By Nick Del Vecchio
Those curious about the overall competence of the present city of Niagara Falls administration under the leadership of Robert Restaino might want to consider the following: Somebody with influence thought it would be a good idea to set up a video camera and record the mayor pontificating about various trivialities such as local parking, potholes and the weather. And then, instead of destroying the footage and completely abandoning the project as a very bad idea gone wrong, they post it on YouTube weekly for all to see. Clearly, Restaino and his advisors have forgotten the timeless idiom, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”
The Mayor also fashions himself something a public relations specialist, and occasionally uses his “Weekly Update” videos to discuss the ongoing legal back-and-forth between his administration and Niagara Falls Redevelopment.
NFR wants to use its own private funds to build a $1.5 billion digital data center on prime property it owns downtown. Restaino and the city have invoked eminent domain to seize a key portion of the property so that they can build “Centennial Park,” which will allegedly include a 7000-seat arena, skating rink, parking lot, etc. His inability to remain silent about the matter and instead ramble about it on YouTube has removed all doubt, and attorneys representing NFR have pointed this out in a motion filed in State Supreme Court on March 25, 2025.
The motion cites incriminating comments made by Restaino during his weekly YouTube updates that NFR attorneys believe nullify a previous court order granting an essential piece of NFR’s property to the city of Niagara Falls via eminent domain. In several of his videos, the meanderingly loquacious mayor claims the property in question never actually belonged to NFR and has always been owned by the city. He repeatedly explains the dubious legal reasoning to justify his new, contradictory position. NFR counsel argues that had such an admission been made by Restaino prior to the court’s eminent domain decision in the city’s favor, the Supreme Court would have been forced to make a different ruling.
“This Court would not have, and could not have, authorized the City to take private property that is not, in fact, private property,” says NFR’s petition.
Frustrated by NFR’s refusal to simply hand their property over to Restaino and the city without a fight, the mayor has also used his YouTube “Weekly Update” videos to personally disparage NFR’s owners, Edward and Howard Milstein. On May 2, 2025, he played the race card:
“And this a group that a federal appeals court recently, this year… upheld a federal jury’s determination that this group engaged in improper loan practices to low income communities and communities of color here in New York State,” says Restaino. “…They have expressed a genuine disdain for areas of the state where people are attempting, because of income status as well as demographics, are trying to improve themselves. They’ve shown nothing but disdain for those groups.”
One wonders how Councilmember Donta Myles feels about the Mayor’s racial politicking but it probably amounts to something approaching pot, kettle, black.
In his May 28, 2025 “Weekly Update,” Restaino made no bones that he and the city of Niagara Falls don’t need Edward and Howard Milstein’s kind around here:
“We have to tell entities that aren’t from here, individuals who aren’t from here, who think they know better for us, they know what we need better than we know what we need,” Restaino declared. “…We know what we need.”
Of course, if Restaino had an idea what the city of Niagara Falls needed, residents and businesses wouldn’t be leaving in droves. The latest to pick up stakes and split town, Save-A-Lot, was given the “don’t let the door hit you on the way out” treatment by the tempestuous mayor in his April 17, 2025 video:
“The last word from (Save-A-Lot) is that they’re going to close and that it’s going to be unannounced. So, none of us are going to know,” complained Restaino. “They’re going to sneak out in the dead of the night, I guess, which is both unprofessional and kind of rude with regard to the people, the environment and the community but that’s how they choose to operate their business.”
Restaino would have those listening to his videos believe it’s neither his fault nor his administration’s that businesses can no long operate in Niagara Falls because of its depressed economy. He has also used his YouTube channel to remind city residents that local police are lying in wait to ticket them for minor traffic offenses. But he neglects to mention that while they’re generating much-needed revenue for the city by doing so, drug dealers and other criminals are conducting business unimpeded up and down Pine Avenue. And now he has drawn the attention of NFR lawyers who believe his “weekly updates” provide sufficient cause to nullify a State Supreme Court eminent domain decision in the city’s favor. And the videos keep on coming.
Niagara Falls, NY is only too well known for incompetent politicians who dig the city’s grave a little deeper with each new administration. But Robert Restaino is demonstrating unusually bad judgment by willingly advertising his ineptitude through YouTube “Weekly Updates.” Normally, I would recommend that you not take my word for it and check the mayor’s videos out for yourself, but you really have much, much better things to do with your time.
