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Submitted by Ken Cosentino

I have a riddle for you: How is it that the city of Niagara Falls is broke? Was it an accident, or was money mismanaged? Or could it be that the budget was not mismanaged, but that we live in a city of manufactured poverty? Let’s break it down…

Niagara Falls is named after three water falls which contain one-third of the Earth’s fresh water source. The hydroelectricity powered by these waterfalls powers half the East coast, including New York City. The historical events that have taken place played a vital role in the creation of the United States of America. The natural wonder draws millions of tourists every year. So I ask you again: How is it that the city of Niagara Falls is broke?

SOMEONE is making money from the hydroelectricity. SOMEONE is profiting off of the natural wonder. SOMEONE is making millions upon millions of dollars, while our city suffers and the people face higher taxes and increased crime and poverty. That SOMEONE is New York State, and more specifically, an elite group of millionaires and billionaires who call themselves 43×79 (named after the longitude and latitude of Buffalo). This group includes Jeremy Jacobs, Mark Hamister, Jordan Levy, Louis Ciminelli, and James Glynn as an affiliate. These men are profiting from our legacy, and 43×79 financially support the governor.

Simply put: There’s a hole in the bucket. The city of Niagara Falls was built on graft. All of the crime, all of the poverty, all of the despair… the root of the problem is greed. The corruption is only three or four generations old and if you know your history, you know that the city was originally founded in 1892. This was only seven years after the opening of the Niagara Reservation. The city was created as a front for a state owned monopoly of hydropower. NYS Assemblyman Thomas V. Welch and his co-conspirators in Free Niagara secured the land next to the waterfall in order to secure the water rights for hydropower. They then dumped money into massive stock for the First Niagara Power Company and Welch then penned the first city charter. So, how do we fix it?

Write me in for mayor: S.E. KENNETH COSENTINO. Here’s what I’ll do:

I will begin negotiating directly with the Seneca Nation of Indians. There is no real law that prevents us from working directly with SNI. They want to work with us. We have not done so because our mayor has not wanted to offended Albany. I don’t care about offending Albany, as the state has had a parasitic relationship with Niagara Falls since the beginning. We may not be able to have casino money directly exchange hands between the city and SNI, but we can set up a profit sharing plan whereby SNI invests in our infrastructure and local businesses.

In order to appease the Seneca Nation of Indians and show that we are serious about a professional relationship, we will transfer unwanted and unused parcels of land to their ownership. This will come with stipulations in which we will share in the profits and SNI must guarantee that they will build attractions on these parcels. We will hold the land in a joint account for five years while attractions are being built and if SNI does not meet our deadline, the land will revert back to ownership of the city and SNI will absorb costs.

We will speak out publicly with the right leadership on the parasitic relationship we’ve had with the state. Our goal will be to receive a fair amount of funding for our annual budget, in perpetuity, from the New York Power Authority. The relicensing cut us out completely and without proper leadership there was no push back. NYPA should pay 60% of our city’s budget for as long as the water flows. They are in the midst of a $1.1 billion upgrade. We will hold their feet to the fire in all major and regional media outlets until we see this plan come to fruition. They will not want the negative publicity coming from the mayor of a famous tourist city. We will not be silenced as we wage a full scale campaign to right what is wrong.

One agreement we will push for is free electricity from NYPA to offset costs. Niagara Falls pays some of the highest electric bills in the state and we cannot continue this practice.

The city has a horrible PR problem. We will rebrand the city, reclaim the title of Seventh Wonder of the World, and make Niagara Falls into the Power City. We will do this by focusing on the fact that the hydroelectricity is one of the largest sources of green energy in the world. We will become a model city, utilizing our famous name, for renewable energy and smart technologies. We will be open for business.

I will use my industry connections to bring Hollywood productions to the city of Niagara Falls. Buffalo sees millions of dollars annually from the film industry. We should be seeing profits too. I have been working on this for years and it would be as easy as flipping a switch. Productions bring people, and people need food, lodging, transportation, entertainment, etc. We will focus on rebranding into a little Hollywood where there is always something positive happening. I will make sure that local unions, carpenters, electricians, IATSE, etc. are all hired on these productions as a stipulation for housing productions. A long running television series could pretty much cover most of our woes. Productions attract more productions. Last year I assisted the Travel Channel and Discovery Channel in filming in our area. If we build it, they will come. As CEO of White Lion Studios, LLC, I negotiate contracts, work on budgets and I have been a hired gun in the film industry for over seven years.

Come tourist season, we will threaten to close down roads to Goat Island if the state does not meet our demands. As mayor, I will order the water board to shut off water to the island. No running water means no toilets flushing. The state cannot have this, they will bend to our will. Perhaps we should also put a toll booth at the entrance to the island. We should not be competing with New York State for parking and entertainment. It has destroyed us and they have benefitted from our destruction.

As mayor I will launch a full investigation into the possible wrongdoings of former administrations and their colleagues. The amount of surveys and money being passed around with nothing to show as a result is dumbfounding. We will get to the bottom of it and people will be held accountable.

The top brass union in the police department is getting too sweet of a deal. For one three minute phone call, an employee in this union can receive four hours of OT pay. There are many employees in this union making six figure salaries. Everyone will have to make sacrifices, this is non-negotiable. I am not talking about cutting positions, just re-negotiating contracts to be more realistic.

The city will highlight our history. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy), French and Indian War, War of 1812, the Underground Railroad, and bootlegging just to name a few important historical events that occurred here; Will all be highlighted as a part of the rebranding initiative. We will model ourselves as a miniature Boston, but with an arts and entertainment district similar to Allentown. We will also have seasonal events such as a guided lantern walking ghost tour, from Devil’s Hole where the massacre took place to Oakwood Cemetery where the daredevils are buried. We will have plenty of youth-centric initiatives and after school programs.

We will keep money circulating locally. Instead of outsourcing business, we will keep funds in the community. Also, John Percy and USA Niagara (Empire State Development’s tourism arm) have been given the task of promoting our city. They have done a swell job of promoting New York State attractions. We need an independent marketing firm that is not operated by the state to step in and help with the rebranding.

Any company, entity or individual who is not meeting our standards during these times will be given a deadline for change. If they do not meet the deadline then their contract will be null and void and they will be let go. We will not have someone sitting in a position for thirty years doing nothing and collecting a big fat pension.

These are just some of the things that I will do as mayor. We have to fight back. Desperate times call for desperate measures. By teaming up with the Seneca Nation of Indians, we can build attractions and make Niagara Falls a great place to live. By taking NYPA and New York State to the gallows if they do not comply, we will find that there will never again be a budget deficit. If NYPA and New York State think we are bluffing, we will look into dissolving the city charter and seceding from New York State altogether, and becoming a seventh sovereign nation dependent on our natural wonder and history. If they are not willing to give it back, we will take it back by any means necessary. We should not be raising taxes on a struggling population when there are hundreds of millions of dollars passing through our fingers like the sands of time. I will not reassess properties because there will be no need. We will take the hardest stance on New York State that anyone has ever seen from an administration. This I promise you. I graduated high school with an advanced regents degree in honors. I have a strong working relationship with several members of the Seneca Nation of Indians and I am able to negotiate respectfully and assertively. I know the politics, I will pull the parasite up by its roots.

On November 5th, go to the polls. On the ballot there is a box for write-ins. Write me in for mayor: S.E. KENNETH COSENTINO