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MAR 10 - MAR 17, 2015

Our Report on the Proposed Hamister Hotel Through a Series of Connected but Separate Stories

By Frank Parlato

March 10, 2015

On the following pages readers will find a rather comprehensive report on a single project - the proposed Hamister Hotel Project in Downtown Niagara Falls.

For almost three years, the Niagara Falls Reporter questioned the deal - and its taxpayer subsidized financing plan.

Sometimes the Reporter was the only one to question it.

Now the Hamister project is coming near its crossroads. It is already more than a year late. The developer will either have to build starting this spring or summer - or the public will know all bets are off.

The Reporter too is at the crossroads. It is high time we faithfully address - and completely explain - what we think is wrong with a project that has been almost universally praised and in a sort of blindly unquestioning way that reveals a certain naïveté at best and at worst gives birth to fanaticism.

For those then who have an interest - this is our view of the Hamister hotel deal. Use it as a yardstick, not as a measure of Hamister's proposed hotel, but as a yardstick of our judgment, of yours, or the public.

If the Hamister hotel was a privately funded project, that did not require millions from the taxpayers, and the virtual taking of a valuable downtown property, owned by the people of Niagara Falls, we would say nothing against the project.

As it is, this project is reliant on the money and the land of the people.
This is why we write about it, why we wrote this report, why we had questions in our mind, and why we will try to answer those here in this report.

 

 

 

 

Our Report on the Proposed Hamister Hotel Through a Series of Connected but Separate Stories
Hamister Seeks Tax Discounts, Grants, Discounted Real Estate -- Totaling $9.4 Million
Job Promises, Job Delivery - Vast Errors By Expert State Officials
Hamister to Build Lower Quality, Lower Density Than RFP Sought
Price Doesn't Sound Right
How Was Hamister Selected?
Financing in Question?
Hamister Hotel History - A Shrinking Deal With Escalating Handouts
A Key Property, if Built as a Hyatt Place, Will Be Underdeveloped
The City Hall Good Life
Former Lockport Youth Director At Center of Credit Card Investigation Files Complaint with State
Council Unanimously Approves Hyde Park Pavilion Bond Resolution
Why I Voted for Ice Pavilion Renovation - But Paid For With Casino Cash
The Best Community to Live, Work, and Raise a Family Ortt Reaches Out To Reporter Readers
Niagara Falls Getting Hamister Hotel, Not Nik Wallenda
Only in North Tonawanda: Questions for Common Council
Sound Off on Steroids? No Sweeney, it's Not All The Republicans Fault
Mayoral Candidate Szwedo Talks His Talk with Sense of Humor
Native American Marijuana Production A Bad Bet for Niagara County Taxpayers
Findings Warn About Continuing CMO Vacancy at Erie County Correctional Facilities.
Casino Cash - Gone with the Wind
Paladino Carrying Fight to Minority Board Members
Military-Strength Anti-Bleeding Product Coming to Stores
Skrlin Hammers Home a Homely Masterwork
The Great One Scores Again: Skrlin Deftly Weave a Monster Story
Letters to the Editor
City Hall and Dog Park Jokes

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