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Town of Niagara seeks funds for 4th Ave. sidewalks

Fri, Oct 21st 2016 11:25 am

By Lauren Zaepfel

Tribune Editor

The Town of Niagara Town Board voted Tuesday to apply for a grant from the New York State Department of Transportation to construct sidewalks on Fourth Avenue. The estimated cost of the project is $670,933.

Fourth Avenue runs between Military and Porter roads, near Four Season Cinemas.

"It's extremely dark, very long, there's no place to walk," Town of Niagara Supervisor Lee S. Wallace said.

Last year, a woman in her 20s lost her life after she was hit by a truck while walking along the road.

"A lot of people come from the (nearby) apartments and try to get to the bus depot and they walk up that road and they can't get there in the winter. There's just no place to walk," Wallace said.

"We've had some indication from the Department of Transportation that it's a very worthwhile project, so we're keeping our fingers crossed."

In other news

•The board voted in favor of naming the park located at the corner of Colonial Drive and Garlow Road after the late Gary Guiliani.

Guiliani formerly served as the town's police chef, and served a total of 39 years in the department.

Both he and his wife, Margaret, also served on the town's Recreation Commission for 15 years. Guiliani was chairman for 12 of those years.

"If anyone knew how Gary was involved with recreation, you know that this is well deserved," Wallace said.

Members of the Guiliani family packed Town Hall on Tuesday night to show appreciation of the new dedication.

Margaret said her husband loved working with children and his philosophy was, " 'There's never a bad child, just a bad choice.' And that's how he treated kids."

Her home, where she lived with Gary and their children, who are now grown, is located across the street from the park named after her husband.

"It's where we went with our kids," she said.

•The board approved a consultant contact with LaBella Associates for planning, design and engineering services for the proposed first response and preparedness center at the former Army Reserve site at 9400 Porter Road. This will be paid for by New York state grant funding.

The project is estimated to cost a total of $3 million. Wallace said approximately $1.7 million in funds have been secured.

"The Town of Niagara has been in negotiations with the United States government and the U.S. army since 2005 regarding the old army reserves site on Porter Road," Wallace said.

After conversations with New York State Sen. Robert G. Ortt, Wallace said the idea of a first response and preparedness center seemed a good fit for the site "to help in this area of Western New York in regards to any catastrophes, natural disasters, snowstorms."

Wallace added, "We're really excited; we hope to get it off the ground and I think it will be a great thing for this town and this county."

•The board scheduled a public hearing for the proposed town budget at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, at Town Hall.

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