Niagara Views

NCCC explores link with China

Niagara County Community College and some Chinese universities may soon share an international bond.

Bassam M. Deeb, the college's vice president of student services, recently traveled to China with a delegation from colleges and universities in the State University of New York system.

Read a story from today's Buffalo News here.

Deeb also shared some of his own photos with The News.

Welcome ceremony at Beijing Language and Cultural University

Sichuan Agricultural University

Southwest Petroleum University

Confucious monument at China West Normal University

Instructional Center at Beijing University

--Aaron Besecker

Proposal to share between NT and Falls

At last night's North Tonawanda Common Council meeting, a city resident asked about the proposal to share Paul J. Drof, head of the city's water and wastewater superintendent, with the Niagara Falls Water Board.

In the discussion (click below for full audio), Christiana Street resident Walt Yaro asks the questions, as part of the public comment portion near the end of the meeting. City Attorney Shawn P. Nickerson answers the question about the Walmart lawsuit status. What follows is an exchange between Yaro and Mayor Robert G. Ortt about the proposal.

In his comments, Ortt says Drof approached the city about the matter and supports the idea.

Listen to the entire discussion here:

Mayor, resident talk about shared services during Council meeting (3:47)

CWM's sister site rejects radioactive waste

One of CWM's sister facilities in California has said no to accepting radioactive waste, the Associated Press reports.

http://www.buffalonews.com/260/story/922720.html

The company operates a hazardous waste landfill in the Town of Porter in northwest Niagara County. The facility here is the only commercial landfill of its kind in the Northeast.

NT schools - odds & ends

School/city cooperation

North Tonawanda School Board member Michael P. Carney issued a challenge to city officials during Tuesday night's board of education meeting.

Carney, himself a former alderman, said he wants the Common Council and the administration of new Mayor Robert G. Ortt to sit down with school officials and "brainstorm" ways to save money.

"We've got to find ways to be more efficient and to work together," Carney said.

Board member Joanne Dal Porto volunteered for the second board liaison post when Superintendent Vincent J. Vecchiarella asked the board if someone else would also be interested.

Items stolen during phys ed

Board member Frank DiBernardo told the board he's received several calls from parents and students over the past few weeks about thefts during high school gym classes.

DiBernardo said the thefts have occurred from wallets and purses that have not been locked up -- which itself he acknowledged was not a wise decision.

Apparently when calls were made to school officials, parents were told that the school is not responsible if the items are not locked away.

"That's a canned message," he said, "and that's a message I wouldn't want to hear."

DiBernardo said the board has a responsibility to make sure the schools are safe.

Football stadium name

Carney also told the board he received a letter from several district residents who would like the school's current football stadium to take the name of the old stadium behind the former Lowry Middle School on Payne Avenue. That stadium is named after legendary coach George Vetter.

--Aaron Besecker

NT City Hall notebook

Some odds and ends from Tuesday night's North Tonawanda Common Council meeting:

--During a discussion about the former St. Joseph Catholic Church property on Payne Avenue, Second Ward Alderman Richard L. Andres Jr. raised the possibility of the city rezoning the parcel before a new owner takes control of the property. That way, it would be easier for the city to change the use of the property, said Andres, a former member of the city's master plan committee.

(Photo by Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News)

Here's a story by Tom Prohaska published Sunday about a Wheatfield church looking at the property.

In October, city lawmakers rejected a proposal to turn the campus into housing for homeless youth and veterans.

--The city is working to set a public auction for the former Mirror Room, Mayor Robert G. Ortt said. The process "kind of stalled" on the city's part at the end of last year, Ortt said. The auction will be handled by Auctions International, a Cheektowaga firm, and an auction date has not been set.

--Ortt said efforts by the city and other area municipalities to reach a settlement with the New York Power Authority are "ongoing." Read this story for more background on the issue.

The city is "still in the same position" as it was before, according to Ortt. A meeting of various local elected leaders -- including Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster, Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, Wheatfield Supervisor Robert B. Cliffe, Lockport Mayor Michael W. Tucker -- was held in the Wheatfield Community Center on his first regular day on the job to discuss the issue and was organized by State Sen. George D. Maziarz, Ortt said.

Ortt characterized the mindset of leaders at the meeting as being "more interested in a long-term solution."

This year's city budget includes $250,000 expected from a settlement. "It puts us in a tough negotiating position with NYPA because they know we need the money," Ortt said Tuesday.

--Three lawmakers said they support a proposal to spend about $1,500 to put a plaque on the World War II memorial in front of City Hall on Payne Avenue. The plaque would thank officials who helped get the monument built.

During an informal discussion, Council President Catherine G. Schwandt, Alderwoman-at-large Nancy A. Donovan and First Ward Alderman Dennis M. Pasiak said they favored supporting the project with funding. Third Ward Alderman Eric Zadzilka said he doesn't see why the city can't support it, while Second Ward Alderman Richard L. Andres Jr. said the proposal may have to wait until the next budget cycle, and that the Council should consult with City Accountant David R. Jakubaszek about what funds might be available.

--Aaron Besecker

More of the same expected at CWM

Despite more than $900,000 in fines levied against CWM since 1990, the company's proposal to renew its operating permit is expected to gain approval from state regulators later this year with little to no problems. Here's today's story.

There's a public meeting on the issue Thursday night in Porter Town Hall. It starts at 6 p.m., and will be hosted by CWM representatives.

This issue is separate from the company's proposal to add 30 years of new capacity to the site.

If you'd like to read deeper into the issue, here's the state Department of Environmental Conservation's page on CWM.

Click here to read about the company's existing permit at an agency page with links to the existing permit itself.

Our most recent stories involving CWM include the Town of Lewiston barring industrial waste from its sewer system, a loophole seen in a proposed state plan that could allow the company to expand, as well as public disapproval of the latest draft of a state hazardous waste plan -- on two consecutive nights.

In this January 2008 photo by News Photographer Derek Gee, CWM Chemical Services environmental monitoring manager Greg Zayatz, left, and environmental monitor Joe Stredny collect a sample of water for testing as it is discharged from the commercial hazardous waste landfill facility in the Town of Porter. As part of its state permit, the facility collects storm water in a pond and tests it for contaminants before and during its release to the Niagara River.

--Aaron Besecker

Years of broken promises

It's been almost 13 years since Niagara Falls Redevelopment first approached Niagara Falls officials with grand plans to revitalize downtown. As reported today in the News Niagara edition, NFR head and New York City real estate billionaire Howard  Milstein met for the first time in his Manhattan headquarters with Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.

During the meeting, Dyster and Milstein promised a monthly discussion on the swath of NFR holdings in the Falls. The meeting, Schumer said, also touched on several projects Milstein is considering for Niagara Falls, but the senator said he could not reveal any details of those potential plans.

He described them as "a number of smaller projects that can occur in the medium term" that are significant "million-dollar type projects."

   "There were some ideas traded and nothing was agreed to, or course," Schumer said. "Nothing concrete, except in the sense that everyone agreed that these types of projects would fit for Niagara Falls and fit the needs of both NFR and the city and its residents."

Schumer said Milstein also discussed "a couple of really grandiose ideas" NFR would be willing to invest in, but that would take significant public state or federal bonding. Schumer said he agreed to explore if bonding would be possible.

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli last year issued a report that found NFR's 2003 master developer agreement with the City of Niagara Falls offered "little protection" to the city or "consequences" if the developer failed to live up its promises.

Dyster said on Friday that it was clear from the discussion that Milstein does not believe the agreement is dead.

"It was clearly his view that the agreement was still in operation and that he viewed himself as a major landholder," Dyster said, "but also a major development partner for the city in downtown Niagara Falls."

The mayor said part of his focus for the meeting was to talk about the possibilities for the future of Niagara Falls.

"It's in both the city's interest, its residents, and in Milstein's, that there be more prosperity there," Schumer said. "The $64,000 question is, how can both sides come to something mutually agreeable that benefits them both. That's what we're trying to get done here.

"The fact that Milstein has not just got up and sold his property and walked away, but does continue to maintain them, shows that he is still interested."

Since NFR has approached the city with its plans, very little has happened. Here's a timeline:

April 1997: Niagara Falls Redevelopment, headed by Toronto developer Edwin Cogan, unveils $130 million development proposal that includes four- and five-star hotels and other attractions. "There's no reason we can't do here what Disney World did for Orlando," a company lawyer says.

 June 1997: NFR says it will buy the 20-story United Office Building for $2.2 million and renovate it. This never happens.

   January 1998: NFR presents a redevelopment plan that includes a downtown casino, live music theaters, movie theaters, six new hotels, shops, nightclubs and other attractions. City approves plan in April, giving NFR exclusive rights to develop 142 downtown acres. Plan approved that April; Council members say the project will not cost the city any money.

   August 1998: Cogan sells half of NFR to Howard Milstein, a New York City real estate billionaire.

   January 1999: NFR announces plan for a $25 million underground aquarium featuring 5,000 ocean and lake creatures. This is never built.

   June 1999: Court filings in Toronto indicate that Cogan owes $17 million to creditors, and an insurance company tries to force him into bankruptcy. Cogan says his Toronto money problem will have no effect on NFR's plans. The company offers to donate $120,000 to various community projects if city allows further delays on its purchase of the United Office Building.

   July 1999: NFR says it is "prepared to move forward" with a proposed boxing museum and hall of fame. This is never built.

   January 2000: NFR Chief Executive Officer Anthony Bergamo says NFR is exploring development of a museum showcasing works of 1960s pop artist Peter Max. The attraction is never built.

   May 2000: NFR discusses a possible Chinatown-type attraction on NFR's development parcel. The attraction is never built. An attorney for NFR, Paul A. Grenga Jr., says he and a partner will open a Dinosaur Park in the Wintergarden building. Grenga says NFR is cooperating with the development but is not involved. The dinosaur park never opens.

   June 2000: NFR hosts a dinner to solicit interest and seed money for a children's science center. The attraction is never built. The company buys the closed Turtle Indian culture building on Rainbow Boulevard, announcing plans to restore it. The Turtle is NFR's first purchase of a building in the Falls, and a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony is held on June 29, just before a city-imposed deadline for NFR to start building something. The Turtle has never reopened.

   March 2002: NFR gives up its option to buy United Office Building.

   May 2002: NFR sues the city over its refusal to sell the Niagara Splash Park to NFR for $3 million. NFR says it could make $7 million a year operating the splash park or could sell the land for at least $35 million.

   December 2002: Cogan sells his interest in NFR to Milstein. Cogan says city officials share the blame for the lack of development on NFR's parcel.

   April 2003: NFR buys the old Nabisco plant and warehouse on Buffalo Avenue for $3.2 million, calling it a key to the future of downtown.

   June 2003: City approves a new contract with NFR, now calling for the company to spend $110 million on development by the end of 2007. "The goal is to get NFR committed and investing," says city attorney Ronald Anton. "If they can't go forward, they're cut off, and there is certainty."

   July 2003: In a Viewpoints article, Cogan writes: "I made two mistakes. I brought in the wrong partner in Milstein, and I allowed his management team to run the project into the ground." Cogan dies in Toronto three months later.

   August 2003: NFR says it will build a $12 million complex of stores, restaurants and entertainment attractions. The complex is never built.

   September 2004: City agrees to sell a 10th Street playground to NFR for $180,000. Some city residents are upset by the sale.

   April 2005: NFR breaks ground for a $12 million "hospitality and entertainment" project on Falls Street. The project is never completed.

   May 2005: NFR says it has recently spent $4.5 million to buy 200 pieces of property within its development area. NFR now owns more than half of the 142 acres that it was given the right to redevelop.

   August 2005: On the site of the old 10th Street playground, NFR builds its first foundation in Niagara Falls. NFR also submits a $100 million plan for a 400-room hotel, a parking ramp and shops on the Splash Park property.

   July 2006: New York State seizes 17-acre Splash Park property and gives the land to the Seneca Nation for casino-related expansion. Land is taken off tax rolls. The Senecas later pay a company controlled by NFR $18 million for the property, and NFR goes to court seeking an additional $75 million.

   January 2007: NFR proposes a new deal with city, which would cancel NFR's obligation to spend $110 million on development by the end of 2007.

   May 2007: Mayor Vince Anello, unable to reach an agreement with NFR, declares the 2003 agreement with the company invalid, a claim an NFR lawyer disputes.

   January 2008: A new administration now will deal with NFR, which has demolished houses on its tract but has yet to announce any development plans or add to the foundation it laid in 2005.

   Jan. 8, 2010: Milstein meets in his Manhattan headquarters with U.S. Sen Charles E. Schumer and Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster, who tell the media afterward that Milstein would like a new beginning when it comes to his Falls properties. Several new project proposals are discussed in general terms.

   -- Staff writer Dan Herbeck
 

NT soldier in online Marines Magazine

A North Tonawanda marine stationed in Japan has his face in the official magazine of the Marine Corps.

Lance Cpl. Aaron Hostutler is one of three soldiers featured in the "Faces in the Ranks" section of the online version of the magazine.

The blurb tells how Hostutler joined a bone marrow donation program to "impress a girl," and donated bone marrow to a teen in California while he was stationed in Maryland. He and the "girl" are now married, according to the magazine.

--Aaron Besecker

NT government gets down to business

North Tonawanda lawmakers will hold a reorganizational meeting tonight at 6 p.m. in City Hall. Here's their agenda.

After the Common Council reorganizes, a regular business meeting will follow. Read that agenda here.

There's already been some movement on the political front in NT today. As reported by my colleague Tom Prohaska, Republican county election commissioner Scott P. Kiedrowski is ready to accept appointment as the city's clerk-treasurer. Kiedrowski would fill the vacancy left by Robert G. Ortt, who left the post to become North Tonawanda's new mayor.

--Aaron Besecker

Timothy E. Demler no longer invulnerable, now out of power

   If they haven't figured it out already, enemies of former Wheatfield Supervisor Timothy E. Demler's should know that it will take more than an embarrasing election defeat last fall to drive a stake through his political heart.

   Demler is a bare-knuckle politician, which comes through in in a story today by News Niagara Reporter Denise Jewell Gee.

   He has no plans to go gently into public obscurity.

   Personal choices, job performance and management style not withstanding, he tells us that the only big regret he's had as supervisor was that he didn't fight harder to win the GOP primary last September.

   He lost a close race to then-Town Justice Robert B. Cliffe, who went on to win the general election in November and became the new town supervisor this weekend.

   The lessons Demler took from his primary loss were immediate.

   He waged an aggressive write-in campaign that garnered 829 votes. Cliffe won the general election with 1,986 votes; his Democratic challenger, Samuel Conti Jr., got 1,343.

   Demler's total was very impressive, especially considering he wasn't even on the ballot.

   How hard did he fight?

   Take a look below at two unedited e-mails that his longtime friend and campaign manager Thomas J. Stevenson sent to The Buffalo News and other media outlets in the days before the general election.

   The first one was sent Oct. 29, five days before the election, read:

   A call was made to the Niagara County Sherriff's Department this morning regarding a grey Ford registered to Andy [Andrea] Cliffe, wife of candidate Bob Cliffe, going around stealing things from peoples mail boxes and paper boxes. In particular was a literature piece showing how to write in a vote. When the sheriffs sought her for questioning she could not be found.

  Questions contact the Niagara County Sherriff's Department, Supervisor Tim Demler (716-583-8079), Candidate Bob Cliffe or his wife.

   The Niagara staff checked on the report with Sheriff James R. Voutour, a Democrat with no dog in this political fight. He told us the report was unfounded. We chose not to publish anything about it.

   A second e-mail came out Oct. 31, and read:

   It seems that Willy is upset the CSX bridge on Niagara Falls Blvd. is not being painted and that Supervisor Demler who. spearheaded the attempt to paint the bridge is under attack. It seems this election day he is writing in. (an attachment showed that someone added the words "is writing in" after the word "Willy" on the bridge).

   The e-mail continued: The rest of this is serious. While the Willy writing is a bit of a humorous interlude the rest is embarrassing at best and criminal at worst.

   According to sources in the Board of Elections, the Sherriff's Dept. and Wheatfield Town Hall, due to documented irregularities during the primary election, voter coercion, and intimidation techniques by Bob Cliffe, his campaign supporters and the Wheatfield Republican Committee that attempted to deny supporters of Tim Demler their constitutional rights, there will be Sherriff's Deputies at all polling places in Town. Using tactics that we are used to seeing in the Afghanistan, Iraq and other middle east countries, the election in September was an embarrassment to all freedom loving citizens of the US. All residents of Wheatfield, regardless of party affiliation or candidate choice will be able to cast their vote without
fear. How sad that we have allowed a few individuals, driven solely by self interest and with no regard for the people of our Town to make this necessary. To quote Supervisor Demler "This election is about the future direction of Wheatfield and should not be turned into a farce that would make a tin-horn, third world dictator proud."

   Niagara County Board of Elections Commissioner Scott Kiedrowski told The News the day after the general election that the deputies were added because of challenges Demler supporters posed during the primary race in September.

   "The reason that we did this was because of Mr. Demler's campaign," Kiedrowski said. "However he tries to spin it -- that it was another campaign that was the reason that we did it -- was completely false."

   Critics admire Demler's communication skills and persuasiveness, but also say he's a manipulator who was done in during the supervisor's race by his distorted sense of power and invulnerability.

   Say what you want about this veteran of the local political wars -- just don't expect him to quietly fade away.

   -- News Niagara Editor Scott Scanlon