NIAGARA FALLS — Has it made progress or is it a miserable failure?

Should its boundaries be expanded or should they be left alone?

Those and other questions arose Tuesday during an unusually lively meeting of the board of directors for the state-run USA Niagara Development Corp.

The board, which has overseen state-sponsored development projects in the downtown area since 2001, fielded questions and concerns from a trio of state lawmakers led by state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, who suggested the agency has not made satisfactory progress and may have outlived its usefulness.

“People mistake my frustration for anger,” Maziarz said following Tuesday’s board meeting. “I’m not angry. I’m frustrated. How can (other communities) do it and we can’t?”

At least one board member suggested there’s physical evidence to counter the senator’s claims.

Board member and local accountant Steve Brown pointed to the recent opening of a new TGI Friday’s inside the Sheraton Hotel building off Old Falls Street as one tangible sign of growth in an area where other projects are starting to take shape.  

“In 30 years, I haven’t seen it and we are starting to see it and that’s good,” Brown said.

Former Gov. George Pataki created USA Niagara in 2001 in an effort to spur development downtown. One of the agency’s first projects, the redevelopment of the Third Street Entertainment District, did not prove successful in drawing new investors to the street. In recent years, the agency has turned its attention to Old Falls Street, starting with the razing of the old Wintergarden building to make way for a new cobblestone street connecting Niagara Falls State Park to Seneca Niagara Casino. Supporters of USA Niagara say the project has generated more investor interest downtown, interest that is expected to grow once the state and Niagara County Community College complete work on a new culinary arts center inside the former Rainbow Centre Mall building.

“Anybody who has spent any time in downtown Niagara Falls over the past few tourist seasons knows there’s been a massive change down there,” said Mayor Paul Dyster, an advocate for maintaining USA Niagara’s presence downtown.

Maziarz, joined in the meeting by state Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-Niagara Falls and Buffalo, and state Assemblyman John Ceretto, R-Lewiston, suggested the agency hasn’t done enough in recent years to justify the state’s investment in it. He admitted  changes along Old Falls Street have been an improvement, but charged the infrastructure project has not resulted in a significant influx of what the city needs most — good-paying jobs. He pointed to the city’s continued population loss and high unemployment rate as evidence that something needs to change.

“Whatever we’re doing now, the mayor seems to think it’s working, but I don’t know,” Maziarz said. “I don’t know if the mayor goes into coffee shops around this city. I don’t think people think it’s working and the statistics show it out.”

Maziarz questioned the agency’s staffing budget which is in excess of $500,000 per year, saying he believes those dollars could be put to better use.

“To me, every cent of our economic development dollars should be equated to how many permanent, private sector, living wage jobs are going to be created,” he said.

Dyster described Maziarz’s interest in USA Niagara as purely political, noting that the city is not within the senator’s district and that Maziarz had in the past expressed a desire to locate NCCC’s culinary project in Lewiston.

“I don’t think Senator Maziarz made any secret about the fact that he lobbied for the culinary arts center not to come here and it did,” Dyster said. “I think some of this is sour grapes. The average person who has been tracking what’s been happening in downtown Niagara Falls has seen a substantial amount of change. It’s kind of like trying to turn a battleship sometimes. You have to really keep your weight on the rudder before you start seeing any results. But, we are seeing results. There’s a lot of positive development in the downtown area. There are also people who, for political reasons, want to stop that postive development in Niagara Falls and I think that’s what this is all about.”

USA Niagara President Chris Schoepflin said projects supported by his agency have created jobs and had a positive impact on other key economic indicators, including hotel occupancy rates, foot traffic and visitation. On Tuesday, the agency authorized a state-sponsored grant and loan for the $15 million renovation of the old Fallside Hotel and Conference Center at 401 Buffalo Ave. The project marks the third hotel renovation effort to be undertaken by the Merani family of hotel developers on the American side of the border in recent years. He pointed to the culinary arts center project, the continued rehabilitation of the remainder of the Rainbow Centre Mall building and recent improvements to the Sheraton hotel property downtown as evidence that his agency has made significant strides of late.

“I think unquestionably we are moving in the right direction and the numbers bear it out,” Schoepflin said. “Do we have a lot of work ahead of us? Absolutely.”

While Maziarz led the charge in questioning the agency’s success rate and its handling of state dollars, Grisanti and Ceretto called on USA Niagara officials to get moving on their requests to expand the agency’s boundary. Currently, the agency is authorized to assist development efforts only within the downtown area. Both Grisanti and Ceretto have been pushing for an expansion of the zone to encompass the entire city and they said they’d like USA Niagara’s board to consider their request soon.

At the very least, they would like the aquarium — a tourist attraction currently outside the agency’s boundary — to be included in any future district revision.

“It makes perfectly good sense that the aquarium should be included,” Ceretto said.

USA Niagara officials didn’t disagree, but suggested widespread expansion without additional funding for projects may not be wise. An attorney for USA Niagara indicated she would research the ramifications of a proposed expansion and provide an update during the board’s next meeting.

Dyster said USA Niagara has been invaluable in assisting the city in moving projects forward, noting the agency offers development expertise and resources the city cannot offer to investors on its own. He added that he did not have any problem with expanding the agency’s territory to include the aquarium, but said he was puzzled by the fact that one senator was questioning the usefulness of USA Niagara while two other state lawmakers wanted to expand its reach.

“If USA Niagara is doing such a bad job, why do people want to expand its coverage?” he asked.

Acting Board Chairwoman Joan Aul said she would not necessarily oppose an expansion of the agency’s boundaries, but would only support one if it came with assurances that USA Niagara would receive additional funding to support future projects.

“We’re not opposed to an expansion of our footprint or looking at any way that can attract more business and more development here, but to expand the footprint without identifying funding sources, I think is misguided,” she said.