The Buffalo Chronicle
Niagara Falls
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Seneca voters pick a new president Tuesday, and with it the next negotiator on an unsigned casino compact
Councilor Tina Abrams, the Seneca Party nominee, would be the Nation’s first woman president. She would inherit a compact standoff in which Gov. Hochul says there is no agreement and the outgoing…
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Niagara Falls sewage plant fix now costs $338 million, and the water board’s engineers call it unaffordable
A state order forces Niagara Falls to convert its sewage plant to biological treatment. The estimate has climbed to $338.2 million, and the board’s engineers say ratepayers can’t carry it without more…
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Niagara Falls council holds off on delaying DeVeaux student-rental ban until Main Street housing breaks ground
Planners wanted to push the DeVeaux student-housing restrictions to June 2028 while a $25 million Main Street project for Niagara University students gets built. The City Council said it wants to see…
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Niagara Falls’ first North Main Street tax break: what $376,523 in incentives buys at 2109 Main
The Niagara County IDA’s first incentive deal on the north end of Main Street backs a $1.13 million, six-apartment renovation of a former nightclub. It is a test case for a corridor…
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Marketside has fed Niagara Falls breakfast since 1939, and its fourth generation just made room for more
The Poletti family’s breakfast-and-lunch spot in the Niagara Falls City Market has opened a long-planned expansion. Here’s what the menu, the inspection record and diners say.
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Trump-backed $1.15 trillion defense bill and Dec. 11 funding deadline await Congress after the election
The House passed a $1.15 trillion NDAA matching President Trump’s request, but the Senate bill stalled 50-46. With a stopgap expiring Dec. 11 and a $60 billion defense reconciliation instruction pending, the…
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Western New York won a third of MOVE-IN NY’s starter-home money. Here is where its 96 homes stand
Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Lackawanna and the Town of Tonawanda won about $29 million to place 96 factory-built starter homes. Records show lots identified and approvals under way in some communities, and few…
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Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls loan goes back to a special servicer after reaching maturity
The roughly $74 million mortgage on the Town of Niagara outlet mall matured this month and moved to Midland Loan Services, months after the Niagara County IDA approved a 10-year tax deal…
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Niagara Falls bought back Main Street. Now it should publish a scorecard for every building
Niagara Falls used casino money, a state grant and tax waivers to take back 38 Main Street buildings. Residents deserve a public scorecard showing who promised to build what, by when, and…
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Niagara Falls bets its Main Street comeback on $25 million in Niagara University student housing
A developer plans to turn two long-vacant Main Street buildings in Niagara Falls into housing for 100 Niagara University students, a $25 million project Mayor Robert Restaino calls the linchpin of the…
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Niagara County wants Albany to lock in the Falls’ casino share. The Seneca Nation says the next compact may not have one
The County Legislature unanimously urged the state to guarantee Niagara Falls 25% of the state’s Seneca Niagara share. But the Nation says the compact it negotiated has no revenue sharing with the…
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Niagara Falls gets $25 million toward a $338 million sewer plant fix its own engineers call unaffordable
Western New York landed $66.6 million in Albany’s new water grants. The biggest award covers about 7 percent of a Niagara Falls sewage plant overhaul that the water board’s engineers say ratepayers…
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Goodyear shuts its Niagara Falls chemical plant on the day its pollution fix was due. Who checks what it leaves behind?
Goodyear will close its Niagara Falls chemical plant Oct. 31, the same day a state order required permanent controls on a bladder carcinogen. Filings, permits and health studies show what has been…
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Shootings are falling in most of New York’s hardest-hit cities. Buffalo and Niagara Falls are going the other way
Shootings with injuries are down 16% across the state’s GIVE cities this year, but Buffalo is up 14% and Niagara Falls has nearly doubled, state data show. Most of Buffalo’s increase came…
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Nearly three years of Seneca casino money sits in escrow. If the compact the Nation describes is approved, the 2023 deal sends it to arbitration
Since December 2023 the Seneca Nation has paid its 25% slot share into escrow. The extension Hochul signed says a new compact without exclusivity, like the one the Nation describes, sends that…
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Niagara Falls froze its trash fee for 2027, leaving a $1.12 million gap for the mayor’s budget
The Niagara Falls City Council voted 5-0 to keep the garbage and recycling fee at $181, leaving about $1.12 million for the general fund to cover. Mayor Robert Restaino’s 2027 budget is…
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Love Canal family wants out of its 99th Street home. The state says the data don’t show the landfill is to blame
A petition to relocate the McKiernan family and reinvestigate Love Canal puts the DEC and Health Department on a legal clock that could run out in early November.
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Ricchiazzi wants Seneca Tribal Council to adopt an urban design plan for sovereign Niagara Falls territory
Urban design critic and publisher Matthew Ricchiazzi wants the Seneca Nation Tribal Council to adopt an urban design plan for its sovereign 50-acre territory in downtown Niagara Falls — and he wants…
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Seneca Nation and City of Niagara Falls urged to form ‘cooperation task force’
Activists are calling on the City of Niagara Falls and the Seneca Nation of Indians to form a ‘cooperation task force’ that could circumvent Governor Andrew Cuomo‘s office and open direct Nation-to-City…
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Cuomo is considering a tax credit for performance venues in Niagara Falls
Governor Andrew Cuomo and economic development officials in his administration are considering a Niagara Falls-specific tax credit that would fund 40% of the construction cost of performance venues ranging from 150 to…
