It's official.
The crowning achievement of Vincenzo V. Anello's administration to date -- the Great Hyde Park Golf Course Giveaway -- is headed for court.
Local attorney Ned Perlman confirmed last week that he will represent Save Hyde Park, a citizen's group, in a lawsuit against the city.
The action is aimed at snuffing the deal that awarded Greater Niagara Sports a steadily expanding lease that eventually gives the group, which has a sum total of zero experience in running such facilities, control of all 36 holes at the publicly owned course.
That's in addition to continuing to operate the former Adelphia Sports Dome, on which several members of the investment group stopped making lease and other payments years ago.
Save Hyde Park, headed by former Niagara Falls High School football and baseball coach Frank Scaletta, has been meeting weekly to form a strategy to fight the giveaway.
Perlman -- a former Niagara County attorney who is one of the area's leading experts on municipal law -- declined to comment on specifics of the legal action, other than to say the plaintiffs will attempt to nullify the deal, but will not seek monetary damages.
Scaletta said his group believes City Hall violated state and local laws by leasing park land to Greater Niagara Sports without any semblance of a bidding process, public hearings or the opportunity for taxpayers to petition for a referendum.
Under terms of the sweetheart deal, Greater Niagara Sports would eventually control both nine-hole courses and the main 18-hole course at Hyde Park, while getting rights to even more taxpayer-owned property and various other goodies.
Meanwhile, several legal sources have told Citycide that the contract's supposed "performance clauses" are so vague as to be completely unenforceable, meaning the deal essentially gives Greater Niagara Sports squatting rights at the golf complex for at least 30 years. Nor is there any liability ascribed to any individual investors, or any guarantee that any of them have any actual money of their own to invest.
There are also questions over whether the deal with Greater Niagara Sports violates the city's existing lease of The Greens, since the contract allows the dome's operators to open concession stands to compete with the fare offered at the clubhouse restaurant. In other words, the deal epitomizes the cruddy way things have just about always worked around here.
Finally, though, somebody is doing more than complaining about the blatant disregard for the law displayed by elected officials. The members of Save Hyde Park, including former City Council member Tony Quaranto and longtime Industrial Golf League President Bob Babbitt, are doing something about it.
And Perlman's involvement guarantees they'll get the legal advice they unfortunately need to make their elected representatives do the right thing.
Last week's announcement by Empire State Development Corp. Chairman and patronage junkie Charles Gargano that a consultant from Rochester would be hired to study the Seneca Niagara Casino's economic impact on Niagara Falls was great news.
If you're a consultant from Rochester, that is.
Seems like Gargano could gauge the casino's effect, or lack thereof, on the local economy more simply and cheaply.
If he could find someone to show him around Niagara Falls, he could walk out the front door of the casino, stroll one block to Niagara Street, and walk by the shuttered Press Box.
He could turn right onto Third Street and head up to Charlie LaRussa's clothing store, where the dapper clothier still awaits the torrent of tourists and casino workers that would supposedly flood city streets, if only we had a casino.
On the way, he could ask other business owners how excited they are to have their street shut down for a planned springtime reconstruction project that's virtually guaranteed to drag on into the summer.
Then he could meander up Main Street, where the casino's nonexistent impact on the local economy couldn't be more evident.
That would mean actually visiting Niagara Falls, though, which would conflict with Gargano's busy schedule of raising money for Gov. George Pataki.
Plus, this way, in a few months, he'll be able to announce the multiple millions of dollars the casino has supposedly pumped into the local economy, whether there's any factual basis for those numbers or not.
And the rest of us will keep wondering where it's all going.
Bowlers who smoke won a small victory earlier this month.
Bowl-O-Drome on Pine Avenue received a smoking-ban waiver from the Niagara County Health Department, allowing it to become the first alley in the area allowed to open an enclosed smoking area.
Keglers were particularly irritated with the ban, since the flow of the game usually doesn't allow for going all the way outside for a few nerve-calming drags before the critical late frames.
The smoking room offers a view of the alleys, allowing competitors to keep an eye on the game as they puff.
Meanwhile, your elected representatives in Albany managed to slip out of town without taking any action on the ban, despite mounting criticism, faltering businesses and multiple promises that, by gosh, they were going to do something to fix it.
Then again, did anyone really expect anything more?
From the "I couldn't possibly make this up" department, The Mayor's Friday Night Showcase of Boxing is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 27, at St. Leo's Auditorium at 2748 Military Road.
In addition to sparring sessions featuring fighters from Casal's School of Fighting Arts on Hyde Park Boulevard, the evening offers bidders the chance to get in the ring with a number of local luminaries.
Casal's is co-sponsoring the evening with The Niagara Catholic Youth Council and a number of local businesses.
Potential sparring partners include Ed "The Caring Bartender" Webster, Angelo "Ice Cream" Ashker, Pam "Beauty Queen" Haick and Gabe "Muchacho Allegre" Gonzalez.
Unbeaten Niagara Falls middleweight prospect Nick Casal is also scheduled to be on hand. Casal's fourth pro fight is scheduled for Oct. 2 in Las Vegas. Casal's bout against an opponent to be named is on the undercard of a promotion featuring two title fights and a clash between heavyweights Wladimir Klitschko and Joe Mesi knockout victim DaVarryl Williamson.
Friday's main event, though, figures to be a sparring session involving your mayor, described on a poster advertising the evening as "Rocky" Anello.
A few words of advice to prospective bidders for that bout -- don't mention his hiring record, parking meters or the golf course. Unless you want to make him really mad.
Tickets are $5 each, with proceeds going to local youth groups and anti-bully programs. For tickets or more information, call 297-4580. To bid on taking part in a sparring session, call Casal's at 990-3112 or Remi Gonzalez at 297-4580.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Aug. 24 2004 |