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.

The plan calls for the demolition and rebuilding of the Fallside, a project that would result in work for many unemployed laborers, carpenters, electricians and other members of the building trades. And once both hotels reopen, as many as 150 permanent full-time positions will be created.

The tax breaks are needed because work on the Fallside may take as long as three years, during which no income would be generated, IDA officials said.

But Kay charged the IDA is moving too fast on the projects and wants more time and more documentation to determine whether or not they are good ones for the city. Acceding to his demands would at least delay the multimillion-dollar plans, if not derail them altogether.

He wants more time to look at the "fine print," he said, despite the fact that the application has been gone over by IDA attorney Mark Gabriele and other members of the agency's professional staff.

Since Mayor Paul Dyster took office in January 2008, his administration has been unable to create a single new job in the city and has, in fact, done everything in its power -- including going to court -- to eliminate jobs at Ashland Advanced Materials, Frank Parlato's One Niagara complex and a number of small businesses near the new courthouse on North Main Street.

Dyster administration officials have sued the Cordish Co. over issues surrounding the Rainbow Centre mall, and prompted an investigation of both Cordish and Niagara Falls Redevelopment by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who found that the city itself was at fault for problems associated with the developer's contracts.

And Parlato's attorneys, James Roscetti and Paul Grenga, have been in court on an almost-weekly basis fighting Dyster's absurdist attempts to close down all or part of the successful One Niagara tourism operation. Thus far, city attorneys, led by the hapless Tom O'Donnell, have lost every single action they have brought.

"Our approach to helping businesses is different than his," IDA Chairman Henry Sloma said. "Now he's trying to intercede and circumvent some of the opportunities we have. If you look at the City of Niagara Falls, the economic development initiatives have been dismal." Truer words were never spoken. In a memo submitted to the IDA last week, Kay demanded that the agency work in tandem with the city on Niagara Falls projects, that his office have oversight on applications and that the city have the authority to approve or reject projects.

"The tax abatements granted for these projects and the actual PILOT agreements must be reviewed by the city in determining project impacts and necessity for city incentive support," Kay wrote.

But some private developers here say they shudder at the thought.

"We've got a mayor who holds a press conference every time a street gets repaved, like it was a big step forward," said one prominent local developer. "He can't even provide basic services or hire minimally qualified staff. To give him any more authority over development would be a disaster."

Kay, a hired gun who has held bureaucratic development positions in Erie, Pa., and Toledo, Ohio, before coming to Niagara Falls, has no previous experience in the hospitality industry. Reviews of articles in the Erie Times-News and the Toledo Blade that mention him at all show his previous background dealt entirely with the marketing of things like industrial parks.

Why Dyster, who has stated on numerous occasions that the future of Niagara Falls rests on tourism, chose Kay for the $100,000-a-year position is uncertain, although it is certain that private sector spending on development in the city has all but ground to a halt.

"They don't need economic development, they need FEMA," Sloma said of the Dyster administration. "This agency is going to do whatever it can do to help with the rebuilding of that city."

Dyster himself has stayed above the fray, keeping quiet and allowing Kay to bear the brunt of the criticism. Whether the topic is street repair, job creation or institutional racism at City Hall, the mayor has used his highly paid underlings to take the flak.

This pattern has given many the impression that Dyster doesn't know or care much about what is going on in the city he was elected to lead. More and more, the administration has come to resemble a rudderless ship, adrift in hazardous waters, and the captain in a state of total denial.

But over the weekend, a number of prominent local businesspeople speculated openly about a possible method behind the apparent madness here, because not every city development has been subject to the same scrutiny, the same delaying tactics as the suddenly controversial Merani projects.

Certainly, there were no similar protests from Dyster or his minions when Maid of the Mist owner James Glynn purchased the Comfort Inn at the Pointe hotel property in 2008, despite the fact it received millions in tax abatements and the state kicked in an additional $7.9 million to improve the frontage at the hotel.

Interestingly, James Glynn's son, Chris Glynn, sat in during the interview process that led to Kay's hiring, along with those of City Administrator Donna Owens and soon-to-be former city engineer Ali Marzban.

And just as interesting is the fact that Kay was originally hired with funds provided by the shadowy Building a Better Niagara Falls Fund, a pool of wealthy donors interested in influencing city government here.

Both James Glynn and M&T Bank Chairman Robert Wilmers -- a close associate of Glynn's -- have since been identified as contributors to the fund.

Maybe it's all just a coincidence. Maybe James Glynn's son consulting on the hiring of Kay with money provided by Glynn himself had nothing to do with Kay's decision to interfere with the deal to help Merani Hospitality, a potential Glynn competitor.

And maybe Santa Claus goes all around the world in a flying sleigh every Christmas Eve delivering toys to all the good little girls and boys.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been making headlines in recent weeks here for looking into a deal where maybe a local plumber allegedly took a city inspector fishing once and maybe the city inspector signed off on some allegedly sub-par work the plumber maybe performed.

In the cesspool of corruption that is municipal government here in Niagara Falls, such things hardly amount to a revelation, even if they are true.

Compared to what's really going on here, they are small beer indeed.