Archive for June, 2016

It’s not hard to figure out why NBC chose to film their report on the spacious Hornblower boat, rather than the cramped Maid of the Mist, on which most have to stand on their tiptoes to get a decent view.

NBC News Story Bringing Niagara Falls to Millions Ignored by State Parks, NTCC, Dyster

Niagara Falls June 23, 2016 at 4:51 pm

On the occasions that Niagara Falls is featured on Good Morning America or Entertainment Tonight, profiled in People magazine or plugged on a travel website like TripAdvisor, the collective public relations apparatus of the city, State Parks and the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation (NTCC) usually takes notice. Whether it’sRead More

Train station nears completion but it doesn’t matter. It’s going to be empty anyway.

Dyster’s Train Station to Nowhere Ready to Open, Where are Tenants?

Niagara Falls June 23, 2016 at 4:47 pm

Earlier this year Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster assured taxpayers in this highly taxed city that his $44 million, 20,000 square foot, International Railway and Intermodal Transportation Center and Underground Railroad Interpretive Center would open in June. Unlike the old train 800 square foot station – which was funded entirelyRead More

The emerald ash borer, currently decimating ash trees in forests in Erie, Niagara and Cattaraugus counties here, has caused more than a billion dollars in damage nationally since it was first discovered in 2002. Thank our friends in China, and the near total lack of regulation over what they import into our country.

Chinese Ash Borer Poses Threat to Forests in Erie, Niagara Counties

Featured June 23, 2016 at 4:41 pm

  While cheap electronics, clothes and other goods come into this country in huge quantities from China every day, the emerald ash borer is the kind of Chinese import we don’t need. The small, metallic-looking green beetle – about the size of a grain of rice – previously unknown inRead More

Hallowed ground? The battlefield at Devil’s Hole State Park is now a parking lot for tourists. No monument exists to commemorate the more than 100 men who died there.

At Devil’s Hole: We Don’t Need No Stinking Historic Preservation!

Niagara Falls June 23, 2016 at 4:35 pm

Ask anyone who’s been there. The Custer Battlefield National Monument is a haunting and sacred place. The breezes blows through the long prairie grass as visitors wander among the scattered small markers placed following the June 25, 1876 fight, each marking the spot where a trooper fell and was buried.Read More

Brent Spiner reprises his role as the crazy Dr. Brakish Okun, premiering at a multiplex theater near you this weekend. Dr. Okun, from the first “Independence Day.” was killed off. But they’ve brought him back, saying he’d spent the past 20 years in a coma.

“Independence Day: Resurgence” May Succeed Without the Critics this Summer

Uncategorized June 23, 2016 at 4:32 pm

For whatever reason, 20th Century Fox has decided to launch its’ entry into the summer blockbuster sweepstakes – “Independence Day: Resurgence” – without screening it for critics in advance and with a mostly online and in-theater promotional campaign that that has been unimpressive, to say the least. That’s usually aRead More

Not much activity at Hamister hotel site...officials mum so far on formal groundbreaking

No Sign Yet of Major Groundbreaking Ceremony for Hamister Hotel

Niagara Falls June 23, 2016 at 4:29 pm

  It all seems so long ago that the state and the administration of Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster announced with great fanfare that the Hamister Group based in Buffalo had been selected for a $25.3 million downtown development project at 310 Rainbow Blvd. that would include an upscale hotel,Read More

Old Stone Chimney Moved and Dedicated Seems a Little Crooked

Old Stone Chimney Moved and Dedicated Seems a Little Crooked

Niagara Falls June 23, 2016 at 4:21 pm

There was a crooked mayor, And he had a crooked town. It had a crooked chimney and….   Oh, sorry. Just thinking to myself. They moved the Old Stone Chimney from its spot at Porter Park downtown out to LaSalle off the former Robert Moses Parkway, much closer to whereRead More

Orlando Shooting: The Cold, Cold Monster  Strikes Again

Orlando Shooting: The Cold, Cold Monster Strikes Again

Uncategorized June 23, 2016 at 2:25 pm

By Jim Ostrowski I could write a book about the Orlando shooting, its antecedents and its exploitation by the Progressive State of America.  Alas, that won’t be necessary.  If you understand two key concepts, you can unravel the whole puzzle very quickly.  If you don’t understand them, you will be quicklyRead More

Signs Of The Times: Rough Road Signs are Easier to  Install Than Fixing Rough Road

Signs Of The Times: Rough Road Signs are Easier to Install Than Fixing Rough Road

Uncategorized June 23, 2016 at 2:08 pm

Despite having an unprecedented $180 million in casino revenue to spend, the administration of Mayor Paul Dyster has hardly kept up with paving the rough roads in this dwindling city of now about 40,000 people. Niagara Falls is unhappily officially the highest taxed city in New York State and NewRead More

It’s in the Stars: Your Weekly Horoscope: June 23-29

It’s in the Stars: Your Weekly Horoscope: June 23-29

Uncategorized June 23, 2016 at 1:55 pm

Aries: (March 21 – April 19): Well . . .” begins your mother as she attempts to answer your question, amid fuzzy memories of a balmy night in Cuba, several empty bottles of pineapple rum lying around the bed she had shared with the Captain accompanied by the worst headacheRead More

Bob Dylan played to a sold out audience at Red Rocks Colorado on Father’s Day. Next Thursday, he will play to a sold out audience at Artpark. It will be without question the most important June 30 show to take place on the Niagara Frontier.

Bob Dylan at Artpark?

Community News June 23, 2016 at 1:48 pm

What could you possibly have better to do? Bob Dylan doesn’t have to tour, he doesn’t have to play shows. He’s got nothing to prove. If, at the age of 75, that’s what he chooses to do, and clearly he does, it’s because he loves it. He’ll be at ArtparkRead More

Print Edition: June 16, 2016

Print Edition: June 16, 2016

News, Online Newspaper June 16, 2016 at 10:32 am
Out of control spending by Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster has led to the squandering of tens of millions in casino revenue to plug budgetary gaps and deficits of nearly $8 million in some years. Now he’s proposing raising property taxes by between 17 and 40 percent under the guise of a citywide reassessment.

Reassessment To Result In Tax Increases Between 17 And 40 Percent Citywide

Featured, News June 16, 2016 at 10:27 am

by Mike Hudson When Niagara Falls officials say they’re “leaving $112 million on the table” because they haven’t done a reassessment since 2004, what they really mean is that the money has been left in the pockets of city taxpayers. Don’t look now, those pockets are about to be picked.Read More

Taxes In Most Highly Taxed City Just Aren’t High Enough, Dyster Says

Taxes In Most Highly Taxed City Just Aren’t High Enough, Dyster Says

Featured, News June 16, 2016 at 10:25 am

by Mike Hudson It was barely three years ago. On June 13, 2013, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that a settlement had been reached between the state and the Seneca Nation of Indians that ended a long running dispute over the possible development of private casinos along the NiagaraRead More

Cat Hating Grandinetti Shot Down Again On Anti-Cat Legislation Here

Cat Hating Grandinetti Shot Down Again On Anti-Cat Legislation Here

Featured, News June 16, 2016 at 10:23 am

by Mike Hudson It would be comical if it wasn’t so pathetic. Councilwoman Kristin Grandinetti, rubber stamp for anything her neighbor, Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, proposes, Facebook gadabout and untiring champion for issues having to do with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community is still proposing legislationRead More

Transparency Wins Out Over Unnecessary  Feral-Cat Ordinance Expediency

Transparency Wins Out Over Unnecessary Feral-Cat Ordinance Expediency

Featured, News June 16, 2016 at 10:20 am

by Joe Kissel “I don’t understand the hesitation,” said councilwoman Kristen Grandinetti at Monday’s city council meeting just before changes to the city animal code regarding “community” cats got tabled. “We’ve gone to the SPCA and gotten her expert opinion,” said Grandinetti. “We went over all the language with her.Read More

City Attorney Craig Johnson under attack for being too ethical?

Complaints Against City Solicitor Suit Dyster’s Final Solution To A T

Featured, News June 16, 2016 at 10:16 am

The three complainants who filed charges against former city controller Maria Brown have now also filed them against Corporation counsel Craig Johnson,  reliable sources told the Niagara Falls Reporter. Who are these people? Why do they attack people in the City Hall of Mayor Paul Dyster who attempt to playRead More

Fancy (and slippery) $60 per square foot granite pavers helped an Albany based contractor earn millions as part of the Niagara Falls State Park improvement plan.

Cuomo Pledges $17 Million To Fix Up Park: Crime, Joblessness, Poverty Remain

Featured, News June 16, 2016 at 10:13 am

by Mike Hudson So the Governor of New York State decides to spend $17 million on Niagara Falls State Park – which of course is owned by New York State – and local politicians and the media fall over swooning as though it were some kind of big win forRead More

Robert Moses: Some say he was a bit of a scoundrel.

Exactly What Are We Getting For Our $17 Million, Gov. Cuomo?

Featured, News June 16, 2016 at 10:11 am

by Mike Hudson Oh how the mighty have fallen. Robert Moses, the onetime “master builder” of New York and the subject of Robert Caro’s bestselling 1974 biography “The Power Broker,” would be rolling over in his grave. Last week, as he announced a $17 million shot in the arm toRead More

Do Niagara County Legislators Support Open Government?

Featured, News June 16, 2016 at 10:07 am

by Paul Wolf, Esq. While Buffalo and Erie County have their share of open government and ethical issues, Niagara County seems to be years behind on basic items.  Earlier this year when Wm. Keith McNall became Chair of the Niagara County Legislature he told fellow lawmakers.  “The challenges county governmentRead More

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