The operator of the Canadian Maid of the Mist was prepared to pay $100 million more than what the Glynn operated American Maid of the Mist is paying NY State but was rebuffed by state and local officials. In a state that is hurting for revenue and a city that is broke, every elected official has backed the closed door deal between the Maid of the Mist and the State of New York.
The state justifies the no-bid deal because it claims that the Glynns have exclusivity because of the long term contract currently in place. However, the exclusivity was based upon the fact that the Glynns were also operating the Maid of the Mist on the Canadian side. That is no longer the case as Hornblower Tours won a re-bid a year ago. If our elected leaders were truly representing our interests, they would have followed the Canadians lead and re-bid the contract.
The only rationale explanation as to why this didn't happen is clear: campaign contributions. I'm sure if you checked you will find that the Maid of the Mist and/or the Glynns have contributed to Cuomo, Maziarz, Ceretto, Dyster, etc. Not even those two taxpayer watchdogs, Choolokian and Fruscione, had any questions as to why there was no bid.
Hornblower Tours is known around the world, doing boat tours in New York City and San Francisco. They are making a substantial investment in Niagara Falls, Ontario. So why would we be interested? What a joke. Shame on every elected official from Cuomo down to Choolokian.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Will City Council Approve Rebate To NFR??
According to an article in the Niagara Gazette, the City's Law Department is going to recommend to the Niagara Falls City Council that the assessment for the NFR-owned Turtle building be lowered by $600,000. The recommendation is part of a settlement between NFR and the City as a result of a lawsuit filed by NFR against the City. It gets better. As part of the settlement, the City will pay back to NFR $37,000.
Council Chairman Glenn Choolokian said that he had some questions for the Law Department but if this would prevent a costly lawsuit that the City cannot win, then the settlement should be approved. Really Glenn?? There is no chance in hell that this settlement is not approved by the Choolokian-led City Council. Choolokian and his partner in self-promotion, Sam Fruscione, are the darlings of the Niagara Falls Reporter and in case you didn't know it the Reporter is funded by NFR.
The Dynamic Duo (Choolokian & Fruscione) would never bite the hand that provides them with a weekly pulpit to espouse their positions on various city issues. It also provides them with a venue to take shots at Mayor Dyster who it seems has forgotten that he is the chief executive of the City. Dyster has taken the Neville Chamberlain approach as it relates to his interactions with the Duo as they appear to gain more and more say in what goes on in city government.
What I find also interesting is that none of our City officials have found it necessary to explain to the taxpayers why they should reduce the assessment of prime property downtown. For a city that is in a serious revenue crunch that has also seen its bond rating lowered, residents of the city deserve an explanation. Can't wait to hear how Chairman Choolokian spins this one out. After all, he and Fruscione are watchdogs for the taxpayers. With watchdogs like that, it might be time to get a security system.
Council Chairman Glenn Choolokian said that he had some questions for the Law Department but if this would prevent a costly lawsuit that the City cannot win, then the settlement should be approved. Really Glenn?? There is no chance in hell that this settlement is not approved by the Choolokian-led City Council. Choolokian and his partner in self-promotion, Sam Fruscione, are the darlings of the Niagara Falls Reporter and in case you didn't know it the Reporter is funded by NFR.
The Dynamic Duo (Choolokian & Fruscione) would never bite the hand that provides them with a weekly pulpit to espouse their positions on various city issues. It also provides them with a venue to take shots at Mayor Dyster who it seems has forgotten that he is the chief executive of the City. Dyster has taken the Neville Chamberlain approach as it relates to his interactions with the Duo as they appear to gain more and more say in what goes on in city government.
What I find also interesting is that none of our City officials have found it necessary to explain to the taxpayers why they should reduce the assessment of prime property downtown. For a city that is in a serious revenue crunch that has also seen its bond rating lowered, residents of the city deserve an explanation. Can't wait to hear how Chairman Choolokian spins this one out. After all, he and Fruscione are watchdogs for the taxpayers. With watchdogs like that, it might be time to get a security system.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Falls Bond Rating Goes Down & Blame Goes All Around
Last week or so, Moody's announced that the City of Niagara Falls' bond rating was lowered as a result of the casino revenue being withheld because of the stalemate between the State of New York and the Seneca Nation. The significance of this is that it will cost the City more money if they want to borrow for capital projects. It's no different than if a person has a bad credit rating: it is going to cost them more in interest if they want to borrow money.
The blame for this situation goes up and down the food chain. The fact that Governor Cuomo has not had the decency to address this issue publicly is a slap in the face to the residents of Niagara Falls. His lone visit to the City since becoming Governor was to give a sweetheart deal to Jimmy Glynn. He never addressed the dire financial situation the City is in and of course none of the "hard-hitting" media in Western New York pushed Cuomo on it.
Then of course we have our local state representatives. Neither Senator Maziarz or Assemblyman Ceretto has done anything to ratchet up the heat on the Governor to provide relief to the City. The hair-brained scheme to advance NYPA money was a terrible deal for the City but it appears that it was the best that could be done by these two powers of state government.
Our city government has created this mess by spending casino money like drunken sailors. Mayor Dyster is clueless. He has lived off the casino revenue thinking that it was an endless source of revenue. As a result, he never took measures to actually try to make government more efficient. Tell me one initiative that Dyster has put forth that would reduce the cost of city government. I don't think you can find one.
As far as the City Council goes, they are complicit with the Mayor in the fiscal mismanagement of this city. They have gone along for the ride, holding the Mayor hostage by getting jobs for their friends. The image that Glenn Choolokian and Sam Fruscione are protecting the taxpayers is bogus. Particularly when you consider their actions in the formulation of the 2013 budget. While the Mayor wimped out in dealing with the loss of casino revenue by making hard choices, Fruscione and Company did the same thing by cutting the funding to USA Niagara. That reduction is simply a one-time fix. They, like the Mayor, are banking on getting casino money to save them for 2014. But there is no guarantee that will happen when you have a Governor who is more concerned about being President, 2 state representatives who have absolutely no ability or desire to place enough pressure on the Governor to get something done and a Mayor & City Council who are viewed as being backwater buffoons.
Of the whole group, there are 3 council people who will be running for re-election this fall: Fruscione, Kristen Grandinetti and Charles Walker. Unless we send a message that we have had enough of the grandstanding and lack of courage to address this issue, we will be facing more of the same ineffective leadership and the City will continue on its downward cycle.
The blame for this situation goes up and down the food chain. The fact that Governor Cuomo has not had the decency to address this issue publicly is a slap in the face to the residents of Niagara Falls. His lone visit to the City since becoming Governor was to give a sweetheart deal to Jimmy Glynn. He never addressed the dire financial situation the City is in and of course none of the "hard-hitting" media in Western New York pushed Cuomo on it.
Then of course we have our local state representatives. Neither Senator Maziarz or Assemblyman Ceretto has done anything to ratchet up the heat on the Governor to provide relief to the City. The hair-brained scheme to advance NYPA money was a terrible deal for the City but it appears that it was the best that could be done by these two powers of state government.
Our city government has created this mess by spending casino money like drunken sailors. Mayor Dyster is clueless. He has lived off the casino revenue thinking that it was an endless source of revenue. As a result, he never took measures to actually try to make government more efficient. Tell me one initiative that Dyster has put forth that would reduce the cost of city government. I don't think you can find one.
As far as the City Council goes, they are complicit with the Mayor in the fiscal mismanagement of this city. They have gone along for the ride, holding the Mayor hostage by getting jobs for their friends. The image that Glenn Choolokian and Sam Fruscione are protecting the taxpayers is bogus. Particularly when you consider their actions in the formulation of the 2013 budget. While the Mayor wimped out in dealing with the loss of casino revenue by making hard choices, Fruscione and Company did the same thing by cutting the funding to USA Niagara. That reduction is simply a one-time fix. They, like the Mayor, are banking on getting casino money to save them for 2014. But there is no guarantee that will happen when you have a Governor who is more concerned about being President, 2 state representatives who have absolutely no ability or desire to place enough pressure on the Governor to get something done and a Mayor & City Council who are viewed as being backwater buffoons.
Of the whole group, there are 3 council people who will be running for re-election this fall: Fruscione, Kristen Grandinetti and Charles Walker. Unless we send a message that we have had enough of the grandstanding and lack of courage to address this issue, we will be facing more of the same ineffective leadership and the City will continue on its downward cycle.
Niagara County: Home Of The Cowards
Yesterday, the State of New York passed the most comprehensive gun control bill in the country and of course all of our brave state representatives voted against the bill. Our distinguished State Senator George Maziarz said that while there were some good points to the bill, he had to vote no because he heard from over 1,000 constituents who were opposed to it. Assemblywoman Jane Corwin said that the bill was spawned as a result of the Newtown, Connecticut incident and that the bill didn't address what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. And then there is good old Assemblyman John Ceretto who was troubled by the closed-door process involved with the passage of the bill. Aren't you glad to be representative by these three??
Did you read anything that exhibited any leadership?? Maziarz said that in spite of some good points in the bill he had to vote no because he received over a 1,000 calls from constituents that were opposed to the bill. Senator, do you take a poll of your constituents every time you take a vote?? Weren't you sent to Albany to lead as opposed to follow??
None of these three so-called elected leaders have said a thing since Sandy Hook. We have not heard what their plan would be to deal with the increasing gun violence, particularly here in Niagara County. But why would you hear anything. You see they were all endorsed by the NRA, SCOPE and the Conservative Party and they wouldn't dare cross any of them. In the end, these three made sure that their interests were protected first as opposed to the interests of our children.
If these three were so concerned about this issue, why didn't they hold town hall meetings to get input from all of their constituents. I'm sure that none of the calls that Maziarz received came from the inner cities of Niagara Falls and Lockport. I'm sure Ceretto didn't reach out to anyone inside Niagara Falls. He complained about the rushed closed door process. But John, throughout your re-election campaign you talked about how close you were with the Governor. You mean to tell me that you weren't aware that the Governor was going to push this in early January??
I'm sure that all three are very happy with themselves as they can go back to their benefactors and pound their chests with pride. It's a sad state of affairs here in Niagara County where our elected leaders are more concerned with protecting their own interests as opposed to our interests. But what do you expect from our so-called elected leaders. The next time they tell you they are strong supporters of public safety, ask them why they want Bushmasters and semi-automatic machine guns out on the street. Ask them why they want people to have the ability to amass arsenals of ammunition, including cop-killer bullets that explode upon contact with their target. The fact of the matter is all three are hypocrites and cowards.
Did you read anything that exhibited any leadership?? Maziarz said that in spite of some good points in the bill he had to vote no because he received over a 1,000 calls from constituents that were opposed to the bill. Senator, do you take a poll of your constituents every time you take a vote?? Weren't you sent to Albany to lead as opposed to follow??
None of these three so-called elected leaders have said a thing since Sandy Hook. We have not heard what their plan would be to deal with the increasing gun violence, particularly here in Niagara County. But why would you hear anything. You see they were all endorsed by the NRA, SCOPE and the Conservative Party and they wouldn't dare cross any of them. In the end, these three made sure that their interests were protected first as opposed to the interests of our children.
If these three were so concerned about this issue, why didn't they hold town hall meetings to get input from all of their constituents. I'm sure that none of the calls that Maziarz received came from the inner cities of Niagara Falls and Lockport. I'm sure Ceretto didn't reach out to anyone inside Niagara Falls. He complained about the rushed closed door process. But John, throughout your re-election campaign you talked about how close you were with the Governor. You mean to tell me that you weren't aware that the Governor was going to push this in early January??
I'm sure that all three are very happy with themselves as they can go back to their benefactors and pound their chests with pride. It's a sad state of affairs here in Niagara County where our elected leaders are more concerned with protecting their own interests as opposed to our interests. But what do you expect from our so-called elected leaders. The next time they tell you they are strong supporters of public safety, ask them why they want Bushmasters and semi-automatic machine guns out on the street. Ask them why they want people to have the ability to amass arsenals of ammunition, including cop-killer bullets that explode upon contact with their target. The fact of the matter is all three are hypocrites and cowards.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Cuomo Do You Know Where WNY Is??
Yesterday our magnificent Governor gave his State of the State address. With all of the pomp and circumstance that would you expect from a man who seems bent on higher office, the item that really stuck out to me was his comments on casino gambling. In his own declaratory fashion, Cuomo said that he is committed to three state-run casinos in Upstate New York. There would be none in New York City. They will be in high destination areas that will bring people from the City to these three locales.
The benefit for the three chosen sites are that 10% of the take will go to the localities and 90% will go to the state to be used for education. (Wasn't the lottery money suppose to go toward education?) A number of people in these parts got all a flutter because the Governor said that the 3 casinos will be in upstate. But what people don't realize is that for Cuomo upstate means anything above New York City. That's mean we are talking the Catskills, Saratoga, Thousand Islands, Lake Placid, etc. He is not talking about Western New York.
The reason he is not talking about Western New York is that the Seneca Nation has exclusive rights for gaming from the Niagara River to Rochester and from the Pennsylvania state line to Lake Ontario. From Governor High and Mighty's perspective we have our gaming, even though the City of Niagara Falls hasn't seen a dime for 3 years.
Cuomo's first 2 years in office has been a facade. He has tried to come across as a fiscal conservative while passing costs on to local governments as opposed to bringing about real reform which means mandate relief. 90% of the 3 state-run casinos is to go toward education yet where has the lottery money gone?? Obviously not toward education as Cuomo through his property tax cap is crippling school districts all across this state.
Cuomo reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. A lot a talk but don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain. He could careless about Western New York and especially Niagara County. He views us as a bunch of backwater hayseeds and why wouldn't he. The mayor of the largest city in the County (Dyster) has the persona of an absent-minded professor. One assembly person is an empty-headed blonde (Corwin) who's next idea will be her first and the other assembly person is a cross between the Pillsbury Doughboy and Zalinsky (Ceretto) from Tommy Boy. And then you have our esteemed long reining Senator ( Maziarz) who is nothing more than a big fish in a small pond. Throw in the bomb throwing majority caucus of the County Legislature and you want to know why Cuomo could careless about Niagara County.
In a nutshell: we're screwed
The benefit for the three chosen sites are that 10% of the take will go to the localities and 90% will go to the state to be used for education. (Wasn't the lottery money suppose to go toward education?) A number of people in these parts got all a flutter because the Governor said that the 3 casinos will be in upstate. But what people don't realize is that for Cuomo upstate means anything above New York City. That's mean we are talking the Catskills, Saratoga, Thousand Islands, Lake Placid, etc. He is not talking about Western New York.
The reason he is not talking about Western New York is that the Seneca Nation has exclusive rights for gaming from the Niagara River to Rochester and from the Pennsylvania state line to Lake Ontario. From Governor High and Mighty's perspective we have our gaming, even though the City of Niagara Falls hasn't seen a dime for 3 years.
Cuomo's first 2 years in office has been a facade. He has tried to come across as a fiscal conservative while passing costs on to local governments as opposed to bringing about real reform which means mandate relief. 90% of the 3 state-run casinos is to go toward education yet where has the lottery money gone?? Obviously not toward education as Cuomo through his property tax cap is crippling school districts all across this state.
Cuomo reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. A lot a talk but don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain. He could careless about Western New York and especially Niagara County. He views us as a bunch of backwater hayseeds and why wouldn't he. The mayor of the largest city in the County (Dyster) has the persona of an absent-minded professor. One assembly person is an empty-headed blonde (Corwin) who's next idea will be her first and the other assembly person is a cross between the Pillsbury Doughboy and Zalinsky (Ceretto) from Tommy Boy. And then you have our esteemed long reining Senator ( Maziarz) who is nothing more than a big fish in a small pond. Throw in the bomb throwing majority caucus of the County Legislature and you want to know why Cuomo could careless about Niagara County.
In a nutshell: we're screwed
Thursday, January 3, 2013
The Do-Nothing Legislature Strikes Again
Thursday's Niagara Gazette article on the Niagara County Legislature's first meeting of 2013 re-affirmed many residents opinion that this group is the most do-nothing legislative body this side of the United States Congress. Unbelievably, these part-time over paid legislators will now work even less as they have decided to cut the number of meetings in a year down from 19 to 15. That means that they will meet only once in February, April, June, July, September, October and November. They will not meet at all in August. What a joke!!!
There was a time where they met twice a month, every month of the year. That was 24 meetings. Now they are down to 15 meetings a year. These people make over $15,000 a year for a part-time job. They make the same amount of money that the legislators made who met 24 times as opposed to 15 times. While they have not given their employees a raise and expect them to continue to work their required hours, these guys can work less hours and make the same amount of money. I don't know where else someone would receive the same amount of pay for less hours of work. Something is wrong with this picture.
The article was also of interest because Chairman-for-Life Bill Ross gave his annual speech. Ross was lamenting the fact that the County had to live within the State-imposed property tax cap even though there was no significant mandate relief. I wonder if Ross and the rest of the Majority Caucus had the stones to express to Senator Maziarz and Assemblyman Ceretto their displeasure with the fact that both of our esteemed state representatives voted for the property tax cap while shifting costs onto the county. My guess is they didn't. In fact, they all campaigned for the both of them last year.
If you want to know why this county is in the shape that it is in, you only need to look at the Do-Nothing Niagara County Legislature. Not a lot of energy and work but a lot of hot air!!!
There was a time where they met twice a month, every month of the year. That was 24 meetings. Now they are down to 15 meetings a year. These people make over $15,000 a year for a part-time job. They make the same amount of money that the legislators made who met 24 times as opposed to 15 times. While they have not given their employees a raise and expect them to continue to work their required hours, these guys can work less hours and make the same amount of money. I don't know where else someone would receive the same amount of pay for less hours of work. Something is wrong with this picture.
The article was also of interest because Chairman-for-Life Bill Ross gave his annual speech. Ross was lamenting the fact that the County had to live within the State-imposed property tax cap even though there was no significant mandate relief. I wonder if Ross and the rest of the Majority Caucus had the stones to express to Senator Maziarz and Assemblyman Ceretto their displeasure with the fact that both of our esteemed state representatives voted for the property tax cap while shifting costs onto the county. My guess is they didn't. In fact, they all campaigned for the both of them last year.
If you want to know why this county is in the shape that it is in, you only need to look at the Do-Nothing Niagara County Legislature. Not a lot of energy and work but a lot of hot air!!!
Chairman Choolokian
The Niagara Gazette is reporting this morning that Glenn Choolokian has the votes to become the next Niagara Falls City Council Chairman. This is the same Choolokian who was hand-picked by Renae Kimble & Company to be put in a job at the Water Plant that had a rigged job specification of which Choolokian only qualified for. This is the same Choolokian who's negative comments about the Live Niagara Falls program made it all the way to London, England. This is the same Choolokian who's ego is bigger than his stature.
As Council Chairman, Choolokian will be the spokesperson for the City Council. This could be the best thing for this blog as Choolokian is no Daniel Webster. He's more like Webster from the old TV show. One person who can't be happy this morning is Mayor Paul Dyster. He's going to have to deal with Chairman Choolokian. Of course, being the skilled arms negotiator that he is, the Mayor should have no problem handling the situation. This is going to be worth watching and those of us at Shenanigans can't wait.
As Council Chairman, Choolokian will be the spokesperson for the City Council. This could be the best thing for this blog as Choolokian is no Daniel Webster. He's more like Webster from the old TV show. One person who can't be happy this morning is Mayor Paul Dyster. He's going to have to deal with Chairman Choolokian. Of course, being the skilled arms negotiator that he is, the Mayor should have no problem handling the situation. This is going to be worth watching and those of us at Shenanigans can't wait.
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