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A top city official charged that Laborers Local 91 has delayed the construction of a new hotel on Buffalo Avenue in LaSalle, causing at least three non-union contractors to withdraw from the project and making the lending institution originally involved in financing construction balk.
"The city bent over backwards trying to get this done and then, when everything was in place to go ahead, this comes up," the official said. "Then people wonder why nothing ever happens here."
Plans originally called for the construction of a 62-room hotel on the former Century Club property in LaSalle. The project was front-page news for a few weeks when city officials overrode the wishes of several area residents who opposed the idea.
Initial estimates called for the hotel to cost approximately $1.8 million, a figure agreed on by the lending institution, the contractor and the developer, Chawkie Shalala, the official said. The first contractor withdrew from the project after learning he would have to deal with the Laborers, and subsequent contractors who have looked at the project say that costs may run as high as $2.6 million if the demands of Local 91 are met.
"No responsible lending institution is going to give you $2.6 million to build a hotel that's worth $1.8 million," the official said.
Reached late last week, Shalala declined comment on his talks with union representatives other than to say negotiations were ongoing. He did say that delays may be jeopardizing the project entirely, since this year's construction season is rapidly drawing to a close.
"I've been going through an ordeal since last December, eight months with this," he said. "Now the weather is my enemy."
A federal grand jury seated in Buffalo has been looking into the activities of Laborers Local 91 since February 1999. The grand jury is investigating charges that Local 91 members have repeatedly engaged in a pattern of violence and intimidation that has caused Niagara County construction costs to skyrocket and created a climate of fear for building contractors and members of other skilled trade unions.
Canceled and delayed projects such as the Century Club hotel are all too common, and the lack of work has resulted in many rank-and-file union members earning as little as $17,000 a year while union officials enjoy six-figure salaries, cars and other perks paid for by the membership. Union boss Michael "Butch" Quarcini and his daughter, Cheryl Cicero, have turned the Laborers into a lucrative family enterprise. Quarcini earned $102,760 last year -- more than the head of any other union local in Western New York -- while Cicero pulled down a whopping $89,713, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Numerous contractors familiar with the construction industry nationwide told the Reporter that the cost of building in Niagara County is typically 40 to 50 percent higher than in other locations. When bids are broken down, areas not involving Local 91 -- such as plumbing or roofing -- are in line with costs elsewhere while concrete and other work employing Laborers typically costs double the norm, the contractors agreed.
"You've got to wonder what kind of businessmen these people are," the city official told the Reporter. "Instead of everybody getting a piece of the pie they say they want it all. And if they can't have it all, they seem happy walking away with nothing instead."
Ted Van Deusen, a non-union contractor who refuses to work in Niagara County because of Local 91, said the situation is par for the course here.
"This is exactly the kind of thing that's been going on here for years, but everyone's afraid to speak out about it," he said. "If city officials are aware of a particular situation like this, it's up to them to turn that information over to the proper authorities."
The grand jury probe doesn't seem to have slowed down the activities of Local 91. In addition to the Century Club hotel situation, law enforcement sources told the Reporter they believe union members were responsible for the recent theft of more than a ton of fieldstone from a community park because the park was being built without the dubious benefit of Local 91's services.
Recently, the local's second-in-command, Dominick Dellaccio, quietly retired in the face of the grand jury probe. Dellaccio was widely thought to be the logical successor to union boss Quarcini, whose iron-fisted control of the local dates back more than three decades.
Sources close to the local now say Cheryl Cicero likely would assume command should Quarcini step down or retire.