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

What do tree stump removal, police overtime, engineering consultants, penguins, pothole patching and the train station all have in common? They were all supported with casino revenue over recent years. It’s strange, but true, that every one of these things – and a whole lot more – were deemed byRead More

    Niagara Falls – With the city’s new train station and Underground Railroad Heritage Museum ready to open by the end of May, a couple of questions linger. How do you open a history museum when not a single artifact has been acquired or display fabricated? Despite the factRead More

North Tonawanda is nicknamed “The Lumber City” after its most prominent industry of the past. The legacy of the lumber companies is seen in historic mansions built by and owned by some prominent executives of lumber companies. The most prominent legacy of the lumber days however is the environmental one,Read More

      It was the summer of 2013, almost three years ago, and the city of Niagara Falls was in the midst of a crisis. According to the Buffalo television stations and local newspapers quoting Mayor Paul Dyster, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Sen Kirsten Gillibrand, one man wasRead More

Whether exposing the crooked Glynn Maid of the Mist monopoly, criticizing the Niagara Falls State Park “Landscape Improvements” plan which ruined Three Sisters Islands, sounding the alarm on the Parks Police barracks which was slated for the edge of the scenic Niagara Gorge, rallying the public against the demolition of the 1864Read More

The issue of whether to roll back the bar closing time from 4 a. m. to 2 a. m. in Erie County is certainly a hot-button item right now. The idea is a bad one – or, at best, hastily conceived. Forget that this is a perfect example of an attempt by ‘big brother’ enthusiastsRead More

The public will finally get a chance to weigh in on the Erie County bar closing debate next Tuesday (Feb. 2) at 5:30 p. m. at a public hearing in the legislative chambers in Old County Hall, 92 Franklin St., Buffalo. According to Majority Leader Joe Lorigo (C. – WestRead More

As embattled Erie Community College President Jack Quinn prepares to face county lawmakers today (Jan. 28) at 3 p.m. on the scathing state audit of the institution he leads, there are signs that Quinn has been working very hard to convince anyone who will listen that he’s not to blameRead More

The issue of whether to roll back the bar closing time from 4 a. m. to 2 a. m. in Erie County is certainly a hot-button item right now. The idea is a bad one – or, at best, hastily conceived. Forget that this is a perfect example of an attempt by ‘big brother’ enthusiastsRead More

The Reporter was pleased to see freshman council member Ezra Scott decline to support Mayor Dyster’s attempt to walk on a surprise resolution at the recent council meeting. The resolution aimed to tap the city till for up to $75,000 to support the hosting of a meeting of the GreatRead More

  There’s a mystery brewing on historic Chilton Avenue and several community activists have expressed interest in getting to the bottom of the puzzle’s particulars at the January 13 Planning Board meeting. The city, under the guidance of Seth Piccirillo, director of Mayor Paul Dyster’s Community Development Department, sold 631Read More

Vince Anello is a former Niagara Falls mayor and a current radio talk show host. He is also, by the nature of his time as mayor and councilman, a consummate student of municipal government. And for that reason he has  become persona non grata with the Dyster administration. On hisRead More

    The Midtown Inn. For many residents on the city’s Southeast side, the ramshackle rooming house held a terror that would rival that of the Bates Motel, featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1963 tale of terror, “Phycho.” The inn was a target of controversy in 2009 when the New YorkRead More

  BUFFALO- New York National Guard troops, in conjunction with the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, will be presenting a free disaster preparedness class twice on Wednesday, January 6 at the Catholic Charities office in Buffalo. The two-hour program will be held at 11 a.m. andRead More

  One hundred thousand dollars. It’s a lot of money anywhere, but in a place like Niagara Falls, where money’s tight and jobs are scarce, it can be considered a fortune. In a city where the per capita income for all residents is just $20,327 and the average household scrapesRead More

  The local construction company suing the state over its termination as the Canalside contractor in July of 2013 has won a major victory in the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court. In a unanimous ruling handed down last week, the court reinstated DiPizio Construction’s claim that the president ofRead More