Originally, I was not going to respond to the “Niagara Buzz” conversation, because I believe the post’s purpose was to get a reaction through misinformation. Unfortunately, I can see through the comments that this plan worked. I believe it was first posted on Facebook by Patricia Castillo who stated that I was trying to “put one over on us.” Making that comment is her right. Taking the high road is my right as well. Responding to a personal attack just because a person, website or newspaper wants you to makes no sense to me. However, when that behavior causes confusion in the public, or targets local investors looking to transform vacant buildings, I take issue because it’s bad business. I am not going to get into a political argument, or insult anyone via Facebook. Instead, I have provided facts about the recent small business investment in downtown Niagara Falls. I would be more than happy to discuss those facts and your opinions of them. More importantly, please call me directly at 286-8801 or message me if you want to talk further. I think that’s better than a blog. I apologize for the length, thanks for your time. 1. The city did not own or sell these buildings. They were owned by an out of town investor who had fallen far behind on taxes, and maintenance. The buildings have been mostly vacant for some time. 2. Buildings with back taxes cannot be sold with back taxes. A new purchaser needs to essentially pay the back taxes in addition to the purchase price. These buildings were headed to tax foreclosure. That gives a sense of the large dollar amount being dealt with. The final purchase price then becomes sale price plus back taxes. 3. There are no grant “payouts.” Every dollar granted by the city for building rehabilitation is dollar for dollar and reimbursable only after project completion and inspection. Money is never given to a person for a discretionary purpose – only documented, labor and materials. It never hits a back account as a deposit. Money needs to be spent by the private sector before the public money is released. I have seen posts about past practices in this city and a few references to criminal activity. My department is audited by the federal government. We are audited by an independent auditor. We run an effective and legal process here. I would also say confidently that we are transparent. Tina Cosentino Flynn in the past, you have discussed the matching grant process in North Tonawanda as a positive. We run the same style of matching program. I will state again, every dollar is reimbursable and matching. Ideally, vacant buildings would not be vacant, roofs would not be caving in, and post casino price speculation would never have happened. In reality, we are racing the clock to find owners, investors and operators for these buildings across the city. 4. For the past ten years, the listed sale price of these properties and the needed renovation costs made them financially non-viable. Vacancy and disinvestment proves that. It took an established local, small business person in Mr. Capizzi, not a major company, to negotiate a price. He then set forth a plan and made the decision to spend thousands of dollars and a great deal of time to make market rate renovations to these buildings. A choice was made to reinvest in Niagara Falls. He also used a local lawyer to incorporate his company. I know we have lawyers and aspiring lawyers on this forum. Lawyers file legal paper work. 5. Do I think it makes a significant difference that Mr.Capizzi is local and established here? Yes. Am I encouraged by the fact that local business people have purchased over 9 buildings/40,000 square feet of property along Third Street within the last two years? Yes. Do I think it makes fiscal sense for the city to make a reimbursable investment, at a three to one return, in these projects? Yes. If they were viable on their own, we would not be staring at so many vacant buildings. I know there are different opinions on that. However, these buildings have sat and sat. Taxes have gone unpaid. Blight has set in. Action, not speculation, is needed. 6. There is a trend of making social media comments without research, saying things here that would not be said in person, and creating and sharing these anonymous blogs and articles. This article is written by Scoop Jameson. I doubt Scoop’s existence. I think he is a front used to score points in a political game that few people play or pay attention to. In the process, a local business person gets insulted for making a high risk investment and trying to make an improvement in our community. We should do better than anonymous and non factual. Let’s stop all this clinging to out dated party politics. Real people don’t care about it. It’s childish. There is real work to do.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 17:12:12 +0000