50° and Heavy rain
Image
Planners from Fisher Associates working for the City, and representatives of the city government met for a session giving public input.
On the bright side, there are great plans and more than 75 people were there to hear about them. The harsh reality is there were people in the room who have been going to similar meetings for 15 years. Nothing ever seems to happen. Every time they step off the curb hoping for a different result they land in the same puddle.
This time may be different. At least we hope. More than $30 million in public and private investment will be happening along Main Street and in the Suspension Bridge corridor.
The current round of planning began with the downtown redevelopment initiative funded by New York State in 2019. North Tonawanda received similar funding in a parallel timeframe and completed numerous projects along Webster Street leveraged by additional investment in the Riviera Theatre. Niagara Falls moves at a different pace.
The pall of cynicism covering Tuesday’s meeting was spawned by the trauma of generations of Niagara Falls residents remembering what was and hoping it will be again. They are slow to embrace the reality that the chemical plants and the Maggadino Family are never coming back.
That trauma on Main Street is compounded by the empty promises of first Richard Hastings and then Blue Cardinal Development with a side of John Hutchins MAGA fraud thrown in.
Everyone involved hopes this time will be different. The city’s director of business development, Morgan Genovese might have been the most optimistic person in the room, pointing out that the original DRI did include some wisely spent money, for example an expansion of DiCamillo’s Bakery, artwork near the Underground Railroad Heritage Museum and the Small Business Development Fund. Here is a link to the city's economic development page. There is a tone of information but it is likely not all is current. the https://www.niagarafallsny.gov/government/departments/economic_developm…
She also pointed out that one year after the city used DRI funds to purchase 38 Blue Cardinal properties, 11 have identified developers and plans (4 have been announced). Rumors are also afoot that a new operator has been identified for the Rapids Theatre but nothing has been announced.
On a side note, the presentations were a jargon-fest. We got to learn new words like “main nodes” and “placemaking.” Apparently the planners are like the lawyers and accountants in litigation – they always get paid even if they speak a different language.
Either way, there is hope on Main Street and it might not be Groundhog Day after all. Maybe, just maybe the city is doing the same thing over and over again and attaining different results rather than embracing a new level of insanity.
