As “Citizen Kane” played in one of Buffalo’s lost movie palaces, North Tonawanda resident John Lukasik sat in the audience as Orson Welles made cinematic history. That is, until the lights abruptly flashed on that Sunday afternoon on December 7th, 1941, and an even larger history wrote itself.
“I remember thinking, ‘Where was Pearl Harbor?”
That Monday an 18-year-old John and a buddy went to a Marine recruiting station to sign up — out of anger at the sneak attack — and because “the Marines had a really nice dress uniform,” Lukasik said. His buddy got in, but John got rejected. Too many fillings in his teeth …
It would take another two years [...]
Term limits should exist across all levels of government and local government should not be exempt from them, says Zach Niemiec, candidate for 2nd Ward Alderman in North Tonawanda.
“There are many models out there,” Niemiec says. “The simplest to follow is that of the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution which was ratified in 1951 by the states which placed term limits on the President.”
“The 22nd Amendment states that no person shall be elected more than twice (8 years) and can not serve more than a total of 10 years if appointed or filling the remainder of a vacant term for the role of President.” Niemiec proposes Aldermen and Alderwomen, mayor, [...]
“The worst interview I’ve ever had!” exclaimed Independence Party of Niagara County chairperson Susan Agnello-Eberwein at the conclusion of independent journalist Joseph Kissel’s interview seeking the Independence Party’s endorsement.
The roughly 20-minute interview with seven members of the executive committee of Niagara County’s Independence Party started off congenially and innocently enough at 4 p.m. Saturday in one of the side rooms of Wheatfield’s Community Center off Niagara Falls Blvd.
The first question seemed fairly innocuous: “What made you want to get into politics?”
As the only independent professional journalist in Niagara County, during [...]
Pity the fool that goes into a 1v1 with Erik Herbert.
The current NT school-board member, police officer, political organizer and mixed-martial arts champion announced today he’s challenging majority appointment Jesse Gooch to represent the 7th Legislative District of Niagara County.
It’s an odd fight because two-thirds of the 7th district consists of the Town of Wheatfield, and one-third, North Tonawanda, where Herbert is building a new home on Witmer Road with his wife Diana and their son.
But Herbert knows how to win and succeed, and his previous campaigns — including hard-fought title fights as well as bringing back [...]
Hard to believe, but the five candidates offering their thoughts on the City of Lockport and NYS Assembly District 144 seemed to agree on most major, common-sense issues.
An environmentally cleaner City of Lockport, including radioactive Simmonds Steel and heavily polluted 18-Mile Creek.
Also, reducing the financial burden on property owners who are bearing too much of the responsibility to fund public education.
And getting a better deal with the New York Power Authority as we ship most of the power of Niagara Falls downstate while paying some of the highest rates in the country.
Creating more jobs [...]
Going against the professional opinion of NT chief accountant Amanda Reimer (above), North Tonawanda’s common council voted 3-1 to retain the services of Amato, Fox & Company to perform the city’s annual audit.
Amato, Fox & Company — NT’s audit firm for the last 39 years — was examining the books for the City of Lockport in 2012 when its council balanced the budget with a surplus that proved to be a mirage.
In 2014, the State Comptroller’s Office said the City of Lockport could have avoided some of the resulting layoffs and program cuts if the audit had been carried out differently and if Amato, Fox & Company had informed the [...]
It got pretty geeky at the Buffalo Niagara Coalition for Open Government’s recent forum featuring Susan Lerner from Common Cause and Alex Camrada of Reinvent Albany, two state-level advocacy groups seeking to establish local connections.
Subjects ranged from the need in smaller communities for elected representatives to file financial disclosure forms to the state comptroller losing the ability to review contracts and how that contributed to the Buffalo Billion corruption as well as professionalizing the state’s board of elections and making sure “shadow government affiliated non-profits” follow the same open meeting and FOIL laws as [...]
President Trump has called New York — home to high taxes and low temperatures — a “failed state.”
So what exactly does that make Niagara County?
And yet, local elected officials across this land of apparent plenty and prosperity — at least for those on the “Friends and Family Plan of Niagara County ®” — are giving themselves raises left and right in an environment they see as nobody watching or caring.
Commenting on the pubic pillaging is a mortal sin, inviting fierce pushback which ultimately keeps criticism — and even just discussion and disclosure — to the bare minimum.
Former residents of Niagara [...]
