First off, congratulations again on your landslide victory in this year's election. The people of Niagara Falls have handed you a mandate quite unlike that received by any mayor in recent memory, and you have every right to be proud of the trust they've placed in you.
Your choice of Dave Kinney to head up the city's Department of Public Works sends an excellent signal. For the past four years, the DPW has been a cesspool of incompetent and corrupt management practices that have resulted in millions of dollars of litigation against the city and, most recently, the disgraceful non-performance in the wake of the Dec. 15 snowstorm here.
Hopefully, the era of petty politics that led Dave and others like him to leave city government in favor of jobs with the county, state and the private sector has ended.
Throughout your campaign, we were impressed by your willingness to go your own way, all but shunning the sort of insider politics that have allowed some of the worst elements in our community to retain positions of power in administration after administration, regardless of party affiliation, much to the detriment of Niagara Falls and its citizens.
Which brings us to a topic that is very dear to our hearts.
We launched the Niagara Falls Reporter seven-plus years ago in a spirit of independence not unlike that which characterized your successful campaign. Our desire, like yours, is to see this city become what it might be, both as a world-class destination and a great place to live, work and play.
We're locally owned and have created jobs and pumped dollars into the local economy. The Reporter has, on occasion, been instrumental in uncovering some of the criminal corruption that has plagued our city and retarded its development. And our work with local charities like Community Missions is well known.
What we'd like now is an even break. While the Niagara Falls City School District, the Town of Niagara, the City of North Tonawanda, Niagara County and the Niagara Falls Tourism Advisory Board have all authorized and used the Niagara Falls Reporter for advertising, the city itself continues to send hundreds of thousands of dollars it spends each year on advertising to the Alabama corporation that owns the daily paper here.
There is no competitive bidding, nothing to ensure that the taxpayers of Niagara Falls are getting the best value for their money. While we can't guarantee you favorable coverage every week in our news columns, we can guarantee you that the Niagara Falls Reporter will communicate our city's message more effectively, and provide better value, than the tired old venue past administrations were so enamored of.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Dec. 28 2007 |