Niagara Falls mayor talks the impact of Omicron, priority items, pandemic changes to city hall and operations
Time to check in with Niagara Falls mayor Jim Diodati to see how the city is dealing with Omicron and what new things are coming his way this year.
The COVID-19 Omicron variant is forcing some Niagara Falls business and services to scale down. Diodati says safety is not being compromised as a result.
“Anything that is emergency, we’re good to go,” said Diodati. “Anything that is not emergency, yeah we’ve had to scale back a bit.”
He says in terms of Niagara transit, 30 minutes service has moved to one hour service as a result of scaling back.
Some Niagara public officials were targeted last week by anti-vaccine advocates. Diodati says that situation is very disappointing.
“That’s your place of refuge, of peace and getting away from whatever it is that you do and it’s unnecessary,” said Diodati.
He says vaccination has been successful, especially at the Niagara Falls Convention Centre. He says the city vaccinates several thousand people per day.
“[The Niagara Falls Convention Centre] is so well organized and so well orchestrated that we are able to move the ball forward,” said Diodati.
Many of city hall’s operations have been changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Diodati says he sees some of the changes staying post-pandemic. One is virtual meetings.
“[Virtual meetings] make it so much more efficient and there’s no need to travel when we’re doing things like that,” Diodati said. “Also, back in the day you showed how dedicated you were when you came into work sick, but today, we’re saying, ‘that’s just not a very nice thing to do’.”
He says the pandemic has forced some changes in city hall that he believes helped the city improve the way it delivers its services.
Some of the main priority items for Diodati in 2022 include the new Niagara hospital that is being built in Niagara Falls, the opening of the $140 million entertainment centre, a new farmer’s market and culture hub coming some time in late spring and addressing he homelessness issues and housing shortages.
