‘Silver Bullet’ Approach Not Working in Niagara Falls; City Needs to Deliver More Than Empty Promises

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 now, with Mayor Robert Restaino’s $200-million Centennial Park arena and North Main Street redevelopment projects in that mold, are likely to fail like others have in the past, leaving the residents of the city with hundreds of millions in new debt for speculative projects. I’ll have more on that failed history later in this story but mention the Public Safety Building and the train station as two examples of that
legacy of failure.

What the “silver bullet” approach has delivered is debt, disappointment and decline and now Mayor Restaino’s push is another in that long list of vanity projects that keeps Niagara Falls where it is: a city with declining population, high taxes, and a history of falling short with the “silver bullet” approach, an embarrassment for a tourist mecca right next to the mighty Falls.

Mayor Restaino’s projects, like those others in the past, will cost hundreds of millions in subsidies and taxpayer money when what is needed is an army of leaders that focuses on the basics likes fixing roads, supporting local businesses, promoting smart demolition and land reuse, investing in public safety, and helping to create a stable and competitive climate for private investment.

That is the “army” that is needed to fix Niagara Falls, not the kind of “silver bullet” leadership promoting vanity projects that have failed in the past and leave a history of failure across the city. A united effort is needed, not a marquee approach that fails time and again and litters the city with its failed legacy.

Now back to those failed vanity projects that make up that history.

Let’s begin that look with the failed transformational projects that go back to the Mayor Vincent Anello administration’s Public Safety Building, pitched as a state-of-the-art headquarters for police and judicial operations but what has proven to be more of a burden than a benefit, with soaring maintenance expenses and costly repairs. It has become a huge drag on the city budget.

And of course there was Mayor Paul Dyster’s $44 million international train station, touted as a new gateway for tourists that would bring crowds and commerce, but which today sits as a grand spectacle of failure with retail space largely empty and ridership numbers far short of the projections. And taxpayers are stuck with $130,000 a year to keep the lights on.

And the future of urban renewal in the ‘60s and ‘70s, that began with the demolishment of neighborhoods the name of progress by the Niagara Falls Urban Renewal Agency has proven to be an eyesore with promised development falling short leaving empty lots and scars on the city’s fabric. It was the original “silver bullet” and should have taught leadership of future administrations that reckless demolition and speculative promises destroy more than they deliver.

And the present picture has all the makings of another failed “silver bullet” approach with Mayor Restaino’s $200 million Centennial Park arena and events center with the echoes of history unmistakable. The project mirrors that Niagara Falls Convention and Visitors Center which closed in 2003 and is bleeding losses with $1.3 million in annual deficits and $3.3 million in annual mortgage costs. It was ultimately turned over to the Seneca Nation for casino use.

And the North and Main Street redevelopment which involves more than 30 buildings will require millions in subsidies and infrastructure upgrades to stabilize structures that many believe should be demolished rather than propped up. These projects in the current administration are a massive gamble with taxpayer dollars, pursued as legacy pieces rather than sound policy.

All this history adds up to missed opportunities and projects that failed to deliver on promises. And there is so much more, like Mall of America in the 1980s that never advanced that might have been and could have been an anchor for the city’s economy for decades.

There is one success story but not of the “silver bullet” mode, which happened because Benderson Development found doing business in the city was too difficult and too costly a place to develop real estate.

Benderson’s outlet mall instead went to the Town of Niagara, which ultimately became the successful Niagara Falls Outlet Collection, showing what smart retail development could accomplish instead of the “pie-in-the sky” projects that never materialize. Those kind of projects should have and could have been successful instead all of the other “silver bullet” gambles which are still with us and
promising more of the same.

It really does take an army to win a war and Niagara Falls should find the path to fixing the city with a collective, team approach, or put bluntly, a large-scale coordinated effort with strong logistics and a collective will to start moving in a better direction without relying on the “silver bullet” approach that for decades has delivered debt and failed promises. Might be time to start coming together and employing all the city’s resources in a sound, basic approach that delivers more than empty promises and continued decline and debt.