Niagara ReporterMayor Restaino’s reckless and wanton misuse of our tax dollars seems to know no boundaries. He now wants to renovate the former DPW building in the middle of Hyde Park into an animal shelter. He’s planning on using $4.5 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to pay for this questionable project.
For our impoverished city, that’s one expensive animal shelter; Niagara Falls is now saturated with homeless people and over 25% of our community lives below the poverty line (which is more than twice the national average). But hey, let’s build a $4.5 million animal shelter… that’ll fix everything.
In 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act to inject $1.9 trillion into cities and counties which were economically effected by the pandemic. During his re-election campaign, Mayor Restaino touted the investment of these ARP funds as some sort of personal accomplishment; despite the fact that he had absolutely nothing to do with the passing of the ARP Act and the allocation of the ARP funds.
In 2022, Mayor Restaino pledged $11.4 million in the American Rescue Plan funding towards improving public safety. Coincidentally, a lot of this money has and will be given to the police department and fire department whose unions “just-so-happen” to be among Restaino’s largest and most loyal voting blocks (largely due to Restaino’s apparent unfettered spending on public safety).
The majority of our community are non-union members, yet with voting at an all time low, it’s the unions who determine who gets elected into office. So it makes sense why Mayor Restaino rationalizes his spending to placate the NFFD and NFPD with ARP funding while neglecting the majority of our community.
What doesn’t make sense is why $4.5 million of ARP funds should go towards building a new animal shelter in the City of Niagara Falls. Typically, the Democrat Party works to keep communities poor so that they can skim off the top, and that’s exactly what we’ve been seeing in the City of Niagara Falls for decades.
Critics of Mayor Restaino’s plans have pointed out that there are many other ways in which $4.5 million in ARP funds could actually benefit our community. Such critics include Niagara Falls City Councilman Donta Myles and former councilman Vincent Cauley.
Niagara Falls City Councilman Donta Myles is not a fan of Mayor Restaino’s reckless spending and total lack of transparency.
The Niagara Reporter spoke with Councilman Myles, who told us, “I feel like the misappropriation of American Rescue Funds is morally disturbing. There needs to be an audit, and it needs to be done with a fine toothed comb, and it needs to be public.”
Vincent Cauley said, “We need to know exactly who is being paid every dollar and every cent. Those names and receipts need to be made public every step of the way.” Of course, Mayor Restaino’s administration has been totally opaque when it comes to spending tax dollars, so fat chance of that actually happening. If it does happen, we can be sure that Restaino and his buddies will fight the release of that information tooth-and-nail.
The city’s business model for spending state and federal aid.
In the City of Niagara Falls it seems as though state/federal aid just never seem to actually reach the people for which they are intended. Sure, there are some jobs created and some people appointed to those positions to satisfy specific requirements (usually political hires). But once those funds are siphoned through certain special interests groups, boards, committees and other organizations; they never seem to trickle all the way down to the people in an impactful way. It’s almost as if there’s a knot in the hose…
…which is probably why we so often see political operatives fighting hard and lobbying for unpaid board positions.
Councilman Myles recently told WBKW, “Our city has been looking like a scene from The Walking Dead for a long time. So with that being the case, how is it that we’re deciding to build an animal shelter… in our flagship of a park in the City of Niagara Falls, and it’s on our dime? My thing is I feel we and the administration have done so much accommodating to a person that hasn’t given us a lot of answers to the questions that we have in regards to her service.” Myles is referring to the Pit Chic who was chosen by the Mayor to operate this new animal shelter without an RFP process.
Mayor Restaino is channeling the spirit of E. Dent Lackey, after whom he appears to be modeling his plans for Urban Renewal.
You may recall that former Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster received (and squandered) a $250 million windfall from casino funds. In one instance, he authorized the construction of a $667,000 statue in the tourist district (during the middle of a budget crisis).
If Mayor Restaino persists with his mindless spending on eminent domain lawsuits, animal shelters, real estate acquisition and development; surely he will surpass Mayor Dyster’s reckless spending.
Let’s face it: Robert Restaino doesn’t even need to strive to be the worst public servant in Niagara Falls history. He proved himself to be the worst judge in the history of Niagara Falls by being thrown off the bench for judicial misconduct and becoming a global embarrassment to our city. He’s now on track to be the worst mayor we’ve ever had; worse even than Mayor Lackey and the devastation he unleashed while destroying our city’s historic district.
In five years Restaino has done absolutely nothing for our community, unless you count shoving news cameras as an accomplishment. Now, he is attempting to purchase 29+ properties on Main Street and launch the city into the development business. In all likelihood, if this endeavor succeeds, we will see a repeat of what NYS has done on Third Street; a travesty of errors and “mishandling.”
The former DPW building in the middle of Hyde Park has been selected by Mayor Restaino as the city’s new $4.5 million animal shelter (Photo by WKBW).
Referring to the former DPW building in Hyde Park, Councilman Myles said, “The mayor is trying to buy the note for all of these properties on Main Street for $1.5 million. And you’re telling me that a building that already exists, is worth more than all of Main Street? How is that even possible?”
Regarding the animal shelter, the Niagara Gazette recently reported, “Critics of the deal have questioned how the administration entered into its existing 16-month animal sheltering agreement, which pays The Pit Chic $20,270 per month, without first soliciting public bids for the service.”
Indeed, Councilman Myles agrees with this view. He told the Reporter, “It’s a very piss poor way to spend $4.5 million in rescue funds and I think it’s personal. I don’t know what it is or what type of connection Mayor Restaino has with this Pit Chic girl, but I feel like he’s extremely invested in what’s in her best interest…”
He also questions the city’s ability to run a business, considering the city itself is a corporation and it doesn’t appear to be well maintained. Says Myles, “When has the City of Niagara Falls been a conductor of good business? How can our municipality oversee a animal shelter when we can’t oversee regular day-to-day operations in our city? We can’t oversee code enforcement and our staffing is always so tight. But we can all of a sudden take money that’s intended for poor people so that the Mayor can set this young lady up for business…”
Former Niagara Falls City Councilman Vincent Cauley told the Reporter, “The ungodly amount being spent on this project is beyond disturbing. While I was on the council, the Mayor ostracized the SPCA and personally attacked the SPCA director. After visiting the Pit Chic’s Grand Island facility and being blocked from it, I voted ‘no’. The people have every right to know what’s going on.”
When asked if the animal shelter will be a profitable endeavor for the city, Councilman Myles simply stated “No.” When asked will we ever get that $4.5 million back, Myles said “No, we won’t.”
He then took a deep breath before saying, “Listen. I am awake and my eyes are open, and that’s not good for certain special interests. It’s not good for this greedy cancer that’s been plaguing our city.”
Donta Myles is one of two city council members who voted against spending $4.5 million to renovate the former DPW building in Hyde Park into an animal shelter. The other council member who voted ‘no’ was Brian Archie. The resolution passed with a 3-2 vote, authorizing the Mayor’s highly questionable use of ARP dollars.
Niagara Falls City Councilman Brian Archie told the Reporter, “$4.5 million is an exorbitant amount of money, and I don’t believe an animal shelter should be built in a park where kids and families go to play. That’s why I voted no.”
