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 [...]
A casual observer might not have called it triumphal or even worthy of comment, but for governmental observers and watchdogs several important things took place Monday at Wheatfield’s town board meeting.
Department heads: Paul Siegmann of the Highway Department, Rich Donner of Water & Sewer, Mike Klock (above photo) from inspection, Assessor Bridget Grawe. Nearly all of them were present Monday.
But that’s not the new part. For some time now, Wheatfield has been leading the county’s major municipalities in having department heads speak regularly at council meetings.
This time, though, instead of remaining [...]
As reported Jan 4, 2018, newly sworn-in councilman Austin Tylec announced his desire to serve on North Tonawanda’s budget committee as well as the city/school-district committee.
Those two haven’t been offered yet but a different city committee well within Mr. Tylec’s skillset has emerged at City Hall: the N.T. property selection committee for the Niagara County Land Bank.
“I believe the advisory board is an important tool that requires proper representation from individuals who have relevant professional experience, actively contribute to the improvement of our blight real-estate in North Tonawanda, or have a creditable education in [...]
On Feb. 15, 2018, Niagara News Source published an article with the headline “N.T. has higher teen pregnancy rate than N.F.; county land bank could fight blight.”
The first part of the headline is not accurate.
The statement in question came from Director of Community Health Alliance of North Tonawanda Lisa Peterangelo at last week’s common council workshop. Her presentation introduced the organization, which won a federal Health and Human Services grant providing $125,000 each year for the next five years to reduce youth drug use in North Tonawanda.
About 700 people saw the story before it was edited and the [...]
