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Steakhouse across from outlet mall OK’d as Niagara County planners weigh projects

April 21, 2014, 7:38 pm
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SANBORN – Plans for 146,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on Military Road across from the Fashion Outlets mall were among a number of upcoming projects discussed by the Niagara County Planning Board on Monday.

LongHorn Steakhouse is one of the businesses that plans to move into the property in the Town of Niagara, according to Benderson Development Director James A. Boglioli. The 21.2-acre site at 1755 and 1785 Military Road was previously occupied by the old John’s Flaming Hearth and Perkins restaurants.

Boglioli said Benderson was improving and updating rezoning and preliminary site plans already approved by the Town of Niagara.

Benderson would improve the site by adding a 50-foot buffer, rather than the required 20-foot buffer between neighborhoods, he said.

In addition, Benderson was required to put an 18-foot fence around the property, and it plans to put it on top of a 3- to 4-foot berm and also add Colorado spruce trees all along the property lines.

“We were only required to have a 20-foot space and a fence,” Boglioli said.

“We now have a 50-foot buffer, a berm, a fence and plantings.”

The final site plan was approved by the Planning Board.

Boglioli said a traffic plan had already been approved. He said Benderson has other tenants but was not able to discuss them at this point. He said one unidentified tenant is expected to take over 59,000 square feet, while LongHorn’s will occupy 6,170 in the new retail plaza.

The Town of Niagara has already announced that a TCBY frozen yogurt and Five Guys burger restaurant are planned as tenants in the old Perkins restaurant.

In another matter, the county Planning Board approved variances and a special-use permit for Bridgewater Estates, 1441-1451 Ridge Road, Lewiston. The plan calls for three four-story apartment buildings that would provide 138 units for senior citizens.

Granted was a variance from the 200-foot lot width required by town code. Jennifer Dougherty, an attorney representing Bridgewater Estates, said that the Zoning Board had told them that this was not required but that they wanted to “maintain continuity in the application.”

“We meet the total lot width, but it’s just not all connected,” Dougherty told the board.

Also granted was a variance for the height of the roof and a special-use permit.

Dougherty outlined how they incorporated and met conditions of the special-use permit to provide adequate parking and to make sure lighting points downward. Also incorporated was a gazebo.

In addition, a site plan was approved for an 18-hole miniature outdoor golf course and patio at 6510 Lincoln Ave., Town of Lockport. The property is owned by Lockport Lanes and will be built on an adjacent 11.2 acres of undeveloped land west of its Allie Brandt bowling lanes.

The only dissenting vote was by county Planning Board member Joseph C. Kibler, who also is City of Lockport Common Council president.

David W. Stutz from Apex Consulting outlined drainage plans for the property and told the board that parking would not be affected.

However, Kibler asked, why build the golf course when there is one across the street at Skateland in the City of Lockport? Stutz said that was not his call.

“They are in trouble across the street,” Kibler said. “In my opinion, this would kill them. This would wipe the skating rink out.”

The board also approved a site plan by Mount St. Mary’s Hospital & Health Center for a 3,200-square-foot addition to its current day care center on the hospital campus at 5310 Military Road, Lewiston.

email:nfischer@buffnews.com
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HUD’s planned changes to block grant policy would hurt Niagara Falls

April 21, 2014, 7:59 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – The City of Niagara Falls is in danger of losing out on $2.2 million in guaranteed money used for things like demolition of blighted housing and youth programs.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is looking to alter a policy that would affect the dispersal of Community Development Block Grant funds to cities like the Falls, whose population has recently dropped below 50,000.

The agency is talking about ending a practice of grandfathering in municipalities that dip below that population threshold, a measure Sen. Charles E. Schumer said Monday he plans to oppose.

If the policy of grandfathering municipalities is dropped – a policy that has been going on since the program started 40 years ago, Schumer said – the Falls and communities like it would have to compete for the block grant funding instead of being entitled to it.

That would mean problems for municipalities, including the Falls, Schumer said, which leverage the funds to obtain additional money for the very same programs and projects. It would also remove the ability to plan for the funding, if it wasn’t automatic every year, the senator said.

“How can a city that’s been using its CDBG money so well under this mayor and this Council’s leadership have the rug pulled out from under them in the middle, when there’s huge bang for the buck?” Schumer, D-N.Y., said during an afternoon news conference outside a former fire hall at 3721 Highland Ave. The property is in the process of becoming the headquarters for the Isaiah 61 Project, a program that provides job training in the construction trades. The planned rehabilitation of the fire hall is one of the projects receiving funding through block grant funds this year.

The Falls’ population has fallen to 49,722, according to a 2012 estimate by the Census Bureau. The City of Troy has recently seen its population dip below 50,000, but it has been grandfathered in and still receives automatic block grant funding, said Schumer, who is a member of the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees block grant funding.

In the last year, the city has demolished more than 50 blighted structures using block grant funding and also has funded home renovation programs and youth programs, said Seth Piccirillo, head of the city’s Department of Community Development.

Municipal leaders like block grant funding because they have flexibility in how it is spent, said Schumer.

“They can look at a problem and plug a hole in it,” he said.

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster called federal block grants “one of the greatest tools for neighborhood revitalization” at the city’s disposal.

Losing the funds “would be a big, big problem for us here in the City of Niagara Falls,” Dyster said.

email: abesecker@buffnews.com
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Former Lewiston Pub Fest gets a new name and a new venue

April 22, 2014, 6:36 am
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LEWISTON – The Lewiston Pub Fest, which has raised over $80,000 for Variety Kids Telethon, is getting a new location and a new name this summer.

The festival had been held for the past five years in Academy Park, but has been renamed Latitude 43 Music Festival, named for the global latitude marker of its new home, the much larger Artpark in Lewiston.

It will welcome 14 bands, nine local and five national headliners during the three-day concert from June 13 to 15, according to music festival general chairman and co-owner of the Griffon Gastro Pub Kenneth Scibetta. He announced the upcoming music festival on Monday at a news conference at his new restaurant in Niagara Falls.

The three-day event will offer blues on Friday, rock on Saturday and country music on Sunday. Scibetta said Artpark is donating the use of the amphitheater for the fundraiser.

Scibetta that Academy Park could accommodate 1,000 people, while at Artpark, they can open the festival to 10,000 people.

“This will be our sixth year. We went from a one-day festival on a cold Sunday, October 16, a six-hour performance with six bands, and raised $6,000. You fast-forward five years and we are at Artpark with 14 bands, five of which are national,” he said.

He said they’ve raised over $80,000 in the past five years and hope to double that this year with the line up they have. Bands are donating their services, he said.

The festival will be open to all ages and is free for children 12 and under. Tickets are $7 in advance for each day or $15 for a three-day pass. Tickets the week of the show are $10 per day or $20 for a three-day pass. Parking is free.

“We are appealing to a bigger crowd and trying to make everybody happy,” Scibetta said of the different music styles each day.

Food vendors will include the Griffon Gastropub, Melloni’s, Casa Antica, Town Hall and Favorites.

Gates open at 5 p.m. June 13 on blues night, which features Joe Louis Walker and headliner Kelly Hunt. Gates open at 1 p.m. on June 14 for rock day, featuring Tragically Hip-cover band Strictly Hip, and headliner The Machine – a Pink Floyd tribute band and its “Interstellar Light Show.” On June 15, the music will be country all day with gates opening at noon. Featured are Nashville recording artists Lyndsey Highlander and headliner Eric Paslay.

A list of all the bands and ticket information is available at www.L43musicfest.com. Tickets will go on sale on Friday at tickets.com or Artpark.net or by phone at 754-4375 or 800-223-6000, or in person at the Artpark box office. Box seating is also available.

In addition to the Variety Kids Telethon of Buffalo, the music festival will also raise funds for New York State Parks and Lewiston #1 Volunteer Fire Company.

email: nfischer@buffnews.com
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State landscape panel honors Clarence firm for Lockport community garden design

April 22, 2014, 6:35 am
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LOCKPORT – Richard M. Tedeschi, owner of Jacrist Gardening Services, the Clarence firm that helped design the community garden on Washburn Street in Lockport last year, said last week that the firm’s efforts have brought it a statewide award.

Tedeschi said the New York State Nursery and Landscape Association has awarded Jacrist its Environmental Beautification Award for 2014 in the category of commercial properties under $25,000 for the Washburn Street garden.

Tedeschi also is the executive director of Imagine Community Gardens, a not-for-profit organization that converted three vacant lots into a vegetable garden.

The 25 gardening plots each produced at least $300 worth of produce.

“What an absolute honor it is to have had a part in transforming these city lots into a site residents can be proud of and that has had such a positive impact in their lives and the surrounding neighborhood,” Tedeschi said.

The city has approved a second garden for this year at Ontario and Hawley streets.
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Moist air over cold lake brings fog, rain

April 22, 2014, 7:43 am
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A cold front stretching from Toronto to Indianapolis is slowly moving our way, pushing moist air over a cold lake. And that, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Kelly, is what’s causing this morning’s fog and rain.

It’s about 50 degrees mid-morning so far and the temperatures are set to drop into the 40s in the afternoon – and into the 30s by night time. The fog should taper off by early afternoon but showers are expected to continue on and off.

Rain is expected overnight tonight and there’s a chance a few snowflakes will get mixed in around sunrise Wednesday in the Buffalo area. In the higher elevations in Southern Erie and Wyoming counties, there’s the possibility of up to an inch of snow.

However, whatever falls won’t stick around long. In those higher elevation areas, temperatures should rise into the 40s during the day Wednesday. In Buffalo, it should get to about 50.
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Lake Effect takes the freezie pop gourmet

April 22, 2014, 7:56 am
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Lake Effect Ice Cream has taken the next step in freezie-pops with adventurous handcrafted beauties across the spectrum. The list of a dozen flavors includes double-double coffee, a ruby red grapefruit number called Pamplemousse, and a tart lemon-lime number dubbed Flux Capacitor. There’s even a healthy smoothie version called Power Pop, with blueberries, peaches, coconut milk, yogurt, local honey and spinach.

“I’m so excited about these freezie pops I can’t even tell you,” said Jason Wulf, one of the schoolteachers who moonlight as premium ice cream kingpins in Lockport.

He’s serious. Extensive research led Wulf and Lake Effect partner Erik Bernardi to the “ice candy” sold in Filipino markets.

As he wrote on Facebook: “There was once a young boy who was a very active kid. He would run around during the summer, seemingly defying the ever present threat of dehydration. But this boy had a secret, a portable power source. Apart from the occasional rest stop at the local video arcade to cool down, this secret item was his only fuel.

“This small tube of rocket fuel is known to most as the freezie pop.

“We, at Lake Effect, are resurrecting the freezie pop and elevating it to new heights. We conducted extensive research and found a freezie pop container that has rounded edges (no more cutting the corners of your mouth on the sharp edges).”

Since the pops are made by hand in small batches, expect Lake Effect to switch up the flavors often.

They’re $2.50, and available at only the Lockport ice cream parlor and Lake Effect headquarters, 79 Canal St., 201-1643.



email: agalarneau@buffnews.com
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Five former Buffalo Jills sue team over low pay

April 22, 2014, 9:38 am
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Five former Buffalo Jills cheerleaders today sued the Buffalo Bills, alleging the team has exploited them by failing to pay them in accordance with New York State’s minimum wage laws.

The suit filed in State Supreme Court in Buffalo also names as defendants Stejon Productions Corp., which currently manages the Jills, and Citadel Communications Co. (97 Rock), the Jills’ former manager.

It alleges the defendants violated numerous provisions of state labor law by failing to pay them the mandatory minimum wage of $8 an hour for their extensive work on game day and at various community events throughout the year.

The lawsuit says that based on game performances, practices, rehearsals and appearances, each individual Jill provides approximately 20 hours of unpaid labor per week for the Bills and the Jills’ managers, or about 840 hours of unpaid work per woman, per year, which amounts to considerably less than $8 an hour.

The five former Jills were paid amounts ranging from as little as $105 to as much as $1,800 a year, according to the suit.

One of the plaintiffs said that in addition to working hundreds of unpaid hours, she and her fellow Jills were subject to a strict set of rules implemented by the Bills and the Jills’ managers. “The team told us how to walk, talk, dress, speak and behave, both at work and on our own time,” Maria P. said.

The plaintiffs are identified by only their first name and the initial of their last name, based on the Bills’ policy of protecting their privacy, health and safety.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Jills were forced to endure degrading treatment as part of their mandatory participation in events such as the annual Jills Golf Tournament and the Swimsuit Calendar Release Party. At both events, they were required to wear bikinis and were subjected to degrading comments by some of those attending the events, according to the legal papers.

The suit further alleges that the former cheerleaders were subjected to the “jiggle test” by their employers to make sure their bodies were trim.

“So many of us dreamed of being Buffalo Jills since we were little girls,” said plaintiff Alyssa U. “When I made the team, I thought I was starting the best chapter of my life. I soon realized it wasn’t a dream come true at all, but a nightmare.

“We were the laughingstock of NFL cheerleaders,” she added. “We deserve to be compensated just like everyone else. This has gone on far too long. It’s time we took a stand for what’s right.”

The legal action, filed by attorney Sean E. Cooney of the Buffalo law firm of Dolce Panepinto, comes on the heels of similar lawsuits filed by cheerleaders for the Oakland Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals against their respective teams.

“All employers in New York State are subject to these laws,” Cooney said. “The recent decision by the Bills and other NFL teams to pay their cheerleaders the minimum wage is evidence that the team’s past pay practices were illegal.”

email: jstaas@buffnews.com
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Two men rob 7-Eleven, may have threatened with paint ball gun

April 22, 2014, 11:23 am
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Police also responded to a robbery at a 7­-Eleven, 2824 Pine Ave., at about 11:48 p.m. Monday.

The store clerk said two black males – one very thin, about six-foot tall, wearing a blue bandanna, and another about five-foot-eight wearing dark clothing – entered the store and demanded cash from the register. The taller man displayed a pistol, which the clerk said may have been a paint ball gun.

The clerk told the men that he had recently deposited most of the cash and only had about $25 or less in the drawer. The suspects took the cash register drawer and fled.
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Woman charged in stabbing and robbery at Niagara Falls convenience store

April 22, 2014, 11:25 am
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NIAGARA FALLS – The owner of the Merry Mart convenience store survived a butcher knife attack in which the assailant left blood-smeared cash as she fled the shop Monday night.

Police caught the suspect in the attack, Jolene A. Hill, 27, of Buffalo Avenue, shortly after the incident at Portage Road and Niagara Street.

Authorities said Hill walked into the store on 19th Street at 8:40 p.m. armed with a butcher knife.

Hill allegedly ordered store owner, Wael Rizek, 42, of Grand Island and a female clerk into a back storage area and threatened them with a long butcher knife.

Police said Hill stabbed Rizek in the stomach while demanding money. Hill walked the clerk back out into the store and over to the cash register in the store. In the meantime, Rizek escaped from the storage room.

During the robbery, a mother was in the store with her four-year-old son. She later told police she saw two women – including, authorities said, Hill – emptying the cash register. She yelled for them to stop. The customer was unaware of the knife which Hill had hidden behind her back when she walked back into the store from the back room.

The customer tried to stop Hill from fleeing the store, but Hill instead ran into the child as she fled, dropping most, if not all of the cash she had taken.

Rizek told police he saw Hill flee, heading west on Welch Avenue.

Officers James Woomer and Richard Fleck caught Hill at Portage Road and Niagara Street and put her into custody.

Police found blood on the door handle as well as blood-covered money in the doorway, police said.

Rizek was taken by ambulance to the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center emergency room. His current condition is unknown.

Hill was arraigned this morning in Niagara Falls City Court on charges of first and second-degree robbery, second-degree assault with a weapon, second-degree menacing, fourth-degree possession of a weapon and petit larceny. She was remanded without bail to Niagara County Jail. A return court date was set for Friday.

email: nfischer@buffnews.com
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Hundreds without power in Cambria after van hits transformer pole

April 22, 2014, 11:54 am
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CAMBRIA – Hundreds were without power after a Grand Island man drove off the road at 9:43 a.m. today and struck two power poles, including one with major transformer, at 3511 Ridge Road/Route 104, just past Church Road

Robert “Rob” Domagala, 23, was charged with speed not reasonable and prudent and failure to keep right after he No injuries were reported and no other vehicle was involved.

Power was out in an area stretching for several miles along Ridge Road, including a light that was out at Ridge Road and Route 425.

Domagala was eastbound when he went off the north side of the road, according to Niagara County Sheriff Capt. Bruce Elliott.

Elliott said Domagala, who was driving a 2007 Chevy work van owned by his employer, Standard Auto Wreckers of Niagara Falls, was not texting or driving under the influence, but appeared to have been going “way too fast” for the rainy conditions. Domagala told deputies that the wet road caused his vehicle to hydroplane.

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$19.2 million in state budget for state parks in Western New York

April 22, 2014, 12:48 pm
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Eight projects in state parks in Western New York will receive $19.2 million in the new state budget, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office announced today, though much of the work has been previously announced.

The largest award of funding will go to Niagara Falls State Park for continued improvements, including upgrades to Terrapin Point and a new station for State Parks Police.

The budget also includes $5 million for the new state park on the Buffalo waterfront, tentatively named Buffalo Harbor State Park. It will be the first state park in the city.

Other projects receiving funding are the replacement of a swimming pool bathhouse at Fort Niagara State Park ($2 million); campsite rehabilitation at Allegany State Park ($1 million); a new sewer system connection at Long Point State Park ($1 million); roadway repair and resurfacing at Allegany State Park ($500,000); roadway repairs at DeVeaux Wood State Park ($500,000); and masonry repair work at Old Fort Niagara ($200,000).
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Troopers arrest Lockport man, 18, on sex charges

April 26, 2014, 3:08 pm
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LOCKPORT – State police announced Saturday that they arrested a Lockport man Thursday and charged him with sex crimes.

Jared A. Person, 18, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual act, sexual misconduct, fourth-degree criminal mischief and second-degree harassment. Person is accused of forcible sexual contact with a person younger than 17 in Newfane, in the wake of an April 2 call to the state child abuse hotline.

The criminal mischief and harassment charges are linked to o a March 27 fight between Person and another man in the hallway of an apartment building on Lincoln Place in the Town of Lockport, in which a wall was damaged, police added
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Probe expected in aftermath of Wilson barn fire

April 26, 2014, 3:30 pm
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WILSON – State environmental conservation officers are expected to investigate the case of a Wilson man who accused of setting fire to a dilapidated barn on his property Saturday – a violation of open burn laws, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies who responded to 2716 Wilson-Cambria Road at 9:23 a.m. for reports of a barn engulfed in flames said the 38-year-old homeowner told them that he had set fire to the structure to facilitate land clearing.

Wilson and South Wilson fire companies fought the blaze. No immediate charges were lodged.
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Pendleton man charged with DWI in hit-and-run crash after visit to bar

April 26, 2014, 4:30 pm
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PENDLETON – Niagara County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Beach Ridge Road man at his home late Friday shortly after a crash at the parking lot of a nearby bar.

Michael J. Dio, no age given, is charged with driving while intoxicated, failure to stop from a driveway, failure to keep right and leaving the scene of a property-damage accident.

Dio, deputies said, was driving a pickup that hit a car driving east on Beach Ridge Road about 11:28 p.m. At the time, he was pulling out of the tavern into his lane, striking his car, deputies added.
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Passenger injured in Niagara Falls DWI crash

April 26, 2014, 4:38 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – An 81st Street man was charged with driving while intoxicated early Friday after crashing into a tree near his home, police said.

James J. Drozek, 25, also was charged with driving while ability impaired and failure to keep right. A passenger suffered minor injuries in the crash about 1:53 a.m., police said.
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Investigation opened in theft of $20,475 in checks from Sanborn business

April 26, 2014, 4:46 pm
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SANBORN – Niagara County sheriff’s investigators are probing the theft of $20,475 in checks from Eldan Inc., on Inducon Corporate Drive East.

Two checks were stolen between April 3 and 9, sheriff’s deputies said. Investigators said a similar theft occurred there in February 2013. Further information was unavailable.
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Third Lockport lawsuit against fire union pertains to health coverage

April 26, 2014, 5:05 pm
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LOCKPORT – For the third time this year, the city has taken its firefighters union to State Supreme Court, this time attempting to block a union grievance over health insurance.

The Lockport Professional Fire Fighters Association contends that the seven firefighters who were laid off at the beginning of this year lost their health coverage before they lost their jobs. The city denies it.

The laid-off seven worked until Friday, Jan. 3, the last day of the pay period, but union president Kevin W. Pratt contends the city cut off health coverage for the firefighters and their families as of Dec. 31.

“This is another one of those nuisance grievances that they file. It’s too bad,” said David E. Blackley, deputy corporation counsel in charge of labor issues. “We can’t give health insurance to people who don’t work for us.” Pratt doesn’t question that, but he said the timing didn’t match up.

“The grievance is not to give laid-off employees health care,” Pratt said. “The grievance was filed because there were federal laws that were broken. Their layoff notice stated they had full pay and benefits to the end of the work day Jan. 3. … They canceled their insurance while they were still employed by the city.”

He said the men received certified letters from the city Jan. 3 that told them their health coverage ended at the end of 2013.

“Prior to their layoffs, they had made doctors’ appointments, eyeglass appointments to take care of their kids and their wives and their families,” Pratt said. “They were taking their kids to the doctor Jan. 2, Jan. 3, and then they find out after the fact that the city already canceled their health care.”

He said that violated federal laws on notification.

Blackley insisted the seven firefighters were covered until their work ended. His lawsuit noted that none of the seven applied for COBRA, the worker-paid health coverage offered to people who lose their jobs.

The city’s lawsuit asks for a declaration barring the union from obtaining binding state arbitration on the issue.

It’s the same legal tactic the city has used in attempting to block a union grievance over a change in the eligibility rules to take the civil service exam for fire chief, and another grievance over whose job it should be to use garage door openers at the firehouse.

The city won a temporary stay of arbitration in the fire chief case. A hearing on how the change in rules occurred has been scheduled for Aug. 7 before Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr.

Kloch also has been assigned the new health insurance case, to be argued May 22. Justice Ralph A. Boniello III has the garage door case, set for May 7.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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‘Amazing shopkeepers’ beckon as Lakeview Village prepares for season that’s uniquely Olcott

April 27, 2014, 12:12 pm
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OLCOTT – A string of eclectic specialty shops draws visitors to the boardwalk overlooking Lake Ontario in this tiny hamlet, while the lure of the nearby carousel and other old-time rides, special events, an expansive park and the promise of gorgeous sunsets can keep a family busy for an entire day.

Business owners, preparing to open the Lakeview Village Shoppes for the season at noon Saturday, are coordinating their efforts to capitalize on special events planned for the area this year – and coming up with some ideas of their own, too – to give visitors even more reasons to extend their visits to Olcott.

“Every weekend, there’s something going on here,” said Susan Neidlinger, a member of the Newfane Town Board, who acts as the town’s liaison to the shops. “The shop owners are coordinating special events to go along with these plans, at the Olcott Beach Carousel Park, at Krull Park, at the marina or along with town-sponsored concerts at the gazebo.

“I think they’re taking a look at what else is happening outside of their shops and trying to make visiting Olcott a unique experience.”

Neidlinger added, “It all adds to the atmosphere. It makes a nice day trip for a family. The family can go to the Carousel Park; mom and the girls can go shopping; and dad and the kids can play ball at the park. They can eat here and stay around and listen to a concert in the evening.”

The town built these 17 colorfully painted shops two decades ago and continues to own them, renting them to shopkeepers for $235 per month, while paying all utilities and maintaining their upkeep. The shopkeepers carry their own insurance.

“We have some amazing shopkeepers,” Neidlinger said. “The quality of their work is superb.”

Janet Vacanti, who owns Vacanti Arts with her husband, Sam, said, “We love everything we carry in our shop. These are things we would have in our own home, and when people come in here and love it, too, that makes us feel even better.”

The Vacantis rent a double space, offering handmade items ranging from artwork to jewelry, with a “very large supply of gems, minerals and fossils,” Janet Vacanti said.

She designs and makes jewelry from recycled materials, while her husband creates photo collages, and they both produce mixed media work. They also carry the work of other artists, as well as “free trade” items.

“The things we carry are not mass-produced somewhere,” she said. “If we don’t buy something directly from an artist, we make sure we get it from a free trade group so that the artists are paid a fair wage.”

Vacanti said visitors who have never been to Olcott or haven’t visited in a while “are so excited to discover Olcott.”

“This is such an affordable place to bring the family with young kids,” she said. “There’s a little bit of everything here.”

Rory Calabrese has been on the boardwalk for 19 years, and her mother, Scotty Johnson, was one of the shops’ founding members with her Nature’s Child, which offers gifts recycled from nature. Six years ago, they also opened the adjacent Sea Hag shop, offering recycled vintage and designer clothing and accessories.

“Our focus is recycled goods because it’s green,” Calabrese said.

“Any committed shop owner will tell you about our sunsets, the people strolling the boardwalk and having picnics here We’re an undiscovered jewel.”

“You can’t find this type of scene anywhere else in this area,” Calabrese added. “We’ve had people from all over the world visit here. They go to Niagara Falls and want something more rustic and authentic, and sometimes they luck out and find us.”

The arrangement has worked well for Calabrese, who brings her enterprising 12-year-old son, Robert Pucci, with her to work during the summers in Olcott, where he has a chance to sell his own items.

A couple of years ago, she said, he earned enough selling Silly Bandz to finance a trip to Disney World.

“Retail is fine, but it’s all about location, and we have prime space on this gorgeous boardwalk – it’s almost like a summer vacation working here,” Calabrese said.

Janet Vacanti concurred, adding, “You get to meet so many nice people here in this shop. We have a wonderful view of the beautiful lake, and we love what we sell. It’s a win-win-win situation.”

Neidlinger said the shops give people who might be thinking about launching a business a chance to try it for a season.

“This is a good litmus test for someone to see if they want to start a business,” Neidlinger said. “And if they find they like it here in the summer, they may want to open a year-round shop somewhere else in town.

“Some of these shop owners are retired, or some are not working other jobs. It’s a big commitment to be here, but it’s a good deal for them, too, because the rent is so low.”

Neidlinger said she filled the last of the shops in recent days. New this year are KM Treats Bakery, Up the Lake, and Oak Ridge Designs.

Newfane and Olcott host a number of special events throughout the year, from car shows to the Niagara Celtic Festival (Sept. 13-14).

The shops plan an “Eating Contest” at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, free flowers for all mothers on Mother’s Day and free apple dessert May 18 in recognition of Newfane’s Apple Blossom Festival. Looking ahead, Calabrese said, her shop will host a special art exhibit with 464 Gallery of Buffalo on Aug. 30.

Lakeview Shoppes will be open from noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays during the months of May, September and October.

The hours are extended from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, open daily from noon to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and from noon to 6 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays.

For information, visit www.facebook.com/lakeviewvillageshoppes.

email: niagaranews@buffnews.com
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Niagara County Real Estate Transactions

April 26, 2014, 8:41 pm
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CAMBRIA

• Willow Creek Lane, Keith R. Banas to Kathryn E. Kroening; Darryl G. Kroening, $174,000.

• Cambria Road, Kim Marie Wisor; Gerald Duane Wisor Jr. to David K. Rice, $172,500.

• Saunders Settlement Road, Susan Weir Tritto; Ronald J. Tritto to Shannon Lynch; Eric J. Zapalowski, $132,500.

HARTLAND

• County Line Road, Stillwater Land Co. to Panek Family, $300,000.

LEWISTON

• Marywood Drive, William F. Swalwell; Diane J. Swalwell to William H. Ellis, $155,500.

• School House Road, Brian Gadigian; Brian J. Gadigian to Wayne Forest Swanson; Susan Marie Swanson, $5,493.

LOCKPORT

• Cherry St., Tricia K. Denny to William J. Greiner; Cayle R. Petti, $97,500.

• Carolina Ave., Hugh Spedding; Joyce F. Linehan; Robert C. Linehan to Robert E. Reeb; Angela R. Reeb, $90,000.

• Walnut St., Garry J. Renna; Sheila A. Renna to Ashley J. Thompson, $65,000.

• Hillcrest Drive Extension & Glenwood Ave., Kathy A. Cranston; Kathryn A. Carlson; Clifford R. Carlson to David J. Carlson, $50,000.

• Lagrange St. & Harvey Ave., Roxanne Kipler; Thomas M. Peck to Double Eagle Ventures, $32,423.

NIAGARA FALLS

• 101st St., Kathryn E. Kroening; Kathryn E. Allen to Kim M. Wisor, $107,000.

• Parkway Condo, Unit 407, Cynthia Brodbeck to Carol Maura; John Maura, $60,500.

• Packard Road, Lloyd Haseley; Joy Gerardi-Haseley to Paul Poulos, $31,000.

• Welch Ave., Michael J. Prygon to Stanley R. Wills; Karen A. Wills, $27,400.

• 630 34th St., JHS Property Management Inc. to 5K Auto Sales Inc., $9,500.

NORTH TONAWANDA

• Westwood Drive, Samuel A. Incorvia to Carmela Randazzo, $158,500.

• 161 Doyle Drive, Timothy A. Holtz; Elizabeth A. Holtz to Judith M. Thomas, $138,000.

• 1267 & 1271 Parkview Drive, Katherine A. Habuda to Steven F. Kissel; Terri L. Kissel, $135,000.

• Robinson St., William F. McCarthy to Matthew Bille, $65,000.

• Oliver St., Michael Ahearn to Sahota International Limited, $30,000.

PENDLETON

• Creekbend Drive, Majestic Woods Development to Carrie A. Horn; Richard K. Horn Jr., $87,000.

PORTER

• Lockport-Youngstown Road, Duane R. Murray; Laurie J. Murray; Lorraine C. Keese to Lorelei M. Licata; Pasquale A. Licata, $139,000.

ROYALTON

• East Ave., Garry E. Sauls And Shirley A. Sauls; Shirley A. Sauls; Garry E. Sauls to Melanie K. Tetrault, $120,000.

• East Ave., Gary H. Waters to Windy L. Weaver, $78,900.

WHEATFIELD

• Williams Road & Lancelot Drive, Summit Op Llc to Summit Outlet Two Lp, $1,597,000.

• Plaza Drive & Williams Road, Oberlin Plaza One Llc to Summit Outlet Lp, $1,507,000.

• Williams Road, Oberlin Plaza Two Llc to Zoral Investments Inc; Summit Outlet Three Lp, $1,010,000.

• Lakewood Drive, Peter J. Pavlovich; Nicole A. Pavlovich to Christopher A. Debernardis, $295,000.
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Two former popes are canonized at the Vatican today

April 26, 2014, 9:04 pm
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The Catholic Church’s newest saint walked the streets of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, slept in a Kaisertown rectory and dined on soup and cabbage inside the home of a Cheektowaga couple.

During his epic 26-year tenure as pope, all of the world was a stage for St. John Paul II, who was canonized in Rome this morning.

He was the most traveled pope in history and addressed more people, in more places, than anyone else in recorded times.

He was especially beloved by many Catholics in this small corner of the globe, where a large and vital Polish-American population felt a strong kinship with the native of Wadowice, Poland.

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has had a parish in Lake View named after John Paul II since about the time he was beatified in 2011.

“I think everybody knew he was on the track to canonization and sainthood. I don’t think three years ago any of us imagined it would be this quick,” said the Rev. Peter J. Karalus, pastor of what was Blessed John Paul II Parish and is now St. John Paul II Parish.

Also canonized in today’s ceremony at the Vatican was St. John XXIII, the pope from 1958 to 1963 who launched the Second Vatican Council ushering in dramatic changes in the church.

The parish, which was formed from the merger of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Vincent de Paul parishes, has been celebrating the canonization all weekend, culminating with a special Mass at noon today.

This canonization is highly unusual both for the speed at which it came about and because it involves a figure of world renown, as opposed to the many saints John Paul II canonized that were known only locally.

“There’s a universal ownership of John Paul II. Everyone had an association with him,” said Karalus.

Most Catholic churches in the Buffalo Diocese are named after saints, all but a handful of whom lived hundreds of years ago. No one knows what they looked or sounded like, and few people even know much about what they did to deserve saint status.

John Paul II died just nine years ago. During his lifetime, his every move seemed to be chronicled, as well as criticized or praised.

“We’re really blessed to be under his patronage and to be celebrating his canonization. Here is someone who a good majority of our congregation remembers being alive,” said Karalus. “We’ve heard his voice. We’ve experienced his ministry. We were witness to his holiness, to his saintliness, to his faith.”

Fewer people remember the papacy of St. John XXIII, the pope from 1958 to 1963 who also was canonized this morning.

But John XXIII’s calling of the historic Second Vatican Council resulted in dramatic changes felt by all Catholics over the past 50 years, including the move in the U.S. to Masses spoken in English.

Elected at age 76, John XXIII was expected by many to be a sort of placeholder between Pius XII, his predecessor who had served 19 years, and the next pontiff.

Instead, less than a year after his election, he boldly announced plans for an Ecumenical Council, the first in the church since 1869.

“Everyone thought he was going to be the rocking-chair pope. He turned out to be the pope who rocked the church,” said the Rev. Kevin O’Neill, who was a seminarian at Christ the King Seminary in Olean when John XXIII was elected.

Dolly Ruggiero of Cheektowaga is grateful that John XXIII had the gumption to call together 2,500 bishops and insist that they discuss ways to breathe fresh air into the church.

Ruggiero, 80, remembers when priests celebrated Masses in Latin, with their backs turned to the congregation.

“All of a sudden, I was seeing a priest’s face, and he would walk down and talk to you and let you feel you were truly part of it,” said Ruggiero.

The new way of celebrating Masses inspired Ruggiero to teach religious education.

“That’s when I got the calling,” she said. “And I’m still doing it.”

Ruggiero is a member of St. John XXIII Parish in West Seneca, which was formed in 2008 from the merger of St. William and St. Bonaventure parishes, and also celebrated the canonization with a variety of events this weekend, including Mass today.

Ruggiero was fond of John Paul II, as well, and she said the canonizations were special to her because they involved contemporaries.

“They were two very popular men. We can almost say like we knew them and everything about them, and we did not know that about the other saints,” she said.

Catholics believe they can call upon their favorite saints during prayers to intercede with God on their behalf. John Paul II and John XXIII come to Ruggiero’s mind when she prays.

Bishop Emeritus Edward U. Kmiec is one of the few people in the world who were around both saints.

Kmiec stood in St. Peter’s Square when the former Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli of northern Italy was introduced as the pontiff Oct. 28, 1958, and he attended John XXIII’s installation Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica.

Later on, while he was still studying for the priesthood at the North American College in Rome, Kmiec participated as a miter bearer in several papal Masses.

Kmiec never exchanged words with John XXIII, but he recalled a special moment observing the pope prior to a Mass inside the basilica.

There always was plenty of commotion and pageantry associated with a papal Mass, and at that time, the pope processed into the basilica on a large chair carried by a team of men.

John XXIII, who was fully vested in his papal garb, sat down in the chair, folded his hands and bowed his head in prayer, even as a bevy of activity swirled all around him.

“He was going to say Mass, and he was in spiritual preparation for it,” said Kmiec. “As a young man, I was very impressed by that.”

Like many Western New Yorkers, Kmiec enjoyed even closer links with John Paul II, the man who first appointed Kmiec as an auxiliary bishop in Trenton, N.J., then sent him to be bishop of the Diocese of Nashville and finally to Buffalo in 2004.

Kmiec, who will be participating in today’s Mass at St. John Paul II Parish, expressed awe just thinking about it.

“Here you have a person who you’ve had an encounter with, and he’s a canonized saint,” he said.

During their first meeting, Kmiec told John Paul II that his mother was born in the Diocese of Krakow, not far from where the pontiff grew up.

“He put his arm around me and he said, ‘Well, we’re neighbors,’ ” recalled Kmiec, who chuckled at the memory.

John Paul II’s connections to Western New York extend all the way back to 1938, when as a young man named Karol Wojtyla he attended college in Krakow with a Felician nun from Buffalo, Sister Tyburcia Szymczak.

They grew wider and deeper from there, including visits to Buffalo in 1969 and 1976 when he was a cardinal.

Anne Szczesny of Cheektowaga remembered the second visit well, because the cardinal came to her home on Alaska Street for supper.

Szczesny’s father, Marian Strzelczyk, who lived upstairs from her and her husband, Leonard, had called and asked if she could prepare something for Monsignor Edward L. Kazmierczak, the pastor of St. Casimir’s Church in Kaisertown, and his guest, the Polish cardinal.

Strzelczyk had been a prominent lawyer and judge in Poland, and he was well-known in Buffalo’s Polish community, so he and the Szczesnys often hosted dignitaries in their home.

The Szczesnys said they don’t remember exactly what they served, but it probably included homemade soup, cabbage and a pork tenderloin.

Visitors were so regular, it didn’t seem like such a big deal at the time.

Wojtyla and Strzelczyk talked about politics and the communist rule that forced the lawyer to leave Poland, said Anne Szczesny.

The lawyer and the cardinal were born within a few miles of each other, and they also discussed restaurants they had frequented in Poland.

The conversation was aided by sips of cognac.

“I know we laughed a lot, and he seemed like a really regular fellow,” said Anne Szczesny, a retired teacher.

Had she known Wojtyla was destined to be pope, Szczesny said she probably would have taken at least a photograph of the occasion.

As it turned out, the cardinal’s 1976 visit to the U.S. raised his international profile, helping set the stage for his unlikely election in 1978 as the first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years.

John Paul II never visited Buffalo during his papacy, but Western New York and its residents always seemed to be close to the pontiff.

In 1996, he named Monsignor Ronald P. Sciera, a longtime Buffalo priest, as a member of the board of the John Paul II Foundation, a position that brought the priest regularly to Rome for foundation meetings and gatherings with the pope.

The pope met with members of the area’s Hope for Tomorrow Foundation, including Dr. Jeffrey Meilman, an Amherst plastic surgeon, and Dr. Amar Atwal, a local eye surgeon, who performed free operations on Polish children and elderly patients.

“You knew he was special. You knew you were in the presence of someone of strong moral character,” said Richard Solecki, the former Cheektowaga councilman who met the pope on more than a dozen occasions.

Most dramatically, Blasdell resident Ann Odre was struck by a bullet intended for the pope during Mehmet Ali Agca’s assassination attempt in 1981.

Both the pontiff and Odre were seriously wounded, and their injuries forever bonded them.

They met on three occasions after that fateful day in St. Peter’s Square, greeting each other with hugs and chatting in Polish.

Odre, who died in 1997, had recalled the ordeal in an interview with The Buffalo News seven months after the shooting: “I was having so much fun standing on a chair watching for the pope. But then I could hear the whizzing of the bullet and didn’t know if it was the bullet or what that hit me. But it felt like a hot poker in my body.”

In 1987, Western New Yorkers were still in shock over the murders of two priests, the Rev. A. Joseph Bissonette and Monsignor David P. Herlihy, when another Buffalo priest, the Rev. David M. Gallivan, was at the Vatican as part of a delegation of Catholic human service agencies focused on aid in Latin America.

Herlihy was Gallivan’s uncle, and Gallivan remembered rehearsing in his mind what he planned to say to John Paul II as he waited in line with bishops and other priests.

Gallivan knew he would have only a few seconds of the pope’s attention, and he wanted to ask him to pray for Herlihy and the family members who were grieving his loss.

The pope seemed a bit taken aback when Gallivan mentioned that his uncle was a priest who was murdered.

“Just then, he lifted his hand, and he said, ‘There were two,’ ” recalled Gallivan, who was stunned that the pontiff knew about what had happened in Buffalo.

A photographer caught that very moment on film. Gallivan keeps the photograph in a frame at his home.

With or without the picture, though, Gallivan’s memory of the meeting is still vivid 27 years later.

“Then I said, ‘I would just ask you to pray for my uncle, and for my mother and my aunt – they’re taking it very hard,” said Gallivan.

The pope’s response was unusual.

“He said, ‘I will not pray with your family for your uncle. I will pray to your uncle for your family,’ ” John Paul II said, according to Gallivan.

The whole conversation was probably no more than a minute, but Gallivan remembers afterward being gently teased by an archbishop from the Dominican Republic about the lengthy amount of time Gallivan was able to spend with the pope, while some prelates that day exchanged just a few seconds of pleasantries with him.

“The minute of closeness meant a lot to me. It still does,” said Gallivan.

email: jtokasz@buffnews.com
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