The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino.
A MODERN DAY FIGHT FOR WHAT’S RIGHT
“It’s been about, oh twenty or so years since they took Center Court Park from us…” said Arlene Doss as she warmly sipped her coffee during my visit to her beautiful home. In the months since I’ve known Arlene, I have come to admire her unstoppable spirit as she quests for what’s good and right in her neighborhood. Her personality is as warm as the coffee we drank, and I can’t help but think about one of my own personal historic heroes with local ties, Harriet Tubman. I truly believe that Mrs. Tubman would be proud of Ms. Doss and the work she is doing for her community; continuing the American tradition of strong Black women who refuse to bend the knee to corruption and systemic racism.
With Black History Month wrapping up, I found myself reflecting upon the rich history of Niagara Falls and how we arrived where we are today. I have lived here for 35 years which is the entirety of my life. I love our hometown and one of my favorite things about it also happens to be one of its most important features, and that’s our cultural diversity. Niagara Falls is a melting pot of everyone from everywhere and that’s what makes our community so extraordinarily beautiful.
It’s also why having a mayor whom many believe to be a racist is not conducive to proper representation of our community at large. Lots of people, like Ms. Doss, feel forgotten and snubbed by Mayor Restaino and his administration. I can’t say that I blame her either, having followed this story as it has unfolded since early last year. I have watched closely as Ms. Doss and her group of Beech Avenue Project advocates struggle to be heard by Mayor Restaino and Council Chairman Jim Perry. It’s a fact that a large population of Black people live in the Fourth District. Mayor Restaino is choosing to withhold funding from Seneca gaming which were intended for the Underground Railroad Museum, Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, the local school district and other organizations who were the intended recipients.
Meeting Ms. Doss has gifted me the opportunity to learn about life in District F. “It’s been about, oh twenty or so years since they took Center Court Park from us…” said Arlene Doss as she warmly sipped her coffee during my visit to her beautiful home. In the months since I’ve known Arlene, I have come to admire her unstoppable spirit as she quests for what’s good and right in her neighborhood. Her personality is as warm as the coffee we drank, and I can’t help but think about one of my own personal historic heroes with local ties: Harriet Tubman. I truly believe that Mrs. Tubman would be proud of Ms. Doss and the work she is doing for her community; continuing the American tradition of strong Black women who refuse to bend the knee to corruption and systemic racism.
With Black History Month wrapping up, I found myself reflecting upon the rich history of Niagara Falls and how we arrived where we are today. I have lived here for 35 years which is the entirety of my life. I love our hometown and one of my favorite things about it also happens to be one of its most important features: our cultural diversity. Niagara Falls is a melting pot of everyone from everywhere and that’s what makes our community so extraordinarily beautiful.
It’s also why having a mayor whom many believe to be a racist is not conducive to proper representation of our community at large. Lots of people, like Ms. Doss, feel forgotten and snubbed by Mayor Restaino and his administration. I can’t say that I blame her either, having followed this story as it has unfolded since early last year. I have watched closely as Ms. Doss and her group of Beech Avenue Project advocates struggle to be heard by Mayor Restaino and Council Chairman Jim Perry. It’s a fact that a large population of Black people live in the Fourth District. Mayor Restaino is choosing to withhold funding which was intended for the Underground Railroad Museum, Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, the local school district and other organizations who were the intended recipients of Seneca casino cash.
Meeting Ms. Doss has gifted me the opportunity to learn about life in District Four. I wasn’t aware that Center Court Park was demolished to make way for apartment complexes. Nor was I aware that the city promised the people in the neighboring community that the city would build a new park on Beech Avenue. According to Ms. Doss, the city’s unfulfilled promise was the seed that has grown into what she says is now Mayor Restaino’s empty campaign promise. Says Arlene, “Jim Perry once told me that the Mayor won’t build the park because he’s going to use it as a campaign promise again the next time he runs. The bottom line is I know he’s saving it for running for mayor again.”
Arlene continued, “We are trying to bring back our concerts, our football games, our softball games like we had at Center Court park. We had more concerts in that park than they had at the convention center. The city stage would come out there and we’d party all night. It didn’t cost anybody anything either.”
A MEETING WITH SENATOR ROB ORTT
Ms. Doss took matters into her own hands a few weeks ago and contacted Senator Rob Ortt who was receptive to her plight. The two met at his office in Lockport where they discussed a cornucopia of issues relative to the North End; chief among them being the Beech Avenue Project.
Says Arlene, “Senator Ortt and I sat there and talked for a long time. He said he’s going to try and help us as far as funding. He told me there’s funding out there since we’re a legit 501c3 and that’s all we need. I’ve been asking the city to just turn the park over to United Vision. We’ll construct the park. We don’t need a dollar from the city. But they don’t want to do it.”
The Reporter reached out to Senator Rob Ortt who provided the following statement, “We had a great meeting and discussion with Ms. Doss, who spoke with us about her efforts to bring a park to the undeveloped parcel on Beech Ave. My office discussed with her how beneficial a park would be and agreed that it would be an incredible asset to the community. The meeting centered around how my office could be of help and how we could work together and see this vision of a community park become a reality. We are thankful Ms. Doss came in and gave us a lay of the land of the area and her vision for a park – we agree that a recreation space for residents in this district would be helpful and we like to see our community partners working to improve their cities.”
BLACK ACTIVISM: POPULAR ONLY IN HINDSIGHT
I get goosebumps thinking about Harriet Tubman guiding freedom seekers across the suspension bridge to Canada. The bravery and sacrifice that her and many others displayed to ensure that Arlene Doss has a voice today, does not escape me. Observing Ms. Doss fight alongside other activists like Councilman Donta Myles feels like witnessing history in real time. Other prominent Black activists such as Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were hated and despised during their times (but celebrated decades later). Ms. Doss and Councilman Myles certainly feel and share their pain. Both were forced into activism out of necessity.
Says Ms. Doss, “The city got the land for one dollar but all of a sudden funding has been denied. Why does it seem like it’s intentional for the Fourth District to never be developed? I wrote a letter on behalf of the community because there were a couple of airman and army retired personnel who wanted to purchase the property and revitalize Highland Avenue. Nobody else is going to revitalize Highland Avenue. And the mayor said sorry, not at this time. Then I went to a council meeting and they were giving property over and forgiving taxes and we didn’t even ask for all of that.”
CITY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE FINDS ITSELF ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY
Councilman Myles has championed the Beech Avenue Project as both an elected official and as an activist. While Councilman Brian Archie, who lives in the Fourth District and also happens to be Black, has consistently supported the Beech Avenue Project but in a more discrete type of way. Being outspoken about the issue has left Donta Myles with critics who say he’s grandstanding not for the cause, but for his own ego. Among those critics is the City Democratic Committee who unanimously agreed not to endorse Mr. Myles last Friday, in his campaign for re-election. Myles is the opposite of a rubber-stamp, unlike his colleagues who quite frankly are compromised. The Democratic Party has rubber-stamped our city to death, and therefore more rubber-stamp council members are not the answer.
Says Councilman Myles, “I went to the endorsement interview where I pitched what they call the two minute elevator speech. I told them that as the senior Democratic incumbent, I’ve faced my level of difficulty throughout my term but I do exactly as I was elected by my constituents to do. Which is to make sure that we were fiscally responsible in how we spent our tax dollars and that we provide a level of checks and balances as a co-equal branch of government. So that it’s not lop-sided as it has been for so long, and so that we don’t turn into a monarchy type dictatorship style of governing. The legislative branch is the power of the purse and we have to make sure we spend our money right and that it’s fair across the board. Doing our due diligence to make sure we do things fair for the people of our city and for a thriving Niagara Falls.”
None of this was enough to convince the committee to endorse Mr. Myles in his current bid for re-election. According to Myles, what happened next seemed very personal to him. He says, “I gave them my speech and Colin Ligammari said well I read a couple of Facebook posts of yours bashing the committee, so why would you want our endorsement? I said did I ever bash the committee? I spoke about the leadership of the committee. She said yes you said we have poor leadership and I said yes absolutely. Ligammari is the Chairwoman of the city Democratic Committee so she felt offended.”
“I told her I announced my candidacy in August and then all the way until January, I still hadn’t heard anything from either one of you as the senior Democratic incumbent who announced his candidacy back in the summer time. It was kind of suspect to me, so I reached out to them at the end of January knowing that the petitions were starting in a week. I asked them when is the endorsement meeting and they said they didn’t have a date yet but I could send my email which I sent out immediately. I hadn’t heard anything and all of a sudden two weeks after I sent it, I saw a post on Facebook from Chris Borgatti stating that he was having a hard time finding willing candidates. I asked him how can you say the community members aren’t engaging enough and you’re having a hard time when you haven’t even reached out to the one person that is running and announced back in August, doing the job and the work now?”
The Reporter also spoke with Niagara County Democratic Chairman Chris Borgatti, who said that everyone got the same email at the same time regarding the date of the endorsement meeting. He also said that he realizes it was done at the last minute but they wanted to give everyone who was interested in running for office enough time to make a decision.
SURVEYING THE LOCAL POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
Still, Myles’ frustration is understandable when viewed on a surface level, but from his version of the story there appears to be a number of issues between himself and members of the committee. The local Democrats want to appear publicly as a single organism with everyone working in unison towards common goals. However, our city needs a bi-partisan approach to escape the poverty brought upon by decades of irrational and suspicious spending habits.
Birds of a feather usually flock together, but Donta Myles is a budget hawk and Democrats are notorious for their wanton spending. This way of thinking makes Myles the black sheep of his party who is not willing to play ball. Myles has shown that he is not afraid of being labeled the black sheep or “Dark Horse” of the city committee because he truly believes that he is fighting for those who don’t have a voice.
It often appears that federal and state aid, which is meant for underserved parts of the community, just never seems to reach the designated recipient; and Myles knows this. He is not someone who can be controlled and he does his civic duty as an elected official looking out for the taxpayers and our hard-earned dollar. As one of us, he is our only voice on the council. The other council members, it seems, work not for the best interests of our community but for the Restaino administration.
It’s curious as to why anyone would want to silence the voice of the people but it’s often said that the squeaky wheel gets the oil and a closed mouth won’t get fed. Mr. Myles and Ms. Doss both continue to practice this theory for a good cause, but without any support whatsoever from the Restaino administration.
The Democratic Party is often viewed as the “party of tolerance” but it’s widely accepted nowadays that Democrats use underrepresented demographics as an excuse to direct our tax dollars towards special interest groups who support Democratic candidates. As long as there is poverty, there will be state and federal aid which is easy to maneuver into different funds with a majority vote. Manufactured poverty is the reality in the City of Niagara Falls.
By speaking out against Mayor Restaino’s total lack of transparency and corruption, Councilman Myles has already exposed all kinds of questionable practices and “coincidences” – coming from this administration. He stuck his neck out and got black-balled by his fellow Democrats for opposing what he and others view as injustices. Right next to him banging her own drum for the same cause is Arlene Doss, and together they have collectively done more for the North End of the city than anyone else has in recent times. That might not matter to people living in other parts of the city, but it absolutely should. Mayor Restaino will continue to hurl insults while taunting Doss and Myles, unless the rest of us stand with them and lend our support. On one hand this has nothing to do with race, and then again it may have everything to do with race.
BLACK VOICES FALL UPON DEAF WHITE EARS IN THE FALLS
Councilman Myles shows that he is acutely aware of his critics, as he says, “Every time I voted against spending, whether it was for the police or lights or anything, it was always due to lack of transparency from the mayor and his administration, like DeBoy. Whenever I try to get all of the details they will not give them to me and I cannot make a fully informed decision out of good conscience for the people of this city without knowing all the facts. That falls on Mayor Restaino completely and not on me. I’m not anti-union, I’m not anti-cop. I’m anti-reckless spending and pro-transparency, and without transparency I cannot make a decision.”
Councilman Myles, Councilman Archie, Ms. Doss and many other local advocates fought all last year in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the rest of the council and the Restaino administration into including the Beech Avenue Project in the budget. Their main argument hinged upon the fact that Mayor Restaino has included the Beech Avenue Project in the city budget for the past few years (and hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been spent), but so far there hasn’t been anything to show for it. Plus Robert Restaino’s attitude when he issues his weekly addresses is polarizing, divisive and sinister. He often refers to Donta Myles as “sunshine” which is a racial slur known commonly among Restaino and his good ol’ boy crew’s generation.
According to local journalist Joe Genco of the Niagara Express, “The Mayor in recent months has taken to including loosely coded dog whistles in his weekly Youtube messages, dressing down Arlene Doss without speaking her name and referring to Myles as the ‘sunshine councilperson.’” Genco also writes, “Meanwhile, when we look at it all, as my Sicilian friends say, ‘that’s just Bobby being Bobby.’ In another[sic] words, ‘winning’ because not enough people vote and 3 council members do whatever he wants.”
A HEATED EXCHANGE AT THE ENDORSEMENT MEETING
“They play hide the money and this is nothing new in government here,” says Donta Myles, “You’re going to see more undesignated line items where you don’t know what that money is for. I’m reaching out and asking all of the questions that my colleagues should all be asking, but I’m the only one. When I’m reaching out in regards to seeking financial information and sending emails which I have saved to our mayor, and he doesn’t respond but then he gets on his Friday evening address and makes light about what I’m asking for… which is a part of my job. I told them I’m in the right to put things out into the public and I don’t work for the mayor.”
Councilman Myles says that he isn’t bothered by the fact that he wasn’t endorsed by the Democratic Committee. There are three open seats for city council and Myles feels that the committee wanted to send him a clear message by choosing not to endorse him. “Personally, I believe that this is mayor driven,” says Myles, “He is trying to stack the council in his favor again. He needs more yes votes and rubber stamping. That’s basically it. Listen I will work with the mayor but not for the mayor, we have to provide checks and balances. I work for the people. Bob was in the back of the room during the meeting and his face was as red as a stop sign!”
According to Myles, Council Chairman Jim Perry came to Mayor Restaino’s defense during the meeting. Myles told the Reporter, “Perry said ‘If I have a problem with the mayor, I’ll fuss with the mayor behind closed doors but I won’t bring it to the public. We shouldn’t go on social media calling each other names.’ He just went off and I said are you asking me a question? And why are you looking at Restaino and Borgatti? They get mad when I share information, but whatever, if it’s public record I’ll share it with whoever I want.”
He continued, “I told him my job isn’t to be friends with anyone in government. I didn’t run to become friends with anyone. I have a job to do in the legislative branch. The only dealings I will have with the mayor is when I’m asking for information and when I’m emailing him and his administration requesting things that deal directly with my job. About how much we’ve spent, what are we doing, how are we fiscally responsible? I need receipts.”
Councilman Myles recounted his exchange with Chris Borgatti at Friday’s meeting. According to Myles, “Chris Borgatti told me he knows I’m in it for the right reason and my heart is in the right place. He asked me how do you define activist? I told him that an activist is someone who gives a voice to the voiceless. That’s activism. He said how would you define your role as a government official? I said that’s a job, so I don’t know if you’re intertwining what I do as an activist with what I do as a job, but due to the lack of transparency I found myself having to speak louder in specific spaces for those who don’t have voices because the people making decisions in the city have been neglecting the people.” Myles’ explanation for being outspoken is perfectly justified.
CHRIS BORGATTI RESPONDS TO DONTA MYLES
Chris Borgatti spoke with the Reporter about Friday’s meeting, saying “Our committee is focused on progress. I don’t think we can point to really one accomplishment of Councilman Myles. The reason why this is important to us is that we are concerned about progress and the city is in a difficult situation right now, and we all need to work together. I understand he might have differences with the Mayor, or with me or his fellow council people. But at the end of the day as an elected official, it’s a different role than being an activist. An elected official requires you to be diplomatic for the sake of your community. It means negotiating things to get things done. If he has some things that he cares about getting done in his first term, he’s in the office now and he has the ability to do them. It’s part of negotiating. But grandstanding and turning council meetings into situations where people are being turned off from the process – it’s not healthy for businesses to thrive or businesses that want to invest here. It’s not a good look for us in politics or for the council members. Again, I think he does things with good intentions, I know him. We’ve played music together and that makes us brothers in a sense, but where this all stems from I don’t know.”
Worth reiterating is the fact that Councilman Myles has applied his efforts towards three central foci: Representing all of the people of our community while protecting our tax dollars; giving a voice to those whose voices have been suppressed; and fulfilling the city’s Beech Avenue Project promise. He has succeeded in his first two goals, but his efforts regarding Beech Avenue have been thwarted by Mayor Restaino and Jim Perry at pretty much every turn. Without support from his peers, Councilman Myles’ efforts go by unnoticed. It is unfair to say that he hasn’t “accomplished anything” when they built a brick wall around him, encasing him inside.
In response to Mr. Borgatti’s opinions – Mayor Restaino and his cronies have created a climate that is bad for business. Donta Myles is not to blame for Kevin O’Leary saying Niagara Falls is “uninvestable.” Under Restaino’s (lack of) leadership, the City of Niagara Falls has entered blindly into the development business. For potential developers, competing with the city will be like competing with New York State and all of its resources, and that’s truly bad for business. Nobody can compete with someone who has their own set of rules and lacks the transparency to work in the public eye, and to make sure things happen fairly for everyone.
While it is understood that Myles doesn’t fit in with the rest of his party, some have questioned whether or not the Democratic Committee chose not to endorse Myles because an endorsement might have been considered as siding against local unions. It would come as no surprise to anyone if the NFPD union publicly opposes Donta Myles and his campaign for re-election, due to his vote against renewing state funding for the GIVE program. Police union opposition could lead to other unions, who are all traditionally aligned with the local Democratic Party, to oppose Myles; but Mr. Borgatti says that this is not the reason why Mr. Myles was not endorsed.
According to Borgatti, “What the unions do is what the unions do, and it’s in the best interests of their members and their members’ families. As far as discussions go, of course we see value in their opinions as far as the direction the city government is going. But if you ask anybody in the room on our committee that was part of those discussions, that was not brought up once nor was it part of the calculations in who to endorse or not endorse.”
He continues, “Progress requires diplomacy. You can’t just operate in a vacuum. In order to get things done here, our city government was created with a strong executive. The city council members are responsible for the purse and holding the mayor accountable. If you’re an elected person in that position and you want to get things done, Donta technically has the majority. What has he done with it? What things has he passed? What has he negotiated into the budget? What has he ever done? He’s never utilized his position for the community. Instead he’s used it to grandstand and create a situation where city council meetings are untenable for people who want to go to them.”
As a registered Democrat, Councilman Myles hasn’t actually been included in the “majority” (Democratic council members). He’s been ostracized and blocked by his own party, making it impossible for him to pass any of the resolutions he’s proposed to the council. To say that he’s “never utilized his position for the community” is just not true. Donta Myles says that he is unfazed by the committee’s decision. “I’m not relying on endorsements, I’m relying on the people,” says Myles, “Overall, I understand the power of the people. It’s the people who endorsed me and voted me into office. Seeking endorsement from the party was tradition and common practice as the Democratic incumbent to stand before them and ask for the endorsement. I didn’t expect their endorsement because the last two campaigns they haven’t been that good to me.”
As for Arlene Doss, she recently learned that her two year term on the City Democratic Committee has expired. “I brought in a lot of money for them, and gave them a lot of my own money,” Arlene told the Reporter. She says that she is excited that she is no longer on the Democratic Committee because “Now I can host fundraisers for Republican candidates at my house and I don’t have to care if someone’s offended.”
