About that dustup at the TreC Center

Coming to you from the woke community of Charlottesville, Va. We walked to the IX Market Saturday morning, the largest, nicest domestic market we’ve seen with the possible exception of Ithaca.

I’ve been watching the videos and reviewing the tussle that occurred earlier in the week.

Denise Scott was hosting a podcast of sorts at the TreC Center, a co-work space leased from the Montante Group by Niagara University, initially for the Global Tourism Institute.

Scott’s business, Blackhouse Beignettes is in the space as is Tugby’s Bazaar which took over after Mayor Restaino caused the failure of the Niagara Global Tourism Institute by disrespecting national tourism professionals here to visit with Patrick Whelan who wanted to make a difference for Niagara Falls the way he did for the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Whelan retired rather than try to do good things in a city run by a mayor who does not see the value of tourism. That was almost 3-years ago.

The TreC space also housed a coworking space where Nick Hurd was a primary tenant.

When Whelan walked away, NU offered Whelan’s job to his second-in-command but at no increase in pay. That person walked away.

NU bought what Hurd was selling and allowed him to open Tugby’s Bazaar with recycled fast food benches and souvenirs for sale on consignment. He was supposed to be rent free for the first year and then start paying thereafter. NU had no appetite for the space, just like it lacked the wherewithal to complete NU 822 at the First Congregation Church of Christ.

Scott had paid some rent for her space but seemed focused on other things. Her restaurant didn’t seem to be open often but her food was great.

Handley came on the scene as a community leader and personality, first doing his Fire 716 from space near Main and Third, then moving to space Hurd had in the Niagara Arts and Culture Center and, finally, moving into the TreC space at the invitation of Hurd.

As Jayson Parker, Noah Munoz and Scott recapped Tuesday’s election, Frank Handley, Sean Mapp and Dante Richardson entered the space.

A physical confrontation ensued ending with a fight between Mapp and Munoz.

The allegation was that Scott was trespassing. I am not sure that’s possible if Handley didn’t have a lease and Hurd never paid rent, but it was set up as a podcast studio.

Munoz just ran for office for the first time. He is likeable but a bit loud and over-confident. Parker works with Munoz as a Realtor. Scott supported the slate of Democrats endorsed by Restaino. John Kinney also lost. Bridgette Myles won. As did David Zajac and Vincent Cauley.

Video of the fight, in my interpretation, shows Mapp throwing the first punch.

As they both fell to the ground, Mapp ended up on top. Munoz had his arms locked around Mapp who appeared to headbut him in the nose.

Richardson and Handley tried to pull Mapp off. Mapp just lost the 4th District race to Jeffrey Elder. Richardson lost the 6th to Sam Faruggia.

Richardson runs LATA House, a content creation studio and, through the election campaign, used the Niagara Reporter Facebook page to slander Restaino, County Democratic Committee chair Chris Borgatti and others while supporting Cauley, Tanya Barone and Donta Myles.

Most of the issues he seemed to raise regarding Niagara Falls focused on attacking Restaino over the Centennial Park proposal, the new dog shelter being built in Hyde Park and $20,000 spent on taking down trees in the public right-of-way in front of homes owned by politically connected people.

The brash approach of Richardson and company did not resonate clearly with voters. The candidates he supported, with the exception of Cauley, lost.

Borgatti countered Richardson’s attacks with one of his own, focusing on the candidate having a felony conviction resulting in a lengthy prison sentence.

Richardson now presents himself as a Stanford-educated information technology professional. What happens to the TreC space remains to be seen but I can’t imagine Niagara University is happy about the untimely dust-up happening in the co-work space for which it receives little if any rent.

I don’t know who was right, who was wrong or what really happened. I know what it looks like.

Which brings it back to Tugby’s which came about as a business plan hatched by Hurd. NU gave him free rent so he could get his business off the ground after a 2024 that ended with his business in debt to Maid of the Mist more than $80,000 as well as a few other creditors.

Hurd talks a great game but his plans for Tugby’s didn’t go as designed. Busloads of tourists getting lunch from coolers stocked by Starry Night Cafe never materialized.

Hurd put together a block of shuttle buses and took over the tour sales booth inside the One Niagara Building, a honky-tonk space where most business is cash and it always seems to feel a bit like things are operating in the grey areas of the economy where cash is king and everybody operates with the ethos of Donal Trump or John Hutchins. If we are doing business and I am screwing you just a little and we are both cheating the government it is all good.

I led Mobsters and Mayhem tours in 2024 for Hurd, taking tours in a pre-fireworks walk around Goat Island and parting ways on Luna Island before the fireworks started. This year started up with a few tours but I had trouble getting paid. Once Nick squared up, I no longer found room for his company in my schedule.

Several guides who worked from him left and came to work for Niagara Regional Walking Tours, a company with which I also worked.

We started the year using Hurd’s shuttle buses to go to Goat Island but the pick-up point was a 15-minute walk from the Maid of the Mist, including two blocks on Rainbow Boulevard and one on Niagara Street a most unpleasant walk to a stop where a shuttle driver would show up sometimes 15 minutes later for the ride to Goat Islands after guests stood around by traffic streaming from the Rainbow Bridge.

It was sold as a convenience but was, in reality, an unpleasant nightmare, especially when trolley passes are $5 and walking to Goat Island from the Maid takes less than 20 minutes for an able-bodied person.

Hurd seemed to walk away from Tugby’s at season end but given he still had access to the space, gave access to Handley, a nice guy happy to have a free space. When Scott took advantage of it, Richardson and Mapp sprang into action. ‘

The whole thing is sordid, sleazy and a bad look for everyone involved. It also could have been avoided if Restaino had respected and supported Whelan rather than treating the tourism industry like an unwanted stepchild.