Plagued by Rats, LaSalle Residents Scoff at Mayor Ratstaino’s Ten Dollar Coupon
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 scheduling conflict that one council member calls “suspicious.”
The city has fallen into such disarray that a rapidly growing population of enormous rats has laid siege to LaSalle neighborhoods; a problem which the city has been aware of for years. Yet, despite governmental awareness the poor conditions have remained all across the city. “It seems like a lot of the residents are having the same experiences,” says City Councilman Donta Myles, “It really is a big thing, lots of rats. These are full-fledged rats. I think a lot of it is coming from Covanta and if my memory serves me correct, I think we get garbage from downstate. If we’re getting garbage from all over the place brought here, dear Lord let’s hope it’s not from NYC because those rats are like cats!”
Councilman Myles told the Reporter, “The rat problem was brought to our attention again last year. We had approved a contract with Orkin to set out bait and things like that to resolve the problem as best as possible. Apparently it didn’t work, and we’re bringing in all that trash. In typical Niagara Falls fashion, we never really followed up to check on the situation and the rat problem just got worse and worse.”
For many Niagara Falls residents, dealing with rat attacks has become a persistent and expensive problem. According to the Niagara Gazette, the Niagara County Health Department conducted a survey of just 58 houses in the effected area of LaSalle (typical surveys will canvas hundreds of homes). One local man told the surveyors that he killed at least 22 rats in and around his home in the last two years. Another local, Tammy Cook, stated publicly that she’s killed over 75 rats in her yard just this year. Other locals who attended the mayor’s public discussion shared their stories of rat infestations. But eventually those in attendance became fed up with sharing stories and called upon Mayor Restaino and the legislators to come up with a viable solution.
Last week, the official City of Niagara Falls, NY – Mayor’s Office Facebook page unveiled Mayor Restaino’s ingenious plan; two months in the making. Instead of proposing a municipal-led solution, Mayor Restaino is hocking a coupon to cover shipping costs for rat poison; requiring customers to purchase a three month supply of the product before December 31st, 2024. The coupon has an estimated ten dollar value. The immediate reaction from local taxpayers was not what Mayor Restaino expected. Without shipping, the cost of the three month “Ratology” rat poison starter kit is $99.95.
Many irritated taxpayers took to the Mayor’s official Facebook page to voice their grievances. One local resident, Rich Leo, commented; saying “When does the city start protecting its citizens from the rodent population instead of making them bear the cost? These kits should be FREE as part of a city plan!”
Another resident, Shelli Devlin-Valenti commented saying, “This is a joke. This has been a problem for years and has not been properly addressed. What do we pay taxes for and a garbage tax for? What is that money being used for its definitely not being used to fix up this city. This is absolutely ridiculous.” Many residents have raised the issue that Mayor Restaino’s coupon offer is callous, adding an additional cost to struggling families right before Christmas.
Several of the commentators said that they originally thought that the announcement was an advertisement for rat poison – not a solution coming from the Mayor’s official Facebook page. Indeed, the post is written more like an advertisement than an announcement from a public office. According to the Department of Justice website, “An employee’s position or title should not be used to coerce; to endorse any product, service or enterprise; or to give the appearance of governmental sanction.” [5 C.F.R. § 2635.702 (see Subpart G – Misuse of Position; Use of Public Office for Private Gain)].
Since this advertisement came directly from the official City of Niagara Falls, NY – Mayor’s Office Facebook page, it could be interpreted as an unlawful misuse of an official position.
A resident with the Facebook name “Anita Anita Sweet” wrote, “Wow. This sounds crazy like whoever posted this is their spokesperson and sales representative. A lot of this city is poverty stricken and cannot afford this in the first place. Take the $4.5 million for the new dog shelter off the table and help with the real existing problems first. The City needs a business manager. If we do have one besides the Mayor, it doesn’t seem like it. Idk. It seems things are a bit weird in the local NF government. 🙁 and it’s the residents who take on all of this.”
“The coupon is belittling,” Councilman Myles told the Reporter, “Mayor Restaino considers our constituents to be ignorant and dumb. I think it’s a slap in the face to the people that he’s supposed to be representing. Shipping, first and foremost – what are you saving? I guarantee that, if you’re going to purchase a thousand rat traps, I promise you any business will say they’ll ship for them free. Mayor Restaino wants to make it seem like he worked out a special deal to save you ten dollars on a problem that was caused by Niagara neglect. The neglect of local government and bad decision-making in allowing us to be a freakin’ dump site. We’ve become nothing more than a dump site in our city. That’s bad decision-making and neglect. So now they have rats. One of the problems that I have is that none of my colleagues on council are speaking up on behalf of the LaSalle residents who are actually dealing with this rat problem. I’m a little shocked with Jim Perry and Traci Bax, being that Traci lives on Cayuga Island which is a hop and a skip from Lasalle. And Jim lives in LaSalle himself, and he represents that space. Jim Perry saying jack-squat about the rat problem is the same as Brian Archie staying on the fence about the Beech Avenue Project.”
Councilman Donta Myles chose to be proactive about the major uptick in plague-spreading rodents. Myles proposed a resolution which would allocate $200,000 from American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds towards exterminating the unwanted pests. After submitting his resolution to City Corporation Counsel Tom DeBoy, Myles received the response he’s come to expect from DeBoy; who stated that he believed the resolution violated the city charter and that there are no ARP funds available “to pay for the various contracts that the Council Member would have the Mayor negotiate and sign.”
In recent discussions with the Reporter, both Councilman Myles and Councilman Brian Archie told the Reporter that they estimated the amount of ARP funds still left in the till to be somewhere between $10 – $25 million, which is a far cry from there being nothing left.
Myles told the Reporter, “See here’s the thing, this is where the lies come in. When I was talking about the Beech Avenue park and everything DeBoy said ‘Oh back in 2021, the council who was here passed a resolution that had all of the ARP funding spent.’ I said if all of the funding was spent and already allocated by 2021, then how did we just vote on this brand new resolution regarding a $4.5 million animal shelter that wasn’t in play back in 2021? DeBoy stumbled over his words and I said ‘So you’re cherry-picking and you’re marching to the beat of the mayor’s drum because you’re the mayor’s attorney, so of course you’re gonna buck against the resolution.”
Councilman Myles says, “I keep asking ‘then where is it? Where is the money?’ They probably have projects planned that they’ll announce at the last minute to rush approval of the ARP funding.” Many locals have speculated that the remaining ARP funds, possibly as much as $25 million, are being considered by Mayor Restaino for the purpose of leveraging on a bank loan for his Centennial Park legacy project.
“DeBoy says there’s nothing left in the ARP funds.” Myles told the Reporter, “He’s saying that my resolution calling for us to pull the money from the ARP funds violates the city charter to the degree where I can’t tell the mayor where to spend money at. I can’t direct the mayor to do anything. He was grasping at straws just to not support what I put out. DeBoy is not representing the city council in a manner that’s fair and equal to how he represents the mayor. He’s appointed by the mayor. That’s why I requested that we have outside legal counsel.”
As for Mayor Restaino’s coupon for free shipping, Myles adds “The coupon is so insulting. It’s so insulting. It’s insulting the intelligence of the people. It’s horrible, it makes you cringe.” One thing is for sure, the City of Niagara Falls should act immediately and clean up its rat problem… starting with the rats at City Hall.
