Was city Planner Tom DeSantis’ longstanding desire to build a new train station in the city’s North End driven by any actual need for a new facility or by something else? Is his relationship with Wendel Duchscherer Architects and Engineers merely a professional alliance or something moreRead More

Over the past seven years the Reporter has posed a series of inconvenient questions regarding the funding, construction and operation of the Niagara Falls Intermodal Transportation Center…the train station. Recently the Niagara Gazette wrote a story that the train station is opening in May and has yet to determine itsRead More

  Niagara Falls – Although the Dyster administration has had more than five years to come to an agreement with Amtrak for use of the new, $44 million train station on Whirlpool Street, market the facility to other prospective tenants and come up with a budget to run the place,Read More

Niagara Falls – In a bow to public outrage and basic human decency, the Dyster administration has announced a do-over, and will hold a public auction for a four-unit apartment building at 631 Chilton Ave. The 3,160 square foot building, which has assessed value of $37,261 and comes with itsRead More

Niagara Falls  – The council initiative to cut health insurance for future city council members could have been written as a resolution or an ordinance. We have seen no evidence that it has to be written as one or the other. Informed sources say that it could be written eitherRead More

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster recently vetoed a council resolution that would have ended free health insurance for all future council members. However, did the mayor violate the separation of council and mayor powers by issuing that veto? Informed sources have shared their thoughts on this matter with theRead More

    Greenman Pedersen, the Albany based engineering and construction firm overseeing the Peace Bridge project in Buffalo, is also in line to receive a healthy chunk of the $4.9 million design contract for the Goat Island bridge replacement project. The firm signed off on a 131-page preliminary Design ReportRead More

  The facts are in. Only two possibilities remain. Either the purchase of an apartment building located at 631 Chilton Ave. by an appointed volunteer city official with close ties to the Dyster administration represents some sort of shady deal, or the Department of Community Development and its youthful head,Read More

Six weeks ago the Reporter broke a story as to how Mayor Paul Dyster had served his department heads with letters requesting their loyalty in writing along with an updated resume. The department heads had to submit the resume if they hoped to keep their job for 2016. Other mediaRead More

It seems that the Reporter has become – maybe it always was – the Rodney Dangerfield of news reporting. Especially political news reporting. And this in spite of the fact that this paper consistently covers, breaks and editorializes on the uncomfortable issues that are routinely ignored or wished into theRead More

Last week the Reporter broke a story detailing how Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster had vetoed the recently passed council resolution ending the perk of taxpayer paid health insurance for future council members. While the mayor’s killing of the cost saving resolution has puzzled reporters and the general publicRead More

It’s enough to make one wonder what happened to the servant part of public servant. Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster last week vetoed a resolution by the city Council that would have ended the gilt edged health care benefits Council members receive for their part time jobs. Dyster said theRead More

Niagara Falls -Keep an eye on the Chemours closing. Chemours plans to close its Niagara Falls plant by the end of this  year, eliminating about 200 jobs at the Buffalo Avenue factory. The Niagara Falls plant makes reactive metals for specialty chemicals industries such as pharmaceutical, pulp and paper andRead More

There was a time when husbands and wives did it frequently. Lovers thought it was incredibly romantic to do over and over again. Sometimes they did it all night long and from city to city. When was the last time you did it? Ride the train, that is. Mayor PaulRead More

    Niagara Falls – It didn’t take long for freshman councilman Kenny Tompkins to get a close up look at Mayor Paul Dyster’s veto pen. And from what we’re told Mr. Tompkins is not pleased at seeing the mayor – with a stroke of his seldom seen veto penRead More

    On June 30, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill creating the nation’s first federal park at Yosemite, in northern California. Now Delaware North owner Jeremy Jacobs Sr., who ran concessions in the park from 1993 to 2016, says a trademark he filed makes him the owner ofRead More

 Whether you agree with her or not, you’ve got to give Niagara Falls City Councilwoman Kristen Grandinetti credit. She speaks her mind, lets the chips fall where they may and apparently doesn’t worry about what anyone thinks. Last week, on her Facebook page, the kindergarten teacher posted a picture ofRead More

Last week the city reported that their share of casino revenue had dropped once again. While the city’s handle of the annual slot drop peaked around $22 million in recent years the new annual casino revenue reality is now about $5 million less…and dropping still. The city’s announcement of theRead More

Niagara Falls – The Underground Railroad Commission has been receiving $350,000 per year in dedicated casino revenue since 2009. At $350,000 per year for seven years that’s a total of $2,450,000. The money is set aside annually out of the casino revenue account to support and promote the Underground RailroadRead More

While great attention has been paid to the condition of the city’s casino revenue account, virtually nothing has been asked, much less revealed, as to how the city is using the interest earned by the many millions of casino revenue dollars that have been received and banked over the years.Read More