By Mike Hudson A plan to build a $17 million YMCA in the Town of Lockport took a step forward last week with a Niagara County Industrial Development Agency vote. The IDA gave final approval for tax-exempt bonding authority for the YMCA Buffalo Niagara, which will enable the organization toRead More

By Mike Hudson When you try to call Niagara Falls Community Development, you are answered by a robot, who proceeds to give you a number of “options.” Option one is to go to a directory of Community Development staffers, but if you go to it you are instead hooked upRead More

By Mike Hudson A $3 million fund to assist new economic development projects in Niagara Falls was announced last week. State Sen. Rob Ortt and Assemblyman Angelo Morinello orchestrated the gift basket. The money was obtained through the last two state budgets, but its original source was the state’s share of theRead More

By Mike Hudson You read it here first. How many times in the 17-year history of the Niagara Falls Reporter have we begun articles with just those words? On May 11, we ran our last installment of what had become the saga of state Sen. Rob Ortt. State Attorney General EricRead More

By Mike Hudson Imagine for a moment, if you will, that you are selling your house. Now imagine that, at the closing, you are so lame brained that when your lawyer hands you the contract, you don’t read it or have it explained to you, and find out only laterRead More

Niagara Falls, NY – May 12, 2017 – Chris Voccio, who until this afternoon was the publisher of both the Niagara Gazette and the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, announced his candidacy for the Niagara Falls City Council. Voccio, who took the helm of the Gazette in September of 2014, announcedRead More

At least six contenders will vie for three open seats on the Niagara Falls City Council this autumn, and insiders say as many as eleven others are likely to announce before the July filing deadline. Charles Walker, a 20-year veteran of the Council, has decided not to seek re-election, whileRead More

By Mike Hudson; State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s scathing audit report of the Empire State Development Corp. reveals an agency in crisis, one all but unaccountable to the people of New York or anyone else. Many here have long suspected that Empire State Development, headed up locally by former state assemblymanRead More

By Mike Hudson; Nearly three years ago, in August 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to town to announce a “transformational” $150 million project known as Wonderfalls Resort. Uniland Development and Delaware North would partner to build the project he said, which called for a 15-story tower, 300 hotel rooms, anRead More

By Mike Hudson; The wave of violent crime currently sweeping over the city of Niagara Falls is something Mayor Paul Dyster doesn’t like to talk about. Why would he? In 2010, when he bent over for then state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and entered into a consent decree that wouldRead More

By Councilman Kenny Tompkins & Terry Ortt Tompkins   Dick Lacey. Gordon Ortt. Chester and John Gawel. Patricia Knibbs. They’re not household names and yet they are REAL heroes in our community. These are just a few of the men and women from Niagara Falls who proudly served our country in WorldRead More

As a lifelong resident of Niagara Falls, former city councilwoman, businesswoman and longtime community advocate, Candra Thomason announced her candidacy for Niagara Falls City Council this week. “As a former member of the Council, I worked hard to cut unnecessary spending while fighting for quality of life services, and IRead More

By Sam Archie;   I have decided to run for City Council because of the lack of leadership and common sense. Too many times we have seen the council majority cave in to the wishes of the Mayor without asking questions. They have carelessly spent tax dollars and casino funds. IRead More

Jim Ostrowski;   I’ve been driving through the City of Niagara Falls on business recently and am just wondering if anyone else has noticed that it’s a dying city?  Maybe if you live there, you become used to it, but I don’t live there so I noticed some things thatRead More

Robert Ventry Within the city of Niagara Falls there are plenty of vacant and abandon houses, on various streets throughout the city, the majority of them are city owned. These properties hurt the appearance of the neighborhood and bring property values down in the areas they are in. These structuresRead More

By Jamie Moses; There’s a very old saying “when in Rome do as the Romans.” The saying originally appeared in 390 A.D. as advice in a letter from St. Augustine to the Bishop of Naples. St. Augustine, who had traveled extensively, was pointing out that it is wise to adoptRead More

By Mike Hudson; If Michael DiCienzo was a woman, or a person of color, he’d have a heck of a discrimination case on his hands. He’s a white man though and the fact that his repeated attempts to bolster the moribund Niagara Falls economy with personal investments of tens ofRead More

By Kenny Tompkins; Niagara Falls City Councilman I’ve learned as a city councilman that it’s important to set the record straight as often as possible. I’m a firm believer in transparency, which is why I am addressing the online story that emerged suggesting a connection between the American Niagara HospitalityRead More

By Mike Hudson How closely was Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster involved in the process that led to the opening of the Niagara County Community College Culinary Institute here? In numerous statements made over the past eight years, he’s given the impression of being single handedly responsible for the facility.Read More

By Mike Hudson I’m back. And so is the Niagara Falls Reporter. We took a brief hiatus in order to conduct a major reorganization that Publisher Frank Parlato and I believe will propel the paper to becoming a national publication, something I’ve always dreamed of. We’ll be back on theRead More