Voters be Trippin’

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 the width of the façade. According to the election machine operator who wished to stay anonymous, “People from the Train Station have been calling the city since at least June. Around August, there was a teacher from Niagara County who tripped on that ledge and broke her ankle. Today two people fell and one of them had to go to the hospital in an ambulance.” (This interview was conducted on Friday, November 1st; early voting closed on Saturday, November 2nd).

The election machine operator told the Reporter that workers from the Train Station have been asking the city to paint the massive bump for months, but it was only four days ago that a yellow line was painted on it – and that hasn’t stopped people from falling. A uniformed police officer working at the polls told the Reporter “It’s been pretty bad. Lots of people have fallen right there (pointing to the bump). I don’t know why that thing is even there, or how it makes any engineering sense.” The volume of injuries last week during early voting polls was so high that the poll workers had to take shifts standing outside to warn people about the dangerous pitfall.

City Councilman Donta Myles believes that this is yet another example of Mayor Robert Restaino’s administration ignoring the North End. District Four is often thought of as the “forgotten district” in town, where the community is predominantly Black or African American. Myles told the Reporter, “The Fourth District is the neglected district, it has had zero care from our government for decades. Especially this administration, and the majority of my (city council) colleagues are following in that path of negligence.”

“Every single person who has fallen has been elderly,” the election machine operator told the Reporter, “and the elderly folks have vowed that the city is going to pay for the damage it has caused by neglecting this issue.” As well they should. It’s bad enough that our streets are so-often ridden with pot holes that they are known to cause thousands of dollars in damage to local tax payers. Have you ever had your muffler fall off while driving in Niagara Falls? The city doesn’t pay for that, the vehicle owner does. The teacher who broke her ankle from tripping on the ledge in front of the Train Station could certainly sue the City of Niagara Falls, NY; and she would likely win.

Frustrated, Councilmember Donta Myles told the Reporter that this type of issue is commonplace for our community. Falls residents used to be able to take issues such as this to city council members who could then work to resolve the issues; whether it’s a dangerous structure on city property or a pot hole in front of someone’s house. Hardly anything is being resolved in our community because Mayor Restaino decided to change the way our city operates. In his infinite wisdom, Mayor Restaino has made it so that city council members are not allowed to speak directly with department heads. Department heads have to deal directly with the Mayor’s office, which includes his brother and City Administrator Anthony Restaino. Sources within City Hall have also told the Reporter that department heads must consult with Mayor Restaino before responding to residents complaints which were made directly through their department.

Councilmember Myles said, “It’s become typical culture of how our city is ran. Everything is reactive. I can’t talk to the department heads, they’ve handcuffed us. Everything has to go through the Mayor’s office because it’s a dictatorship. The Mayor almost never responds, or the response is lackluster and shows that they don’t care. So we are always stuck in reactive mode where something drastic has to happen. Maybe an elderly person gets hurt, or in another situation someone dies. These types of issues we try to address at City Hall but we are ignored by the Mayor’s office.”

Mayor Restaino’s administration hosted Food Truck Thursdays at the Train Station all summer long. So it would seem curious that our Mayor somehow didn’t notice that the inside of the station looks like an unkempt broom closet. It appears that the lobby area has become a catch-all for ladders, chairs and equipment to be stored right out in the open. This is how it looked during early voting, and probably how it still looks today.

The Niagara Gazette reported that Mayor Restaino “warned that the city’s operation of the downtown train station is leading to an annual loss of about $130,000.” There are no details in the report as to why the Train Station is causing such a sizable annual debt, but this is certainly indicative as to why the City of Niagara Falls should not be in the development business. This certainly proves that our city has shown that it is incapable of operating a $150 million event center, which will be paid for on the backs of you and I. Also worth noting – that same article in the Niagara Gazette reports that Mayor Restaino’s 2025 city budget includes a hike in residential property taxes.

The Reporter interviewed an early voter from Lewiston who nearly tripped on the bump while walking into the Train Station. The voter, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Reporter “I’m glad there was someone out here to warn me about that drop off. I just got a new hip and if I fell, it would have been disastrous. This is a broke city and it shows. They need to do more than paint it yellow because it’s still causing people to fall.”