Niagara Falls

BY TONY FARINA Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to Niagara Falls on Tuesday to officially break ground on the long-awaited Hamister hotel project in downtown Niagara Falls and he used the occasion to praise his state development team led locally by

BY MIKE HUDSON State and local officials were looking sheepish and Buffalo developer Mark Hamister was spinning excuses at Tuesday’s long delayed groundbreaking for a small, midmarket hotel project that was first announced four years ago. Niagara Falls Mayor Paul

BY MATTHEW RICCHIAZZI If we could ever put the interests of institutional advancement over the prissy sensibilities of cynics, we may be able to make something spectacular of the Albright Knox, which barely earns 200,000 attendees annually at its Delaware

BY MATT RICCHIAZZI In our business, people frequently come to us as whistleblowers troubled by what they perceive as official misconduct and yet afraid that if they blow the whistle at work they will be retaliated against. It is necessary

BY TONY FARINA According to informed sources in the Buffalo development community, Mark Hamister is about $6 million short of the mark in financing for his much-hyped $35.7 million Niagara Falls hotel project on Rainbow Blvd. that was trumpeted by

BY MIKE HUDSON Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster is known for running one of the most secretive administrations in recent city history. Freedom of Information Law requests need to be filed in order to obtain even the most routine public

BY THE NIAGARA FALLS REPORTER The company at the center of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Buffalo Billion” initiative and the stated reason Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster and city Planner Tom DeSantis spent $165,000 of taxpayers’ money on a largely worthless piece of

BY MIKE HUDSON For Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, it’s not about the destination but the journey. Which is why, since taking office in January 2008, the city has been subjected to numerous and lengthy forays into the unknowable unknown,

BY JAMES HUFNAGEL Strike up the band, join the parade, wave the flag and pop the bag. The politicians are renaming the Robert Moses Parkway, to the Niagara Scenic Parkway. Please curb your enthusiasm. Especially since, instead of renaming it, they

BY MIKE HUDSON While lawmakers representing Niagara County may lack the political will to remove the Robert Moses Parkway, the state Senate has recently taken the bull by the horns and moved to change the road’s name. Sen. Rob Ortt

BY FRANK PARLATO  There has been a lot reported in local media about a recent New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYSOPR) proposal to dewater Niagara Falls.  “Dewatering is necessary for two reasons,” a report from

BY MIKE HUDSON Greenman Pedersen, the Albany based engineering and construction firm overseeing the Peace Bridge project in Buffalo, is also in line to receive a healthy chunk of the $4.9 million design contract for the Goat Island bridge replacement

MY MIKE HUDSON Niagara Falls – In a bow to public outrage and basic human decency, the Dyster administration has announced a do-over, and will hold a public auction for a four-unit apartment building at 631 Chilton Ave. The 3,160

BY FRANK PARLATO Niagara Falls – It was our own resident genius, James Hufnagel, who wrote us this week, to say, “You know what would be really funny? A picture of Mayor Paul A. Dyster wearing the new traffic circle

BY MIKE HUDSON It’s politics as usual at the City Hall of Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster. That’s the charge of Rick Smith, who has served on the city Planning Board for the past nine years, six as its chairman.

BY TONY FARINA, The Niagara Falls Reporter I’ve written articles for several publications in recent months and years about the lack of transparency employed by state development agencies that spend millions and millions of taxpayer dollars on various projects and big

By Mike Hudson, The Niagara Falls Reporter The standard definition of economic development is that of efforts seeking to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by creating and retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes and

By Mike Hudson, The Niagara Falls Reporter The Niagara Falls Financial Advisory Panel unveiled its long awaited report at this week’s city Council meeting, a scathing impeachment of the present administration that would be familiar to any regular reader of this