Council OKs Memorial Parkway sale; crash settlement

Feb. 5—Members of the Falls City Council said they were making "the least bad choice" in settling a more than year old saga over the ownership of an historic but dilapidated home on Memorial Parkway.

The council unanimously approved the sale of 424 Memorial Parkway to a Falls man who agreed, as part of the purchase, to rehabilitate the home and live in it for at least five years. The agreement requires work on the home to begin within 60 days.

It was the third time, since July 2017, that the council had been asked to resolve ownership issues involving the property.

The home had been sold, as part of a Department of Community Development auction, for $1,000 to two individuals who committed, as part of the purchase, to rehabilitate the property and live in it for five years. That sale was approved by the City Council.

When the two individuals were unable to meet the commitments in their contract with the city, then Community Development Director Seth Piccirillo allowed them to sell the property, at 10 times their original purchase price, to two other individuals in December 2018, rather than have the city re-take ownership of the home.

Piccirillo's actions were harshly criticized by neighbors on Memorial Parkway and others who expressed an interest in purchasing the home.

In April 2019, when Piccirillo sought approval of the sale to the two new owners, he was admonished by the council for his actions, and members refused to approve the purchase and instead directed city attorneys to move to take back ownership of the property.

After negotiations between the city and the new property owners, the out-going administration of Mayor Paul Dyster, in December 2019, again recommended that the council approve the sale. But the council, again, rejected it.

In a letter to the council, Mayor Robert Restaino wrote that Piccirillo was not authorized to approve the second sale and "misled the City Council". However, the mayor said that in an effort to avoid additional litigation, he would now recommend that the sale of the home be approved.

Restaino noted that the new owner(s) had agreed to rehabilitate the home, beginning within 60 days, and will live in the property for at least 5 years.

Robert Pascoal, who had previously expressed an interest in the property, asked the council members to reject the sale for a third time.

"This thing just keeps coming back like a bad cold," Pascoal said. "Someone made an easy $9,000 for doing very little work. Someone was able to side-step the (request for proposals) process. This settlement was voted down. What the heck happened? This should be where you draw the line in the sand no matter what it costs."

But the council members seemed unpersuaded, this time.

"Dysfunctional government is the best way to describe how that property was handled," Council Member John Spanbauer said.

But Spanbauer didn't seem inclined to continue the legal wrangling over the home. Neither did Council Member William Kennedy, who said all the options for moving forward were bad, but approving the second sale was "the least bad."

Council Chairman Kenny Tompkins said the longer the matter dragged on, the more the property would deteriorate.

The council members also unanimously approved the settlement of an insurance claim arising from an accident involving a cop car and a Pine Avenue business.

City Corporation Counsel Christopher Mazur recommended that the council approve a payment of $125,000 to Chautauqua Patrons Insurance Company for damage done to the Family Dollar store in the 1300 block of Pine Avenue on March 29, 2016. The business was heavily damaged when a police patrol car slammed into it, destroying the vehicle.

The crash occurred around 10:15 p.m. as the officer in the patrol car was responding to a call of other officers in trouble.

"It was a call of officers needing assistance," then-Falls Police Superintendent Bryan DalPorto said at the time."And he was rushing to get there."

Police said the call was for "an individual fighting with other officers and resisting arrest."

As the patrol car was heading east on Pine Avenue, the officer lost control of the vehicle as it passed 13th Street and careened into the store. The force of the collision smashed the front end of the police car and ripped off a corner of the building's foundation.

The pin-wheeling police car then shattered the building's front windows and pushed in the front door. A store employee inside suffered minor injuries from flying glass.

The officer, a three-year veteran of the force, was able to get out of the car on his own and was described as shaken, but not seriously injured. He was transported to the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo where he was evaluated and treated

Mazur said in his communication with the council members that the insurance claim was filed in April 2016, with a lawsuit begun in November of that year. He said discovery in the case was nearly complete and that it would proceed to trial if wasn't settled.

The corporation counsel called the settlement "in the best interest of the city."

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