Niagara Views

Playing politics with NT Walmart

Allegations that prominent Niagara County Republicans sought to delay a proposed Walmart project came to light Tuesday night, and are detailed in a story here.

Click on the story link to find snippets of audio recorded during the Common Council meeting. You can listen to Dennis J. Barberio, council candidate, Aldermen Brett M. Sommer and Kevin J. Brick Jr., along with Mayor Lawrence V. Soos, address the issue in their own words.

--Aaron Besecker

Planned Walmart on table in NT

North Tonawanda lawmakers are being asked to give the last needed approvals for a proposed Walmart when they meet in City Hall tonight.

Following up on last night's action by the city Planning Commission, the Common Council will consider granting easements and rights of way for the proposed project during a meeting scheduled for 6 p.m.

The proposed sale of 1.6 acres of land to Walmart -- including portions of Bluebird Drive, Lyric Avenue and a 30-foot service road -- will also be considered.

The asking price for the land: $81,150.

Other things on the lawmakers' agenda:

-The proposed transfer of the former Engine 2 building and property at Oliver and Sommer streets to the Active Hose Fire Co. No. 2.

-A proposed memorandum of understanding between the city and workers at the Wastewater Treatment plant who are members of the Local 7692 of the Civil Service Employees Association. The city is working on a lease agreement with a private company for the use of a portion of the plant for carbon regeneration. The draft agreement discusses staffing levels.

--Aaron Besecker

Chatter on low-cost power

I wrote a story published today about a hearing on the state's discount electricity programs held in Niagara Falls.

Some audio clips from the session -- including portions of comments by Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster and the Citizens Budget Commission's Elizabeth Lynam -- are available under the "related content" section near the top of the story.

--Aaron Besecker

Eyesore or opportunity for tourists?

  
  Niagara Falls' newest tourist attraction came under court order.

   A ninth-floor observation deck at One Niagara on Rainbow Boulevard opened Friday after a judge ruled that the building could temporarily sidestep the city's approval process.

   A story in today's Niagara & Region  section explains how building manager and co-owner Frank Parlato Jr. received court permission to open the top floor.

   It's not the first time Parlato has taken an alternative route to opening the building. In 2007, he struck a deal with city officials to allow him to bypass the city's Planning Board for several months so that he could operate through the tourist season while he worked to bring the building up to code.

   The building plunged back into regulatory limbo last year after the city revoked that site plan approval, but allowed its certificate of occupancy to remain. It has not issued proper approvals for the ninth floor.

   Some see the building as an eyesore. Others see it as one of the few options open for tourists outside of Niagara Falls State Park and the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel.

   What do you think?

   -- Denise Jewell Gee

While officials in the Falls stood still, nothing happened

   It is clear in an audit released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli Wednesday that Niagara Falls officials had a hand in the failure of two downtown development agreements that once held great promise.

   The audit blames the city for failing to properly monitor a long-term lease for the Rainbow Centre mall and a $110 million development agreement with a private company, Niagara Falls Redevelopment.

   DiNapoli's staff also found that the contracts did not contain adequate remedies to protect the city.

   The options now for these two contracts, DiNapoli said, are limited.

   The audit sets out a road map for Niagara Falls for future development agreements, and Mayor Paul A. Dyster said he intends to follow it. Read more about those recommendations in a story in Thursday's Buffalo News. Read the full comptroller's report, here.

   What do you think of DiNapoli's audit? Where should the city go from here?

-- Denise Jewell Gee

What does the future hold for NFR?

   Six years ago, a development agreement for downtown Niagara Falls envisioned $110 million in new projects for the ailing neighborhood.

   Today, those blocks contain mostly grassy lots.

   The company that holds the development agreement, Niagara Falls Redevelopment, has purchased hundreds of parcels of land - including many from the city - but has yet to build on them.

    What happened?

   A review of the 2003 contract by a University at Buffalo law professor found it contained few remedies for the city to take action if no development occurred. A story in today's Niagara Weekend section explains the contract's provisions and looks at whether the city failed to protect its rights as it dealt with the firm.

   State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli will soon weigh in; his office is expected to release a report on NFR's development agreement, as well as on a city lease with another private firm for the Rainbow Centre mall.

   Both documents represent the bitter disappointment the people of Niagara Falls feel about the slow pace of development.

   What do you think?

   - Denise Jewell Gee

What should happen with The Summit mall?

   The owners of The Summit mall in Wheatfield tried several strategies to keep the struggling Williams Road retail hub open in recent years, but in the end none of them have worked.

   The North Carolina-based limited liability company that owns the mall, Oberlin Plaza One, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the mall property will be put up for sale as part of the proceedings.

   Inside tenants will have 60 days to move out. The owners will work with tenants who want to remain open on site and move to a location accessible from the outside of the building, James Anthony, leader of the company that bought the mall in 2002, told News Niagara Reporter Denise Jewell Gee for a story in today's Niagara Weekend.

   Anthony said said Sears, The Bon-Ton, Save-A-Lot, M&T Bank, Bank of America and Summit Pediatrics will remain open for business.

   Meanwhile, town and county leaders said they will work with other tenants to help them relocate in Niagara County and to try to help find a new use for the mall property.

   "It is now and will continue to be retail in part," Anthony said. "But it is simply too big and costly to be a pure retail center. It needs to have offices and services in it."

   Can The Summit survive? If so, in what form?

-- News Niagara Editor Scott Scanlon

The Wintergarden will soon be gone, but the memories will linger

   The end of an era drew a step closer Thursday as the state finalized a deal to buy the former Wintergarden in Niagara Falls.

   USA Niagara Development Corp. agreed to pay $1.2 million for the deteriorating building.

   The state agency plans to demolish the glass arboretum sometime this summer and extend Old Falls Street from the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel to the entrance to Niagara Falls State Park.

   Plans to tear down the building have drawn a few outcries from a small group of area residents sad to see what was once a unique arboretum and public gathering space go.

   In its years as a tropical garden, the building offered a respite to tourists, a space for simple weddings and a quiet place for locals to enjoy a packed lunch.

   But the building -- once lauded by Progressive Architecture magazine -- faded in recent years. The plants are long gone, the ceiling leaks and the catwalks that once gave visitors a glimpse of the gardens from above have been removed.

   What are your memories of the Wintergarden? How do you feel about the plan to raze the glass building?

   - Denise Jewell Gee

Citizens not bashful on Moses redesign

  Is the state making up for past wrongs in Niagara Falls or serving its own interests?

   That was at the heart of comments made during a public meeting Tuesday night on a proposal to redesign the Robert Moses Parkway as it enters Niagara Falls State Park.

   And representatives for the state's Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation got an earful. A story in today's Niagara & Region section explains the latest conceptual designs for the southern section of the parkway and the public reaction.

   Many of the speakers at the meeting expressed disappointment over the way the state has managed the park for more than a century. They told project consultants that their failure to draw up a proposal to remove the road from the park and restore its natural landscape is a mistake.

   Dozens of people who attended the meeting and appeared to be opposed to the plan came together and are affiliated with a commercial building, One Niagara, that operates a paid parking lot and a retail center just outside the state park.

   Others came on their own.

   Whoever they came with, many of the people at the meeting appeared to oppose the latest conceptual designs and to blame the state for the condition of Niagara Falls.

   "I have to explain every day pretty much why there's a hideous mess to look at in what was once a beautiful city," said Robert Helms, a musician who also works in One Niagara.

   Jeff Lebsack, of Hatch Mott MacDonald, the lead consultant on the project, said the proposals are meant as an improvement.

   "Everybody working on this project really does care about the city and our efforts are oriented to trying to return and correct some of these things that happened," Lebsack said. "We're going to try to change some of that."

   -- Denise Jewell Gee

Old Falls public safety building may find new life

   The Niagara Falls police station and courthouse building was deemed beyond repair a few years back when state officials wanted the city to build a new one.

   It appears what wasn't good enough for police, lawyers and criminal defendants might suit senior citizens just fine — after renovations, of course.

   Two Buffalo development firms hope to turn the city's police and courts building on Hyde Park Boulevard and a former school on 39th Street into homes for seniors.

   Ontario Specialty Contracting Inc. and McGuire Development Co. have submitted a joint proposal to the city to renovate the buildings and operate them as an assisted living facility and market-rate patio apartments called Sherwood East and West.

   The $10 million plan was the only submission in response to a request for proposals issued by the city earlier this month for the two buildings, according to a story in today's Buffalo News Niagara & Region section.

   The proposal envisions the long-vacant 39th Street School as 35 market-rate patio apartments targeted to "empty nesters or seniors." The public safety building on Hyde Park Boulevard would be turned into an assisted living facility with 30 suites.

   The Hyde Park Boulevard public safety building will be replaced next month by a new, $47 million police headquarters and courthouse on north Main Street.

   The old building was deemed by city officials in late 2004 and early 2005 as too small and in too poor condition to renovate for the city's police and courts. Asbestos, a leaking roof and a poor heating, ventilation and air conditioning system were among the problems cited.

   The state's Office of Court Administration was threatening at the time to withhold state aid if the city did not address the problems.

   "The specifications for a public court system are a lot different than any other private development that might happen," said former Mayor Vince V. Anello, who was in office when the decision was made to construct a new building.