Dyster calls the kettle black

Sen. Maziarz (top) and Mayor Dyster (above) are not fans of one another.

It was a clear-cut case of the pot calling the kettle black in Niagara Falls last week, as the beleaguered city’s sad sack mayor, Paul Dyster, blasted incumbent state Sen. George Maziarz for not supporting projects he hadn’t thought of himself.

At issue was Dyster’s controversial proposal for a new train station and Underground Railroad museum, a quaint tribute to 19th Century technology and injustice that will cost 21st Century taxpayers untold millions of dollars should it go forward.

“Some people are only willing to work hard on projects that are their idea,” Dyster said of Maziarz. “What we’re looking for here is an integrated transportation network. We’re past the point of no return.”

Political observers quickly pointed out that Dyster’s initial opposition to the most highly publicized event to occur in Niagara Falls in a century – daredevil Nik Wallenda’s tightrope walk across the raging cataracts earlier this year – was fueled primarily by Maziarz’s support for the event and the fact it was backed in part by Niagara Falls Redevelopment, another of the mayor’s favorite targets.

As the Wallenda walk became more and more of an historic inevitability, Dyster's opposition turned into grudging resignation. He couldn't stop it, and so finally came to accept that an event that reminded hundreds of millions of people around the world of the sublime wonder the falls have to offer would take place whether he wanted it to or not.

Maziarz said Dyster’s archaic ideas concerning train travel are laughable in a municipality facing the problems that plague Niagara Falls.

“I think spending $41 million to build a train station in a city that has the job problem Niagara Falls has, the housing problem Niagara Falls has, the crime problem Niagara Falls has, is a very poor economic development move,” he said.

Some suggest that Dyster is still smarting from his poor showing against Republican Johnny Destino in last year’s mayoral contest. The mayor eked out a slender 8-point victory over Destino, who went on to run against Maziarz in this year’s GOP primary.

Maziarz performed far better against the challenger than Dyster had, burying Destino’s political career under a 34-point avalanche.

Dyster and Maziarz don’t like each other, a problem exacerbated by the mayor’s vocal support of the hopeless candidacy of Amy Hope Witryol, an unusually youthful retiree who was born and raised in Connecticut. After moving to Lewiston in 1998, Witryol made it her business to become a chief critic of Maziarz, and to unsuccessfully oppose him on the Democratic line when he ran for re-election.

Witryol ran against Maziarz in 2010 and lost by a 2-to-1 margin.

Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 innocent people, Witryol did her part by planting a tree emblazoned with a heart and the letters “FDNY” at the end of the driveway of her then-recently purchased Lewiston home.

So proud is she of her tree that its image remains on her election website and appears in her campaign literature. What bearing the tree, her driveway or the 9/11 attacks have on her ongoing ambition to unseat Maziarz has never been fully explained.

Two weeks ago, Witryol accused Maziarz of attempting to delay a taxpayer-subsidized hotel project from taking place on a piece of city owned property in downtown Niagara Falls by proposing a temporary exhibit to Wallenda’s world famous wire walk to be housed at the site.

“In my view, the single greatest obstacle to progress in Niagara Falls is people who oppose plans for political purposes,” Witryol said. “I believe my opponent is working for Niagara Falls Redevelopment, his single largest donor, as opposed to working toward progress in the City of Niagara Falls.”

Maziarz characterized the charge as a desperate cry for attention by a doomed candidate anxious to avoid another humiliating defeat at the hands of a far more capable incumbent.

“That is absolutely, totally untrue,” said Maziarz. “She’s just making this stuff up.”

Dyster, who was present at Witryol’s news conference, said no development agreement has been made yet between Empire State Development and the Hamister Group, although talks continue. The City Council would have to approve any agreement, an approval that is far from certain.

Hamister is no stranger to trying to obtain public funding for his private development projects. Back in 2006, he withdrew from his proposed purchase of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team after state, county and city governments failed to provide him with $40 million in public assistance.

The Buffalo businessman then took his act to Columbus, Ohio, where his lack of sports management skill was put to the test with the Columbus Destroyers arena football franchise, a debacle that lost loads of money.

With Dyster, Hamister may have found his man. The mayor’s penchant for throwing money at wealthy developers, combined with his petty personal animosity towards Maziarz provide the makings of a perfect storm that would see the city giving away one of the most valuable parcels of land in Niagara Falls to an out-of- towner with political connections.

Dyster’s own ambitions for higher political office are well known, and he has often cultivated what he seems to believe might be advantageous relationships with those ambitions in mind.

Maziarz is running for his 10th term in a 62nd District recently expanded to include the entire City of Niagara Falls. Despite numerous critics and detractors such as Dyster and Witryol, he is wildly popular with the electorate, and has never won with less than 60 percent of the vote when running as an incumbent.