City Seeks to Block Job Creation, Calls It 'Economic Development': Dyster Lays Low in Made-up Merani Hotels 'Controversy' (Analysis‪)‬

In what seems to be a continuing pattern of Niagara Falls city government attempting to meddle in any sort of downtown development that does not directly benefit the Maid of the Mist Corp., Economic Development Director Peter Kay last week tried to put the kibosh on a project that will see private investment totaling more than $26 million and provide work for hundreds of down-and-out city residents. Merani Hospitality, the Canadian company that owns the Holiday Inn on Buffalo Avenue, asked for and received tax breaks from the county Industrial Development Agency in order to purchase John Prozeralik's former Fallside Hotel and Conference Center, at 401 Buffalo Ave. downtown, and the Inn on the River, at 7001 Buffalo Ave. near the Grand Island Bridge.