niagara falls

By Tony Farina A tourist-driven city like Niagara Falls, N.Y., should make every effort from the top on down to put on its best face for visitors, perhaps giving them pause to stick around for a while before leaving after seeing the natural world wonder and the marvelous State Park.  Sound like a good idea?  Well that’s what I decided to concentrate on today, cleaning up the city with graffiti and illegal dumping as the targets. Cleaning up the city was actually brought to light recently by Mayor Robert Restaino in his weekly podcast when he talked about a new

By Tony Farina It may not be another world wonder, but the idea fomenting these days about the Niagara Aerospace Museum for Niagara Falls, N. Y., is important because it is another way to connect tourism with education, workforce development, and regional identity. With long, cold winters, the reality is that indoor attractions matter, encouraging overnight stays, supporting nearby restaurants and hotels, and creating educational opportunities for local students. Western New York has a long history in aviation, engineering, and manufacturing, and an aerospace-focused attraction fits naturally with this history and is extremely worthy of serious discussion, which we heartily

By Tony Farina The City of Niagara Falls has land, location, and market potential, but unfortunately, city leadership is unpredictable, adversarial, litigious, and strategically incoherent, making it a poor city for long-term investment possibilities. Investors who might be willing to commit to Niagara Falls in effect are turned off by the city’s unwelcoming posture and preference for using lawsuits rather than collaboration to manage public policy disputes. What has happened is that the city’s developmental pipeline—a steady flow of projects in planning, construction, and financial backing stages—is deteriorating and getting worse the longer the city manages the process unprofessionally, and

By Tony Farina There was a time in the middle of the last century that the City of Niagara Falls was a powerhouse of American industry, home to more than 100,000 people, and a tourist attraction featuring one of the most powerful and majestic waterfalls in the world. People were drawn to make the city home with one of the world’s wonders on its doorstep and all the electrical power it delivers along with the stream of millions of tourists every year. There was steady factory work, reliable wages, and bustling business corridors on Main St. and Pine Ave. with

By Dave Seminara I’m a mad traveler who has visited 85 countries and is never happier than when I’m in an unfamiliar place. My travel addiction was born in Niagara Falls in the 1980s. As a kid growing up in nearby Williamsville, my mom — a fellow compulsive traveler — would take me to both sides of the Falls often. I loved the waterfalls, of course, but what fascinated me even more was hearing foreign languages and feeling like I was on an exotic vacation so close to home. Now I live in Florida but come back to Western New

On paper, the City Court race wasn’t a contest. Two open seats for Niagara Falls City Court judge. Two candidates – only two: Chief Judge Danielle Restaino running for reelection and attorney Jason Cafarella making his transition from lawyer to the bench. Both were sure to be elected—as long as they got at least one vote, since there was no other opposition. Both were cross-endorsed by every party — Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives, and Working Families. Both were guaranteed to win. Out of roughly 9,000 voters of this small city with the famous name, Cafarella received 5,457 votes. Restaino got 3,517 — a difference

Mayor Robert M. Restaino financed a mailer for City Council candidate Bridgette V. Myles. The proof is in the corner, printed in plain type—the mayor’s name like an artist signs a canvas. Paid for by Restaino for Mayor.      The mayor is financing his very own personal pet council. The executive financing the legislature. Forget that under New York Election Law, a mayor’s campaign committee cannot directly fund or coordinate campaign materials for another candidate without reporting it as an in-kind contribution and adhering to contribution limits.   Forget about how by financing a council candidate’s mailer, Restaino blurred ethical boundaries intended

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — On Tuesday, voters will decide whether the City Council becomes an independent check on Mayor Robert M. Restaino—or continues to be an extension of his office. Five seats. Three are on the line. Mayor Robert Restaino’s slate — John Kinney, Noah Muñoz, and Bridget Myles — is running as a team. If they win, Restaino continues to run the council. The chairman, Jim Perry, is supposed to run the council, but he follows the mayor’s directives. He keeps meetings quiet, cuts people off, and leaves the room when the questions get awkward or hard. Restaino has

By Tony Farina It’s time for Niagara Falls voters to elect a council that will be more than just a rubber stamp for the mayor!  Mayor Restaino and his administration have been actively campaigning to “vote in his own slate of politically beholden candidates” and is even paying for many of their campaign mailers from his own political coffers! It is a bad idea, both legally and politically, for a sitting mayor to underwrite or fund campaign mailers! But that is a topic that can be addressed at another time. Now that Election Day is upon us, it is more important

By Tony Farina The City of Niagara Falls might better be called the “City of Missed Opportunities’’ because it has a history failing to move on creating opportunities for its hard-working and over-taxed families who must continue to suffer under that dreaded banner as one-by-one the opportunities come and swiftly go. And these days, the missed opportunities come in the form of a revenge-style political agenda practiced by the current mayor, Robert Restaino, who in his own brand of divisive politics is charting his own course to fulfill the legacy of missing the chance to make the city and residents

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. This past Wednesday, Niagara Falls City Council majority voted against awarding the operating contract for the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion to Legacy Hospitality & Entertainment Group. For the past 13+ years, local vendor Mike Carella’s company Niagara Sports Tournaments (NST) has held the contract rights to operate the rink; but for the past four years, there has not been an actual operating contract for the ice pavilion due to gross incompetence exhibited by the City Administration. Christopher McKendrick, the general manager of the Sheraton Hotel on Third Street, spoke in favor of

By Frank Parlato Most U.S. cities are rolling out the red carpet for AI data centers. Niagara Falls is trying to turn one away. Across the United States, governors and mayors are courting developers and operators of data centers with incentives of land, discounted power, and tax abatements. Thirty-six states have enacted laws to attract developers, including exemptions on equipment sales taxes, construction materials, and job-creation credits. Local governments are adding abatements and fast-track permitting. So what does Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino know that these other municipalities do not? He does not want AI or data centers. He is

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. The contested Hyde Park Ice Pavilion operator contract was not on the City Council agenda last Wednesday. According to the current operator of the pavilion, the agenda item is presumed (though not confirmed) to have been moved to the council meeting on Wednesday, September 17th. If passed, the council resolution will award the operating contract to Legacy Hospitality & Entertainment Group, Mayor Restaino’s choice for operating vendor; according to its terms therein. Local vendor Mike Carella’s company Niagara Sports Tournaments (NST) has held the contract for the past 14 years. Among

The quote “It takes an army to win a war” is not really a quote from a famous historical figure but rather a phrase that suggests that complex large-scale goals like winning a war requires extensive teamwork, collective effort and significant resources. In other words, the “silver bullet” approach is not the way to win a war or achieve victory in undertaking complex challenges but rather it takes a well- prepared and coordinated force to achieve victory. I begin this story by emphasizing the idea that the “silver bullet” approach undertaken by several administrations in Niagara Falls right up until

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino (once again) publicly embarrassed himself in the media last month after he ordered the locks changed at the Hyde Park ice pavilion, just to stop a youth hockey camp from practicing. Around 75 people (including the youth athletes, their parents and their coaches); were met by DPW Director Ken Tompkins and two police officers. Despite the fact that the athletes had already paid for hockey camp, they were told that they could not enter the facility. The news flurry sent City Administrator Anthony Restaino into damage

By Frank Parlato Mayor Robert Restaino will do anything to stop artificial intelligence from coming to Niagara Falls. It’s a crusade. He wants an arena — badly. But more than that, he wants to kill the competing vision: a state-of-the-art AI-powered data center campus that could put Niagara Falls on the map for 21st-century innovation. Mayor Restaino His latest complaint? Noise. Not traffic, not emissions — just the phantom menace of server hums and imagined disruption. Never mind that modern data centers operate more quietly than the arena crowds he envisions. The truth? It’s not really about noise. It’s about

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

Niagara Falls, NY: Mayor Robert Restaino addressed the public via YouTube, promoting his Centennial Park project—a proposed $200 million arena. The vision was compelling—ice rinks and concerts, a city reborn under bright lights. A mayor. A vision. A rink in the middle of a town. He appeared on screen, earnest, poised. He talked. I listened. The Mayor said, “We continue to move forward with our efforts relative to the event center and park.” Centennial Park, he called it. A two-hundred-million-dollar ice box in the middle of a broke city? It looked like progress. But something in the back of the

By Frank Parlato The City of Niagara Falls, New York, retained the consulting firm Sports Facilities Advisory (SFA) of Clearwater, Florida, to produce a “feasibility report” for a proposed indoor arena called Centennial Park. The word “feasibility” was used, though its meaning had been altered. As admitted by SFA in its own “feasibility report,” Mayor Robert Restaino told them what success looked like. And they studied how to agree with him. A feasibility report used to mean: Can we afford this? Is it a good idea? What’s the upside—and the risk? It weighs the benefits against the costs, considering the

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Niagara Falls native Gabriel Porto was a proud Italian-American. His book, aptly titled “Memoirs of an Italian American”, was self published in 2023 on Amazon. As one might suspect, “Memoirs of an Italian American” is Gabriel Porto’s autobiography. Porto was a first generation Italian-American whose parents migrated to the United States in the early twentieth century. Born in 1934, Porto shares with us his memories as an Italian kid growing up in Niagara Falls during a completely different era. My own Sicilian grandfather Anthony Cosentino was born in Niagara Falls in

By Nick Del Vecchio An intriguing game of chess is being played out in court between attorneys representing Niagara Falls Redevelopment and Mayor Robert Restaino. Restaino and the city are determined to capture NFR’s Queen, 10 acres of land known legally as Parcel 0, which is essential to the completion of the digital data center they hope to build downtown. NFR has re-positioned several pieces to protect their lady by filing two new documents with the City of Niagara Falls Planning Board. At stake for the taxpaying residents of Niagara Falls is an opportunity to reverse decades of decline and

By Nick Del Vecchio Niagara Falls Redevelopment’s proposed $1.5 billion data center adjacent to downtown Niagara Falls has been temporarily derailed by Mayor Robert Restaino’s administration. The mayor and his attorneys have invoked eminent domain in order to claim NFR’s property planned for its Niagara Digital Campus. Restaino has other plans for the property and is determined to prevent NFR’s project from becoming a reality. NFR’s planned 1.2 million square foot data center will house tens of thousands of servers and is a project suited to support the booming era of Artificial Intelligence. NFR anticipates 5600 construction jobs will be

The following is Part Four of an ongoing series by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Part One, Two and Three recap: Niagara Falls Department of Public Works (DPW) invaded a privately owned home sensory garden, which occupied both public and private property; and removed just about everything. The family whose garden was destroyed were fined $2,300 by the City for expenses incurred during the clean up. Some of the sensory garden was on public property which violated Ordinance 738, but it is unclear as to whether or not any health hazards which may have been discovered on private property prompted the

The following is Part Three of an ongoing series by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Part One recap: Niagara Falls DPW removed a sensory garden owned by a family whose 15 year old son has autism. The sensory garden occupied both public and private property. Local journalist Mark Scheer first reported the story on Friday, April 25th, three days after the incident. Scheer’s Niagara Gazette article and a social media uproar prompted a media frenzy, and the news was covered by WGRZ, WIVB and WKBW. As a direct response to the media coverage, the executive office of the City of Niagara Falls

The following is Part Two of an ongoing series written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Part One recap: Niagara Falls DPW removed a sensory garden owned by a family whose 15 year old son has come a long way since he was originally diagnosed with low functioning, nonverbal autism. The sensory garden occupied both public property (sidewalk/easement) and private property; its removal was conducted during Autism Awareness Month. The City then slapped the family with a $2,300 fine. Local journalist Mark Scheer first reported the story on Friday, April 25th; three days after the incident occurred. The Niagara Gazette article

By Frank Parlato A Little Arena and a Lot of Pain Niagara Falls NY — The tax money of the people is not money. Not in the way a man thinks of coins in a jar or a dollar in his wallet. It’s something different. It is hours. It is sweat. It is bent backs and sighs in living rooms where a father pretends he is not tired. It is a mother doing math on the backs of envelopes to make the light bill disappear for one more month. It is old men eating beans. It is children in hand-me-down shoes.

The following is Part One of an ongoing series written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. THE INCIDENT Monday, April 21st – just one day after Easter, a Niagara Falls family’s sensory garden was confiscated and unintentionally trampled by Niagara Falls Department of Public Works (DPW) employees. The sensory garden occupied space on both public and private property. Adding insult to injury, they were then slapped with a $2,300 removal/clean up fee.  An uproar on social media led to two Niagara Gazette articles written by local investigative journalist Mark Scheer, who was then publicly dressed down by Council Chairman Jim Perry.

This is Part 3 of our investigative series on the battle between the Town of Tonawanda Police Chief and the Union. Part 1 Chief Stauffiger vs. The Police Union: Inside Tonawanda’s Fight for Control Part 2 Chief Stauffiger vs. The Union: The Lie That Started It All There are towns where the trains run on time and people leave their doors unlocked. Tonawanda, New York, is almost one of those towns. It has trees and neighbors and a sense that nothing truly bad will happen, except it already did. James Stauffiger was the man they brought in to clean up the mess—old

The Ten-Acre Battlefield This is a story about ten acres in Niagara Falls, New York. Ten acres of grass and trees called Parcel 0. Niagara Falls Redevelopment LLC—NFR for short—owns Parcel 0, along with 130 other acres it bought over 25 years. Billionaire brothers, Howard and Edward Milstein, own NFR. NFR has  a plan. A $1.5 billion data center called the Niagara Digital Campus. Nine buildings. All steel and fiberboard. No windows. And inside machines. Not machines like the old days — wheels, levers, and pulleys. These were new machines to store the memory of other machines. Why would anybody want

The Conflict “Parcel 0” is a 10-acre parcel of land on the south side of downtown Niagara Falls, NY. Two projects want it for development. Only one project, at best, will be developed. Because of the fight, no one might develop at all. Parcel 0 might end up as it is now – just trees, grass, and brush. The Owner Niagara Falls Redevelopment LLC (NFR), owned by billionaire brothers Howard and Edward Milstein of Manhattan, has owned Parcel 0 and 130 contiguous acres for more than 20 years. The company has plans for a $1.5 billion data center on 53

By Frank Parlato For years, the land sat empty. Now, it’s a battleground. Ten acres at Falls Street and 10th. A few blocks from the falls, just off the Niagara Scenic Parkway. He wants a stadium. Seven thousand seats. A $150 million taxpayer-funded arena. The land belongs to Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR), which has plans for the land. Nine buildings. A million square feet of data center space for tech companies – 140 megawatts of computing power. AI processing. Cloud storage. NFR, owned by billionaires Howard and Edward Milstein, partnered with Urbacon, offers the start of a digital economy: an

By Frank Parlato NIAGARA FALLS, NY – Mayor Robert Restaino’s fight to seize private property for his unfunded arena project has taken a bizarre new turn. After spending two years—and untold taxpayer dollars—pushing to take 10 acres of land from Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) through eminent domain, Restaino now claims that half the land was public parkland all along—although the city sold it to NFR in 2004 and admitted in court that NFR legally owns it. This last-minute maneuver has raised significant concerns about the legitimacy of the mayor’s land grab and the financial burden his legal actions are imposing

By Frank Parlato The land fight between Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino and Niagara Falls Redevelopment LLC (NFR), a privately owned corporation headed by Manhattan developer Howard Milstein, is an extraordinary matter and deserves consideration by all Americans interested in government reach or overreach, property rights, and taxation. Mayor Restaino’s Ambitions Mayor Restaino, elected mayor of a small city – some 47,000 people, down from 102,000 sixty-five years ago – wants ten acres of land owned by the aforementioned NFR. He claims he wants the land – 10 acres with a street address of 907 Falls Street, for the good

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. A.I. IS A-OK For a long time, many of us have held out hope that the City of Niagara Falls, NY could once again become a “City of the Future.” Niagara Falls provides power to roughly half of the East Coast, including New York City. Genius inventor and “Father of Electricity” Nikola Tesla gave the world alternating current; born from the hydropower generated by the mighty Niagara River. Once dubbed the “Power City”, Niagara Falls is positioned to become a global leader in a new era of technology… if elected officials

By Tony Farina “We need to educate voters and help them hold their city leaders accountable,” says Donta Myles who is seeking a second four-year term on the Niagara Falls City Council which in his view has become pretty much a rubber stamp in its current state to Mayor Robert Restaino and that his one-man rule is costing the city big time in many ways, especially in development where the chosen few are prospering. “The council is not balanced at all,” says Myles who holds one of the three seats up for election on the Niagara Falls Council.  Myles recently

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. [Author’s Note: Several days after this article was originally published, this reporter was contacted by Michael Bagley who said that the emails containing my requests for an interview were lost in his spam folder. Mr. Bagley suggested edits regarding company roles. This article has been edited and corrected accordingly. Ultimately, the omitted information does not impact the overall story.]. MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS A new technology firm called “9 Lives Digital Group” appears to be busy at work in the old Globe Metallurgical factory, located at 3807 Highland Avenue. Locals are saying

MICHAEL S. GAWEL, CPA, JD NIAGARA BOOKKEEPING & ACCOUNTING FILING STATUS Get ready for Taxes! It is January and Tax time is here. Niagara Bookkeeping & Accounting is open and ready to prepare your 2024 tax returns. New clients can call Michael at (716)-622-0700 for an appointment and existing clients can email their tax information to [email protected]. Filing 2024 returns are for everyone, even if you are not required to file a 2024 return there are key reasons you may want to. This includes Star Credit, Stimulus Checks, Financial Aid, Child Support, upcoming New York State Tax Credits, loan applications

By Tony Farina The Niagara Falls City Council continues to squabble with Jim Perry winning a second consecutive term as chairman in a 3 – 2 vote at the annual reorganizational meeting while defeated challenger Donta Myles vowed to continue his fight for a return to “checks and balances” between the council and Mayor Robert Restaino. The city has become a “dictatorship” under the mayor with the council failing to be a co-equal branch of government, said Myles who was brazenly mislead by Perry, who later conceded as much, on a key capital projects vote on $9 million worth of

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Picking Up Where We Left Off: Another Round of Smokescreens Last Thursday the Niagara Falls City Council voted in approval of Mayor Restaino’s $9 million+ budget items during a special meeting. After city council originally tabled these items several weeks ago due to a lack of information from the administration, Mayor Restaino released an unsettling video boasting about how he tricked the council members into voting against an RFP for the scandalous dog kennel contract. Three days before the special meeting, the Reporter exposed the smokescreen tactics Mayor Restaino was using to

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Last Wednesday’s Council Meeting In a surprising turn of events last Wednesday night, the majority of Niagara Falls City Council voted against several of the mayor’s budget line items. Local activists including City Councilman Donta Myles, Arlene Doss, Tanya Barone and others have worked hard to amplify those voices, which until now have been suppressed by the current administration. Just yesterday the Niagara Gazette reported that Council Chairman Jim Perry followed in Mayor Restaino’s footsteps when the New York Coalition for Open Government added him to the naughty list. Perry violated

Open Government Coalition Cites Perry for Bad Behavior By Tony Farina “All too often, government wants to conduct business behind closed doors, which is wrong, and despite New York’s Freedom of Information Law, that’s what happens all too often across the state,” says Paul Wolf, the president and founder of the New York Coalition for Open Government. I sat down with Wolf, a Buffalo attorney and head of the non-profit, non-partisan Open Government group, after the recent decision by the Niagara Falls Council not to conduct a special meeting to possibly consider overriding Mayor Robert Restaino’s six amendments to their

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. MAYOR RESTAINO FIDDLES WHILE ROME IS BURNING As 2024 dwindles down we find ourselves staring into the abyss that is Niagara Falls politics. On a grand scale, I have hope that 2025 will rank better than all four years of Joe Biden’s disastrous presidency. Speaking of disastrous administrations; we still have three more years of Mayor Robert Restaino’s unhinged antics, lies and unchecked wanton spending. Here’s a look back on some of this year’s most notable local issues and where Mayor Restaino stands with each one. The first major local issue

By Tony Farina Now that Mayor Robert Restaino has moved to have Niagara Falls go fully into the development of north Main St. and the Rapids Theater with the purchase of 38 Blue Cardinal properties and the theater, what’s next? No one really knows and it is unlikely Restaino knows because there is no real plan in place and much of what is going on is being done pretty much in the dark as transparency is not a hallmark of the mayor’s administration. But one is left to wonder how will the city get anything done with no sign of

By Frank Parlato I saw Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino in one of his out-of-control states. Restaino appeared at a fundraising event for Glenn Choolokian between when the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct kicked Restaino off the bench in 2007 and when he was elected mayor in 2019. I attended the Choolokian fundraising event at Chick D’Agostino’s old Nifty Fifty restaurant on Buffalo Avenue. Sam Fruscione was there, Bob Anderson and a lot of old timers. It was a good turnout. I remember it was the last time I saw my old friend Babe Rotella. When Restaino saw

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. It’s been two years since the former director of the Niagara University’s Global Tourism Institute, Pat Whalen, warned us about the looming tax burden Mayor Restaino’s Centennial Park and event center will inevitably create for us. Despite these warnings, our mayor is forging ahead with his plans which are founded upon loose and lofty sentiments.  In 2022, Niagara Gazette’s Mark Scheer reported, “Restaino, representatives of his administration and members of the city council who have agreed to pursue eminent domain for the purposes of acquiring land for Centennial Park, all acknowledge

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Rats! It’s like a scene from a horror movie, except it’s all too real for hundreds of residents living in the LaSalle area where giant hungry rats have invaded homes, cars and trash cans. In September, City of Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino held a public meeting at the LaSalle branch library. Also in attendance were County Legislators Chris McKimmie and Chris Voccio. None of the five members of City Council were able to attend because the meeting was scheduled for the exact date and time as the council meeting; a

By Frank Parlato Escalating Costs of the Bills Stadium On November 15, 2024, the Buffalo Bills management confirmed the new Bills stadium will cost more than $2.1 billion, 50% higher than the original estimates in 2020 of $1.35 billion. The $560 million increase is primarily due to inflation, which has driven up labor costs and prices of materials, including structural steel. Additionally, expenses related to the Bills stadium may rise, as only about 35% of the stadium is complete. Construction is expected to continue until June 2026. Just north of Buffalo, a mayor of a city with 48,000 residents faces

By Tony Farina Even if you believe Mayor Robert Restaino’s heart is in the right place when it comes to rebuilding Niagara Falls, his vision on how to get it done is unfortunately an old, worn path that has not delivered in the past and is not likely to prove successful today. There may be a better path available today that wasn’t there in the past that doesn’t rely on hit-or-miss developers counting on taxpayer money no matter the source, city or state.  The money just isn’t there, and that includes for the mayor’s legacy events center project in the

By Tony Farina New York State has a structural budget deficit with a three-year budget gap of $13.9 billion projected and it is expected to increase further as stop-gap tax measures phase out and public education and health care costs continue to grow. Many experts see the problem as state spending which they say continues to spiral out of control and the heavy reliance on federal aid may be cause for concern with Donald Trump in the White House come next year. In short, given the budget gaps and a new president, it is unlikely the state will be in

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. The fight continues between (38 year) US Army veteran/community activist Arlene Doss and cowardly bully Mayor Robert Restaino over the Beech Avenue Project. Despite Arlene’s larger-than-life moral stature, it would be misleading to label this a “Battle of the Titans” due to the stark contrast between Mayor Restaino’s petty impish character and Arlene’s formidable abilities/community support. For those who are just now catching up: While campaigning, Mayor Restaino promised the good folks living in the North End of town that the City would build the Beech Avenue park and event center.

By Tony Farina The real measure of the economic benefits that would accrue to the city of Niagara Falls across the board with the development of a nine-building, $1.5 billion South End digital campus as proposed by Niagara Falls Redevelopment is now becoming much clearer and even beyond the wildest expectations one could imagine.  The numbers are staggering and the benefits mind boggling. According to a former National Grid expert, as reported in the Niagara Gazette, the tax gains for the hard-pressed taxpayers of Niagara Falls, and that includes the school district, are just almost overwhelming in every respect.  We’ll

By Jacob Tierney  The developer, which owns more than 140 acres in downtown Niagara Falls, plans to construct nine buildings – totaling 1.2 million square feet – over five phases on 53 acres of undeveloped or underdeveloped land between Falls Street and Rainbow Boulevard. “We’re talking right now about undeveloped downtown land,” said John Horn, partner with the law firm Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, who represents Niagara Falls Redevelopment. The developer recently submitted a Planned Unit Development application to the city, seeking zoning changes that would allow the project to move forward. Niagara Falls Redevelopment has partnered with Urbacon,

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. The Amtrak Train Station located at 825 Depot Avenue is an early polling location for voters in and around Niagara Falls, NY. Early voting began on Saturday, October 26th and “since then, every single day, at least one, and sometimes several elderly voters have violently tripped and fallen in front of the Train Station” an election machine operator at this location told the Reporter. The cause of these falls is a huge bump and sudden drop-off in the street in front of the entrance to the City-owned Train Station which runs

This is Part Two of a series on the eminent domain fight between Mayor Restaino and NFR. Read the first article here. Niagara Falls’ mayor Robert Restaino is a lawyer and formerly a city court judge who famously was removed from the bench for an unfortunate episode where he locked up 30 plus innocent citizens present in his court because a cell phone purportedly went off when he was talking. Though he has never developed any projects in his life, there is a tradition in this city of mayors building a legacy project that invariably is overbuilt and costs taxpayers

An incredible battle is underway in Niagara Falls, NY. The battleground is a 10-acre piece of vacant land. The fight is over what the 10 acres will be used for – the entranceway to a sprawling AI digital data center built without taxpayer funding, a project that will contribute millions of dollars per year to the city’s budget, or a taxpayer-funded municipal arena that supposedly will boost the tourism industry by a larger amount than it will cost taxpayers annually to run. Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR), a private development company, owns the 10 acres. NFR has the funding to develop

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. “We have been deceived on the North End of Niagara Falls. We have been defrauded,” Arlene (Jackson) Doss told WKBW earlier this month while referring to Mayor Robert Restaino’s refusal to write a letter of support for the Beech Avenue project; so that Arlene and her nonprofit Niagara United Vision can submit for grant funding from the Niagara River Greenway Commission. Mayor Restaino shook hundreds of hands, took countless photos and made all kinds of promises during his campaign trail. He showed support for the Beech Avenue project which includes plans

Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) announced Thursday that it has filed a full application with the City of Niagara Falls for a Negotiated Planned Development District, more commonly referred to as a Planned Unit District (PUD). The new district would be known as “Data Center at Niagara Digital Campus PUD,” and would further NFR’s efforts to develop the $1.5 billion Niagara Digital Campus data center in downtown Niagara Falls. The nearly 500-page PUD application was submitted to the City on Monday October 21, 2024. It is the next step in the development of the innovative, state-of-the-art data center, which is anticipated

By Tony Farina There are no takers so far to invest in Restaino’s dream project, including New York State, leaving Niagara Falls taxpayers the most likely borrower in a project that most economic experts predict won’t deliver much in the way of jobs or anything else, especially given the competition in the area for entertainment and sporting events already in place. A federal bond floated on the backs of taxpayers is among the possible financing options on the table for Centennial Park, Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino’s $150-million plus events center arena that he wants the city to build on

By Dennis Elsenbeck If you’ve followed the debate over the proposed $1.5 billion Niagara Digital Campus, you know that the project is estimated to generate more than 5,000 union jobs during construction, and approximately 500 jobs when fully operational, with expected annual wages to exceed $29 million. You also may know that the overall economic spinoff benefits to the community are estimated to exceed $850 million during construction, and $250 million annually, with more than 1,700 permanent jobs created in support and ancillary businesses. Perhaps you’ve followed national news coverage of the incredible need for data centers due to the

By Tony Farina Well paying high tech jobs or low tourism industry bottom-feeder pay? High tech vs. more of the same for poor Niagara Falls.  The contrast is stark and the time to step into the future with hope for a better tomorrow is now. We’ll take a look here at the road ahead and nudge the city to embrace a more forward looking agenda. The pieces appear to be in place to make something happen after years and millions of taxpayer money going over the falls to nowhere. Niagara Falls Redevelopment is still anxious to build a $1.5 billion