The World According to Bob

(Editor’s note: This is a first-time experiment. Typing the weekly transcription of Mayor Restaino’s address to his minions is at best, arduous. Following is a transcript created using new technology. Read it and then check the paint. It will be dry by the time you finish.)

I thank the young people who have come forward to be life guard. Good morning, everyone. This is an early edition coming to you from City Hall. The holiday this weekend, City Hall will be closed tomorrow, Friday, July 3rd.

So if you have any business to conduct, please know that tomorrow City Hall will be closed in honor of the Independence Day holiday. Today also is the opening, excuse me, of all of the pools and splash pads throughout the city. We want to thank the young people who have come forward to be lifeguards and rec aids. Really appreciate them committing some time to their city during the summer, and thank them for the work that they will do throughout the summer.

Obviously, with many of them just getting out of school, we also appreciated the fact that they were working around their own work schedules, or also enjoying a little bit of summer break before they go back to work again for the city.

So again, all pools and splash pads will be open today. They are open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each week between now and the beginning of September. So if you want to get out there, with your young family and enjoy, please, young, young children, if a parent could join them, that would be most advisable. So again we look forward to a pretty exciting summer.

You know, we had a little bit of a glitch with the splash pad, uh, over at Damilio Park, but our parks, uh, department, was right on top of it, was able to get the necessary part in, so that they could make a repair, so that it would be open for today.

Fireworks

Um, Fourth of July fireworks are scheduled, weather permitting for tomorrow. The Niagara Falls Americans will be playing baseball as well at Sal Maglie Stadium, weather permitting. In the event of inclement weather, the rain date for fireworks display will be on July 5th.

So we are expecting a pretty exciting fireworks display. Our vendor has promised us a special, uh, type of celebration for the 250th anniversary.

Event Center next phase

We, are moving into the next phase of our development of the events center. The city council will have on their agenda the approval of a land development corporation. They had the chance to speak with the attorney for the city, the outside council for the city to explain all of what a land Development Corporation can do, how it will be utilized in a project such as this, the regularity of entities like that in projects of this sort, the fact that it is separate and distinct from city government, and the insulation that that provides with regard to city taxpayers.

So We're looking forward to this essential step in the process. We know that once that's completed, then we can start in earnest with regard to our development plans. It's a pretty exciting time for our city, uh, and I know that as we move forward, there'll be more information that we'll be sharing with all of you.

Main Street update

We are close to concluding another project on Main Street with regard to our plan for student housing, university housing. We anticipate getting some final answers on that in the next couple of weeks. And then obviously, what that does is it puts in place one of the Principal elements of the development.

We've had great success, with not only the Jenss building and with the Rapids, but this will be yet another piece of the puzzle that we're putting together on Main Street to bring some vibrancy and excitement back to that part of the city.

Food Truck Thursday

Again, today is food truck Thursdays out at the train station site. We know that that is always something that residents and visitors to enjoy. So if you receive your text alerts, you know that today, again, an out there between eleven and one, entertainment food, and it's a good time to visit with neighbors and friends, okay

Sign up for text alerts

By the way, speaking about text alerts, if you're not on the text alert system, I would strongly urge you to do that. It's the most efficient way for you to receive information about anything from emergencies that are happening to road work that is going on, and especially in this season now of us starting our road resurfacing program, you may want to be aware of when those things are happening. We also talk about things coming to us from the Niagara Falls Water Board with regard to water main breaks, other events that are going on, for instance, such as Food Truck Thursday.

So if you're not on the alert system, we'd ask you to please consider whatever type of phone you have, as long as you take, as long as your phone accepts and delivers texts, you can text the word resident, resident to (716)-325-5723 text the word resident to that number you'll go through a series of prompts and then you'll be receiving messages from us here at City Hall every time something is happening that we need to make sure everyone is aware of. There's no tracking or responding back and forth. It's simply an information out to you to alert you as a resident as to what's going on.

Join the parade

So we have the children's parade scheduled for July 4th through Hyde Park along Robbins Drive. Again, weather permitting. Many, many great volunteer groups have come together to make this happen.

I know my office has been part of the financial contribution to them, but this is really a great example of how something can come together when it's put together by residents, citizens doing something for the good of the city.

So I want to also extend my appreciation to all of the people involved in organizing and getting this parade. Put together for the benefit of the city. Again, that'll be tomorrow. Excuse me, I take that back. It's gonna be Saturday, July 4th, from 11 to 1.

The parade will be along Robbins Drive. So if you want to come out, again, it's weather permitting. If you want to come out and see the parade, please do so.

Happy 250th

Again, we're celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country. So much to be thankful for. You know, as the documents, our founding documents say, we're working to create a more perfect union. So it isn't as though we are perfect. We're working toward that every morning when we get up.

So one of the things that you can do to help make this a more perfect union, what can you do to contribute to your city? How can you make your city neater, cleaner? Volunteering is probably the principal act of even our founding fathers and those who took up arms in the Revolutionary War.

Many of them volunteers, to fight for something that was larger than them. So think about that as we get into this celebration over this weekend, and and think to yourself, what can you do? To volunteer, to help your city in a way that will, it'll not only help your city move forward, but it'll make you feel better too.

Be careful

Again, being in the middle of summer or getting into the middle of summer now, uh, there's gonna be more activity out on the street. So I think everyone knows my feeling about e vehicles. While I know that they are an appreciated form of transportation, I think we need to be safe out there.

So I'm gonna ask people who are operating e-vehicles. It is also your responsibility to obey traffic control, to obey how intersections react especially four-way intersections. Please be mindful of all of that and recognize that you're sharing the road with vehicles, and vehicles are sharing the road with you, uh, vehicle drivers.

I know you have to be alert for all sorts of things that are in the, uh, that are in the road, but it always is important to be a little bit slower in the way we operate our vehicles.

Understand that we too have to be careful at intersections and obeying traffic control. Safety on the roads is not about the police being out there, ticketing and, uh, uh, making sure that everybody is behaving. This is a simple task that we can all do.

It's one of those things that you can do, uh, as a resident, and as a motorist or as an operator of these e vehicles to make the streets in our city safer. So if you're out and about this weekend, please remember be careful at intersections with pedestrians. Be careful as we move along the streets. Also be mindful of the heat this weekend, too, because it's gonna continue to be warm. So be sure that you have places to cool. Make sure that you bring water along with you. Hydration is important. And check on people who might be older to make sure that they're doing okay, too. So let me wish everyone a happy Independence Day weekend. Enjoy yourself with family and friends and be safe. I'll talk to you again next week. I would like to talk with you about the reflect.