Niagara Reporter
Five years after it was due to open, the Underground Railroad Interpretive Center on Whirlpool remains a mystery as to maintenance expenditures, exhibits and how much was really spent [and will be spent] to complete it.
Where’s the $2,450,000? Who’s managing it, what bank account is it in, has any, or all of it, been spent, and if so spent on what? Sources close to the Underground Railroad Commission have expressed concerns that the dedicated interpretive center funds may have been used to support the train station project. Has that happened? If so it would appear to be a clear violation of the terms of the casino revenue disbursement agreement.
As for the Underground Railroad Commission it’s been totally silent for the past five years and there’s a question as to whether the organization even exists anymore. Is the organization’s membership current in its appointments and is the commission operating within their bylaws? If the organization is defunct how can the casino revenue funds continue to be directed to a non existent organization?
As for the interpretive center it has yet to open its doors and remains – as far as anyone knows – mired in a years long contentious lawsuit between the city and the Resatarits Company regarding work performed during the rehabilitation of the interpretive center building.
