Legacy Project or Political Vendetta? Mayor Restaino’s Arena Plans Under Scrutiny Amid NFR Dispute
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 millions annually.
The last mayor, who also had no development experience, built a mammoth train station that sits empty almost every day. Mayor Paul Dyster promised the new train station would be “transformational” because it would bring many more people into town based on the premise that if the train station was sprawling and attractive, more people would take a train to come to town.
Train travel to the city has not increased. However, the cost to taxpayers to maintain and heat a giant empty train station continues to rise and runs into the hundreds of thousands annually.
The old train station cost taxpayers nothing to operate, since it was in a small building and the rent was covered by Amtrak.
The mayor before Dyster, Vince Anello launched plans for a city courthouse four times the cost and size actually needed for this city of 49,000 and four judges.
His premise for an 80,000-square-foot “transformational” building was that an attractive courthouse would spur development in the immediate area. It did not. The oversized courthouse costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands annually, and there has been no spin off development. In fact, vacancies have increased on Main Street since it was built.
Mayor Restaino, who calls his arena “transformational” not only did not do a feasibility study to determine if the city needs an arena or how much it will cost, also did not do a site selection study to determine if the 10 acres he wants to take is the best location for the arena.
NFR and other city residents have suggested there are other locations in the city, some of them closer to downtown, that would not require killing a job-producing tax-producing project that could be shovel-ready in a few months.
A plan where a data center and, if the mayor can get the funding, an arena could both be a reality if the mayor considered another site.
In fact, a site that the city owns downtown, now used as surplus parking, is large enough for the proposed arena and would spare taxpayers the cost of taking the land and building a parking ramp. There is an oversized parking ramp adjacent to the city-owned property.
Mayor Restaino has steadfastly refused to consider any site other than NFR’s 10 acres.
He has an oft-stated personal hostility towards NFR and its executives, who have owned the land for more than 20 years.
He has stated that NFR launched plans to build the data center as a ruse to hike the value of the land in eminent domain proceedings and the company has no intention of building an AI digital data center.
The actual facts show the mayor is not telling the truth. Records from city hall show NFR put its preliminary plans for a data center on file with planning officials and had on the record discussions with Mayor Restaino months before Restaino first announced his idea for an arena – on NFR’s land – without a feasibility study or site selection study.
This has led some to suspect that rather than NFR being deceptive in creating a hoax project to get more money in an eminent domain land valuation the mayor is perpetrating the hoax and that he is more interested in blocking the development of an AI data center, not because of the merits of the project, but because of his hostility toward NFR.
Restaino chose to campaign for his reelection in part on an anti-NFR platform, an election he narrowly won over his Republican opponent in this heavily Democratic city.
If the mayor is merely meddling with honest plans for development because he does not like the developers, or capriciously moving a project forward on land without knowing it is the best location, or even if an arena is not going to be another “legacy-boondoggle” mayors of this small city like to leave behind after they are gone, then it is up to a sober, watchdog media to investigate and inform the public.
If there are deeper motives, such as the financial, if a mayor wants to help his cronies and harm his political opponents (such as NFR) to further his political or economic interests, deeper corruption inquiry is indicated.
It may not be calculated. It is well-known that the mayor has serious anger issues. In addition to his expulsion as a judge for losing his temper in an epic reaction of jailing dozens of innocent people for a mere cell phone ringing in his courthouse, Restaino loses control frequently.
At his primary night victory, a time when most successful candidates express happiness and field reporters’ questions with grace and optimism, Restaino lost his temper and assaulted a TV reporter by putting his hands on the camera to block him from filming, an embarrassing moment captured on camera and widely broadcast on TV and social media.
Stories of his temper are legion in this city, from bowling alley outbursts to chiding people in a fit of temper so outrageously severe and disproportionate to the cause that it seems the veins in his head might burst from an uncontrollable frenzy.
Those before him know that he must be constantly flattered and never contradicted, or he will suddenly turn and lose control.
Before and after his outbursts, he can seem to be the most rational and well-spoken gentleman one would want to meet.
Still, those who know him know that they must constantly walk on eggshells around him for fear of his spiraling into manic anger episode.
The majority of the city council seems positively afraid of him. The sole exception is Donta Myles, who often questions the mayor. The council chairman, Jim Perry, seems to be petrified to lead the council to do such required council duties as to question the mayor on how much he is spending on the arena project.
Perry appeared to be quaking at the prospect of asking even the simplest questions about expenditures, something the council is by law mandated to do.
Restaino, as if treating the Perry and the rest of the council as if they were children, responded he would tell them when he chose to. Perry abdicating his legal duty to demand an accounting from the mayor accepted the public humiliation of cowing when in the right to a man he fears.
Perry also accepted the humiliation of agreeing to the mayor’s instruction that the council cannot speak to any of his department heads without his permission, something that is unprecedented, and illegal.
By law, the council, which is a separate and equal branch of government, has authority to make inquiries wherever and whenever it finds cause to do so, and even possesses subpoena power if a city department head, or even the mayor, was reluctant to be forthcoming and they would have to speak to the council – unless they invoked their 5th Amendment privilege of not self incrimination.
But Perry, Brian Archie, Traci Bax, David Zajac – the council-in-fear of Restaino – are to be excused, since they do not understand the law concerning their duties and consequently did not understand and therefore are incompetent to do the job they were elected to do.
A city council is not elected to be the mayor’s ‘yes men.’
They are elected to be a watchdog on expenses and make city laws and ordinances which they independently determine to approve.
Not a dime may be spent in the city without the explicit approval of the council, yet this council is so coed by the temperamental and hot-headed mayor that they do not even know what the mayor spends, or what he spends it on; they blindly support him and it is becoming growingly obvious it is out of fear more than genuine support of the mayor’s plan for Centennial Park.
Their fear may be justified in their minds.
Stay tuned for Part Three, where I delve into my personal dealings with Mayor Restaino.
