The World According to Bob

It was a cold, wet Friday but I want to give you some information about some things that are happening as well as share some information about some things that are moving forward.

I wasn’t with your last Friday and I just want to again repeat the fact that as reported, the city of Niagara Falls has joined in a sister city relationship with the city of Beit Mery in Lebanon. We had a great meeting with the mayor and deputy mayor of that municipality. We look forward to future engagements with one another, whether they be on economic development, tourism, education, so we look forward to developing as many international relationships as we can. Niagara Falls is an international city. We welcome the opportunity to engage with cities across the world in these types of relationships.

Move your clocks

Closer to home, this weekend we will all be adjusting our clocks for Fall. Please remember to make that adjustment so you are not late, or early to any appointments that you may have in the week to come.

Good news at Hyde Park

Another exciting thing happening at our Ice Pavilion with our new interim operator this Saturday, Skate the Falls from 7-9 p.m. He is calling it the fall back skate. That is their title. Celebrate Daylight Savings Time. Wear your Bills gear or support your favorite sports team with public skating between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Nov. 1.

We will then have a Veteran’s Day Skate the operator will have on Nov. 11 from noon until 2 p.m. for veterans and active duty military. If you come out, wear red, white and blue to honor our heroes while you are out enjoying a free skate.

Nov. 29 there will be the post-turkey skate off. Bring in a canned good for a local food pantry and enter your name in a raffle to enter a raffle for a $50 Chick Fil A gift card.

Take advantage of these family fun activities at the ice pavilion. We have not had these opportunities oh in at least a decade so we appreciate the interim operator’s offerings of these activities. You know I said free but there is a general admission charge of $5 for each one of these activities so let me make that clear.

Leaf pickup

It is Fall and so leaf pick up will be starting. It will start the week of November 9. They will work from the North end and then the following week from the LaSalle Area toward the center. The list has been put out on our text alert system. Again, let me give you that number. If you are not on the city’s text alert system please consider joining. You will text the word “resident” to (716)-325-5723

It’s not a back-and-forth. We just get information to you, things like Skate the Falls as well as our guide for things like leaf pick up.

About those speed bumps

We have experimented with putting in some speed bumps on Lewiston Road near Maple Avenue School. Why did we do that? There are people on all sides of the argument as there usually are. We started with an electronic sign telling you what your speed was going through a school zone. That didn’t seem to slow people down. We placed police personnel there to write tickets. They were writing incredible numbers of tickets for people who sped through that school zone and that wasn’t slowing people down. So we opted to give this a test trial. We will be having a conversation with the school district about whether they would like to have these speed bumps installed during the school year. Obviously, the time it wouldn’t be out there is when the plows start from November until March, but from April until June and from September until October we will have that conversation with them. The reason for it is if people would just simply obey the speed limit rules. I know, you are driving along and you decide you want to obey the speed limit rule and there is somebody behind you who is a little anxious and they decide they are going to blow the horn or flick their lights and speed past you, all you can do is control your own vehicle. And if you consider the fact that you are driving through a school zone and I know some will say ‘but it is 5:30, what difference does it make?’ If you talk to a parent of a school child, from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade, they will tell you there are things going on in those school buildings after the school day ends so you still may have students who are coming out who are walking home because some of them do live close to schools or they are being picked up. Some people have suggested the schools should create pick-up and drop-off spaces. In many ways, the schools have those situations. Now do all parents comply with the pick up and drop off places? I can’t say that is what happens. But I can tell you that the only thing we are trying to do is keep the school zone safe. The number one way to that is for drivers to obey the speed limit signs. It is not an inconvenience, it is a safety precaution. School zone speed limits have been around for so long, just like flashing red lights on school buses such that was had to impose cameras and stop signs coming off school buses because people still weren’t getting it and today, late October, 2025, we are still getting tickets issued for people passing school buses with their light flashing. I don’t know what it is going to take. Unfortunately, none of us want to hear, see or read about any more tragedies on the road. We are the ones who can make it stop. We need to do better. Winter is coming. And this kind of rain, those roads can be slick. Take your time. Make sure you get to the place you want to get to safely, even if you are a few minutes late but more importantly, make sure you don’t find yourself in an accident that could have serious consequences. So just slow down on the road. Let’s all drive safely and take matters of safety into our own hands.

Election day is coming

This coming week, Tuesday, Nov. 4 is election day. It is a very important service that residents have. They have the right to vote on the type of government that they want and as I have said, the public gets the government that it deserves. In large measure, that is the result of us getting out and voting. It is interesting, there is an awful lot of noise out there. You’ve got one incumbent Republican council member who is touting all of the successes of our administration and how that incumbent candidate wants to continue to be a part of it and yet we also have the New York State Republican Committee trying to create division and acrimony. I guess that’s the season we are in. But I know that people have seen many changes. Whether it is development finally happening on Main Street or whether it is challenging 30-year do-nothing land holder companies or whether it is providing new street lighting, park improvement, improvements to public safety and public works equipment, all of those things at no taxpayer expense. Those are I think achievements that our administration, I am proud of the people who are here who help us make sure that we maintain the type of reserve fund that the state controller requires which leads us to improved bond rating which improves our standing as developers take a look at us as a place where they can come and do business. So when you get out there to vote this Tuesday, the people who are talking about unity in government, about wanting to talk to one another and cooperate? Think about the fact that right now we have acrimony going on in Washington to the point where it is going to hurt people. Both sides see that but they just can’t get themselves to want to talk to one another. And if you like me, are reading about this, you realize that some of them are talking. They are coming together. They are realizing that fighting for the sake of fighting never makes sense and that is what you have here. You have people, particularly people with no government experience, talking about ‘we are going to be watchdogs and fight and not rubber stamps’ nobody is looking for any of that. People are looking for government that communicates. Government that finds a way to get things done for the benefit of the city, for the benefit of the taxpayers, not the kind of shenanigans that goes on in those council meetings.

Lauding the Express, trashing the Gazette

You know much is being made about a number of things that you know, quite frankly I am proud that at least one online journalist saw these things as just nonstories. But unfortunately, print media, our print media continues to do its best to drive the city that it is writing about into the ground. It is remarkable. Because if you want to increase your readership, if you want to do that, if you want to see your community grow let’s do the opposite. Let’s do things that contract our city because we can talk about all the things we can talk about and yet here our print media concentrates on making sure that they continue to write about things, there’s a conspiracy around every corner. There is some nefarious purpose behind every decision. It is really a scary place to be. It is unfortunate but I know that the residents are better than that. I know that you understand the need to have government that works together that works best for you. At least the members of our administration will continue to do that, continue to move ahead with the things that we have proposed knowing that the end result will be an improvement for the city of Niagara Falls so please make sure that when you go out to vote this Tuesday you are looking for those candidates that really want to communicate among all of us that want to work together and not just be obstinate, to be obstructionists. I appreciate those who go out to vote and doing what is their civic duty to bring good government to the City of Niagara Falls.