What’s Next for Niagara Falls? Restaino’s Vision Just Words So Far
By Tony Farina
Now that Mayor Robert Restaino has moved to have Niagara Falls go fully into the development of north Main St. and the Rapids Theater with the purchase of 38 Blue Cardinal properties and the theater, what’s next?
No one really knows and it is unlikely Restaino knows because there is no real plan in place and much of what is going on is being done pretty much in the dark as transparency is not a hallmark of the mayor’s administration.
But one is left to wonder how will the city get anything done with no sign of possible tenants to return broken down north Main St. to a better time and no real mechanism in sight to bring in any tenants. And who will develop the properties?
Lots of questions but almost no answers as the mayor pretty much does it his own way without a public vision beyond hopeful words and taking bows for acquiring the properties.
Somehow, developers must be brought in to make any vision a reality and so far none have really surfaced. Sure, there’s talk of a partnership with Niagara University for student housing, but so far just talk.
Like the mayor’s unfunded $150 million event center near the casino, much of the details remain shrouded in secrecy. That’s the way the mayor tends to operate and so far keeping the public in the dark hasn’t delivered anything but words.
For starters, the city must find a way to lure developers into the Falls, ease their path of entry and give them assistance to do something, anything. Right now there are no city guiding forces to assist developers who might want to take a chance on blighted Niagara Falls. And given the city can’t get along with a billion-dollar- investor, Howard Milstein’s NFR, the optics for something really getting done are murky and empty to many onlookers.
Actions speak louder than words, and so far the mayor’s development vision has little action and lots of words. Not a formula for success.
But back to Milstein. Many observers in the region are seriously concerned about Mayor Restaino’s process of choosing developers and to date he hasn’t been able to land the big fish and yet he has a proven developer in Milstein who’s willing to invest $1.5 billion in the data technology center in Niagara Falls. Puzzling, very puzzling.
Right now, there is nothing on the table but nice words, political arm-twisting on weary lawmakers, and a drawing board with no developers in hand.
The mayor’s selling job is not getting it done. Until he has something real to talk about, the city’s hope for the future remains as empty as his words.
