Niagara Falls Reporter
Home | Archive / Search
JUNE 03 - JUNE 11, 2014

Lockport Alderman's Dad gets Contract for New Fire House Doors

By Mike Hudson

June 03, 2014

John Lombardi knows a good thing when he sees it: Like garage door openers....

A recent move by the City of Lockport to install garage door openers in city fire trucks and at the Lockport central emergency dispatch station drew down the wrath of the firefighters union, which didn't want to lose the all important job of pressing the button that made the fire station doors go up and down.

A grievance was filed, the matter went to court and literally dozens of newspaper and television stories about the issue appeared in the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, WIVB, the Buffalo News and other media outlets.

What was lost in the frenzied coverage of this tempest in a teapot was the process by which the new garage door opening system was purchased.

Lockport Alderman John Lombardi III was a vociferous proponent of the new system, endorsing the conventional wisdom that it represented both a cost savings and yet another way to throw the sleepy Erie Canal town into the fast lane of the 21st Century replete with high tech gizmos.

John knew a thing or two about opening garage doors. His father, John Lombardi II, had run Overhead Door of Lockport for many years, and often was the day that young John toiled behind the counter or went out on an installation call on behalf of the family business.

And of the two businesses that bid on the contract to install the new garage door openers – Lombardi's Overhead Door and Sunrise Door of Middleport-- which do you think got the contract from the Lockport Common Council?

If you guessed the place owned by the alderman's father, you would be correct. The contract wasn't much, around $7,500, give or take, but the fact that Lombardi's dad got the contract and the family profited from the flap should have been, and is now, reported.

 

 

 

 

OTHER STORIES THIS WEEK
Dyster Garbage Plan Utter Trash; Residents, Businesses to Pay Price
Owens' Garbage Plan Leaves Much to be Desired, as Debacle Approaches
Crucial Day Coming for Bridgewater Zoning Board Can Send Developers Packing
Lewiston Residents Paid for Tango, Moonwalking, Abacus, Records Show
Dyster Wants Taxpayers to Pick Up Tab for Failed Government Project
State Park for Sale: Glynn Gets More Than Half the Total Revenue in the Niagara Falls State Park
The Reporter's Position on Reporting Suicide
Allies Push Pay Hike for Niagara Health Director
Lockport Alderman's Dad gets Contract for New Fire House Doors
Golisano-Congel Bid for Bills on Track
Rochester Firm that Replaced Local Contractor On Waterfront Job Named in Discrimination Lawsuit
Average Tourist Visit a Few Hours, Cuomo, Glynn, Delaware North like it that Way
De-Olmsteding Park Promotes Short Stays
This Week in Stupid Crime
NY's Schumer leads Democrats to Try to Soften First Amendment

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