NIAGARA FALLS: Officials break ground for new NACC driveway

<table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Michele Deluca</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:michele.deluca@niagara-gazette.com">michele.deluca@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
Niagara Gazette

June 25, 2009 08:51 pm

— The sight of tents fluttering in the sunshine has meant good news for Niagara Falls residents lately.
For the second time in a week, under a striped tent with tidy rows of chairs, it was announced that the efforts of lots of behind the scenes effort has resulted in improvements to the Pine Avenue district.
This time a small group of local officials and supporters, including Mayor Paul Dyster, city Councilman Charles Walker and state Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, gathered to break ground for a new driveway at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center.
The new circular driveway, which will be recreated to match an original driveway, will create an easy access and drop off point for senior citizens, the handicapped and those with young children, who in the recent past have been challenged to find NACC parking within easy walking distance.
The driveway is part of continued efforts to continue to shape the arts center into a major force for cultural growth in the community, according to speaker Lou Townsend, treasurer of the NACC.
“We expect this building to get a major facelift,” he said.
The City of Niagara Falls provided the money for the driveway through block grant development funds.
Mayor Paul Dyster and many of those at the groundbreaking had also attended the recent dedication of the newly restored Schoellkopf Park across the street from NACC on Monday, which was completed due to efforts led by the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.
At that event Dyster detailed changes coming to the area, including improved roads, parking and the possibility of artists lofts in the adjacent former South Park Junior High.
Dyster, who arrived at the groundbreaking after participating in the opening celebrations for Buffalo-Niagara Homecoming this weekend, said, “no one can come back to the City of Niagara Falls today and say the City of Niagara Falls hasn’t changed.”
“We can’t return to the past,” Dyster said, “but we can create a new future here in the City of Niagara Falls that is better than we ever imagined.”