Nov 20
2025
Niagara Falls mayor admits ‘ignoring’ media requests for info
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Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino.
In his latest update from inside Niagara Falls City Hall, Mayor Robert Restaino once again donned his newspaper publisher’s cap to tell the Niagara Gazette what stories it should be printing and to tell residents his administration is not refusing the local news outlet’s requests for public information but is rather just ignoring them.
Restaino, a former city court judge removed from the bench for misconduct, justified this flouting of state Freedom of Information law by citing his frustration with the newspaper’s choice of stories.
In a message published on his office’s YouTube channel, Restaino accused the newspaper of publishing “silly articles” and creating a “nefarious conspiracy” regarding the use of public funds to attend to what he described as public property.
His comments follow a series of recent articles published by the Gazette focusing on the city council’s July approval, at Restaino’s request, of a $20,000 contract change order that covered the cost of the removal of trees from in front of the mayor’s house, a neighbor’s house and a home formerly owned by the city engineer who was in charge of overseeing the city’s tree removal contract with a private vendor, M2 Tree Services, Inc. of Westfield, NY.
The mayor described his administration as “the unfortunate recipients or victims” of a local newspaper that he said “simply doesn’t want to present the best of our city.”
“It’s amazing how adults can be so childish in what they do,” Restaino said. “I know that there are many people in the city who see through all of that and I thank you for your clarity of thinking.”
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomRestaino lamented what he described as a lack of coverage by the Gazette of what he said was $30 million in public- and private-sector investment in north Main Street.
The Gazette has covered recent investment news involving the long-challenged commercial district, including Restaino’s October announcement about the planned redevelopment of the Jenss building and three other nearby properties.
“Think about that,” Restaino said. “Over $30 million is going to be invested in a part of the city … That should be a story every day.”
Restaino also took umbrage at what he suggested was a lack of print space dedicated to his administration’s proposed 2026 municipal budget, which calls for a 1.38 percent increase in property taxes. The newspaper covered the mayor’s formal budget announcement in its Nov. 3 edition. However, Restaino suggested it should have been more widely supported and publicized, considering many Western New York municipalities have exceeded the state’s 2 percent cap on property tax increases, in some instances raising their levies by 5 or 6 percent.
“Not much of a news story, right?” Restaino said of his administration’s proposed budget. “I would think it would be when you think about some of these areas that are facing double-digit property tax increases. Yet, again, I guess it’s not just important, it’s just not important for the local media to write about these things.”
In his message, Restaino also suggested the newspaper and members of its staff have refused to “honor” an “obligation” to report on things that the mayor and members of his administration think are important, which he said has resulted in the administration “ignoring” requests for information from the Gazette.
“We’re not refusing. We’re just ignoring,” he said.
“We’re ignoring for those reasons, for those reasons I’m explaining to you. We’re ignoring the fact that you simply don’t want to report those things that we think are important information for residents to know about their city. Instead, you like to kind of make those stories up as you go. There’s no refusal, it’s just we’ve chosen to put the information in the right space and ignore what is obviously an outlet that is trying to make as much trouble as they can.”
It’s not the first time the mayor has used part of his weekly online address to criticize the Gazette and its coverage.
In October, he accused the newspaper of “irresponsible” and “reckless” reporting on what some have dubbed “TreeGate” — the tree removal contract change order.
At the time, Restaino’s administration was facing criticism from Councilman Donta Myles over its failure to provide more detailed information on the change order, including the addresses where the trees were removed.
Restaino insisted his administration was working on compiling more information in response to a Sept. 29 request for documentation from Myles and a formal Freedom of Information Law request that was later filed by the Gazette.
The Gazette reported earlier this month that documents released by Restaino’s administration in response to the newspaper’s FOIL request showed City Engineer Robert Buzzelli included his own property, as well as the mayor’s and the mayor’s neighbor’s house, on a list of four addresses where trees were targeted for removal under the $20,000 contract change order.
The documents also show the work was done nearly two months before the City Council approved the change order and that Buzzelli coordinated the dates — May 6 and May 7 — when the tree removal work would be performed and received written updates from the contractor as the work progressed.
The documents showed cost estimates covered tree removal, stump grinding and topsoil and grass seed for all four locations.
