The truth about Niagara Falls

I had a chance Saturday to catch up with Assemblyman Angelo Morinello.

The 145th District Republican has served for the last decade and 12 years as a city judge before that. His legacy has been the target of barbs from candidate Nate McMurray as well as former Mayor Paul Dyster who both exhibit a sort of naivete.

Morinello stands proudly on his record of bipartisanship in Albany –reaching across the aisle to advocate for his community and constituents. This article was inspired by our conversation but the opinions expressed are those of the author, not the assemblyman.

Failed execution is to blame

As much as McMurray talks about big ideas, like taking parking revenue away from the state, Morinello sees a legacy of failed Democratic leadership in the city at the core of today’s problems.

For example, $19 million of state money for the rebirth of the City Market was allocated more than 3 years ago. Construction still hasn’t begun. $10 million in downtown redevelopment initiative money was granted in 2021 and still not spent on Main Street streetscapes.

Then there is $24 million of State Tourism Route funding sitting in city coffers when it could be used to do things like repave Buffalo Avenue.  Those funds haven’t been touched.

Meanwhile, big dreams to move the Niagara Aerospace Museum to a reimagined Rainbow Mall never happened because the Restaino administration backed away from USA Niagara’s plan for the city-owned former shopping mall.

Seven years after the SUNY Niagara Culinary Institute opened it stands alone as the only meaningful redevelopment in the mall.

Other questions remain unanswered as well. For example, in 12 years of Dyster, $200 million of casino money flowed to the city and was used to close gaps in the city budget not to build anything or change the lives of the 46% of city residents who live in poverty.

About the casino pact

Casino money is still flowing to the city even though the compact that allocates that funding expired in 2023. The allocation of those funds, as defined by an agreement known as 99H, pointed funds in multiple directions because, when the compact was established, Republicans in charge knew there was such a history of incompetent Democratic leadership the city couldn’t be trusted to do the right thing. That’s how it came to be that separate allocations were set for the city, Underground Railroad Heritage Museum, Niagara Falls Memorial and School District. When 99H expired, the city stopped sending the allocations to the Hospital and Museum which have now united for advocacy in a mutually beneficial relationship.

There’s been no reported progress on a new compact because the current funding is for the state to get 25% of slot revenue. That was under the old rules. When the state allowed the Del Lago Casino to open near Rome and added slots to Batavia Downs, it gained new gambling revenue and also, in the eyes of the Senecas, violated the agreement. It’s sort of like telling the Haudenosaunee as part of an agreement that they could have the islands in the river and then cutting down the oak forests and building up Grand Island anyway.

Hence Governor Kathy Hochul has limited reason to settle because, under the interim agreement, the Senecas are still kicking back 25% of revenues. Considering how they have been hurt, they are likely to insist on 17 or 18%. In fairness, the missteps were made under Gov. Cuomo, not Hochul. She may indeed seek to add a new casino as a sweetener to get the impasse resolved, but there is no urgency except on the part of the Hospital and Heritage area which are getting shortchanged by the city.

Convention Center was expensive

The reality in the Falls is the Convention Center that became Seneca Niagara Casino was losing $1 million a year when the city turned it over. It was an albatross, but in its place, we got that disgusting, bird-killing abomination facing John Daly Boulevard.

That Convention Center rose from the ashes of urban renewal decades ago. Remarkable streetscapes were replaced with nothingness left behind by a dream that Disney was going to come. It never happened.

Ditto the Wintergarden, a wonderful and significant attraction that started rusting as soon as it opened, an architectural excess similar to the brutal reality of Niagara Falls Public Library with its roof that leaked from the day it opened.

The mistakes keep coming

When the Moses Parkway north of John Daly Boulevard was removed, it terminated in a traffic circle. One spoke invites motorists into the state park past stately short term rentals and some that need love. The other leads guests past the casino, Old Falls Street and the squalor of Niagara Falls Redevelopment demolishing its real estate through willful neglect while it prattles about a data center that is either a $1.5 billion bonanza or a scheme to drive up the price the land on which Restaino wants for his hockey rink.

Now imagine the State had been more thoughtful in its parkway removal plan, directing all traffic down John Daly. It would have driven motorists through the Niagara Street corridor, past the rundown real estate along Niagara Street perhaps leading to development other than a Seneca weed store and gas station.

Imagine as well that infrastructure still in place when, one day, Centennial Park Arena opens, home to the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara Gulls.

A perfect ingress and egress from Old Falls Street will be straight down John Daly Boulevard and back to the Grand Island Bridges. What reason would anyone have to continue on into the city?

That arena site is adjacent to the Casino, a half mile from the entertainment district and the state park, easy to arrive at and leave without a thought.

About that feasibility study

Last year, Restaino released a feasibility study in a press event that was all lollipops and sunshine produced by a consultant and supported by Bolton St. James, the city’s lobbying firm. The study, with a release delayed a couple months because the initial draft wasn’t rosy enough for the Mayor, had three elements missing: 1) Any serious consideration of where the arena was to be located other than the proposed site. 2) Any discussion of who was going to pay for the $250 million cost of construction. 3) Who is going to foot the bill for site acquisition.

Meanwhile, over on the former TeleTech site, construction on a new apartment building has not begun because the developer needs financing. Ditto the Radio Social development on Third Street. And the Hotel Niagara rehabilitation hasn’t begun in earnest because the developer and city still don’t have an agreement on parking.

It’s not a lack of state money

It’s not the state failing to bring money that is stalling these projects. It is interest rates making it expensive to borrow money and a stubborn administration focused on a vanity arena so it can become a legacy that somehow helps people forget being locked up in a courtroom back in 2007.

There is a need for a new sports facility but it is not likely a hockey rink. It is a multi-use indoor facility for soccer, lacrosse and basketball like what is planned for $50 million in Amherst.

Why not the turtle?

There is also a need for a year-round cultural attraction in Niagara Falls. Elected officials like Morinello would be all about using eminent domain to purchase the Turtle and make it the celebration of indigenous heritage architect Dennis Sun Rhodes intended.

The State is doing its part: Look at the Hydraulic Canal construction site or the new visitor’s center. Consider the other state-funded development around downtown. A majority of the missteps rest at the feet of a city government that finds reason to say no.

That Hydraulic Canal site wouldn’t be available if it weren’t for the State ponying up $24.4 million to buy the Smokin’ Joe’s properties.

The state continues to chip in and even responds to change course, sometimes mid-project, like last year when it constructed an horrific fire escape atop the Crow’s Nest Extension, obstructing the view of the waterfall. Morinello made a couple phone calls and the mistake was removed, quickly, quietly and without fanfare.

Niagara Street road diet worked

We don’t talk a lot about it, but think about the Niagara Street road diet making it easier to cross at Third Street to support Wine on Third, Misty Guild Coffee, The Craft and Archives. Consider as well the road was narrowed from the casino side so if cafes ever do come to Niagara there will be space for outdoor patios. 9 lanes became 4.

Meaningful development is happening

There is some great development going on in spite of the current city administration. Look at the doubling of the Courtyard by Marriott or proposed mixed use development nearby, or even last year’s completion of the new Rainbow Air Tourism Center. All of that came about in spite of the city, not because of it.

Rainbow Air specifically sought no support because it didn’t want the perceived delays and red tape that comes with city involvement. Even then, the city couldn’t get Acheson Drive fixed in time for the $18 million project’s grand opening.

Doubts about Jenss and student housing

Meanwhile, there are rumors in the community that the politically connected developers chosen for the Jenss Building aren’t ready to move forward because they can’t find financing. As optimistic as I would like to be, it could quickly turn into Blue Cardinal all over again.

Let’s not even get started on student housing for Niagara University. Implementation of a new zoning law to limit student housing in DeVeaux has already been delayed twice. New construction has not yet begun. We are about 6 months from a new school year.

The reality of Assembly life

And in the middle of this morass rests the retail politics that define reality for someone like Morinello. When you have an issue with that disability claim or getting your unemployment or liquor license approved and you call for service, no one asks how you are registered to vote. They just help. It is the bread-and-butter of retail politics, the daily grind of constituent services in Morinello’s office.

Big ideas matter but mitzvahs do too

Big ideas matter a lot, but it’s the little ones, behind the scenes, grinding day-to-day that people see and care about. McMurray can ignore that but it isn’t what the rank-and-file voter sees when they need a question answered or a problem solved and Nate is not in office. They remember the phone call returned, seeing the Assemblyman at the Art Festival or how he worked to get the new bathrooms in place and the theatre renovated at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center. And when they remember those things, they vote.

We are big on expressing outrage but until we fix the problem with voter turnout, far too many people will continue staying home and nothing will change.

For now, Morinello will serve out his term before walking away to spend time with his family and wondering if 80 is really too young to retire.