For more than 20 years, Tom DeSantis has been the city planner for Niagara Falls. He has served six mayors, two of whom ended up being the targets of FBI investigations over planning-related schemes, and was central to the failed AquaFalls project, the hare-brained rejection of the Benderson mega-mall on Niagara Street, and the multimillion-dollar Third Street reconstruction, a botched project that ended up eliminating much of the on-street parking and resulting in more businesses closing than opening along the two-block thoroughfare.
His latest plan would restrict the height of new buildings in the city's moribund downtown district to 80 feet, eliminating the possibility that any major development could take place there. No one interesting in building riverfront condominiums or a major hotel or even a mixed-use retail/office complex would submit themselves to such an onerous restriction.
In fact, such a restriction is completely unheard of in any downtown metropolitan district, and numerous developers have already contacted members of the City Council about it.
They would contact Mayor Paul Dyster as well, except for the fact that Dyster sees no one. He has isolated himself to such a degree that he is virtually invisible.
His city administrator, Donna Owens, has similarly cut herself off, even during the chance periods when she is actually in town. Developers, citizens and city employees are left to discuss their problems with the mayor's secretary, Donna Winstanley, or her counterpart in the administrator's office.
The DeSantis plan has the full backing of the mayor, although the mayor has never publicly stated why he supports it. The general feeling among developers he won't talk to and City Council members opposed to the plan is that it would benefit someone Dyster has not yet named, someone associated perhaps with the anonymous slush fund set up in Buffalo known as the Building a Better Niagara Falls Fund.
The mayor isn't saying. He is sticking to his story, which is that the plan is a great one and that Tom DeSantis is one of the best city planners in the entire United States. The fact that both statements are patently absurd apparently doesn't bother him in the least.
A majority of the City Council, led by Robert Anderson, Steve Fournier Jr. and Council Chairman Sam Fruscione, attempted to address the problem by eliminating DeSantis' position from the 2009 city budget.
Dyster vetoed the cut, and at press time the Council was meeting to see whether a fourth vote -- needed to override the veto -- could be found.
The Council has also vowed not to let the 80-foot limitation in the "master plan" drawn up by DeSantis go into effect. Many of the city's most important buildings couldn't have been built had the DeSantis plan previously been in effect, including the Hotel Niagara, the United Office Building, the One Niagara Center and the Parkway Condominiums.
During the entire time DeSantis has served as the city's planner, his planning hasn't resulted in a single new private development being built downtown. If he is allowed to proceed with his daft plan, that spotless record will continue well into the 21st century.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 9 2008 |