(Editor’s note: The below was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino, one of 4 journalists who live in Niagara Falls and write about the community. The other 3 are Rob Bennett, Joe Genco and Mark Scheer. If someone writing about Centennial Park or the Mayor’s preferred Hyde Park Rink vendor, the Express will gladly publish that as well, without a paywall, especially if they are a city resident.)
The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino.
Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino (once again) publicly embarrassed himself in the media last month after he ordered the locks changed at the Hyde Park ice pavilion, just to stop a youth hockey camp from practicing.
DPW Director Ken Tompkins and two police officers stand guard to make sure nobody enters the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion.
Around 75 people (including the youth athletes, their parents and their coaches); were met by DPW Director Ken Tompkins and two police officers. Despite the fact that the athletes had already paid for hockey camp, they were told that they could not enter the facility.
The news flurry sent City Administrator Anthony Restaino into damage control mode, and he blamed the lockout on the City Council’s decision to table a resolution two weeks prior to the incident.
Anthony Restaino directly blamed a “boatload of hockey players” when he told WIVB “Let’s be honest it’s because you had a boatload of hockey players in the city council chambers which basically intimidated the council from taking the best offer for the city tax payers. Let’s remember that.”
Tensions erupted across social media as thousands of locals expressed their disgust for the City’s actions.
The tabled resolution is for the approval of the operating contract at the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion. For the past 14 years, Mike Carella and his company Niagara Sports Tournaments (NST) have operated the pavilion. Now, Mayor Restaino wants to give the contract to Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group.
According to Anthony Restaino, the “boatload of hockey players” (pictured below) “intimidated city council”, but in reality it’s the other way around; Locking the doors to the pavilion was the Restaino brothers’ attempt at intimidating the City Council into approving the contract.
The “boatload of hockey players” were actually local kids and their parents who showed up to a council meeting to support Niagara Sports Tournaments, the homegrown operator of the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion for the past 14 years. This administration has shown an intense ire for public participation at City Council meetings. [Photo credit Niagara Gazette]The doors to the ice pavilion were eventually opened after Senator Rob Ortt called Mayor Restaino and asked him to let the hockey players practice. Senator Ortt issued a public statement, which was followed by public statements from several Niagara Falls City Council members and candidates for local office.
RED FLAGS
Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group was founded in 2022 in Albany, NY by Itai Shoffman. In February of 2021, a court ruled against Shoffman for “unpaid federal income tax liabilities” in the amount of $201,659.73 (United States of America v. Shoffman). One year later, Legacy was born.
Since its founding, Legacy has made several headlines by undercutting tenured homegrown vendors. As a large corporation, Legacy uses their capital to outbid smaller local companies.
Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group has recently taken over operating contracts which were previously held by local vendors in several cities and states.
This past February, the Erie County Legislature awarded Legacy the concessions contract at the Elma Meadows Golf Course. Legacy was the sole bidder on the contract. Reportedly, Legacy was also selected by Rich Products Corporation to manage and operate the ice rink at Canalside in Buffalo.
There are only two reviews from former employees of Legacy on the website glassdoor.com. Both are one star reviews which describe an awful work environment, incompetent management, and an alleged decline in services once Legacy took over concessions.
This past June, a former employee of Legacy wrote, “My time at Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group was extremely disappointing and not at all what was promised during the hiring process. I was drawn in by what seemed like a professional, well-managed company, but that image quickly fell apart once I had accepted the position.”
The same reviewer states, “I ultimately made the decision to leave because I couldn’t continue in an environment that was so blatantly disingenuous and disrespectful to its employees. If you’re considering working at Legacy Hospital and Entertainment Group, be extremely cautious. Ask for everything in writing, and don’t assume the professionalism you’re sold in interviews will carry over into the actual workplace.”
One of two employee reviews of Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group on glassdoor.com.
Also in June, a (currently employed) Legacy employee from Reno wrote, “They can’t handle 8 teams in a softball tournament how will they handle 24 teams next week. New owners have no idea what they’re doing.” The same review states, “The old snack bar was wonderful. Now it is trash with long lines and crap food.”
Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group has a one star rating on the jobs website glassdoor.com.
The sole review for Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group on job finder website indeed.com is a one star rating posted last month, which alleges that the “whole company is a front for something else.”
Under “cons”, this indeed.com reviewer wrote “whole company is a front for something else”.
Legacy is not Itai Shoffman’s first company. Sometimes referred to as Legacy’s “sister company”, Shoffman’s Upsilon Ventures is Legacy’s predecessor. There are eight employee reviews for Upsilon on glassdoor.com with a total score of 1.8 stars out of 5.
A review written by a former employee in 2015 is titled “Disorganized, rude and border-line fraud”. This review states, “The company, specifically upper management and those operating at their Lakeside location have absolutely no clue about the product they are selling, that being sports on ice and with skates.”
The same review also claims, “Lastly, upper management does some very questionable business maneuvers, such as not paying vendors in a timely fashion (or not at all) or not paying insurance fees for curling during the winter (which means people were participating in a sport while uninsured because upper management at the corporate office is playing some type of game with people’s safety). The last bit was my reason for quitting. I could no longer be a part of a company that tries to scam people to save some money.”
Upsilon Ventures has a 1.8 star review on glassdoor.com.
In April, Tracey Drury of Buffalo Business First reported, “Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy expects to sign a contract in May with Albany-based Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group to manage concessions at its Parkside Lodge and Cazenovia Park Golf Course. The company, a privately owned business specializing in public-private partnerships, also has local contracts to run concessions at Elma Meadows Golf Course and Canalside. The Parkside Lodge was operated most recently by Resurgence Brewery, while the space at Cazenovia Park was operated by Maritza Miller for the past decade.”
SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON OF BOTH BIDS
Niagara Falls City Councilman Donta Myles said that the bid proposals for the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion operations contract was not supplied to City Council. The City of Niagara Falls has operated without a full-time controller for over seven months now. Without a controller overseeing City finances full time, there is no real financial oversight of the Restaino administration.
“I had to personally request the actual bids and I received them at the beginning of last week,” says Myles, “Our kids deserve better than to be treated as pawns in the Mayor’s agenda. This community should never accept leadership that puts politics over our children’s well-being.”
Upon careful review of both bid proposals, Anthony Restaino’s assertion that the Legacy offer was the “best offer for the city tax payers” is debatable.
City Administrator Anthony Restaino publicly blamed youth hockey players for the City’s actions of locking the doors to the ice pavilion.
The Niagara Sports Tournaments (NST) proposal is 22 pages and mostly text with a few black and white images; whereas the Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group proposal is 56 pages with lots of colorful images.
The NST proposal is very basic and simple. It contains lots of typos but the overall theme (as mentioned in the proposal) is a “pro-Niagara” attitude, focused on giving back to our community.
The Legacy proposal is impressive, flashy and overly repetitive. The words “Niagara Falls” and “Hyde Park Ice Pavilion” were probably plugged into a pre-existing template. The proposal mentions teaming up with local businesses “like Power City Eatery”, which obviously didn’t age well…
There are a couple major blaring differences between both bids, which are likely what the Restaino Brothers are hanging their hats on.
NST’s proposal states that NST will contribute $10,000 per year in capital improvement for rink repairs. Legacy’s proposal offers either $75,000 or $100,000 in capital improvement over the course of three years, depending on which page of the proposal you’re reading.
This is obviously a major difference regarding upgrade costs at the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion. NST has operated the ice pavilion for 14 years and their proposal reflects an intimate knowledge of the facility’s needs and operations. NST has also provided care for the facility whenever the City seems to have lagged behind.
The NST proposal mentions that NST is currently using their own equipment to clean the ice since the City’s Zamboni is under repair. As an additional extended option, NST offered to purchase an electric Olympia Ice resurfacer (for about $200,000); which the City would own after 10 years.
It’s also worth mentioning that NST purchased and own essentially all of the property, equipment and trade fixtures on the premises; at an estimated cost in excess of $100,000. Also, according to the Legacy proposal – the annual rent for the pavilion is $102,500.
Other comparable costs include ice skate rentals; Legacy will charge $5 while NST charges $3.50. Both companies price open skating at $5, with NST offering $1 open skating for locals. Legacy’s cost of $215 beats NST’s cost of $250 for primetime ice rental.
Most of Legacy’s prices are listed as “TBD” while NST’s prices are straightforward.
There’s also a noticeable difference in the cost of food items. For example; Legacy hotdogs will cost $5 while NST charges $3. Legacy will charge $10 for their “smashburger” while NST charges $3 for a classic burger. Customers can purchase four chicken fingers from NST for $7 while Legacy will charge $10 for three chicken fingers.
If Mayor Restaino gets his way and Legacy is awarded the contract, the increase in capital improvement should logically lead to facility upgrades. Legacy also offers a lower price for primetime ice rental. However, Legacy will jack up the prices on food and skate rentals which will mostly effect locals who are used to lower prices.
On the other hand, NST touts connections with local and regional organizations which all regularly utilize the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion. These organizations are the lifeblood of the ice rink. Legacy’s proposal touts a Buffalo based ice skating instructor as their sole “local skate partner”.
If our city wants to keep money circulating locally, the contract should go to NST. If we want to enable the crushing of homegrown mom-and-pop businesses by “too big to fail” type operations, then Legacy seems like the way to go.
This is Part 2 of an ongoing investigative series into this incident.
There is certainly room for debate about who is the better choice to run the Pavilion, and I am not going to enter into that one as I have no knowledge of either group. What I will state, without fear of contradiction, is that until the decision is made, the current team should be allowed to continue running the Pavilion in order to fulfil contracts made in good faith.
There is certainly room for debate about who is the better choice to run the Pavilion, and I am not going to enter into that one as I have no knowledge of either group.
Moderate rain, with a high of 80 and low of 69 degrees. Partly Cloudy in the morning, overcast in the afternoon, partly cloudy during the evening, overcast overnight.
73° and Overcast
