagara Falls

***

Mission accomplished.

Following Anna Howard's article about the absence of basketball courts at Hyde Park, the brilliant Niagara Falls activist Ken Hamilton posted on his Facebook the Niagara Community Forum that he is renewing his effort to get basketball courts at "our city's largest park" Hyde Park.

Hamilton was the driving force for the Legends basketball courts and now he is saying that he and that daring young Community Development Director Seth Piccirillo have plans for basketball courts for Hyde Park.

So what became of DeSantis the park planner?

Ken will now go forth and hound Piccirillo, Dyster and the council to get the basketball courts in Hyde Park.

Which is a good thing, especially in an election year.

City historian Chris Stoianoff is also joining Hamilton on Facebook to "bring basketball to Hyde Park."

At the end of the day, it was Howard's article that got the subject out in the open.

She put it all in easy to understand terms - with no rancor - and the general public hadn't a clue as to what was going on.

With one column the Reporter cut through all that nonsense.

The Reporter remains the city's dirty, guilty pleasure that no one will admit to reading but the paper that everyone reacts to at the end of the day.

 

 

 

 

Dyster Pours it on for Buffalo Law Firm
Planning Board Chairman Rick Smith to Run for City Council Take Care of Basics; Anti-Waste, Anti-Dyster Platform
Accardo Questions Lack of a City Engineer as Infrastructure Woes in City Continue to Mount, Frustration Grows
The Dyster Administration was Engineered to Fail from Day One
183,694,216.76 Reasons
City Financial Advisory Panel Must Ask the Tough Questions
The How and "Y" of Proposed Homeless Shelter Must Be Explained
Boniello Fundraiser At Antonio's Longtime Falls' Lawyer Kicks off Campaign for City Court Judge
ECC Officials Remain Secretive on Expense Reports
State Scholarships Funds Available for Italian-American Students
Schoepflin Gets Promotion; Niagara Falls Gets Hamister (Maybe)
John E. Richmond Joins Lipsitz & Ponterio
Only in NT: A Candidate for the Rut City Award
Niagara Wheatfield's Smilinich named NYS Elementary Principal of the Year
Bradt Urges Special Meeting on Trio of Buildings County Purchased Approval of Deal by 17th Will Save Taxpayers $12-15K
Walter Gearing Up to Take on Poloncarz in November
Letters to the Editor
City Hall Jokes
A Wonder of the World: Niagara Falls USA A whimsical look at the current State of Affairs in Our Beloved Niagara Falls, USA

Contact Info

©2014 The Niagara Falls Reporter Inc.
POB 3083, Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14304
E-mail: info@niagarafallsreporter.com
Phone: (716) 284-5595

Publisher and Editor in Chief: Frank Parlato
Managing Editor: Dr. Chitra Selvaraj
Senior Editor: Tony Farina