Printed from the Niagara Falls Review
Council to review proposal to limit downtown funding
COREY LAROCQUE
Monday, October 16, 2006 – 02:00
Local News – Two weeks ago, businessman Aaron Lichtman professed his love of Niagara Falls to city council, but tonight the politicians will have a key vote on how enamoured they are of the Historic Niagara downtown revitalization proposal.
“I want to redevelop Queen Street. I love this place,” Lichtman said toward the end of the Sept. 25 council meeting.
He sat through a four-hour meeting that had been dominated by another big decision facing city council – the JDS proposal to bring junior A hockey back to Niagara Falls.
Lichtman attended that meeting because council had been scheduled to debate a motion that would limit the city’s financial involvement in downtown revitalization to $12 million.
But the politicians voted to delay their high-stakes vote on that subject. Ald. Wayne Campbell was absent because his mother had died the previous week. His colleagues said the downtown issue is so important everyone needed to be at the table.
Even though they deferred a vote on that motion until tonight, council gave Lichtman the opportunity then to make an impromptu speech.
That’s when he told council he bought into the future of a thriving downtown core.
“Our project can move forward quickly. We’re here to make that happen,” Lichtman said.
Ald. Carolynn Ioannoni is behind the idea to limit the city’s financial commitment to $12 million – about one-third of what Lichtman has said is necessary.
She said in August she planned to bring a motion forward to be voted on.
After two false starts in September, it’s on the agenda tonight.
Lichtman has said $36 million worth of improvements to the publicly owned spaces downtown is needed if his Historic Niagara project to create a thriving retail district on Queen Street is going to work. Mayor Ted Salci has been a big advocate of getting the federal and provincial governments to chip in – perhaps splitting the $36 million evenly with the city.
Ioannoni’s motion would limit the city’s commitment to $12 million, even if the other governments don’t come through with any funding.
Just how eager council should be to make a deal with Lichtman has been a controversial topic since he first made the proposal in January.
Now, in the middle of a municipal election campaign, the debate shows no signs of slowing.
At a forum for the four candidates running for mayor Thursday, the issue was front and centre.
“We can’t afford not to do the downtown. It’s quality of life issue that’s going to pay for itself,” said Ald. Wayne Campbell, who is challenging Salci for the mayor’s office.
A vibrant downtown is the kind of thing doctors, professionals and businesses look for when they’re looking for a place to set up shop, he said.
Salci said he too favoured the proposal, but tempered his support saying he would back it “provided it does make business sense to us as a council.”
The city already has about $6.5 million that could be used toward the downtown. That’s money generated through the sale of city-owned land at the northwest corner of Montrose and McLeod roads, Salci said.
Ioannoni has used a “notice of motion” to get her concern on council’s agenda. It’s a procedural tool Niagara Falls council has not used very often. But it’s a “commendable” practice, a report from city clerk Dean Iorfida says, because it gives all members fair warning that an issue is going to come up. They’re not forced to deal with an issue “unexpectedly,” the report states.
clarocque@nfreview.com
ID- 231805
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Niagara Falls Review acticles reprinted with permission by the authority of Joe Wallace, City Editor of the Niagara Falls Review
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