Police funding boosted

CITY COUNCIL: OKs $50K expenditure, return of Safe Shopping Business District Initiative.

BY RICK PFEIFFER

rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com

The crowd packing the Niagara Falls City Council chambers on Tuesday night groaned as Marsha Massaro spoke.

The owner of the Pet Stuff Store on Pine Avenue told the crowd, and the members of the City Council, that she was being forced from the historic Falls business district.

“My store is right next to DiCamillo’s,” she said. “Fortunately, we haven’t been robbed but I can’t afford a security guard, so I will be closing my business. People are telling me they don’t want to come to Pine Avenue.”

And while it may be too late for Massaro, before the night was over, the council

See POLICE, Page 5A

Niagara Falls Criminal Investigation Division detectives obtained this security camera photo of a suspect in the burglary of Niagara Apothecary on the 8700 block of Niagara Falls Boulevard. Investigators said the suspect was able to enter the pharmacy through the roof. Anyone with any information on any of the crimes currently being investigated by Falls police is asked to call 286-4553.

CONTRIBUTED BY NIAGARA FALLS POLICE DEPARTMENT