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We are now entering the silly season that is petition passing and primary time.
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The big battle in Niagara Falls is for City Council where 3 seats are up. Mayor Robert Restaino has enjoyed a rubber stamp over the last year with Democratic Chairperson James Perry and councilpersons David Zajac and Traci Bax ultimately giving him whatever he wants with little public pushback.
The Democrats chose not to endorse Donta Myles, who stands as he sees it, “for the people” instead of for the Mayor. He does his best to represent the whole city but has trouble getting information or doing research before he speaks.
The Democrats instead going with Bridgette Myles, John Kinney and Noah Munoz.
I don’t know Bridgette. It is easy to wonder if she was chosen to confuse people who see “Myles” on a petition and think they are signing for Donta.
Kinney is personable, intelligent, worked for the city for years and comes from a long line of public service.
Munoz has been one of the most successful Realtors in the city over the last 10 years and speaks well but did not grow up here.
On the Republican side, the party endorsed Zajac. At only one point did he stand up and vote with Myles and Brian Archie to delay a project one meeting. Other than that, he has been in line with the mayor. Since he rarely speaks it is hard to know what he thinks.
Bax seems pragmatic, and to do the sort of background work needed to make smart choices but she fell in line with Perry and Zajac at every turn.
The Republicans endorsed Zajac and left Vincent Cauley, Tanya Barone and Mike Gawel to run in the primary.
Cauley previously served on the council and has been a frequent speaker at meetings but seldom fell in line with the Mayor. Gawel, a tax preparer from LaSalle, ran last time. He most recently appeared at the council podium to express support for The Little Bakery on Buffalo Avenue.
Barone began attending meetings to speak about the administration’s handling of the stray animal crisis but also has spoken against other issues like solar panels.
The committee also endorsed Chris McKimmie for legislature. Dante Richardson has announced his candidacy for the 6th District County Legislature seat currently held by Chris Voccio who is not running for reelection. He will face off against Niagara Falls Firefighters union leader Sam Farruggia.
Richardson, an unabashed Trump supporter, allegedly has the support of Niagara Falls Redevelopment, the group that has done nothing with more the 140 acres of prime downtown real estate over the last 30 years. It will be interesting to see how NFR’s support stacks up against the firefighters’ political action committee.
Meanwhile, the 4th District’s Jeffrey Elder has a Republican opponent in Sean Mapp.
The Democrats also endorsed Christoper Robins who is unopposed in the 5th District.
Both parties endorsed Danielle Restaino and Jason Cafarella for city court judge.
On the city council side, there are expensive crises around the corner. For example, replacing garbage cans. Most of the containers in the city are beyond their expected useful life. Casella, the new vendor, uses automated trucks. Cans, and lids, are cracking more frequently. The problem is only going to get worse.
The city has been sequestering Casino funds and not distributing to organizations like the National Heritage area and Niagara Arts and Culture Center. So far, it seems no one is willing to do anything about it.
In the next 34 months, Mayor Restaino is likely to bring forward and try to win approval for the Centennial Park project. We still have not seen a study on feasibility or siting for the hockey rink, which supporters prefer we call a “multi-use facility.”
It will also be interesting when the new bitcoin mine fires up at College and Highland on the old Globe Metallurgical site. When the noise was in LaSalle with the rats, the city was slow to respond. It took at least 6 months to straighten out.
The bitcoin site on Frontier did all its homework and moved forward through the permitting process.
At the Globe site, coolers are in place and work has been continuing but, as far as the Express knows, no one has pulled a permit for anything. It will be interesting to see how fast the government moves when the dull roar of data processing cooling units pollutes DeVeaux and drowns out the Whirlpool Rapids.
