CITY OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — As the Western New York winner of the seventh round of New York's Downtown Revitalization Initiative, the City of Tonawanda will receive $10 million.
Mayor John White says the funding will go toward 12 key projects including renovating docking facilities, bringing more life into downtown by renovating buildings into apartments on top of businesses, and lighting to make Main Street more vibrant.
"For them to choose the City of Tonawanda — low income — 15,000 people — was huge. That shows they trusted myself, and my group, and the people who put this together. The biggest part of this job right now is to spend it properly," said Mayor White.
Business owners say it is about time that some renovations and innovations hit the main drag, like Prescott's Provisions owner Don Benoit.
"The North Tonawanda side has all this beautiful dockage, all of the landscaping around it, and we had the potential, but we have never done anything," said Benoit.
His restaurant is right against the Erie Canal, and due to the lack of accessible docking for customers, his guests choose to park on the North Tonawanda side of the canal.
Benoit hopes this grant will help expand the restaurant and business district closer to the canal.
"More restaurants and businesses bring in more people to the area, and by bringing more people to the area, everybody succeeds, and there is no way not to succeed down here," said Benoit.
Mayor White told 7 News he would discuss priorities with state consultants before choosing which projects will be given the go-ahead.
