Mayor’s Vision Not a Good Deal for Anybody

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 John Daly Blvd. that he must acquire at great cost, one way or another, from Niagara Falls Redevelopment which has its own plans to develop a $1.5-billion data center at the same location on its own dime with great promise for high paying jobs.

So how can the mayor continue to push a project with such dim prospects for success? According to just about anybody with any knowledge of such things including experts who believe, according to an article by the Gazette’s investigative journalist Mark Scheer, that such venues being touted by the mayor have little to no economic impact to surrounding areas.

And perhaps the most troubling about all the negative takes on the Restaino project is that it continues to be shrouded in secrecy, especially when it comes to the financing and a possible tenant to make any venture worthwhile.  None have been identified.

Now transparency has never been a hallmark of the current city administration and that lack of openness does nothing to build confidence in a dream project that doesn’t seem to hold up under any sort of scrutiny and that includes the failure to release the results of a survey conducted by Restaino’s economic development chief, Cliff Scott, on the proposal to borrow federal funds to cover property acquisition costs or the legal fees involved in paying for all the land acquisition for the 12-acre parcel at the center of it all, stating Scott’s survey was not authorized. The Niagara Gazette story also reported the overwhelming majority in the audience were against the initiative with only two in the audience believing the borrowing to be a good thing, the only real beneficiary being a wealthy investor hotelier who might have some benefit in the deal.

There are very few jobs in the hotel business in the Falls Hoteliers where one might make between $65,000-to-$75,000 a year, according to best estimates but most of the rest of the workers at the dream center would be between $15,000 and $25,000 a year, barely enough to survive.

Quoting from a Scheer article a few years ago, economists and researchers “almost universally agree that stadiums (and that’s what this is) are unlikely to generate anywhere near the level of tax revenue needed to offset the public subsidies tied to their construction.”

Stated clearly, not much in the way of jobs and little to no tax revenue would be generated to justify a massive investment of taxpayer dollars into the Centennial Park project.  So who would benefit?  Certainly not the taxpayers who will pay more in taxes build a Restaino legacy project that makes little sense no matter how you look at it.  A bad idea with no public financial support, no tenant, and few jobs.

Tough to take this case to the bank and collect one red dime.