Every Monday, the Niagara Gazette turns over a goodly portion of its front page to freshman Mayor Vince Anello, allowing him to pontificate on how well his administration is running the city without any annoying alternative viewpoints slipping into the copy.
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Last week, Anello wrote a spirited defense of the proposed 6 percent tax increase he plans to inflict on the city's beleaguered property owners. Often referring to himself in the third person, he pretty much says there's nothing he can do about it.
Hogwash.
Rather than threatening the library with closure, he might consider trimming the budget by getting rid of the new employees that have come to work for the city over the past year under his "friends and family" hiring program. This alone would save an estimated $500,000 in payroll.
We're paying for an events coordinator and an assistant events coordinator -- the mayor's daughter -- who have coordinated no events here that haven't been coordinated in previous years without their help.
We're paying for a parking director -- the mayor's campaign manager's son -- who directs the parking of his own automobile in the lot at City Hall before disappearing into his office to do who-knows-what.
We're paying for a grants writer -- who promised the mayor prior to last year's election that he wouldn't work for the campaigns of any Anello opponent -- who has not written a single successful grant proposal over the past 11 months. Interestingly, the same individual served for a year as grants writer under former mayor Jimmy Galie. He didn't get the city any grants then, either.
And, if Anello gets his wish, we will also be paying for a $21,000 raise for City Administrator Dan Bristol, who lives in Wilson, and already makes $56,278 a year. That $21,000, by the way, is higher in and of itself than the median income of Niagara Falls residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Anello should have thought about how broke the city was when he turned the Hyde Park Golf Course over to a group of developers in what has to be one of the shadiest deals ever made in this city of shady deals. Part of the larceny involved the city "forgiving" a $250,000 debt owed by members of the group.
Try getting that same forgiveness when you're late with your water bill.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Nov. 23 2004 |