Gazette Agrees With Reporter on Dyster's Hard Rock Party

Mayor Paul A. Dyster (right) takes to the stage at a taxpayer-funded Hard Rock Concert/beer party to emcee.

Last week, in our story, "Taxpayers to Foot Bill for Dyster's New Year's Eve Hard Rock Gala," a caption under a partying Mayor Paul Dyster read, "Let the good times roll." Dyster, who said we have to share the pain of lean times, and will be raising taxes, wanted to blow $27,000 on a Hard Rock Party... Is the Niagara Falls Reporter the only one that sees the blatant hypocrisy of this?"

Well a week did not pass before someone seemed to agree with us.

The Niagara Gazette wrote in an editorial last week entitled "City's focus should be on finances, not parties," that "while we're all for the unique New Year's Eve event, we don't feel it's something the city needs to help fund, even if the money, as (Mayor Paul) Dyster explains, comes from bed tourism funds, money raised through bed tax charged by hotels and pooled to promote tourism in the city and region….(S)ending $27,000 to the Hard Rock on the heels of the city waiting weeks for Dyster's late proposed 2015 city budget, which featured a total tax increase of 4.5 percent, with recommendations to cut 17 city positions, is hard to swallow…. Falls officials this year need to be focused on fixing the city's financial situation, not funding New Year's Eve parties."

We couldn't have said it better.