
Journalist and Niagara Falls Reporter contibutor, Tony Farina
by Tony Farina It was nearly three years ago that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster rammed the controversial Hamister Hotel project down the throats of a hesitant city council, telling anyone who would listen as an election approached that the Hamister deal was pretty much do-or-dieRead More

Local gas station owners seem resigned to the construction of a Seneca-built gas station and convenience store along Niagara Street. However, nobody’s quite sure if the project is legal considering the original charter between the state and Senecas allowed only “gaming related” businesses.
by Joseph Kissel Four years ago, the idea to build a Seneca tax-free gas station at the casino caused state and local leaders to question the legality of such a move. Four years later, the site is now fenced off and an excavator stands ready to break ground. Reports haveRead More

Mayor Paul Dyster is shown with a model of a sculpture he plans for a small traffic circle on Rainbow Blvd. The sculpture will cost taxpayers $472,000 of state, city and Greenway money. Standing next to him is City Administrator Donna Owens who will be axed - but not until after she stays on past her eighth anniversary so she can pick up additional taxpayer funded goodies.
One thing about Dyster: He is never transparent. He could have said, when announcing Owens’ departure date, that he wanted her to stay until she got one more year of benefits. But he didn’t. Sly.
by Mike Hudson Inquiring minds want to know: What’s the big hurry to get City Controller Maria Brown out of office next week when Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster is letting City Administrator Donna Owens hang around until July 8? Both women were canned by the mayor in the sameRead More

The Reporter predicts it’s going to be a huge, empty [expensive] train station. The city got grants to pay for much of the construction, but will not get grants to maintain it. The taxpayers of this city will pay for this soon to be empty building. This suggests that just because you’re offered a grant, doesn’t mean you accept it. Suppose you got a grant that would be used to buy a white elephant, but you had to pay to feed and house him - and pay someone to clean up his manure, would you still accept the grant?
by Mike Hudson Back in 2010, for Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, it was all about high speed rail. President Barack Obama had committed to funding the concept, with New York State alone to receive $151 million to promote the concept. Dyster used the publicity to justify spending $44 million onRead More

Train travel the mode of transportation that never goes out of style
by Mike Hudson & Frank Parlato Since no lease agreement exists between Amtrak and the city for space in the Whirlpool Street “Intermodal Transportation Center,” there is no guarantee that Amtrak will move into the $44 million facility at all, much less any sort of agreement as to how muchRead More

US Attorney Preetinder Singh “Preet” Bharara prosecuted Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos for exchanging taxpayer money for donations or other favors.
by Jim Ostrowski This may come as a shock but I have a slightly different take on the corruption scandal that led to the indictment and conviction of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former New York State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. I like to startRead More

Nickled and dimed for 81 years. Motorists have been delayed and charged to enter Grand Island since the days of the model T Ford to the present.
by Joseph Kissel Straight from the pockets of commuters and tourists, the Grand Island tolls bring in $18 million a year for the NYS Thruway Authority. And they also create pollution and rush-hour traffic jams virtually any time of the year but especially during the region’s critical tourist season. “It’sRead More

At the end of the day, what’s wrong with people renting out their private property to people from other parts of the country and the world, who clearly understand the terms and conditions of airbnb?
Why is there a sudden need for government to regulate and tax the people and deprive them of life’s simple joys? Like making a new friend half way around the world or earning a little money to pay your taxes while playing host to someone new and giving them an experience they might never get otherwise?
Once government gets in the middle of this - it will ruin it, not improve it, and another freedom will disappear: the simple right to rent one’s own room out to a stranger who might soon become a friend.
People have been taking in boarders and renting rooms in America for centuries without onerous regulations. Other than a money grab what’s the need now?
by Joseph Kissel It’s certainly one of the nicest, best-maintained houses on 18th Street. Inside, the meticulously clean house has been thoroughly updated while retaining the original architectural details that make this middle-class Niagara Falls home unique. Part of what makes that home unique is the owner, an Airbnb “superhost”Read More

Richard Palladino (left), business manager of Local 91, has never been shy about criticizing either his own union’s past practices or the hiring practices of companies who take New York State taxpayer subsidies to develop businesses than hire out of state, low wage, non union workers. “I want local workers - people who live in Western New York to work on all projects locally that involve taxpayer subsidies,” he said.
by Mike Hudson Six years ago, Dick Palladino ran to become business manager of Laborers Local 91 here based on a single premise – to clean up the once troubled union, and rid it of the last vestiges of the corrupt element that once controlled it for as long asRead More

Seat belt road blocks coming to a street near you.
by Frank Parlato Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard, once again, is reminding motorists that the nanny state ‘Click It or Ticket’ revenue generator will be in effect between May 23 to June 5, just ahead of one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. The county sheriff’s departmentRead More

Before, during and after Isaiah 61 tackled the renovation of a home on Centre Ave. Failure to put proper support beams in the attic of this home caused it to collapse.
by Mike Hudson Results of an audit released this week by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development were sharply critical of the city’s much vaunted and insanely expensive relationship with the Isaiah 61 organization, backing up much of the Niagara Falls Reporter’s coverage of the situation during theRead More

After two terms Mayor Paul Dyster wants to move in a different direction: More spending.
by Mike Hudson Last week, the Niagara Falls Reporter predicted that City Administrator Donna Owens was going to be given the axe by Mayor Paul Dyster. This week, Dyster showed up at City Hall, axe in hand and let her have it. He also announced that, if the council approves,Read More

Artist conception: NTCC CEO John Percy rides high as he hopes to close down or tax the poor people of Niagara Falls who try to make a few bucks renting rooms to tourists in the highest taxed city in the highest taxed state in the USA.
by Mike Hudson High-priced hotel rooms are what John Percy’s all about. The globe-trotting Percy, CEO of the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp., typically spends your money — sent to him by Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster — on five-star accommodations when he visits London, Delhi, Mumbai, Prague, Berlin, Geneva, MilanRead More

What’s in a name? Arby’s on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Niagara Falls advertises Arby’s newest sandwich creation, the “Loaded Italian”.
While it is no doubt a delicious and nourishing sandwich, if the nationality for the sandwich was a little different, the result might be a sh-t storm of boycott and protest not a line up of customers for this mouthwatering delight.
Arby’s has introduced a new sandwich dubbed The Loaded Italian. The subtle mafia implication aside, is this use of a peoplehood to describe food appropriate? Or is it a misappropriation of a culture motivated by commercial gain? Sure, reasonable minds can disagree. But substitute the word Italian with Jew, Black,Read More