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There was a meeting wrapped in the middle of the theater last night at Niagara Falls City Hall.
The final approval was granted for a data center on Frontier Avenue.
The Niagara Falls garbage tax will remain the same (I know, it’s a “user fee” not a tax, just like it is a “multi-purpose event center” not a hockey rink.) For a single home the tax will remain $181 annually. Use fees will cover all but $837,876 of the $4.82 million fee paid to Casella for service. No one on the council spoke up about the city’s current $21 million surplus, some of which could be used to reduce or eliminate the tax.
Wednesday’s performative circus was a visit from Daniel Warmus and Duane Whitmer of “Auditing Erie County” came to the meeting to make a scene.
Warmus wore a t-shirt emblazoned “Fuck James Perry, Conner v. California.”
He signed up to speak for the good of the community and offered a profanity lace tirade that ended in telling voters to support council candidates Vincent Cauley, Tanya Barone and Donta Myles.
He harangued Council Chairman James Perry who called police to the front of the room. Ultimately, they let him finish rather than escalating.
Whitmer also spoke, offering much the same angry, libertarian confrontational rhetoric while Warmus donned a clown nose.
Myles, as always, spoke up for the less fortunate. Wednesday, it was about fees being collected for zoom team cleanups, noting that most of the cleanup bills seem to go to the 4th and 6th legislative districts, “the marginalized, overlooked and impoverished.”
Meanwhile, Barone spoke for the good of the people and criticized the administration of Mayor Robert Restaino, telling the gallery the friends and family plan needs to end.
While the city has a residency requirement for employees, it can be waived. Hence city administrator, head of the planning department and director of code enforcement all reside elsewhere.
The performance by Warmus and Whitmer was likely timed to pique interest before the general election. Like the drama before the council primary, what goes on in the chambers doesn't seem to impact how many people show up to vote or who they support.
