By Tony Farina
There may be a world wonder in its midst, but the City of Niagara Falls is no world wonder, rather a city falling apart and getting worse by the day. The population, once more than 100,000, is now below 50,000 and the residents who still live in the city witness the decline up close and personal every day. They see the boarded-up homes, cracked sidewalks, trash blowing across the street, and potholes deep enough to damage cars.
Unfortunately, they get no help from City Hall which residents say favor the wealthy, punish the critics, ignore basic services and watch as neighborhoods slip deeper into decay. After tourists and visitors leave the state park and see the mighty falls, there is not much else for them to see in the city and they don’t stay around long.
The situation, according to the street talk, is because Mayor Robert Restaino’s administration ignores resident complaints and favors the wealthy. The critics contend the mayor’s attention is not focused on their complaints but is much more focused on affluent hoteliers, upscale restaurateurs, and connected developers. It is not a formula that works for residents but rather the opportunists who enjoy the mayor’s attention.
The mayor has made highly publicized appearances with major hospitality operators, celebrated grants for well-publicized businesses, and championed incentives through agencies like the NCIDA that overwhelmingly benefit the tourism elite.
While the mayor lavishes attention on the wealthy, the nonprofits and community groups that support children, seniors, low-income families, and vulnerable residents say they have been sidelined or ignored.
That same group of people say City Hall has abandoned them, complaining that emails are ignored, meetings are repeatedly denied, and partnerships dissolved. They also say grant assistance has been withheld and there is zero engagement on neighborhood needs. All this for more than five years and no end in sight. Inside City Hall, there are public attacks on the workers’ union and employees describe a climate of fear and political retaliation. Jobs, they say, have been eliminated to punish political opponents and departments reorganized to push out dissenters.
The climate of fear and political retaliation is widespread with boards pressured to silence critics and hiring and promotion based on loyalty, not competency. The controversy is fairly visible to all as the mayor uses the city’s official podcast website to publicly berate and disparage the president of the United Steelworkers (USW) union which represents the city’s frontline workforce. Workers say the mayor’s tirades are an abuse of a government communication platform, but they go on.
All this as more than 20 critical service positions are unfilled, leaving departments unable to deliver even the most basic public services. The results are:
-slow or nonexistent code enforcement
-overgrown lots
-spreading blight
-neglected parks and playgrounds
-ignored street and sidewalk repair
-garbage accumulating in public areas
Meanwhile, despite the neighborhood decline, there are budget concerns as legal spending by the mayor’s administration continues to spiral but remains largely undisclosed. Despite visible increases in outside attorney spending, the administration has left the public guessing about total costs, which firms are being hired, what matters they are handling, and also whether the spending is being driven by political retaliation or internal conflicts.
And of course, property taxes continue to rise every year even in the face of widespread city decline. Residents are paying for less, residents complain. But no one is hearing those complaints.
All these questions about vacant positions, grants to the wealthy while nonprofits ignored, and a spiraling legal budget mostly unexplained, are widely discussed in the city but nonetheless continue unabated.
More taxes, declining services, and complaints that leadership is not serving the entire city, only the chosen few.
It is not a pretty picture away from the world wonder that is still a majestic tourist attraction. But tourists go across the border to better attractions and leave Niagara Falls on the U. S. side as soon as they leave the state park. The tourist buck is still there, but not much else.
The city badly needs new leadership before all is gone.
Leadership needs to focus on a high-tech future and not rely on a gimmicky sports arena legacy project that will serve the wealthy hoteliers, not the population that needs high-paying jobs and tax revenue to save the city from going over the falls. The opportunity is there. The time has come to delete the past and look forward to a brighter future for all.
