Editors' note: While the federal investigation into possible influence-peddling at City Hall dominated much of the news here in 2005, there were plenty of other stories that caught our interest as well. The championship season of the Niagara Falls High School Wolverines and the tragic death of the team's star forward, Miguel Respress, shortly after the season ended caused pride and sorrow in the community. The successful effort to save the Niagara Falls Air Base from closure pulled us all together, and the revelation that a male escort with no background in journalism and using a phony name had been admitted by Bush administration officials into the White House press corps served as a reminder that truth is indeed often stranger than fiction.
Bristol's race-based probe
Jan. 4 -- When charges of institutional racism brought by six black Department of Public Works employees made headlines and dominated television news early last year, Mayor Vince Anello, then-DPW Director Paul Colangelo and City Administrator Dan Bristol dismissed them, despite the fact that a lawsuit brought by the men stood to cost the city millions of dollars. Colangelo, who is named in the suit, told the Buffalo News that the men had lousy work records and Anello appeared on television to say that sometimes people were brought up to be intolerant. Colangelo was "kicked upstairs" to a make-work position created for him, and no one proposed looking into the charges to see whether they were true.
Which is why some thought it odd last week when Bristol announced a sweeping investigation -- to be conducted by an outside law enforcement agency -- based on the alleged theft of a single quart of oil by one of the plaintiffs in the racism case.
Msgr. Stillwell dies
Jan. 11 -- All of us here at the Niagara Falls Reporter were saddened to learn of the death last week of Monsignor William Stillwell. An uncommonly kind and caring man who spent 30 years as parish priest and then pastor of St. Mary's of the Cataract, he was also a great friend of the paper. When we opened our offices in June 2000, the monsignor was one of our first visitors. He brought pizza and Holy Water, and delivered a blessing for our new business.
"He was the best priest I've ever met, and I've known quite a few," Reporter Publisher Bruce Battaglia said. "He had a knack for seeing the way things could be, rather than how they were."
Golf deal reconsidered
Feb. 1 -- You don't get too many second chances to do the right things, especially in politics.
The Niagara Falls City Council has just such an opportunity waiting for it at its next meeting on Feb. 7.
That's when Councilman Lewis "Babe" Rotella will offer a resolution asking state Supreme Court Justice Vincent Doyle to toss out the poorly written, hastily passed deal between Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello's City Hall and Greater Niagara Sports that cedes an ever-expanding portion of the Hyde Park Golf Course to an alleged developer with no history of developing anything. In return, the city is guaranteed just about nothing.
Slaughter wants answers
Feb. 15 -- Call it "Gannongate."
Responding to a Feb. 8 Niagara Falls Reporter editorial, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter last week called on President George Bush to explain how a person operating under an assumed name and with no journalistic background managed to obtain access to the White House briefing room regularly for the past two years.
Additionally, Slaughter and Rep. John Conyers of Michigan have asked Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor investigating the leaking of an undercover CIA agent's name to the media, to look into allegations that the phony reporter played a hand in that affair.
James Dale "J.D." Guckert, 47 -- using the alias "Jeff Gannon" -- published what were essentially unedited White House press releases under his own byline on his personal Web site and that of Talon News, which has been shown to be a subsidiary of the right-wing organization GOPUSA.
Globe workers cheated
March 1 -- Nearly a year and a half after losing their jobs, former employees of Globe Metallurgical are still waiting for what they've got coming.
The Highland Avenue manufacturer of silicon metal shut down "temporarily" a few weeks before Christmas in 2001, and reopened amid much hype from local politicians eager to glom credit in 2002. The plant finally closed its doors for good in September 2003, a few months after Globe won a new round of concessions from Local 9436 of the United Steelworkers of America, which represented about 50 hourly employees.
The permanent layoffs came with just three days notice -- or 57 fewer than mandated by federal labor law. The company also froze the workers' 401(k) plans and resisted paying them for unused vacation time or settling on a severance package required by their contract.
Wolverines to States
March 8 -- ROCHESTER -- Moments after watching Paul Harris ignore a broken thumb to deliver the sort of performance basketball fans will talk about for years in willing Niagara Falls High School to another shot at a state championship, Tim Winn shook his head and smiled.
"Pound-for-pound, they're the most talented team ever to come out of Niagara Falls," said the last man to lead a team from the city to a state title. This from Winn, who guided LaSalle High School squads that included the likes of Terry Rich, Jody Crymes, Rod Gayle and Carlos Davis to back-to-back New York State Public High School Athletic Association crowns in 1995 and '96.
Funny business, that is
March 15 -- "It's business as usual in Niagara Falls."
That's how one source familiar with the selection process characterized Mayor Vince Anello's choice of Yorkshire Development of Albany and Browning Investments of Indiana to underwrite and build the city's new public safety building.
City Councilman Babe Rotella put it more succinctly.
"This was a stacked deck right from the beginning," he said. "It's all about who has the most juice." Rotella, along with City Council Chairman Charles Walker and prominent local businessman Frank Amendola, resigned from the selection committee after some of the companies vying for the project brought in well-known local political figures to aid in their efforts.
Wolverines seize championship
March 22 -- Never mind the USA Today rankings.
It says here that Niagara Falls High School, which spent most of the just-completed season in or near the paper's Super 25 national rankings, earned the mythical national championship.
It's called "mythical" because there's no nationwide tournament to settle the matter on the court. Instead, the paper surveys coaches and media across the country to come up with its weekly rankings.
In the last poll released before press time, which was also before Niagara Falls won the Federation title, the Wolverines were No. 4.
Golf dome collapses
April 12 -- An early-April snowstorm deflated the underused dome at Hyde Park Golf Course. Opponents of the plan to grant the flattened facility's owners steadily increasing control of the land around it are increasing the pressure to let the air out of that deal, as well.
On Monday, most of the dome was strewn over its moorings, with only the entrance remaining upright. By Friday, that was down, too.
Inflating the troubled structure may be the least of its owners' concerns. Local attorney Ned Perlman told the Niagara Falls Reporter he'll ask state Supreme Court Justice Vincent Doyle to throw out the agreement between Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello's administration and Greater Niagara Sports allowing the company to eventually operate Hyde Park's two nine-hole golf courses, as well as clubhouse and retail operations and the former Adelphia Golf Dome.
City's fiscal mess
April 19 -- Even for an administration that apparently prides itself on spending taxpayer dollars like a bunch of drunken sailors and giving away municipal assets to any politically connected vagrant who happens along, last week represented a new low-water mark for Mayor Vince Anello and Co. On Wednesday, City Controller Maria Brown reported that the city had overspent its 2004 budget by a whopping $3.8 million, using up nearly all of its contingency fund.
The very next day, Anello announced a plan to give the Greens Restaurant at the Hyde Park Golf Course to a partnership that has admittedly not yet been formed for the stately fee of $500 a month, less than what many Falls families on public assistance pay for a two-bedroom apartment.
Feds probe Anello payments
May 3 -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a series of payments made by a company controlled by Tuscarora businessman "Smokin'" Joe Anderson to Mayor Vince Anello in July and November 2003, shortly before and just after Anello was elected mayor.
At least two former Anderson associates have been interviewed by agents from the Niagara Falls FBI office, where official corruption has become the "number one priority," sources said.
Documents made available to the Reporter last week show that Anello received three checks, totaling $40,000, from Aarrow Brokers, a company then run by Anderson and his former wife, Gail Anderson.
Reynolds vows fight
May 17 -- His face red, fists balled tightly, U.S. Rep. Tom Reynolds opened last Friday's news conference launching a campaign to get the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station taken off the Pentagon's death row.
"We're mad as hell, and we're going to fight," Reynolds vowed.
He'd better do more than that.
As chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Reynolds' knack for fund-raising helped give his party more members in the House of Representatives than it's had since 1946. While the districts of far more accomplished representatives shrank and disappeared altogether, his 26th shifted to include the highest possible number of GOP voters. In the last redistricting, which pitted Democrats John LaFalce and Louise Slaughter against each other before LaFalce decided to call it a congressional career, Reynolds' borders expanded to take in portions of Niagara County, including part of the air base.
All this looks very impressive on the national stage, where Reynolds is seen as a powerful behind-the-scenes force. The news that Niagara Falls made it onto the list of recommended closures submitted by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, though, raises a couple of questions. What has Reynolds done for us lately? Or ever?
Grand jury for Anello
May 31 -- The widening FBI probe into the murky dealings of Mayor Vince Anello was kicked up by any number of notches last week, as the U.S. Attorney's office in Buffalo began subpoenaing potential witnesses in the case to appear before a federal grand jury in June.
Niagara County Elections Commissioner Scott Kiedrowski confirmed last week that he is scheduled to appear before the grand jury on June 9 at 10 a.m., bringing with him all the financial records submitted by the Friends of Vince Anello committee between Jan. 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2004.
Two weeks ago, FBI agents raided the Board of Elections offices in Lockport and obtained copies of the documents. The Reporter is also in possession of the material.
Nowhere does Anello's official paperwork make mention of the $40,000 he received from downtown developer "Smokin'" Joe Anderson just before and immediately after his election in November 2003. The money constituted a loan, the mayor said, was interest-free, and the terms were generous, to say the least. Anello, who was a member of the City Council when he accepted the cash, can pay it back anytime he feels like it, he said. Thus far, he hasn't felt like it.
Fund-raiser a success
June 7 -- A month of May fund-raiser led by the Niagara Falls Reporter brought in $10,000 for Community Missions here, celebrating that institution's 80th year of helping those in need.
The money came from a plethora of loyal Reporter readers and advertisers, and was delivered to Community Missions officials in a brown paper bag at Gadawski's restaurant on Falls Street, a couple blocks up from the Missions' beloved soup kitchen.
"We wanted to do something that would make our mothers proud," Reporter Publisher Bruce Battaglia said.
The Loan Arranger
June 14 -- Shoes are dropping so fast at City Hall, the place is starting to sound like a tap-dancing studio. As the federal probe into the $40,000 "loan" Niagara Falls Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello took from developer Joe Anderson continued last week, revelation after revelation provided fresh grist for investigators, indicated that they're going to examine every crummy deal the administration has made during its 18-month lifespan, or brought further embarrassment to city government.
The belated release of the financial disclosure forms that are sort of required of elected officials under what passes for the city's ethics policy revealed Anello has another outstanding personal "loan," this one from a longtime friend whose brother happens to be part of Greater Niagara Sports, the company given a sweetheart deal to operate an expanding portion of Hyde Park Golf Course by his administration.
Judy Dale indicted
July 19 -- A grand jury seated in Lockport has returned a sealed, multi-count indictment against Judith Dale, former manager of the posh Parkway Condominiums, the Reporter has learned.
Sources said Dale will be charged with numerous felonies and misdemeanors and could be facing a lengthy prison term.
Dale, who is reportedly staying with friends on Sixth Street between Ferry Avenue and Niagara Street, could not be reached for comment.
The grand jury, convened earlier this year, depended heavily on evidence presented by investigators from the Niagara County District Attorney's office and Sheriff's Department. Their investigations were spurred by a series of Reporter articles -- starting on Feb. 10, 2004 -- which detailed allegations by Parkway owners of theft and abuse at the 151 Buffalo Ave. complex.
Basketball hero dies
Aug. 2 -- If sports really do impart important life lessons, then the local basketball world and the community surrounding it endured an excruciating one last week.
The death of Miguel Respress after playing in a tournament game at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles dealt a crushing blow to his family and friends.
And to his teammates with both the Niagara Falls High School squad that won a state championship just four months ago and the G.C. Ballers squad with which he played his final game.
And the kids he coached at the Delevan-Grider Community Center in Buffalo, where 300 people gathered Saturday night to pay tribute to him and comfort each other.
Malvestuto fingered
Aug. 9 -- Last Friday, Mark Congi, the former Laborers Local 91 president, reported to jail to await a scheduled September trial on federal felony charges of racketeering, conspiracy and extortion, following Judge Richard Arcara's ruling that he had violated the terms of his pre-trial release.
A week earlier, Congi's predecessor as the president of the local, Dominick Dellaccio, reached a plea agreement that will likely send him to prison for at least four years.
And on the same day Congi was ordered to jail, his successor, Robert Malvestuto Jr., was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the massive RICO case against Congi and three other defendants in court documents submitted by the federal prosecutors.
Air base saved
Aug. 30 -- At long last, Niagara Falls -- and all of Western New York, for that matter -- got a break.
Last week's decision by the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission to keep the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station open came as arguably the region's best economic news since, well, the last time it was spared a decade ago.
The story didn't break so much as ooze through the day Friday and into the evening. An anxious gathering of supporters, elected officials and media types crowded around a big-screen television in the usually empty terminal at Niagara Falls International Airport, trying to discern any hint of how things might go.
City worker subpoenaed
Sept. 6 -- The widening federal corruption probe of Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello has City Hall employees edgy as more grand jury subpoenas draw an increasing number of career civil servants into the tawdry case.
On Aug. 25, city Law Department Clerk Donna Winstanley was summoned to testify in the scandal. Winstanley, who is responsible for the department's time/date stamp machine, was ordered to bring Anello's financial disclosure statements for the years 2002, 2003 and 2004, along with any charts or other records designed to track when the documents were actually filed. Sources familiar with the original documents say that some filings, for different years, appear to have been done at the same time and with the same pen. Federal agents are particularly interested in the filing for 2003, the year when Anello accepted more than $45,000 in unsecured "loans" from prominent downtown developer "Smokin'" Joe Anderson and Kathy Kajfasz, sister of John Kajfasz, a principal in the group Anello gifted with 18 holes of the Hyde Park Golf Course.
Golf deal a disaster
Sept. 27 -- It was a deal, they told us, that would save a cash-strapped city piles of money, spur economic development and revive a long-underutilized resource, all while doing the right thing by the kids of Niagara Falls.
As the first full season with Greater Niagara Sports controlling a sizable portion of Hyde Park Golf Course comes to a close, though, that company and the administration of Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello are a combined 0-for-4.
When someone decided it would be a good idea to bestow an ever-expanding portion of the city-owned course on a group of alleged developers with no track record of actually developing anything, all kinds of terrific-sounding promises were made.
More than 16 months later, not a single promise made by GNS and vouched for by Anello's administration has become a reality. The only development deal consummated since he took office, an arrangement negotiated by City Administrator Dan Bristol, is an unmitigated disaster. It has also triggered a lengthy court battle, one that could stretch well into next year. The citizens' group formed to fight the arrangement, Save Hyde Park, plans to file an appeal of state Supreme Court Justice Richard Kloch's ruling in favor of the deal this week, according to Ned Perlman, the organization's attorney.
Colangelo backs druggie
Oct. 11 -- Talk of the town this week concerned city Grants Writer Paul Colangelo and his curious relationship with convicted cokehead, alleged racist, known thug and highly commended city employee Chris Scrivano. Colangelo -- who has not written a single grant in the nearly two years since Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello appointed him to the grants writer position -- says Scrivano is his closest friend. In fact, he said it to Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza at Scrivano's recent sentencing for his role in the Mr. Sepe's Pizza cocaine-distribution ring.
Scrivano was looking at hard time. But Sperrazza was apparently swayed by Colangelo's testimonial, and also by a certificate of commendation the defendant received from Anello.
Despite the fact that Scrivano had tested positive for cocaine use since copping a plea in July, he was let off with a slap on the wrist.
Iraq vet gets shaft
Nov. 8 -- North Tonawanda's Chris Kreiger is part of that other number associated with the war on terror. While most Americans know that over 2,000 soldiers have returned home in body bags since the first bombs fell on Baghdad, few could tell you that 15,000-plus have been wounded in the line of duty.
Fewer still could give an accurate description of what happens to these injured heroes when they arrive back on American soil. Most Americans would like to believe that a soldier injured in combat has the strong arms of one of the benevolent branches of the United States Armed Forces to fall into. Chris Kreiger banked his whole life on that assumption, only to find an Uncle Sam full of hot air and empty promises. Now, only the kindness of a local cop and one of our area's best-known businesses is keeping the Kreiger family from sinking into an abyss of debt and despair.
City finances deteriorate
Nov. 29 -- A damning report sharply critical of Mayor Vince Anello's 2006 budget warns of dire consequences unless City Council can cut even more spending in the coming year. The report, issued by the state comptroller's office, increases the likelihood that a hard control board -- similar to one already in place in Buffalo -- may soon be installed to impose fiscal responsibility on city government in Niagara Falls.
"We project that the city's general fund, the primary operating fund of the city, will end the 2005 fiscal year with virtually no fund balance," Assistant Comptroller Steven J. Hancox wrote. "In addition, the 2006 proposed budget includes an increase in real property taxes that nearly exhausts the city's constitutional tax limit. Because of the city's precarious financial condition, there is very little margin for error."
But Hancox found errors aplenty in the Anello budget, including revenue and spending projections that seem to be based on wishful thinking more than anything else.
Kimble fans foul
Dec. 13 -- A hate-filled campaign directed against members of the Niagara Falls City Council who are seeking to eliminate county Legislator Renae Kimble's patronage position with the city has attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies already involved in investigating local government here.
Telephoned threats and a race-baiting letter have characterized the effort, one that Kimble claims she knows absolutely nothing about. Shortly after taking office in 2004, Mayor Vince Anello created the $46,332-a-year position of "risk manager" for Kimble, who had worked on Anello's campaign. Kimble had no previous experience in risk management and, in fact, the work of keeping the city's workers' compensation premiums in line has fallen to the Public Employee Risk Management Association, an Albany-based consulting firm.
Kimble has primarily acted as a glorified "gofer" between the city and PERMA, which saved the city about $600,000 last year.
City sues ex-friends
Dec. 20 -- It only took more than 18 months, but City Hall officials finally figured out what had long been painfully obvious to just about everyone else in Niagara Falls: The Great Hyde Park Golf Course Giveaway was about as crummy a deal as a government could make.
Presumably on the orders of Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello, city attorneys filed suit against Greater Niagara Sports last week, seeking to void the contract giving it control of a steadily expanding portion of the city-owned golf course. Anello, whose first two years in office have been characterized by a pathological unwillingness to admit any mistakes at all, offered no comment on what made him change his mind in the case of GNS.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Dec. 27 2005 |