“I’ve got a proclamation that we are not a sundown town,” said NT councilman Robert Pecoraro during the closing comments of last week’s workshop meeting.
Lately, talk of NT’s history of racial exclusion and intimidation has been generating much discussion on social media.
“There is no empirical evidence that we were ever a sundown city,” said Pecoraro. “And I’m TIRED (raises voice) of people saying that North Tonawanda was once a sundown city. It is NOT TRUE (raises voice) and I want to make sure everybody understands that.”
However, since there’s never been an involved public discussion of NT’s former status as a sundown town (which is defined as a [...]
North Tonawanda’s City Attorney said on Tuesday he’s looking into the legality of a vendor who’s set up in Gratwick Park and selling political merchandise there.
According to two instances in the N.T. City Charter, political advertising is prohibited on public property.
The decision to issue the permit allowing the trailer in Gratwick Park was made by City Clerk Matthew Parish and Mayor Arthur Pappas.
The city council does not authorize these permits. However, when Alderman at Large Austin Tylec asked the members of the Republican majority if they thought it was appropriate for a vendor to be selling political merchandise for an upcoming [...]
“We hope it gives people some more flexibility,” said North Tonawanda Legislator Rich Andres during Tuesday’s virtual meeting regarding the tax-deadline extension.
However, Andres wants to make things clear.
“This is an extension. It is not a waiver of any tax liability. We hope it gives people the ability to plan accordingly. Give them flexibility and some extra time in which to make time go a little bit smoother for those folks in desperate need.”
The county tax deadline is usually March 15.
A resolution was also passed calling on the federal government to provide the county with more PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and get it out [...]
Friday afternoon, Niagara County Legislature chairwoman Rebecca Wydysh delivered a COVID-19 update that started with a direct appeal to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Wydysh: “The governor mentioned that he’s going to sign an executive order that would require upstate areas such as ours to send unused ventilators down to the downstate area because they have an immediate need for those ventilators as their numbers are so high and they are seeing those surges and peaks that we know are coming for us in the future.”
“Very concerning to me. I implore the governor on behalf of this legislature and our residents to really come up with a plan to roll that [...]
It was one of the last statements Tuesday night regarding the number of options facing the future of public swim in North Tonawanda, but Alderman-at-Large Bob Pecoraro’s suggestion it be put to voters in November might be the only way to settle it.
Faced with losing $83,000 a year on the 70-days-a-year facility and a mounting list of looming big-ticket repairs, the NT city council has a host of choices regarding the public swimming pool that opened in 1948.
They include: closing the pool for an immediate and permanent cost savings. The downside is losing a valuable summer activity for currently about 200 kids and others a day as well as a cultural and [...]
Look at a map of Western New York and the 33 acres of Pinewoods Park is notable as being the first significant greenspace north of Buffalo’s Delaware Park.
But concerns are being aired about the newly re-burgeoning park — created in 1917 as “Sweeney Park” — after its disc-golf course recently received nine new holes, some of which go deep into the mostly untouched forested area. (The game is similar to traditional golfing but instead of using a club hit a ball a frisbee is thrown into a metal basket.)
“You should have a master plan,” said former NT Environmental Committee member Mary Kate Fonzi at last week’s NT council meeting, a special session held ahead of [...]
Coaches, local politicians, parents and players crammed into the NTAA room at Rescue Fire Hall in North Tonawanda today to protest encroachment on a sport that’s been at the heart of NT athletics for generations.
However, state lawmakers citing medical evidence say tackle-football for kids under 12 — whose bodies are still developing — is dangerous and can lead to serious and permanent conditions including Alzheimer’s.
Youth-tackle advocates, however, say all contact sports are potentially dangerous and involve concussions, and they wonder why football is being singled out.
Also, youth football coaches are better trained in keeping kids safe, and [...]
Fusion voting is a scourge on New York State and needs to be eliminated to help stop the party-invasion tactics that have corrupted the Conservative and Independence parties and makes a mockery of our electoral system.
Fusion voting is also an important vehicle for allowing choice among voters, gives third parties a stronger voice influencing the platforms of major parties and has been constitutionally protected by the courts since 1910.
Those were some of the arguments made at Tuesday’s NYS Fair Elections Hearing, the last of four taking place across the state ahead of a Dec. 1 deadline for creating a public finance program.
The aim is to limit the [...]
