It hits like a sledgehammer if you’re not driving a heavy-duty truck.

The rubber rail crossings at Niagara Falls Blvd. and Erie Avenue/Shawnee Road have worn away and exposed an increasingly dangerous amount of track, especially considering the 40-mph posted limit on the stretch.

So drivers are increasingly doing whatever it takes to avoid it, risking an accident until the worst case scenario finally occurs. (Crossing from North Tonawanda on NFB toward Wheatfield sees the greatest amount of rail exposed.)

“We have been reaching out to CSX — as this is their property — for a few months,” said 3rd Ward Alderman Eric [...]

NT’s common council meeting last week saw the surprise announcement that Mike Zimmerman, Director of the city’s Lumber City Development Corporation, would be leaving the position May 14.

“It is with great regret that I have to inform you of my intent to resign from the position of Director of Community Development,” said Zimmerman (who in the above photo from 2016 is seated in the middle.)

“I have worked in North Tonawanda through Lumber City Development and the Community Development office for almost ten years,” Zimmerman said. “In that time I have worked for two Mayors and numerous Aldermen, all of whom provided nothing but [...]

A boneheaded nuisance lawsuit filed by the state GOP — and signed off and supported by the Niagara County Republican party — tried to get legitimately endorsed candidates of The Working Families Party off the ballot. (One of them is Legislator Anita Mullane, above, who’s holding the served lawsuit papers during a press conference April 17 in Lockport.)

It’s the kind of cynical, dishonest move that makes people legitimately dislike politicians and lawyers.

A State Supreme Court judge in Onondaga County — where dozens of these cases statewide were consolidated — saw right through it and tossed out the lawsuit, which alleged [...]

An NT resident who submitted an ethics complaint and waited two years for a response has now been told in writing the process to establish an ethics review committee will begin “immediately.”

The effort to establish an ethics review board began shortly after Austin Tylec was elected as Alderman at Large. Tylec even wrote a resolution about it that was soundly shot down by the Republican council majority.

As Robert Pecoraro — Alderman at Large and Republican mayoral candidate — said at the time: If we agree to an ethics board that must mean there’s something wrong.

According to BJ VanDewater — over the years one of the [...]

Following a great deal of opposition, the Town of Niagara has reversed its position on a proposed asphalt plant being developed by AL Asphalt.

Residents and numerous community groups were concerned about the environmental hazards from the plant, which was originally planned for the Town of Hamburg. However, vehement resident opposition forced the plant to find a new location.

During their March 25 meeting, the Niagara Falls City School Board and Superintendent Mark Laurrie approved a resolution to send negative comments to the DEC regarding the plant. Board Member Paul Kudela has been a driving force [...]

“Niagara County Legislator Anita Mullane, D-Lockport, announced her re-election campaign for the 13th Legislative District. Mullane is endorsed by the county and city Democratic committees and recently earned the Working Families Party endorsement from the state committee. 

Anita Mullane, 13th Legislative District representative

A primary race is set for the WFP ballot line after challenger Rick Abbott switched his party affiliation, for the fifth time, but failed to gain the Working Families party endorsement. Abbott previously flip [...]

Four years ago, NT phenom Austin Tylec chose another local success story, Platter’s Chocolates, to kick off his campaign to become one of the city’s Aldermen at Large.

Austin went on to soundly defeat former County Manager Jeffrey Glatz to take the seat and begin a four-year mission to bring vitality, transparency and accountability to the city’s council chambers and day-to-day operations. He’s done more to keep residents “in the loop” and encourage public participation than the other council members, the mayor and his office combined.

As Assemblyman Bill Conrad (below) said during this morning’s [...]

Having spent a good portion of his life outdoors as an excavator, Roger Storey, in a field on Stone Road in Pendleton, knew enough to get the heck out of there.

Outside that Friday morning in Niagara Falls, the beagles were barking at the bitter cold and biting wind. Which is not unusual for Western New York. Still, Charles Clark, a snowplow operator getting ready to go to work, had a feeling he should make an exception and put the hounds in the basement with plenty of food and water.

Something was brewing, and it [...]