Former State Senator George Maziarz says he’s sitting on a motherlode of damning information about his former friends and colleagues that threatens to burn down the Niagara County Republican Party he spent 30+ years building.
This bombshell information surfaced during his own trial for inappropriate use of the Maziarz political treasury and includes unsavory pushed-through deals at the county level — and much more — involving the political figures he helped create: attorney Henry Wojtaszek, recent Niagara County GOP chairman Scott Kiedrowski, Assemblyman Mike Norris as well as other widely-known political figures.
They [...]
Residents of the Twin Cities on Wednesday stepped onto a barge on the Erie Canal and learned about the art and science of glass and its role in the history of New York State.
“In 1868, the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company relocated to Corning N.Y., via the New York Waterways, and evolved into the company that is today known as Corning Inc.
To honor the 150th anniversary of this journey, the Corning Museum of Glass launched GlassBarge—a 30’ x 80’ canal barge equipped with its patented all-electric glassmaking equipment— in Brooklyn Bridge Park on May 17.
GlassBarge travelled north on the Hudson, then westward along the [...]
It doesn’t mean anything.
Or does it mean everything?
The city’s public workforce got a strong show of support from the Dyster administration as well as the Andrew Touma-led city council on Wednesday last week when it passed a resolution “expressing its grave concerns regarding the Janus case and its outcome for our economy and our workforce.”
Although the resolution doesn’t call for any specific action by the administration or council — as the city tries to craft a 2019 budget under a loss of $13 million dollars and previous budgets substantially propped up by casino dollars intended for economic development — it still [...]
For years people have been complaining about the health of their families on the street that divides Wheatfield and North Tonawanda.
Nearby, along Niagara Falls Blvd. is a large, suspiciously vacant area of green space — the infamous Niagara Sanitation Landfill — where for decades following World War II area chemical companies trucked and dumped their toxic byproducts.
Homes were also built and and sold nearby without the new occupants knowing what lurked beneath the soil in that large, vacant area out back.
Deadly Love Canal toxic waste got shipped to the Wheatfield landfill just a few miles away [...]
On Tuesday, the N.T. city council passed a resolution making dogs “unlawful” at the city’s 100+ year-old farmer’s market.
A few weeks earlier, new part-time N.T. animal-control officer Christine Hutten (above) appeared before the city council to give a report on a recent large-dog conference she recently attended with the city’s support.
The discussion soon turned to Council President Eric Zadzilk’a often-mentioned idea to implement a “dog census” in the city as well as a possible limit of three dogs per household and raising the licensing fee, which is currently $7.
But it was “no dogs allowed” at the market that got [...]
“We need to have a serious conversation about the golf-subsidy business,” said Councilman Chris Voccio at Wednesday’s Common Council meeting.
“If we do, then let’s get into water slides, badminton and ping pong and subsidize it,” Voccio said.
City Administrator Nick Melson said a proposal is underway to privatize the operations at the city’s golf course but that the grounds itself would not be sold.
City Controller Dan Morelllo (above) started the conversation when he revealed during a 2017 budget review the city’s golf course lost $275,000 last year.
“At every meeting going [...]
Opposition ran high to proposed changes for Nash Road that would turn it from a four lane thoroughfare to single lane in each direction with a permanent turning lane in the middle.
Officials pushing the plan by engineering firm Parsons Brinkerhoff on Nash Road between Erie Ave. and the Wheatfield townline said safety was a main consideration with a reduction of “conflict points” a critical component of their recommendations.
Residents who appeared before the council with their stories and take on the matter seemed to prefer the devil they knew and avoid changes.
Common stories included five-minute waits getting out of [...]
There aren’t any estimates yet as to what the City of North Tonawanda might gain from an energy-bill audit by Troy & Banks, but to most council members Tuesday it seemed like low-hanging fruit.
“It would cost us nothing to do that,” said City Clerk Dan Quinn, who has been in contact with Troy & Banks regarding the project.
Going forward, if the auditing firm, which council members said found savings also for the Town of Amherst and the NFTA, can find ongoing reductions, Troy & Banks would keep 25 percent of it.
City Attorney Luke Brown said that could require a formal request for proposal, but the auditing [...]
