Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster may be feeling the pressure from his insanely unpopular trash plan.
He has taken to the media to sell himself and his many splendored achievements.
On Friday, he appeared on Channel 4, which covered the totes containing computer chips. Dyster posted the Channel 4 link on his Facebook.
On Friday night, the TV station covered "Operation Saturation" and Dyster got face time again. On Saturday, the Niagara Gazette gave “saturation” big coverage. Dyster posted the saturation link on Facebook.
On Sunday, the Gazette did a second story on the outcome of the saturation patrols. (It notes tickets issued and actions taken).
Sunday, the Gazette reports that Dyster is going to "end homelessness" for veterans in the city. The story reports he is going to support a veteran’s housing project on the site of the old 39th Street school.
Sources tell us there may be a plan in the works to convert South Junior into housing for veterans with post traumatic stress disorder. Vets would live at South Junior and be treated at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.
Dyster originally sold the South Junior project as a subsidized housing project. The project was to be developed through Federal, State and City subsidies, and taxpayers were to pay $400,000 per-apartment. In return, the city gets more low income housing. The developers will not be investing money into it. In fact, they will be pulling money out. Their fees are more than $3 million upfront.
South Junior is one of many Dyster-sponsored projects that are developer driven, What that means is the project is not being built because someone wants to own an apartment complex or that one is even needed.
It is being built because the subsidies are enormous and the developer makes his money upfront from building the project regardless of whether it makes a profit or whether it is an unnecessary, harmful welfare magnet for this city and increases the supply of housing, creating more vacancies among privately owned properties and causing values to drop.
Developer-driven projects are lucrative for developers and that’s why 900- square-foot apartments are being built with costs to taxpayers of $400,000 per unit.
In the private sector, you could build a mansion for $400,000.
But welfare housing projects make good headlines for Dyster, who can say he is getting things done.
When the city eventually institutes its dramatic reduction in curbside trash pickup, will the rollout get the big coverage that he most certainly is hoping for? We’ll let you know. |