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How much does it cost to landscape a couple of vacant lots? And how long would such a job take? It all depends. If you're in the City of Niagara Falls, and the project is being attempted with taxpayer dollars, you'll need to come up with around $126,000 and wait more than two years.
That's been the scenario at the often discussed but still unseen Trolley Stop Park, two vacant lots on the 1900 block of Main Street between Cleveland and South avenues in the city's North End.
The sorry tale began in the summer of 1999, when the James Galie administration let bids for the work. A non-union contractor, Faery's Landscaping of Ransomville, submitted the low bid of $50,000, but when company head Jack Faery went to City Hall to sign the contracts, he said he was warned by officials that trouble might ensue unless he cleared his involvement in the project with Michael "Butch" Quarcini, head of Laborers Local 91 here.
Galie subsequently lost his re-election bid, following a much-publicized groundbreaking at the site. In attempting to defuse the union issue, incoming Mayor Irene Elia turned the responsibility for landscaping and maintenance of the park over to the Main Street Business and Professional Association, a not-for-profit organization she reasoned would not face the same problems as the city.
But it wasn't long before another union local -- the United Steelworkers of America unit that represents the city's parks department employees -- objected to the deal on the grounds that park maintenance was their bailiwick, even though no park existed at the time to be maintained.
Ultimately, the business association agreed to take ownership of the property.
But as the project languished, the costs went up. The original $40,000 Niagara County grant was supplemented by an additional $70,000 in Community Development Block Grant Funding. Just last week, the City Council approved another $15,000 to see the project through to completion.
Work finally began on the park last week. The $126,000 landscaping job is expected to be completed by Dec. 14.
And some people wonder why so little gets done in Niagara Falls.