Mark Grisanti's News items

The Niagara Parks Commission will allow tightrope walker Nik Wallenda to walk a wire across the Niagara gorge – a 180-degree turn from its established policy.

Commissioners voted Wednesday to allow the stunt during their Wednesday morning meeting.

It’s an about face for the provincial agency responsible for managing the public property along the Niagara River. It goes against a decades-old policy banning stunters from Niagara Falls.

The parks commission has decided to allow one “qualified stutner” every 20 years.

“It’s a new day,” Niagara Parks Commission chairwoman Janice Thomoson said.

The commission will give Wallenda 45 days to negotiate the arrangements for the walk.

By Richard Baldwin

More than 450 people signed a petition over the Christmas weekend to restore $10 million in state aid to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority to preserve full Metro Bus service in Erie and Niagara counties.

State Sen. Mark J. Grisanti, R-Buffalo, said Tuesday he hopes to collect more than 1,000 signatures in coming weeks on his online petition.

The NFTA has announced plans to eliminate about 22 percent of its bus routes and to lay off about 20 of its 100 police officers in order to close a $14.5 million deficit in its budget for the year beginning next April 1.

Western New York lawmakers are hailing the recently approved UB 2020 plan as an initiative that will improve the city’s economy and quality of the university.

The grant, approved by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Amherst last Tuesday, is part of the SUNY 2020 Challenge Grant Program he signed in August. The plan awards $35 million in state funds to the University of Buffalo and begins the first phase of a larger $375 million strategic development that will relocate the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus in downtown Buffalo.

Ninety-six projects in Western New York will get state government cash or tax breaks after the region was selected Thursday, along with three other areas, in a new competitive program for economic development.

Officials picked through hundreds of funding applications and approved $100.3 million for the state's five westernmost counties for projects stretching from the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, which is getting nearly 10 percent of the money destined for the area, to a high-temperature lab at Alfred University.

NIAGARA FALLS - Members of the city’s tourism advisory board will get some help with their concerns about the Robert Moses Parkway from the Republican state senator representing Niagara Falls.Following a meeting Monday at City Hall, state Sen.

The 2011-12 Home Energy Assistance Program season is fast approaching. Please review the following information:

The HEAP mail out of “Early Access” applications to Households with Senior Citizen, Disabled, or other vulnerable members, commenced on 8/29/11. The mail out process will take 2-3 weeks. Please advise clients/constituents you speak with to expect an application, and to mail it in as soon as possible. HEAP funding is limited and allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Attached are application instructions. We are receiving inquiries about need for submitting documentation. Please advise your clients/constituents:

Governor Andrew Cuomo has now signed 17 bills into law that were sponsored by Senator Grisanti, including two more bills that were signed into law by Cuomo this week.

“ I am humbled to have 17 bills signed into law as a freshman senator,” said Sen. Grisanti. “I anticipate that all 23 of my sponsored bills will be signed into law by Governor Cuomo.”

Details of the new law are as follows:

* S. 3791-Requires the modification of the New York State Stormwater Management Design Manual by the department of environmental conservation Stormwater retention ponds present a potential hazard to public safety. The Stormwater Management Design Manual currently provides for discretionary implementation of safety features under the “Design Guidance.”

A flag-raising event was recently held in Niagara Square as a lead-up to the Puerto Rican Day Parade to be held Sept. 10.

The ninth annual parade, put on by the Puerto Rican Day Parade of Western New York Association, kicks off from the steps of City Hall at 1 p.m. that Saturday.

The parade will head north on Niagara Street to Porter Avenue where an after-parade event will be held — including amusement rides, music and food — from 3 to 9 p.m. in LaSalle Park.

Activities will continue in the park from noon to 7 p.m. Sept. 11.

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/downtown/article541457.ece

The USA Niagara Development District has expanded by more than 21 acres north of Main Street to include the Aquarium of Niagara and the city’s proposed Cultural District — a move that comes as the aquarium plans to double in size during the next five years.

The board of directors for USA Niagara Development Corp., the local arm of the state’s economic-development agency, voted unanimously Tuesday to expand the boundary at the urging of Assemblyman John D. Ceretto, R-Lewiston, and State Sen. Mark J. Grisanti, D-Buffalo.