Well! I have been writing about Dirty Tops for over a year now and today it appears that they may be trying to pull their act together after all!

Taken over by new ownership about two years ago, progress at our location has been slow, invisible or perhaps in reverse. This week, though, what appeared to be a big repaving job took place in the whole gigantic parking lot- which even serves as a connecting street between Portage Rd and Main St.

One of the reasons for repavement has been discovered! A brand new electronic shopping cart system! This is just what we NEEDED here.

I’ve been commenting about the errant shopping carts in this area for six years. At one point, I tried to get the Niagara Arts & Cultural Center to sponsor a Shopping Cart Derby- but I think they thought it may be in poor taste. I have seen shopping carts moving furniture, laying sideways in a snow bank, hit by cars, being used as basketball hoops, barbecues in a cart, you name it! It is not unordinary to see a house with 4 or 5 shopping carts parked at it.

I’ve woken up to find one in front of my building! I’ve shoved them out into the street in anger, and politely parked them on the corner for the shopping cart whisperer to come by and corral. (I wonder if he is out of a job now?)

Okay, I won’t hold the suspense any longer, dear readers: Dirty Tops has installed an electronic device under their parking lot that causes the front wheels of the cart to stop moving if the cart is taken past yellow lines at the edge of the lot! WHAM!


That’s right! I walked in there today and carts were lined up all in a ROW. They were NEW. They had CUPHOLDERS. Just like the real Tops stores! I felt like a REAL PERSON! No more snow plow banged, rusted up, burned up, dented up carts.

Of course, this means I will lose government funding for my shopping cart Tag and Release program… but I am OKAY with that. After all, the safest and healthiest place for these carts is at Tops!

The Tops company did itself a big favor. Shopping carts are costly and drive down profits. They probably drive up grocery prices! No more paying the Shopping Cart Wrangler. He’d drive down the street slowly, quietly, in his 70’s vintage pick up truck… arm folded on the driver’s window sill, he’d spot an errant cart from houses away… swoop up on it, grab it and take it back the store. All the other captured carts lined up in shame in the back of his truck.

And don’t give me any CRAP about people who can’t afford a car or some other such bullshit nonsense! Listen to me… because you are poor does not give you reason to be a thief or a slob. Do you realize people much POORER than me take the damn taxi to the grocery store? (A luxury I could not afford). And I’d like to point out that the foldable shopping carts are available for PURCHASE for like $20. Maybe they can buy it with their cash portion of the food stamp benefit program.

Either way, thank you Tops. It’s lookin’ up!

Let’s take first things first. The Niagara Gazette has recently reported that ten teachers have been given their notice of termination from the Board of Education for failing to comply with the residency requirement. Now the teachers are angry and threatening action against the city. Someone claimed the residency requirements violate their civil rights!

OH BROTHER! These are our children’s role models? They lied to their employers and now they feel wronged.

This reminds me of the guy that gets a job knowing that there is a drug test- and then gets pissed off when he fails the drug test and is terminated. His defense is that marijuana should be legal. His defense is that it’s on his own time. But those aren’t valid defenses because he knew the company’s requirement and agreed to it when he was hired.

And sure enough, you betcha our teachers in the City of Niagara Falls knew that they were required to live in the city. They signed an agreement stating as such upon their employment!!! And, WKBW of Buffalo recently reported that the NFCSD Human Resources Office said that many of the terminated teachers have had this residency issue come up in the past- so they shouldn’t be surprised.

Is the residency requirement unconstitutional? (I don’t know but I doubt it). Is the residency requirement good or bad for us? (I’m not sure but I tend to believe it’s good for the city).

HOWEVER; teachers, those points are mute because YOU AGREED TO IT!

You know what’s really outrageous? I own an apartment building and when I have an apartment for rent in the paper, I usually get a call from someone wondering if they can “rent” the address only to fulfill a residency requirement in the city. One was so bold to give me her name and number and tell me she was a teacher in the NFCSD.

I had to be honest and tell her that I didn’t want to be involved in any fraud and that quite honestly, I like the idea of teachers living in the city because I think it would create a sense of ownership and increase the tax rolls, improve property values, etc. She said, “oh.”- and hung up on me.

Role Models.

Anyway… all of that being said… if people did not agree with the residency requirement, they should not have agreed to it and allowed that coveted full time teaching position go to another candidate who would have lived in the city.

The real issue isn’t the requirement, it’s the dishonesty of the employee- and that should definitely be our focus.

We can speak separately about whether or not the requirement is good at another time. But in this context, it is not pertinent.

Perhaps these teachers need a few lessons in ethics.

What a GREAT DAY on Whirlpool Street in Niagara Falls on Wednesday, August 19th! Approximately two dozen people came out in the heat to scrape, brush, scrub and paint the guard rail on Whirlpool Street, from about Ashland to Willow Avenues.

I was on my way in the morning, when I spotted all of these great folks cleaning and painting the much-neglected guard rail! It’s been slowly being cleaned and painted by the diligent work of Niagara Beautification and Habitat for Humanity for several weeks this summer, but it’s a HUGE job- and it got a tremendous boost yesterday!

I absolutely LOVE my downtown Niagara Falls neighborhood- and I’ve been so proud with all of the progress being made in the area between Main and Whirlpool. It’s energizing and it gives us all hope for the future of our community.

I stopped and spoke with Marge Gilles, (Niagara Beautification), to find out how we wound up so lucky. She explained that all of those kind folks were employees of OxyChem and St. Gobain Ceramics who were volunteering for United Way’s Day of Caring.

About ten employees from each company were really using their elbow grease to improve a beautiful area of the city for a lot of people. Those of us who live here now have a much nicer view from our porches, and while walking and riding our bikes along the gorge. In addition, thousands of folks travel Whirlpool Street. Just think of the great impression made on visitors to the city- and the pride of city residents!

We really can’t THANK YOU ENOUGH for coming! This means YOU, all of you OxyChem and St. Gobain employees- and your companies who probably made a donation to the effort by keeping you on the time clock while you were here- and especially thank you to the UNITED WAY for their never ending work in our city.

The United Way of Niagara is one of eight hundred autonomous United Way organizations. Their mission is officially “to create the organized capacity for people to care for each other”. Don’t you think they were successful yesterday? People cared about us- which made us care about them- and made us all care about where we live and work and raise families.

With every step- another step is encouraged. We look over and see clean, freshly painted fences and we paint our own fence- or pull some weeds, or plant some flowers. This what urban living is all about. We are a great and grateful group here in Niagara Falls! And we are getting prettier every day, aren’t we?

To find out how you can join the United Way in their mission, please visit www.unitedwayniag.org and check out the volunteer and donation opportunities!

Merriam-Webster online described “effectlively” with the synonymous phrase, “dealt with the problem”- and that is exactly what the ZOOM team is doing!

Zone Outreach Objective Mission (ZOOM), is new to Niagara Falls and another characteristic of the new and improved attitude pervading our city: ACTION. Proudly, city departments have decided to use their positions to effect a difference in Niagara Falls. And it shows.

It showed this week, on my street. The “Zoom Team” accomplished exactly what it set out to do. We residents are bubbling over with joy. The spirit is infectious- and I’ll tell you how it happened.

I live on a street of working class people. I’m going to guess the majority of us are “working poor”. We love our neighborhood though. Whether we own or rent, we stay a long time, we take care of what we can and we appreciate our corner of the city. Conveniently located near all services, we are also steps away from the gorge and it’s beauty. We can either walk a few houses to the main library- or walk a few houses to a natural wonder and watch the bald eagle.

Our coveted spot, though, has made us a target for real estate speculators, especially as Main Street blooms and blossoms into a bustling place and a lucrative business investment. A handful of people have bought up available properties on our street only to let them sit empty. They don’t understand that to make a neighborhood desirable, you have to keep the properties in good condition. They just think that magically they will be worth a lot of money someday.

This summer saw our first boarded up house. Nice people lived in the stately brick. Unfortunately, a plumbing problem was diagnosed that would require thousands of dollars to repair. So the absentee landlord from DixieLand decided to kick out the tenants, (after three weeks of no water), and then hire a construction firm to board up all the beautiful leaded glass windows and walk away. The lawn grew and grew. Previously I have mowed the lawns of empty homes on my street. But I am done being taken advantage of by these speculators. So the lawn grew and grew. The same thing happened at a few properties on the block.



Then we had the delightful mixture of one landlord renting to anyone with the initial money down, (no references or background check), and another landlord taking advantage of long term tenants he figured wouldn’t move no matter how badly he let the property slip because the tenants were committed to the neighborhood. Promises of painting or siding came and went. A tree poked a hole in the roof. Ironically, that landlord owns a construction company.

This summer, our street started to look like SHIT. Maybe I contributed to it. I fertilized and mulched. Planted annuals and tended my perennials. Mowed and swept and decorated. But I didn’t step foot on another’s property with my mower or weedwacker. I’d been bit in the ass too much. After years of tending a property, I’d have the absentee owner’s “get rich quick” management company threaten me with trespass. Or I’d have a problem they refused to help me with. I quickly became sick of trying to keep up their property to make mine look better. So I stopped. I drove by the four foot weed lawns and shook my head in disgust. I bought porch shades so I didn’t have to look at them. I buried my head in the sand, at last.

And then a miracle happened. When I least expected it. This week, the ZOOM team descended on my street. And they are NOT playing around. It started last week. To my glee, orange stickers showed up on the front doors of all the neglected property. Those orange stickers signify to city dwellers here that a property has been found in violation of city ordinances to keep the house and grounds maintained in a clean and safe manner. They used to sit on a property and fade away.

No longer.

This year, the ZOOM team has been assembled and they are getting results. I woke up to the sound of supersized weedwackers at 8:30 am. I looked out my bedroom window and the slumlord’s yard next door had been invaded by an army of people in yellow vests with power tools! They were cutting, trimming, cleaning! They were NOT messing around.

John Calabro, (city of Niagara Falls), led his team to rid every bit of neglect and eyesore from my entire block! They threw away junk that had accumulated for months or years on people’s porches, in their backyards, lining the weed filled driveways. I was so happy! I threw on some work clothes and headed out the front door. Parked up and down the block were city work vehicles. A flatbed truck held a line of mowers. A dump truck was collecting trash and tree branches. Officials walked the street armed with clipboards, paperwork, and digital cameras.

Clearly, the City reached it’s cracking point like me and had enough. Only in my moment of surrender, they stepped up with exertion. I walked right down the middle of the street to meet them and shake their hands. John Caso, Director of the Department of Public Works introduced himself to me along with a Niagara Falls Fire Inspector in dress uniform. I thanked them and let them know how much all of us on the street appreciated this. They mean business! Extremely friendly yet determined professionals, the job was getting done.

As they appeared, bad tenants and landlords fled. Problem properties with cars parked in the driveway were suddenly not answering their doors. All the loudmouths who scream and swear at their kids in the middle of the street silently coward in their filthy homes. Proud residents came out in enjoyment.

The next day, they were done and we lived on a new street. You could hear the exclamation of neighbors, “Wow! Look at this place! It looks so clean! Look at our neighborhood!”

Absentee landlords have surfaced at the end of this week. Knowing they are now facing fines, court dates, and further actions has been enough motive for them to do work on their cash cow properties.
This landlord owns a construction company and dozens of houses but I haven’t seen him spend any quality length of time on our street for year. Suddenly, he’s painting this house as his tenants look on and help scrape off old paint. They are ecstatic. They were promised this job five years ago. Maybe it’s a coincidence- but the City took a few digital pictures of his properties. Maybe he has to look good for court in a few weeks. It sure is a pleasing sight to see him on top of that ladder working.



And so goes the rest of the neighborhood. People have been cleaning their porches, fixing their lawn decorations, sweeping sidewalks all week. The change is palpable. What was despair a week ago is now hope.

Thank you, Niagara Falls ZOOM TEAM. Thank you to whomever made the team possible. This is the true nature of changing lives.

Found on Yahoo Travel: “Despite being located downtown and next to the Rainbow Center Factory Outlet and Niagara Falls Convention Center , this enclosed garden is a veritable oasis amid the hustle and bustle of sightseeing at the Falls . Many couples choose to celebrate their wedding ceremonies here, in either the Niagara Wedding Chapel or the Falls Wedding Chapel . The garden is a glass-enclosed tropical space with waterfalls, ponds and 7,000 trees. A relaxing place to visit—be it in between sightseeing tours or on a rainy day. Admission is free.”

Found on Online Highways: Wintergarden is imbued with peace and quiet in the middle of a tropical setting. Only a five-minute walk from Prospect Point, it’s open daily from 9-5. Admission is free. Adjacent to the Rainbow Center Factory Outlet Mall. Shopping & various restaurants inside the mall. A great place to go on a rainy day!

1978- The Hostettlers of Bryan, Ohio came to Niagara Falls for their wedding anniversary and discovered the beautiful “$7 million glass enclosed horticultural showcase called the Wintergarden”.

1981- Volunteers in Niagara Falls have built 50 cutouts, up to 20 feet high, of Mother Goose, Disney characters, Santa and his elves and other Christmas scenes, and five three-dimensional displays, including a 12-foot-high lighthouse and a 12-foot-long train, to add to the fun. They will be on show in a three-block viewing area made up of the E. Dent Lackey Plaza, the Rainbow Mall, the Wintergarden (a three-story collection of tropical plants) and the entrance to Prospect Park. The Wintergarden will glisten with two 26-foot-high reflecting stars and 1,000 poinsettias.

1982- St. Petersburg Times, In Niagara Falls, NY a five square block of downtown becomes a winter wonderland in December, as an opening event of the “I Love NY Winter Festival” [...] the centerpiece being the Wintergarden, where three stories of tropical vegetation become luminous with silvery decorations.

1983- Jun 27, 1983, The Miami Herald - The current wedding season requires his honor’s services for about a dozen couples every weekend who want to be married by the mayor of Niagara Falls. Call it sentiment. “I take them to the Wintergarden and hold the ceremony among the plants,” he says. “Very pretty. Very romantic.” …

1985- Dec 22, 1985 - Niagara Falls in New York State and Canada already have started their International Winter Festival of Lights. … There’s music and dancing at the convention center, free entertainment at the Wintergarden, and free train rides from 5-11 pm nightly at Fantasy Island on nearby Grand Island …

1986- . Hub of the great display will be the Wintergarden, a seven-story futuristic greenhouse with trees, shrubs and flowers next door to the Convention …

Dec 2, 1991 - ENTERTAINMENT: Music School of Niagara, Wintergarden, Niagara Falls. 7 pm.
.MUSIC: Buffalo Gateway Chorus/Sweet Adelines, Wintergarden, Niagara Falls. 7:30 pm.

Dec 9, 1991 - MUSIC: Williamsville South Chamber Ensembles, Wintergarden, Niagara Falls. 7 pm. ENTERTAINMENT: Croatian Creations Tamburitza Group, Wintergarden, Niagara Falls. 7 pm. MUSIC: First Presbyterian Church with Gaskill Chorus, …

Dec 16, 1991 - MUSIC: Lackawanna Young Christian Choir, Wintergarden, Niagara Falls. 7 pm. MUSIC: Sacred Heart Villa School Chorus, Wintergarden, Niagara Falls. 7 pm.

1993, August- WINTERGARDEN IS FOCAL POINT OF DISCONTENT FALLS OFFICIALS TRADING CHARGES OVER IMPACT OF EARLIER CLOSING TIME
The city administration and the City Council once again are pointing fingers at each other, this time over who is responsible for the earlier closing hour at the Wintergarden.

Meanwhile, some downtown merchants said Wednesday that the new 9 p.m. closing is hurting them.

With the doors to the Wintergarden closed, pedestrians have to walk around to Niagara Street or to First Street to make their way from the Convention and Civic Center, E. Dent Lackey Plaza and other nearby attractions to…

Apr 20, 1997 - MALL OWNERS OFFER TO BUY WINTERGARDEN Two weeks ago, the city gave the Niagara Falls Redevelopment Corp. a five-year option for use of the south side of the Wintergarden for a hotel lobby and restaurant if the development group buys the Ramada Inn at the Falls. Brian K. Meilleur, president of the development group, …

Aug 24, 1997 - Niagara Falls, NY, Mayor James C. Galie welcomed the group at the Wintergarden. “We have a jewel. We just have to refine it. … “There is no fabric to experience, no invitation to stay longer and explore the history, culture and ethnic diversity we have here,” Wysocki said.

1997 Old Falls Street, which disappeared from the life and fabric of the city to make way for a failed urban renewal project, could be reincarnated in the multimillion redevelopment of downtown planned by a group of international investors.

And the Wintergarden might have to be modified or torn down to make the plan work.

Bruce Jolley, director of planning for the Jerde Partnership International Inc., said Thursday that the firm “would like to bring the life back to Falls..

1998- LEAVE THE WINTERGARDEN RIGHT WHERE IT IS

The Wintergarden in Niagara Falls is one of the prizes of the city’s urban-renewal effort,undertaken in the mid-1970s.

The building is 107 feet high, covered with tempered glass and filled with exotic trees and shrubs. It cost almost $8 million when it was completed in 1975

The Wintergarden was designed by Gruen Associates, with Landscape Architect M. Paul Friedberg, who designed the first of the great urban malls…

2000- Jan 30, 2000 - In November, the city granted Wintergarden Entertainment an option to lease the building for 20 years, as long as Niagara Falls Redevelopment didn’t exercise its option first. Another question mark on the tourism horizon remains the Niagara Falls airport.

2000- DINOSAUR PARK MAY HATCH IN WINTERGARDEN FACILITY

News Niagara Bureau

A plan to turn the Wintergarden into an indoor dinosaur theme park, the “Wintergarden Rainforest Dinosaurium,” could be a reality by July.

Wintergarden Entertainment announced Friday it is ready to exercise the option the city granted it Nov. 4 to lease and redevelop the glass-walled downtown facility, with an option to buy the building.

The lease costs and the first phase of construction could equal about $1.5 million, said Paul A. Grenga Jr., the Lewiston…

Jan 1, 2001 - The 20th annual Festival of Lights passed into history Sunday night, with organizers already making plans for the 21st annual event. … The mall runs between Wintergarden and Niagara Falls Convention Center…

2002- GROUP URGING INCREASED SUPPORT FOR WINTERGARDEN

Published on March 3, 2002

Members of the citizens group Revitalization of Area Heritage are holding a party to try to raise enough awareness to keep the Wintergarden alive.

The free event, dubbed Wintergarden Awareness Day, will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday in the Wintergarden, which is next to the former Rainbow Centre Factory Outlet Mall.

Vendors will sell a variety of foods in the glass-enclosed arboretum, and there will be musical performances throughout the afternoon.

{…}
Because Pelli’s buildings are world-renowned, Leoncavallo said the Wintergarden is one of the more significant structures in Niagara Falls. “The powers that be, so to speak, are pressuring the mayor to close it up,” she said.

Sep 28, 2003 - After giving away the plants and trees, the new owners of the Wintergarden are turning the 26-year-old downtown greenhouse into a tourist attraction for children. “People traveling to Niagara Falls to gamble are finding little for their children to do,” said Paul A. Grenga, …

August 7, 2007 The Niagara Falls Reporter - In the more than two years since the Niagara Falls Reporter made it public knowledge that Vincenzo V. Anello accepted a series of secret payments totaling $40,000 from developer Joe Anderson around the time he was elected mayor of Niagara Falls in 2003, federal agents have been looking for evidence that Anderson got something in return for his generosity.

Last Thursday, the ribbon was cut on a $3.4 million gift from taxpayers called Old Falls Street, where Anello granted Anderson exclusive vending rights in a no-bid deal during his first months in office.

But the real payoff for Anderson, Anello told the gathering of elected officials and bureaucrats, who were too busy patting themselves on the back to notice, is yet to come.

“In the not-too-distant future, Falls Street will be open all the way to the park,” the mayor said.

What he left unmentioned was that doing that would mean the removal of the former Wintergarden, now known as Smokin’ Joe’s Family Fun Center, which Anderson just happened to have had the foresight to purchase shortly before he started writing large checks to Anello, then a member of the City Council.

In making the purchase along with partners Paul Grenga, Brian Meilleur and Rick Horn, Anderson paid about $1 million for the civic greenhouse. Due to its location and the renovation it has undergone since Anderson bought it, as well as New York state’s bottomless pockets, the property would likely fetch as much as $6 to $8 million if taken via eminent domain.

Given Anello’s close ties to those three men, who orchestrated his successful 2003 campaign, and his well-documented history of accepting money from Anderson without telling anyone or paying taxes on it, the question that should be obvious to federal investigators is what his share of the big jackpot is going to be.

2007 - AUCTION BEFORE RAZING THE WINTERGARDEN- The Wintergarden is slated to officially close later this month. The 110-foot tall glass-enclosed atrium that has been a part of the Niagara Falls skyline since the 1970s.

The building, when opened in 1977, was viewed as one of the centerpieces of an urban renewal effort in downtown Niagara Falls. Anderson said he may consider building a hotel on the property, but those plans remain preliminary.

Anderson bought the Wintergarden in 2003, paying $1 million. He ran a family amusement center in the building for the past two years.

The Wintergarden was designed by famed architect Cesar Pelli, whose resume includes the World Financial Center in New York. The building went through a variety of uses during its 30-year run but was plagued by consistent turn over in plans and visions.

“It was a good building,” Bronstein said.

2008- WINTERGARDEN CLOSER TO AN END - At the same time and in a related move, the USA Niagara directors unanimously agreed to buy the Wintergarden from East Mall Entertainment LLC, a partnership headed by Niagara County businessman and Indian leader Joe Anderson for $1.6 million. Anderson had run the Wintergarden as an entertainment center the past few years, but closed the building last fall.

USA Niagara, in late July, struck a deal with Anderson for the Wintergarden.

The deal was subject to a series of public hearings.

By demolishing the Wintergarden, which was constructed in the late 1970s as part of an earlier urban renewal effort in Niagara Falls, it will create a visual corridor between the state park and Third Street while also re-opening the historic Old Falls Street right-of-way.

The demolition work will likely start next year.

2009- USA Niagara received an opinion in June from the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation that the glass building is not eligible for the state’s Register of Historic Places because of extensive changes that have been made inside the building. (EDITORIAL NOTE: changes Anderson made.)

State and city officials have said they believe that the building is a roadblock for tourists.

They have no plan to tear down the adjacent Rainbow Centre mall, which is empty except for one seasonal tenant, a ground-level restaurant.

Niagara Falls resident Barbara Marchelos is among a group of citizens who want to see the Wintergarden saved.

Marchelos and others point to the arboretum’s architect, Cesar Pelli, as one of the reasons the state should incorporate the building into its plans.

“Niagara Falls has lost enough of its identity to some of the most ill-conceived projects, in part by changing downtown Niagara Falls into what we now know,” Marchelos said. “The planned changes by USA Niagara should recognize the worthiness of the Wintergarden project.”

June 12, 2009 WINTERGARDEN COMING DOWN-
Crews are demolishing the steel-and-glass Wintergarden in Niagara Falls

Here are some photos I took of the demolition of the Wintergarden this week. Notice in one photo, tourists wander through the dangerous equipment looking for anywhere to visit on the US side of the Falls.

What a beautiful day today! The temperature rose above 70 degrees for the first time in over five months, according to our weatherman. As the warm, moist scent of the Niagara Gorge filled my neighborhood, I took down my storm windows and put in the old wooden framed screen windows I love so much about an old house! The air is gently blowing through my home, blowing out months of winter air. There goes the conglomeration of molecules that were once my thanksgiving turkey, christmas cookies, paint and printer ink, dust and dander, shedding pets and puppy training!

In comes the static freshness of Great Lakes spring air. The transient smells of water, moss, wet rocks, mist rising from the base of Niagara Falls. The city smells of the Italian bakery, pavement, mulch and sprouting trees. The sound of hope comes in two forms this year: the chirping birds and the chirping construction equipment from development on our Main Street. Spring renewal brings promises almost fulfilled: the grass will grow again, the flowers will bloom, babies will be born and new purpose brings a scurry to the historic Village of Suspension Bridge.

My unsuspecting son sits in a classroom. When he gets off the school bus, he’ll find out that today he helps me carry the porch furniture up from the basement! I have to get all my work done so that tonight I can relish the cool evening breeze and hope for the return of Mister Softee.

Happy Spring Niagara Falls!

This lot had an old yellow & brown house sitting on it. We called it the “banana house” because it looking somewhat like a rotting banana. It was ignored by the adult children who inherited it for years, until the city tore it down. I wonder- does the city now own it?

I would really like to figure out how the city intends to sell it, how much they want for it and if I can purchase it (or at least lease it)?

My intention would be to create a community garden. Ideas include: growing vegetables for ourselves and the poor (all neighbors participating), maybe a lavendar field for all neighbors to participate and learn about lavendar and perhaps sage, and what we can make with it. Another idea I have is to lay out a labyrinth for the community to come and walk.

I’d gladly take responsibility for this land… but I’ve heard that in Niagara Falls, it’s not always easy to just purchase an abandoned piece of land. I’ll tell you what I find out.

An opportunity for urban pioneers, new urbanists, and creative visionaries presents itself this October 2, 2008- when the New York State Armory goes on the auction block.

This amazing building is being sold by the state for a minimum bid of $60,000. It’s hardly believable, isn’t it? Built in 1895, this amazing gothic structure is well over 38,000 square feet and is already on the national register of historic places. Well situated in downtown Niagara Falls, New York- one can only dream of the potential of this beautiful architectural landmark. It was designed by Isaac Perry to invoke fear, respect and pride.

As this mammoth stone building sits on Main Street in the downtown district, it is just a short walk to the beautiful and geologically significant Niagara Gorge. The gorge hosts beautiful trails, with unmatched scenery of class six rapids, layers of quartz and fossils, and is home to the American Bald Eagle. Can you imagine the excitement of today’s young urban dweller to know that they could live in a converted armory walking distance to such an amazing eco-tourist attraction?

When you see a building like the armory actually for sale, you know it would only be responsible and just for the state to ensure it is going to wind up in the possession of someone who has the funds and vision to protect it- and transform it so that it may live on.

The opportunities renovating the armory can provide to this city are great and vice-versa. If the armory were converted into loft style apartments with a first floor commercial space such as a restaurant or gallery- I would bet that with the correct marketing, the creative class would certainly flock to live there. Seeing things still through the eyes of a newcomer to Niagara Falls, I can tell you that it is special that such a beautifully maintained building is walking distance to grocery shopping, pharmacies, medical offices, hospital, a gymnasium, the library, post office, city hall, coffee house, entertainment etc. In turn, young urbanists would bring the vitality to Niagara Falls that is much needed and increase a growing market for entertainment, retail and creativity. Only a twenty minute drive to downtown Buffalo, residents would benefit from a rather large job market- comfortably commutable by car or public transportation to the entire Western New York region. One and a half hours to Toronto, this building would provide residents with the opportunity to participate in world class events, art and design.

Thinking of another option? We have just been hearing about the hotel room shortage on our local news. This armory already comes with divided offices and classrooms, which may very well convert to a themed hotel- offering visitors to our city a unique and memorable stay.

The state reports the building valued at roughly $459,000. With a price tag like that property tax would certainly be an issue, but the “Fact Sheet” offered by the state recommends that the purchaser may want to have the value reassessed. You can see from the photos on the auction website that the entire building has been meticulously maintained.

In tumultous real estate times such as these, it would seem that an historically significant building on the national register, (which may qualify it for funding), in a very busy international tourist destination city, would be extremely attractive as a special place to live, work and prosper while in turn participating in the exciting rebirth of the city of Niagara Falls.

I long beleived that I was cursed by the Gods of Porch Painting and now I know it for sure.

Rewind two years- summer of 2006. I had to paint this wooden front porch floor because years of previous paint were chipping off. I was a virgin to porch painting. I didn’t have any idea the hours upon hours upon hours of scraping that took place prior to painting. I had no idea that the muscles that connect my neck to my shoulders would turn to stone. But I persisted for the Greater Sake of Decor. I picked the most lovely shade of vintage green/grey. I did the thousand hours of insane working to get it done. Scraping, edging, wiping, second coats, third coats and so on.

It was beautiful. I was finally done. There I stood on the sidewalk, my knees covered in scraped paint, the skin itself scraped by little gravel from the sidewalk. My hair speckled in green, three dirty rollers- two ruined sponge brushes, one ruined bristle brush. The pride welled up in my throat. I really improved the front of this albatross of a house- just wait till the tenants come home and see this beautiful porch. Somewhere in the distance I heard a rumble- but ignored it. I started picturing my beautiful furniture all set up on the porch. The paint still shined in it’s freshness- but I was picturing it all decorated. Another rumble and this time it sort of registered. I turned over my shoulder and looked north to see a black and I mean BLACK cloud. Huh. It was not supposed to rain today. Just as I got done saying that in my head, drip-drop, heavier drops, sudden DOWNPOUR! The skies broke open into a torrential downpour of rain.

Almost immediately, I realized this was way bad for the porch. I looked down at the porch, not having sense enough to get out of the rain and in disbelief, the green paint was literally running down the steps, running like a waterfall of vintage sage green onto the sidewalks. Running down the sidewalk in a flashflood- running over the curb and down the street- now a sort of bright green- racing to the storm sewer drain and disappearing underground. In slow motion, my head turned back toward the porch- to see a sort of Dali-esque impression of my porch melting into the sidewalk, streaks of green, red, grey, white: every color it had been since 1939.

My beautiful porch paint had been washed away- more dramatic than the Great Flood.

(deep breath)

The next year, Summer of 2007, I was ready to tackle the porch again. I had been so defeated the past year, I never had the heart to fix it. The tenants graciously never commented on our spectacle of a tie-dyed porch. But I was renewed. I was going to scrape again, I was going to be victorious. For the sake of new Karma, I picked a whole new color, a beautiful dark red to set off the slate blue of the house and white trim. I thoroughly checked the forecast on the internet and on the television. Clear skies ahead for three days.

So, with a bit of a resentment, but in an attempt to be of positive attitude, I repainted the porch. I painted despite the bitter complaints of the mail carrier, the tenant trying to move stuff in and out, despite the abnormal heat. I painted to prove that I would fix it. I wouldn’t let us walk on that streaked porch anymore, a daily reminder of my inability to perservere the previous year. I finished. It took me from dawn to dusk, but I finished. The dark red was striking. I loved it. Oh, how nice to have the whole porch one color again!

Picking up the painting supplies, I dragged my broken back into the house hoping a hot shower would help with the muscle pain and refresh me from the heat. Hobbling into the bathroom, I started the shower and went to get clean pajamas. The sound of the shower was really loud, coming out of that bathroom! Had Iris done something different with the shower head or the plumbing? As I went toward our bathroom, I passed a window and you can’t imagine the horror on my face. It was RAINING. Yah, it was.

I couldn’t bring myself to go look. I waited for morning. The red had dried more than the green the previous year before the rain, but not enough to be really dry. So it was streaked but only in certain spots. I couldn’t repaint again.

I set up the furniture and thought I could hide the damage. But what I didn’t know is that the paint didn’t really “set” right or something. Within three weeks, the red paint just started falling off. Seriously. My porch was now blue, grey, white, green and red. All summer the red continued to fall off the porch. First around the furniture, then in front of the doors, then the pathways to the doors, then finally the steps.

Once winter came and the need for salt and quick-melt the paint really got damaged. This spring the porch thawed to reveal bare wood and a mixture of 5 paint colors. It was horrible.

So now here we are, Summer of 2008. I am a New Person. I have a positive attitude. I will not “awfulize” my life anymore. Time to take control of my life and it has to include my yard, my house, everything! So, this summer we did a lot of landscaping. It was time to paint the porch once and for all.

I have been absent from this blog for a few days because I’ve been painting the porch! I checked our forecast. On two channels, on weather channel and on the internet. I knew “scattered storms” were coming late into the night on the third night. I got help from a tenant, help from my daughter and support from Iris. We put on some great music and started painting! Iris snapped this picture of us laughing and having a great time!

The first day went well. I did it right this time- extra sanding, excellent primer, nice thin coats of top paint. We went to bed and awoke to a dry, shiny new porch but the color was uneven.

We spent Sunday finishing the paint. My sister came to visit from out of state and we put her to work. She’s a pro at painting. Oh- she did a great job! We were very proud. We put up the wet paint sign and went out for ice cream.

We came home, admired our work and went in to watch tv.Three hours later, I see lightning to the north. Well, the storms keep passing us to the north- it’s okay. Plus, the paint’s been drying for hours! Rapidly, the lightning got closer. I went to ask Iris what she thought. It started to shower lightly. Should we get the tarp?- I aked her. (We were more prepared this time.) Naw? Yes? Maybe? Suddenly, the shower turned to a hard pour. I yelled to the kids- get the tarp! The dogs started barking wildly at our excitement. What a show! Get the tarp! The kids ran toward the front door with the tarp and a large commotion was heard outside. It was hailing. Horizontally. Wind was whipping the hail into a near white-out. The kids valiantly ran outside to save my paint job. The front door was caught in the wind and in the flash of lightning, I could see a huge tree limb straddling a parked car. Get back in the house! Get back in the house! I yelled!

The kids, undaunted, threw the tarp over the stairs. Boom! Another limb fell! The ice falling from the sky was small but painful. I can not beleive this is happening to me again.

We went in the house for the night. The storm passed in two minutes. Wistfully, I stared at the shining porch thinking of the earlier golden sunset on the perfect paint job.

This morning came, and I discovered still a red porch, but puddles of hot pink where the paint had not been dry and was pooled up with rain water and melted hail. I dabbed at it with rags and allowed it to dry. Guess what came this afternoon? Two or three hours of pouring rain.

Tomorrow I go back out to dry again. I am going to keep at it this time. It will not stop me. My neighbors have begged me to stop painting the porch. They think next time I paint, we’ll have a tornado or perhaps hurricane.

I refuse to be a quitter this year. Stay tuned for an update.