Articles by: Mike Hudson

Falls sees tiny decrease in violent  crime: Remains dangerous place

Falls sees tiny decrease in violent crime: Remains dangerous place

Uncategorized March 2, 2016 at 11:01 pm

    In his State of the City address last week Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster claimed that violent crime was down by 5.4 percent in 2015 compared to 2014. Will the slight dip in the rate of violent crime be enough to get the Falls off of the numerousRead More

City website silent on state of the city, waxes eloquent on Easter Egg Hunt

City website silent on state of the city, waxes eloquent on Easter Egg Hunt

Niagara Falls March 2, 2016 at 9:56 pm

  Doing a story on Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster’s 2016 State of the City speech is one thing. Sitting through it is quite another. For one thing, it involves sitting in a room with Dyster and listening to him. He is notorious for his ability to go one andRead More

Lack of communication problem  for city Council, Tompkins says

Lack of communication problem for city Council, Tompkins says

News, Niagara Falls February 25, 2016 at 1:41 am

  Freshman City Councilman Kenny Tompkins says his first two months on the job have been something of an education. Coming from a long background in private business, he says the lack of communication between Council members has come as a bit of a surprise. “I’ve been disappointed in aRead More

Guido payoff to enable Hamister just more tax money squandered   

Guido payoff to enable Hamister just more tax money squandered  

News, Niagara County February 25, 2016 at 1:33 am

  Why was parking lot operator John Guido paid $45,000 in public money last July to vacate the Rainbow Boulevard North property he leased from the city so that Buffalo developer Mark Hamister could begin construction of his proposed hotel? While at least five other hotels have been built inRead More

Garbage tote arson latest chapter In long running comedy sketch

Garbage tote arson latest chapter In long running comedy sketch

Niagara Falls February 24, 2016 at 8:56 pm

  Niagara Falls – A series of arson fires targeting city-owned garbage totes has become a serious enough concern that both Fire Chief Thomas Colangelo and Police Chief Bryan Dal Porto have asked for the public’s help in identifying the culprits. In the meantime, Colangelo warned, garbage totes should beRead More

Methadone controversy goes on: Swapping one addiction for another?

Methadone controversy goes on: Swapping one addiction for another?

State and National News February 24, 2016 at 8:41 pm

Type the words “methadone” and “controversy” into your Google search engine and you’ll quickly come up with more than 213,000 hits that demonstrate that methadone maintenance, as it is commonly called, is not the simple, safe and effective answer to addiction its’ proponents claim. Even though leading health organizations promoteRead More

Studies agree methadone maintenance bad for addicts, bad for communities

Studies agree methadone maintenance bad for addicts, bad for communities

Niagara Falls February 24, 2016 at 8:34 pm

  Niagara Falls – Assurances by promoters of two proposed methadone clinics here will be beneficial both to recovering heroin addicts and the community as a whole flies in the face of a pair of recent studies that agree that replacing heroin with the even more highly addictive drug methadoneRead More

Train station, train station who’s responsible for the train station?

Train station, train station who’s responsible for the train station?

State and National News February 18, 2016 at 12:05 am

In spite of the fact that the ribbon cutting of the Dyster administration train station is but a few months away the transportation facility is still, incredibly, without an operation and maintenance budget. Due to that fact some diehard Dyster administration cheerleaders have taken to promoting a cover story toRead More

DiCienzo suit rekindles criticism of Percy, NTCC

DiCienzo suit rekindles criticism of Percy, NTCC

Niagara Falls February 17, 2016 at 11:29 pm

  The city bed tax is being collected “erroneously, illegally and/or unconstitutionally” according to the Article 78 action brought against the city by the DiCienzo family and their company, NFNY Hotel Management. The suit, filed on the DiCienzo’s behalf by local attorney John Bartolomei in Niagara County Supreme Court, seeksRead More

Senecas move toward new convention center 14 years after state gave away city convention center for casino 

Senecas move toward new convention center 14 years after state gave away city convention center for casino 

Niagara Falls February 17, 2016 at 9:23 pm

It’s almost too funny. Back in 2002, the city handed its convention center over to the Seneca Nation of Indians, along with 52 acres of prime real estate in downtown Niagara Falls for one dollar. Now, 14 years later, the Seneca’s development agency is proposing to build a new convention centerRead More

EPSON scanner image

History to repeat itself as falls dewatering recalls 1969 fiasco

News, Niagara County February 11, 2016 at 2:11 am

  “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” wrote the great Spanish philosopher George Santayana. He wasn’t talking specifically about Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. CEO John Percy or any of the state parks and other officials who have predicted thatRead More

Dewatered falls as tourist attraction?  Officials here say yes, history says no

Dewatered falls as tourist attraction? Officials here say yes, history says no

Niagara Falls February 11, 2016 at 1:53 am

  The herd of local officials predicting a boom in tourism resulting from turning off the flow of water over the Niagara Falls is puzzling to anyone familiar with the last dewatering of the natural wonder. The American Falls was reduced to a trickle in 1969 so that geologists couldRead More

Former city engineer Curtis says  DeSantis profits from train station

Former city engineer Curtis says DeSantis profits from train station

News, Niagara Falls February 11, 2016 at 1:19 am

      Was city Planner Tom DeSantis’ longstanding desire to build a new train station in the city’s North End driven by any actual need for a new facility or by something else? Is his relationship with Wendel Duchscherer Architects and Engineers merely a professional alliance or something moreRead More

No budget, no contracts, no idea  about train station opening here

No budget, no contracts, no idea about train station opening here

Niagara Falls February 10, 2016 at 11:59 pm

  Niagara Falls – Although the Dyster administration has had more than five years to come to an agreement with Amtrak for use of the new, $44 million train station on Whirlpool Street, market the facility to other prospective tenants and come up with a budget to run the place,Read More

Public outcry prompts city to  rebid Chilton Ave. apartments     

Public outcry prompts city to rebid Chilton Ave. apartments    

News, Niagara Falls February 7, 2016 at 6:12 pm

Niagara Falls – In a bow to public outrage and basic human decency, the Dyster administration has announced a do-over, and will hold a public auction for a four-unit apartment building at 631 Chilton Ave. The 3,160 square foot building, which has assessed value of $37,261 and comes with itsRead More

Turning off the falls for the benefit of  engineers, construction firms here?

Turning off the falls for the benefit of engineers, construction firms here?

Uncategorized February 4, 2016 at 12:51 am

How could it be possible? One might be forgiven for asking. How could it be possible that, using technology commonly available more than a century ago, the State of New York was able to build two stone arch bridges from the mainland to Goat Island in Niagara Falls State ParkRead More

Engineers to get nearly $5 million  for design work on Goat Island bridges

Engineers to get nearly $5 million for design work on Goat Island bridges

Niagara Falls February 4, 2016 at 12:38 am

    Greenman Pedersen, the Albany based engineering and construction firm overseeing the Peace Bridge project in Buffalo, is also in line to receive a healthy chunk of the $4.9 million design contract for the Goat Island bridge replacement project. The firm signed off on a 131-page preliminary Design ReportRead More

Chilton apartments given away to  Insider: Bad deal or just stupidity?   

Chilton apartments given away to Insider: Bad deal or just stupidity?  

Niagara Falls February 4, 2016 at 12:19 am

  The facts are in. Only two possibilities remain. Either the purchase of an apartment building located at 631 Chilton Ave. by an appointed volunteer city official with close ties to the Dyster administration represents some sort of shady deal, or the Department of Community Development and its youthful head,Read More

Dyster preserves gilt edged  benefits for Council members

Dyster preserves gilt edged benefits for Council members

News, Niagara Falls February 2, 2016 at 3:46 pm

It’s enough to make one wonder what happened to the servant part of public servant. Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster last week vetoed a resolution by the city Council that would have ended the gilt edged health care benefits Council members receive for their part time jobs. Dyster said theRead More

Trademarking history: Glynn, Jacobs become owners of American heritage

News, Niagara Falls January 28, 2016 at 2:34 am

    On June 30, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill creating the nation’s first federal park at Yosemite, in northern California. Now Delaware North owner Jeremy Jacobs Sr., who ran concessions in the park from 1993 to 2016, says a trademark he filed makes him the owner ofRead More

.wpzoom (color:black;}