Articles by: Mike Hudson

Paul Dyster with his idol Barack Obama.

Dyster may open floodgates for refugee welfare recipients, but will aid poverty industry immensely

News December 8, 2016 at 4:46 am

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster plan to aid in the resettlement efforts for up to 50 refugee families from the Middle East to the city will begin in earnest next year. “We have a very diverse community to start with and we just want to make certain people who comeRead More

Carl Rivers faces a slew of charges.

This week in stupid crime

Community News September 1, 2016 at 2:32 am

Stop yelling obscenities Deirdre A. Dixon, 28, 1705 Pierce Ave., Apt. lower, was charged with disorderly conduct last week after she got into an argument out in front of her house. Police were called. Arriving on the scene, they told her she needed to stop yelling obscenities, but she flatRead More

A typical stretch of Grand Island waterfront, hugged by two roads - the West River Parkway and West River Road, which run side-by-side the entire eight mile length of the island. Together, they exemplify an exercise in redundancy, not to mention stupidity.

Grand Island envisioned as key to Niagara River parks system

Community News September 1, 2016 at 12:52 am

Think just a moment, if you will, of a Niagara River waterfront park system stretching from Mutual Riverfront Park on Lake Erie in Buffalo all the way to Old Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario in Youngstown. Spectacular, and rather like what was envisioned by the Niagara River Greenway Commission inRead More

Summer box office blockbuster season officially over this week  

Summer box office blockbuster season officially over this week  

Uncategorized August 13, 2016 at 8:55 pm

 Can summer really be almost over? One look at the movies being released this week and it’s apparent that, for Hollywood at least, it’s already bitten the dust. There are a few big names – Meryl Streep, Robert Redford and Mel Gibson to name three – but those names gotRead More

Grand Island bike path debate opens up opportunities, and resistance

Grand Island bike path debate opens up opportunities, and resistance

Erie County August 11, 2016 at 1:40 am

The ongoing controversy about whether to close Grand Island’s  West River Parkway to create a bike path can be seen as part of a larger conflict, one that pits longtime residents against more recent arrivals in determining the future of what has traditionally been a semi-rural bedroom community. The lightningRead More

Was political activist Thompson targeted by DA for his beliefs?

Was political activist Thompson targeted by DA for his beliefs?

Erie County August 11, 2016 at 1:17 am

  It was a setup. That’s how longtime Grand Island activist Russ Thompson described the series of events that led to his being charged with felony of false voter registration and using that false registration to cast ballots on Grand Island. Thompson turned down an offered plea bargain, and theRead More

Are crowded train stations a thing of the past or of the future?

Dyster’s New Train Station Open House Event Will Feature Toy Trains But Not The Real Ones – Yet!

Featured, Niagara Falls July 28, 2016 at 1:32 pm

Despite the fact that no contract exists between Amtrak or any other entity to actually use the facility, city officials are ready to show off the new $44 million Niagara Falls International Railway and Intermodal Transportation Center to the public. A “sneak preview” of the new train station will beRead More

Have you ever seen anything so ugly? Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster is spending $585,000 of your money to build this monstrosity on a traffic island in the city’s tourist district.

Monument To Dyster’s Poor Taste Now Costing New Yorkers $585,000

Featured, Niagara Falls July 14, 2016 at 5:54 pm

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster may not know much about art, but he knows that he likes to spend other people’s money. Last week it was announced that the sculpture he’s having installed on the traffic island in front of the old Hotel Niagara on Rainbow Boulevard will cost $150,000Read More

The right reverend Andrew Cuomo preaches to the choir about how Niagara Falls will turn around based on a politically dirty deal for a smallish hotel that the taxpayers of New York gifted to the developer.

Subdued Hotel Groundbreaking Has Hamister Making Excuses

Featured, Niagara Falls July 14, 2016 at 5:52 pm

  State and local officials were looking sheepish and Buffalo developer Mark Hamister was spinning excuses at Tuesday’s long delayed groundbreaking for a small, midmarket hotel project that was first announced four years ago. Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, who has accepted campaign contributions from Hamister, offered up his usualRead More

Buffalo Billion Project In Big Trouble: Investors Pulling Out, Pols Playing CYA

Buffalo Billion Project In Big Trouble: Investors Pulling Out, Pols Playing CYA

Erie County, Featured July 14, 2016 at 5:46 pm

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Buffalo Billion” project, now under investigation by both the U.S. Justice Department and state Attorney General Eric Schniederman, is in major league trouble and the massive project may be derailed by growing nervousness from IBM and other investors over the continuing corruption probes. According to veteran NewRead More

Lawn signs residents are putting up in Niagara Falls
Unfortunately a Department of Public Works truck was seen removing a sign that was installed on a utility pole on 86th Street last Friday around 12:00 p.m. The strange thing is there were other advertising signs on that pole that were not removed. 
There were also two signs removed from two commercial buildings on Buffalo Avenue that same day. These buildings both have a very small area of grass next to them which is probably technically the city right-of-way and probably shouldn’t of been placed there.
But they probably would not have been removed if they said “Start The Reassessments”.

Stop on the Reassessment!

Featured, Niagara Falls July 14, 2016 at 5:37 pm

Just another great reason to live in Niagara Falls. Highest paid taxes and least received services. I do not live downtown, I live in Lasalle. I will have to ask the Mayor how much of an increase I should get based on the boarded up former crack house that isRead More

Older yes, but any wiser? The Gin Blossoms will be performing a free show Saturday evening on Old Falls Street in Niagara Falls.

Gin Blossoms Free Niagara Falls Show New Installment In Long Running Drama

Community News July 14, 2016 at 4:53 pm

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” Hunter S. Thompson Mike Hudson Even by rock and roll standards, the story of the Gin Blossoms is aRead More

Gradually you make it to the front.

Maid Of The Mist A New York Nightmare: Canadian Hornblower Niagara A Class Act

Featured July 7, 2016 at 10:19 pm

We tried, we really did. The Niagara Falls Reporter did everything in its power to improve the experience for tourists and locals alike riding one of the sightseeing boats that operate at the base of the falls. In Ontario, we were successful. Hornblower’s Niagara Cruises now offers state of theRead More

Five proponents will bid for the right to build a new entertainment complex servicing the city’s two casinos.

New Train, Casino Entertainment Complex For Niagara Falls (Ont.)

Featured July 7, 2016 at 10:11 pm

Don’t look now, the Canadians are coming. As the city’s share of slot machine revenue from the Seneca Niagara Casino continues to plummet, and Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster struggles unsuccessfully to get Amtrak, Greyhound, U.S. Customs, the Underground Railroad Heritage Commission or quite literally anyone to rent space inRead More

Despite the hype and promise of spinoff from a new casino in Niagara Falls, none of it happened. This building literally directly across the street from the Seneca Niagara Casino is one of scores of vacant buildings adjacent to the casino.

STUDY: Niagara Falls Worst City In Country For Retirees: Buffalo, Cheektowaga Close Behind

Featured July 7, 2016 at 10:09 pm

  A new study ranks a world renowned tourist attraction right here at home at the bottom of the list for retirees. The widely reported study, done by Bankrate.com, ranked Niagara Falls as the number one worst city in the entire country to retire. The study looked at nine categories:Read More

Former Mayor Paul Dyster had one amiable quality;  he always took care of his campaign donors.

State Finance Board, Reassessment On The Way: Hold Onto Your Wallets!

Featured July 7, 2016 at 10:04 pm

If there’s one thing Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster can’t get enough of, it’s money. And not money like you work for, Dyster wants other people’s money. Those who contribute to his campaign war chest are routinely rewarded with valuable city real estate, consulting contracts and city jobs. He’s blownRead More

Radioactive Waste no Cause for Concern: According to Falls’ Senior Planner, Desantis

Radioactive Waste no Cause for Concern: According to Falls’ Senior Planner, Desantis

Community News, Featured, Niagara County, Niagara Falls June 30, 2016 at 6:38 pm

Niagara Falls city officials attempted to address concerns this week in the wake of an expose in The Reporter on the creation of a radioactive waste dump on North Avenue here. Approximately 100 tons of radioactive soils was excavated during the construction of the city’s new train station and dumpedRead More

Grandinetti’s Cat-Hating Law Again Shot Down by City Council

Grandinetti’s Cat-Hating Law Again Shot Down by City Council

Community News June 30, 2016 at 6:22 pm

A visibly agitated Niagara Falls City Councilwoman Kristen Grandinetti watched helplessly this week as her colleagues tabled her controversial anti-cat legislation for the third time, despite what she claimed were draconian efforts on her part to make the proposed law more acceptable. Grandinetti wants to criminalize the act of feedingRead More

With subsidized/affordable housing a major development objective of the Dyster administration, Al Williams, fresh out of prison for his sexual abuse of an 11 year old, found the living easy and inexpensive in Niagara Falls.

Lackawanna Takes Action on Sex Offenders; Niagara Falls Continues to Ignore Problem

Community News June 30, 2016 at 6:10 pm

The growing problem of convicted and registered sex offenders from around the state and around the country being dumped by the New York State Division of Parole into communities on the Niagara Frontier is being handled in drastically different ways by local officials in those communities, whose primary duty isRead More

The Artvoice Probe Triggers Action by Buffalo Officials on Sex Offenders

The Artvoice Probe Triggers Action by Buffalo Officials on Sex Offenders

Community News June 30, 2016 at 6:08 pm

A June 9 Artvoice expose concerning the dispersal of seven registered sex offenders from two group homes in West Seneca has prompted quick action on the part of elected representatives in Buffalo, where two of the offenders were relocated. Senator Tim Kennedy of Buffalo, Erie County Legislator Peter Savage andRead More

.wpzoom (color:black;}