<<Home Niagara Falls Reporter Archive>>

Dyster Fiddles on Facebook as State, Senecas Burn City

By Lori Lane

All roads lead to Seneca. While the city is broken down and ailing, one group of people based on ethnicity or race are growing wealthy.

ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION While Mayor Paul Dyster (depicted in center) claims to be a former arms negotiator, a claim this paper has challenged, somehow he could not negotiate a better deal for Niagara Falls. Good thing we had Ronald Reagan in those days and not Andrew Cuomo.

At the risk of beating a dead horse but in the interest of noting what needs to be noted, Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster spent much of the weekend on Facebook, justifying his WBEN radio walk-off, asking people to vote for him in an online popularity contest and posting articles celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Wallenda walk.

The hypocrisy of that last bit is staggering, since Dyster opposed the Wallenda walk every inch of the way.

He has also posted audio of his past remarks regarding his threat to shut off fire protection for the casino and attempting to parse what he said while at the same time claiming he did not say it.

It’s starting to look like some of the more tuned in people are now realizing that the state once again screwed city residents by putting them through four years of high drama, giving the Senecas in effect a seven-year compact extension (2016-23) at current percentages with zero local input and promising them gaming exclusivity.

Not to mention that Gov. Andrew Cuomo essentially admitted he had no leg to stand on with regard to denying his racino claim.

In light of all of the above, Dyster, state Sen. George Maziarz and state Assemblyman John Ceretto – along with all of their respective followers -- act like the city got something out of the deal when what Niagara Falls actually ended up with is the money they were owed all along from the 2002 casino compact, a compact that was forced upon the city in the first place.

Dyster was a city councilman then, and every bit  in the dark about the specifics of what had just happened to his city as he was last week when the new agreement was announced.

And Dyster spent the weekend on Facebook, where he has 3,002 “friends,” a comparatively small number for a guy who clearly sees himself on the national stage, linking himself to Wallenda and casting his role in selling out the city to the governor and the Senecas as solid sterling.

Meantime Assemblyman John Ceretto (RCI-Lewiston) joined the fools’ overture, alongside Dyster, Gov. Cuomo and Senator George Maziarz, to proclaim the agreement between the state of New York and the Seneca Nation was a great day for the city, instead of a reckless one.

Ceretto's press release said, “This agreement between the state and the Seneca Nation is great news for Western New York and Niagara Falls. My top concern was that Niagara Falls receive the money that it is rightfully owed. Niagara Falls desperately needs this infusion of money to improve its economy and create jobs. This agreement accomplishes that goal, and I am happy to endorse it. The people of Western New York expect their leaders to get things done, and today, we have delivered results.”

But he forgot one thing: The compact was extended by seven years until 2023 without so much as a peep from Ceretto, Maziarz or Dyster.

What were they thinking?

 

 

 

Niagara Falls Reporter - Publisher Frank Parlato Jr. www.niagarafallsreporter.com

JUN 18, 2013