Former mayor reflects on accomplishments, time in office

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Former Niagara Falls Mayor Vince Anello met with reporters to talk about the city and his recent imprisonment. Photo by James Neiss

February 21, 2012

By Mark Scheer Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Tue Feb 21, 2012, 10:20 PM EST

NIAGARA FALLS — “I feel my four years as mayor was certainly misrepresented by the press,” former Falls Mayor Vince Anello said Tuesday. “They were more interested in sensationalizing this issue of the investigation, which they reported on for over six years. You would be hard-pressed to find a story, video or otherwise that talks about the charges being dropped on the services case.”

Anello said he remains particularly proud of his stand on the development of the city’s Public Safety Complex on Main Street, a location he said he recommended because he thought the new police headquarters and courts building would help to revive a once-vibrant section of the community. Anello admitted to “failing” to properly protect the city’s interest in the run-up to the building’s construction, suggesting he should have fought harder to stop the city from entering into a development contract that he says “ripped off” the taxpayers.

“I didn’t fail without trying,” Anello said.

The former mayor also suggested his term in office was negatively impacted by his relationship with a few local developers, including one of the city’s largest landholders — Niagara Falls Redevelopment. Anello suggested his dealings with the company, which is owned by New York city real estate developer Howard Milstein and controls more than 400 parcels in the downtown area, came at a cost to him and his administration. In 2007, while still mayor, Anello announced that the time period for NFR to propose projects under a 2003 development agreement had “expired” and the firm had “failed to deliver” a $12 million project on the 10th Street site of a former playground. He said he felt the local press should have been more aggressive in highlighting various issues between the company and the city, but did not.

“There are some developers in the city of Niagara Falls that made plenty of money on the dying carcass of our city,” Anello said. “I would say if I have a plan to acquire property, I’m going to acquire it at a low price and then sell it at a high price. I mean that’s only good business. Simple as that. If the property involves a city, the more I devalue the work of the city, the cheaper I can acquire that property. Once the acquisition is complete, then I can be the one to help the city regain its confidence and its status as a growing city. The press knew exactly what was going on because I told them what was going on. They chose not to follow up on it.”

NFR spokesman Charles Zehren declined to respond to Anello’s comments.

Anello says he is now in the process of making good on the $55,000 restitution he was ordered to make to the union. He has technically been retired for several years, but said he may do some work for his brother, Matteo’s, company and may still do electrical work of his own in the future.

“I have no ax to grind,” Anello added. “I have no bitterness whatsoever. This experience has certainly more clearly defined who my friends are. It’s brought me closer to my family and my god.”

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