The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino.
THE (LATEST) INCIDENT
The Restaino Brothers have once again shown their asses to our entire community.
On Monday morning, dozens of youth hockey players ages 11 to 14 (along with their parents and coaches) arrived at the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion for the start of hockey camp.
The athletes (who had already registered and paid for camp) were intercepted by DPW Director Ken Tompkins and four armed Niagara Falls police officers who would not allow them into the building.
Mayor Restaino ordered Tompkins and co. to change the locks on the doors to the ice pavilion just before everyone arrived.
This incident sparked a massive social media uproar with thousands of locals voicing their disdain for Mayor Restaino’s bullying tactics; reminiscent of his “lock them up” controversy in which he was removed as a judge for wrongfully jailing an entire courtroom full of people.
The news was reported by the Niagara Gazette, WKBW, WBEN and WIVB. The incident prompted public statements from Senator Rob Ortt, council members Donta Myles, Brian Archie and David Zajac; along with several candidates for local office.
Senator Ortt says that he phoned Mayor Restaino and asked him to open the doors and allow the athletes and their families inside the pavilion. The doors were eventually unlocked and the hockey team was allowed inside.
Niagara Falls City Administrator and Town of Niagara Resident Anthony Restaino stepped forward and bit the proverbial bullet, once again handling damage control on behalf of the Executive Office.
The irony in all of this is that the Restaino Brothers claim that their $200 million event center will bring in a youth hockey league, which they say will resurrect our city.
Is this how Mayor Restaino is going to behave if his arena ever gets built?
Will he lock the doors on paying customers every time he doesn’t get his way?
WHAT LED TO THIS?
Mayor Restaino ordered the changing of the locks in retaliation against City Council members who tabled a vote last week concerning Restaino’s hand-picked choice for the operations contract at the pavilion.
Several members of the City Council felt that they did not have enough time to properly review information and make an informed decision. This has been a constant complaint since Robert Restaino was sworn into office in 2020.
City Council is often presented with complicated and contentious items all at the eleventh hour and then urged by the Mayor’s Useful Idiot to vote in the Mayor’s favor. Whenever members of the council ask questions about these items, they’re typically scolded by Council Chairman Jim Perry, Corporation Counsel Tom DeBoy, or the Restaino Brothers themselves.
Then the infamous Restaino blame game begins.
A local vendor, Niagara Sports Tournaments, has been in charge of operations at the ice pavilion for 14 years. NST is owned by local entrepreneur Mike Carella who is well known and loved by our community.
Mayor Restaino’s choice for the operations contract is an Albany-based company called Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group.
Despite the fact that our City Council has not yet voted on the contract, Mayor Restaino and his brother – City Administrator Anthony Restaino – already consider this a done deal.
This is how it works in Niagara Falls: Our City Council is forced to vote on how to spend our tax dollars with minimal information (after all, Bobby knows best!), and we are all financially punished if the council doesn’t agree with Mayor Restaino.
On Monday, Anthony Restaino insulted the youth athletes and their parents when he told WIVB, “Let’s be honest it’s because you had a boatload of hockey players in the city council chambers which basically intimidated the council from taking the best offer for the city tax payers. Let’s remember that.”
It’s ironic that Anthony Restaino should make such a claim when it’s clear that he and his brother are the ones trying to intimidate City Council into awarding the contract to Legacy.
According to some sources, NST outbid Legacy Hospitality; offering to pay more to the City than the Albany-based company.
WIVB reports that Anthony Restaino said “the city had every right to lock the doors Monday morning because Niagara Falls identified what they believe is the best proposal to operate the facility.”
No remorse. No accountability. Just more blaming and gaslighting – right out of the Restaino playbook.
THE GASLIGHT KING STRIKES AGAIN!
When Anthony Restaino speaks on behalf of the Executive Office, it inoculates Mayor Restaino and creates a buffer of accountability. He can always distance himself from his brother’s statements and claim that they weren’t his own words.
In other words, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum like to play “Good Cop, Bad Cop” with the press.
On Tuesday, Mayor Restaino told WBEN, “We reached out to the current operator and asked for a schedule of events. Upset that they weren’t selected, they did not want to participate… We had no idea what the schedule was despite inquiring.”
At face value, Restaino’s excuse doesn’t make much sense. With the resolution tabled, NST was still actively in play and their well-respected legal team is there to properly guide NST through the legal morass.
On Wednesday, the Niagara Gazette conducted a follow-up interview with Mike Carella who responded to the Mayor’s statements, saying “That was 100% a lie. It’s not true. It’s false. He never asked me for a schedule. That’s a cover-up.”
Mayor Restaino is claiming this was a mixup in communication, however WIVB reported one day prior that “[Anthony] Restaino said the city had every right to lock the doors Monday morning because Niagara Falls identified what they believe is the best proposal to operate the facility.”
The Restaino Brothers’ floundering still doesn’t add up, but hastily concocted cover-ups are available by the pound with this administration.
When asked by the Gazette why he believes that the Mayor would lie, Carella stated, “He got caught with his pants down because he tried to shut down the rink when there were kids there.”
Pants down and ass out – Carella hit the nail right on its head.
Mayor Restaino also told WBEN on Tuesday, “This isn’t personal. We put out the request for proposals. Responsible public officials look at the best responsible bid and make the decision. To do that, a legislative body has to take a few minutes other than just the evening of a meeting to get information.”
The Mayor is now claiming that it wasn’t personal as he pretended to side with the council’s decision to delay the vote. Most people who have had business dealings with Mayor Restaino know that he is a bully. City Hall is full of unfilled positions because so few are willing to work with the Mad Judge. This unrest even includes city unions, whether it be first responders or the USW at City Hall.
Mayor Restaino’s statement contradicts Anthony Restaino’s words to WIVB, “I don’t see how it looks terrible on the mayor. I think it looks terrible on the city council for not taking the action that they should’ve taken at the last meeting.”
The Restaino Brothers were completely unable to read the room. Their petty tyrannical politics have reached a new low now that they have bullied children in broad daylight for all to witness.
Taking action against the City Council by locking out the youth hockey team seems awfully personal. As does Anthony Restaino’s statement, that a “boatload of hockey players basically intimidated the council from taking the best offer for the city tax players. Let’s remember that.”
He’s right, we should absolutely remember that the reason the locks were changed Monday morning was that a group of determined locals spoke out at a council meeting in support of a local operator they know and trust.
We should definitely remember that our council members listened to the public and decided they needed more information to make an informed decision on how our tax dollars are spent.
We should also remember the sense of impotence and enraged entitlement that Mayor Restaino and his brother can’t seem to get under control.
Let’s remember their repeated attempts at intimidating tax payers and council members.
And let’s remember that Robert Restaino was labeled a “petty tyrant” by the organization that stripped him of his judge’s robe for abusing his power.
Remember this at the polls in November when it’s time to vote, and vote for those who tried to protect the children from the Mayor’s wrath.
Yeah, let’s remember that.
This is Part 1 of an ongoing investigative series into this incident.
