Getting sued is nothing new for the City of Niagara Falls.
Over the past decade, city employees' unions and developers have rotated taking legal whacks at the City Hall pinata, with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars usually falling freely.
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Last week, though, the most recent lawsuit filed against the city bore two very distinct traits.
The plaintiff isn't a union or a corporation, but a private citizen.
And he and the group he represents aren't looking to cash in, but simply to force the city to follow its own laws and those of New York State, like it or not.
On Sept. 23, Frank Scaletta, one of the founders of the citizens' group Save Hyde Park, filed a suit in State Supreme Court intended to nullify the city's controversial deal with Greater Niagara Sports, a pact that cedes control of a steadily expanding portion of the city-owned Hyde Park Golf Course to the private company for more than 30 years.
While Scaletta's name is listed on the paperwork for the suit, the members of Save Hyde Park have been fighting the deal since May, when it was rushed through an approval process they say was illegal.
Bob Babbitt, former longtime president of the Industrial Golf League who has been active at the course for half a century, said the flouting of the law by city officials led to the group's formation.
"It's the way it was done," Babbitt said. "I don't like the idea of giving the course away to begin with. Then, the way it was done just rubbed me the wrong way, and it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way."
He and other Save Hyde Park members worry that the golf course deal, if allowed to stand, will lead to other giveaways of public property to private interests.
"It's just the start of what could happen -- that's what gets me," Babbitt said. "I can see them, if they keep things going their way, going right down Robbins Drive and taking the bocce courts and tennis courts because the city says it doesn't make any money on those, either."
The suit, which also names Greater Niagara Sports -- which ran up a six-figure debt to the city while operating a golf dome at Hyde Park that has since been converted to an indoor skateboard park -- as a defendant, seeks no financial damages, but asks the court to declare the agreement "null and void."
The complaint, prepared by Niagara Falls attorney Ned Perlman of the firm Berrigan, Perlman and Gabriele, alleges numerous distinct breaches of state and local law.
On May 24, the City Council approved the Hyde Park deal by a 3-2 margin, short of the required "super majority." Not only was no public auction held, or any other bids solicited or considered, city officials also ignored the requirement that the lease proposal be advertised in a newspaper once a week for three weeks before any vote, as required by the same state law.
The Niagara Falls City Charter, adopted in 1916, also calls for a public auction to the highest bidder following a three-week public notification period, "unless the best interests of the city shall be subserved by dispensing with a sale at public auction."
The resolution of May 24 says the request-for-proposals process was waived regarding the lease to Greater Niagara because it was in the "best interests" of the city.
The suit alleges, though, that the city charter violates the state's General City Law, which says localities can't override the basic requirements for public notification, public auction and a three-quarters majority vote by the Council.
In the November 2003 election, 13,311 people cast votes for mayor, so it should have required just over 1,300 signatures to put the golf course deal on this November's ballot, according to state law. The city never gave opponents the chance to collect the signatures.
"Additionally, the lease between defendants also permits Greater Niagara to construct a hotel upon the City-owned park lands."
The suit alleges that such use of dedicated park lands violates state law.
The New York State Constitution expressly forbids gifts of property to private individuals or corporations, requiring fair consideration be given for any alienation of public land, whether designated as a park or not.
Calling the compensation to be received by the city "shockingly low," the suit alleges that "the lease constitutes a gift by (the) City to Greater Niagara, in violation of the New York State Constitution."
The lease proposal was never brought before the Planning Board, nor considered by any group other than Greater Niagara Sports and the Anello administration before it was put before the City Council.
The City Council's alleged legal adviser, Corporation Counsel Ron Anton, did not offer an official opinion on the deal, instead speaking in favor of the lease while addressing the legislative body "as a private citizen," whatever that means.
Officials of the city and Greater Niagara Sports were served with the lawsuit late last week. Save Hyde Park is holding a rally and fund-raiser on Thursday, Sept. 30, from 7 to 9 p.m., at The Greens at Hyde Park Golf Course. Pizza, beer, wine and soda will be served, with prizes given away. Admission is $5, with proceeds going to defray legal expenses.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Sept. 28 2004 |