Image
It was chaos as per usual at last night’s Niagara Falls Council meeting.
After calling the meeting to order, Council Chairperson Jim Perry announced to the gallery that speakers on agenda items henceforth would be required to cite a specific agenda item rather than writing items 1-12 on the sign in sheet.
This brought howls of protest from regular speakers including Tanya Barone and Janine Gallo.
After a back-and-forth debate between Perry and council persons Brian Archie and Donta Myles, Perry relented and let Barone and Gallo speak.
Barone’s primary concern was an agenda item recommending the approval of the purchase of solar-powered license plate readers to be placed in high crime areas of the city.
“Are we going to be surveilling people?” Barone asked “because that’s what this state is turning into.”
The plate readers would be paid for by a grant and would augment the readers mounted on police vehicles which regularly result in traffic stops for violations like no insurance or driving with a suspended license or registration.
Ultimately the council decided to postpone a decision on the item until more information was available but not before a terse exchange between Myles and Perry.
“Instead of putting the cart before the horse here,” Myles said, “let’s get some more information.”
Perry shot back “the way I look at it, you are either for law enforcement or you are against it.”
Myles cautioned about making an uninformed vote when no one from the executive branch or police department was present to answer questions.
“There are too many dumb votes that take place up here,” he said, using “dumb” to mean uninformed or ignorant.
The council also voted to change funding for Heart, Love and Soul to facilitate care for residents who might need assistance but are outside accepted eligibility criteria.
In the “for the good of the people” portion of the meeting, Gerald Skrlin announced his candidacy for mayor, coming to the podium with hand lettered signs communicating “no to nepotism,” a reference to the family and friends of Mayor Robert Restaino.
Gallo spoke about the ongoing stray dog crisis in the city. She also said she attended the Grand Island town council meeting Monday and experienced significantly more decorum and a more harmonious meeting.
The final speaker of the meeting was Arlene Jackson Doss of Niagara United Vision. She questioned why the city continues to neglect the 4th district both by delaying construction of the Beech Avenue Park and by refusing to give serious consideration to a plan to turn city-owned properties over to the 501(c) charity for redevelopment.
