By Tony Farina
Jim Perry is now in his second term as chair of the Niagara Falls City Council and for the taxpayers of Niagara Falls of the city of the governing body he leads, it is no gift from above. In fact, he is probably one of the worst possible chairman at a time when so much needs to be done to make the city a better place to live given the lack of transparency of Mayor Robert Restaino and all the restrictions being placed on airing citizen’s public concerns.
Under fire for his restrictions at council meetings on allowing the public speak openly and freely, Perry has in the last few days gone public to defend his actions on Facebook and in the Niagara Gazette, challenging his critics to demonstrate, in his words, “a segment in the Open Meeting Law that gives the public a right to speak at government meetings.”
Imagine, a leader who does his best to lead the council in a way to limit the public’s right to speak, even leaving the council chambers with three of his
colleagues last week, minus Councilmember Donta Myles who openly admits he doesn’t trust the others, to reconstruct the time and agenda items the public would be able to speak on, ever so briefly.
This is the same Jim Perry who last year earned the dubious honor of making the Coalition for Open Government’s list of 10 public officials and public entities in the state in 2024 that the watchdog group believes behaved badly when it came to fostering open discourse and transparency. That’s the Jim Perry who leads a council that passed every item submitted by Mayor Restaino while censoring or restraining public comment which he apparently believes is ok.
Jim Perry should turn his attention towards Niagara Falls Redevelopment and its Toronto-based partner who have proposed a $1.5 billion Niagara Digital Campus Data Center, described as ready to move forward, that is estimated in a new study to bring in more than $414 million in additional tax revenue over 20 years, a savings of about $730 per year for the “typical” Niagara Falls homeowner; job revenue earnings estimated to top $1.66 billion over 20 years, supporting almost 1,000 jobs per year on average.
We have yet to hear from Perry but who instead follows Restaino’s grip on the city as he pushes his own Centennial Park plan with no study, no tenants and no money while the Data Center would all be covered by the investment of private developers, not the city taxpayers, on property it believes it still owns.
What about that, Jim Perry? Why are you not concerned about a potential huge money-making and tax-making private investment that would spark so much economic hope for beleaguered Niagara Falls taxpayers who can barely be heard in the council chambers and people can’t reach the city department heads to voice their concerns about anything given the stranglehold grip of Restaino on responding to the public.
So Perry vents his frustration at the critics who attack him for stifling public comment at council meetings but says nothing about the dictatorship and one-party control of the city that grows stronger by the day as the data center project gets the ice-cold shoulder from the administration and another opportunity to build a better Niagara Falls slips from sight.
Good work, Jim Perry. You deserve the criticism and the honor bestowed on you by the Open Government Coalition as Niagara Falls continues to sink without any life-saving efforts on your part. Taxpayers should continue to demand to be heard at council meetings and by city department heads about potholes, road paving, tree trimming, and whatever else concerns them. And just maybe they should demand answers from the city and councilmembers about why the data center is being ignored, apparently so Restaino can stick taxpayers with his empty park plan.
Defend that, Jim Perry. Would love to see you try.
