Dyster Has the Numbers do the Residents Have the Will?

Let them eat cake: Paul Dyster at his birthday party fund raiser.

For the past seven years and seven months the Reporter has covered the Dyster administration like a blanket. We’ve written the good, the bad and the ugly, and in our opinion there has been more bad and ugly than good.

That being said we’re using this column to bluntly inform the Niagara Falls voters that unless they feel stronger about removing Mayor Paul A. Dyster than his friends and supporters feel about retaining him, then he’s going to be reelected. If the voter turnout doesn’t change for 2015 we’re going to get the same results as in 2007 and 2011.

Our readers are familiar with the long list of Dyster administration failures, abuses of power, and lack of transparency. The readers know about the fired city engineer and the $50 million courthouse, the $44 million train station and $13 million ice pavilion. They’ve watched as the mayor received $89 million in casino revenue in June 2013 only to spend the cash like a sailor on shore leave.  

The mayor turned the democratic process on its head by ignoring the petition wishes of Cayuga Island residents, he has defied all requests for transparency, given loans and grants to campaign supporters and dumped a trash plan on the residents that’s unsettled and increasing in cost one year later. The city hall salaries, overtime and stipends continue to expand at an unconscionable rate.

The “green mayor” refuses to comment on the possibility of the water board treating fracking wastewater and inexplicably reversed himself on the removal of the Parkway. Last week he constructed - of all things – a cricket field while hundreds of residents wonder if they’ll have running water this winter. The mayor even went so far as to hide a report that proved why the 72nd Street pipes froze.

The above is a brief highlight reel of what the Dyster administration has done to a once vibrant and proud city, a city that was on the cusp of a potential comeback only eight years ago. But eight years ago was P.D: Pre-Dyster.  

With the benefit of being able to calmly reflect back on those eight years we’re confident in stating that if you haven’t enjoyed these last eight years you’re going to positively hate four more years of Paul Dyster.

A martial arts philosopher would frame the possibility of third Dyster term thusly: “Knowing that, what now?”

It’s not enough to say that in order to replace Paul Dyster we need only produce more votes than he does. Where are those “more votes” going to come from? If past voter habits hold true the mayor will squeak out a win by going to his reliable voter base of beholden city employees, sycophants and businesses that benefit from city grants, loans and contracts. To that devil’s brew Dyster can count on adding a strong mixture of voters linked to the city school district and medical center: two sizeable voting segments with revenue and programming that cross pollinates Dyster’s city hall.   

In addition to the above the mayor has the power of the political purse, a cooperative media, and the omnipresent “power of the pave” as he pours asphalt on streets he never knew existed until he reviewed his 2015 voter district map.           

The Aquarium penguins recently received a $150,000 casino cash shot in the arm. Last year the Community Missions was awarded $150,000 in casino funds and Isaiah 61 is having a dilapidated fire hall rebuilt with $500,000 in casino cash. As you read this, the mayor is preparing another round of grants and loans through his NFC. In the past such money has routinely been given to his campaign supporters.

This summer the city completed work on Caravelle Park, a park Mayor Dyster ignored, in spite of resident requests, since 2008. He repaved Caravelle Drive and discovered that – surprise, surprise – West Rivershore Drive had to be repaved this election year.

The Hamister hotel project, dead on its feet since summer of 2013, is preparing an August ground breaking. Look for groundbreaking photos in the mayor’s campaign mailers. But don’t be surprised if a ground breaking is all we get.

No footers no construction this year – just a ground breaking and moving some earth around – making a show for Dyster’s campaign.

What’s it all mean? It means that on Election Day Dyster comes to the table with a built-in voter base, support from local business and plenty of Buffalo-based campaign funds.

As much as 60% of the city’s population is on social assistance and the city’s voter base is not only lethargic, it’s nearly comatose. As if this weren’t daunting enough for a challenger, the Dyster administration has the power of the purse and enough benefactors and collaborators to make his removal nearly impossible. A Dyster challenger, in order to succeed, will have to do two things: 1) win over anti-Dyster voters and 2) motivate hundreds of fresh anti-Dyster voters to get off their couches and vote.

This year voters are going to have to come out and vote as if the future of their city depended on it. That’s because four more years of Paul Dyster will put the final nail in the Cataract City’s coffin.

 

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