We Cannot Accept What Has Happened to Niagara Falls, New York
Let’s be honest for a moment: what is actually happening in Niagara Falls?
Walk the city and you feel it immediately — dark windows, empty storefronts, streets quieter than they should be. Pine Avenue isn’t “struggling.” It’s flatlining.
I have a friend who’s a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. I told him to visit the State Park, because I love it — because it’s still magnificent. Later, he called me and asked the same question everyone eventually asks:
“What happened to this place?”
Then he said something that made my heart sink. In his words, the City of Niagara Falls is a national embarrassment.
I didn’t argue.
Niagara Falls is a cash machine — that gets robbed every day.
We are one of the most visited places on Earth. More people come here every year than visit the Great Wall of China or the Pyramids. Billions of dollars flow through this city annually from tourism alone. Add to that hydroelectric power — literally billions more over time — plus a casino sitting in the heart of downtown generating massive revenue year after year.
That level of wealth should build a great city.
Instead, too much of it leaves. It gets routed elsewhere. It disappears into systems that don’t live here, don’t walk these streets, and don’t feel the consequences.
Niagara Falls isn’t broken.
It’s been robbed.
It’s been bled dry — of cash.
And the proof is right in front of us.
Because we’ve seen this city work before. Old Falls Street was alive. The Festival of Lights filled downtown. The Wintergarden wasn’t a memory — it was a gathering place. That wasn’t nostalgia. That was Niagara Falls functioning the way it naturally does when it’s allowed to thrive.
The Solution Is Simple: Keep Niagara’s Money in Niagara
Tourism generates hundreds of millions annually.
The casino produces hundreds of millions more every year.
The New York Power Authority’s hydroelectric assets here generate billions over time.
State tolls and bridge revenues flow through authorities and commissions with little public understanding of where that money ultimately goes.
Yet the city that actually creates this wealth is constantly told there’s “no more money” for basic reinvestment.
That is not an accident.
That is a system.
So the question is simple: where is the money going?
Some people will say, “We already give money to Niagara Falls.” But let’s be honest about the comparison. Just across the border, the OLG casino sends 100% of its profits directly to the Province of Ontario, which then reinvests aggressively in Niagara. Ontario is explicit about this. It expects a return — and it plans accordingly. Billions, possibly tens of billions over time, flow back into the region.
On our side, the money dissolves into layers of authorities, commissions, and opaque funding structures. Even revenues tied to parks, power, tolls, and waterfront development are diluted, redirected, or spread far from the neighborhoods that actually generate the value.
If Niagara Falls produces some of the largest revenue streams in New York State — and the city itself remains underfunded — then this isn’t mismanagement.
It’s extraction.
Niagara Falls, New York deserves the same seriousness, the same transparency, and the same guaranteed reinvestment our neighbors demand — and receive. This is not charity. It is a fair return on assets that belong here.
So How Do We Fix It?
The solution isn’t complicated. It just requires the courage to insist on it.
First: Lock In Local Reinvestment
We need leadership that will demand a guaranteed — not optional — share of tourism revenue, casino profits, hydroelectric revenue, and toll and bridge revenues locked into Niagara Falls every single year.
For infrastructure.
For housing.
For public safety.
For small businesses.
Not promises.
Not studies.
Actual dollars.
And let’s be clear: these revenue streams already exist — and they are enormous.
Second: Rebuild the Core of the City — Street by Street
Stop treating Niagara Falls like a postcard and start treating it like a place where people live.
Reconnect downtown to the park with clearly marked trails and attractions. Create a fund to seed new small businesses along those corridors and in historic buildings — potentially with public input on where investments go. This model has worked elsewhere.
Bring light, activity, and purpose back into the city — not darkness, vacancy, and neglect. Restore flow from the park into downtown. This is how cities come back.
Street by street.
Block by block.
No magic bullets.
No get-rich-quick schemes.
Just hard work and discipline.
Finally: End the Era of Excuses
Albany and outside interests have benefited from Niagara Falls for decades. It’s time they deliver results in return.
Niagara Falls doesn’t need charity.
It needs fairness.
Keep the money here — and this city will do what it has always done when allowed to breathe: