Frank Parlato

Frank Parlato (b. 1955) is considered to be one of, if not the world’s leading authority on the life and works of Swami Vivekananda. A journalist whose work has appeared in the India Tribune, India Post, Indian Reporter and World News, India West, Asian Week, Vedanta Kesari, Global Vedanta, Hinduism Today, Prabuddha Bharata and others, Parlato brought a journalistic perspective to the study of Swami Vivekananda, who is regarded alternately as a “prophet” “patriot” “mystic” “social worker” and “critical historical figure.”

Parlato’s web sites and are widely considered to be among the most authoritative and comprehensive sources of information available on the subject. On his websites, Parlato presents "new discoveries" on Vivekananda, his disciples and admirers.

In addition to his journalistic work, Parlato is the developer-owner of One Niagara, the nine story, all-glass, tourism center adjacent to the Niagara Falls State Park, the only building in the USA, outside of the Niagara Falls State Park, which has a view of Niagara Falls. Parlato acquired the once nearly empty building, which formerly housed offices for the Occidental Chemical Corp, in 2004, and converted it to a tourist midway, providing a series of tourist oriented services and businesses.

His filling of the “aqua hole” – a 40 foot deep, one acre surface hole – the former site of a failed underground aquarium - on land Parlato also acquired adjacent to the Niagara Falls State Park was cited by the Niagara Falls Reporter as “the most significant improvement” in the landscape of downtown Niagara Falls in recent years. Parlato converted the hole into a successful parking lot providing additional parking for a state parking lot that reports 8 million visitors per year and whose lot is often full by 11 am during the summer tourist season.

“Considering the hole was next to the most visited state park in the USA, the aqua hole’s weed- filled bottom and collapsing fences, presented an ugly impression to people coming to Niagara Falls. In one stroke, Parlato cured that,” opined editorialist Dr. Chitra Selvaraj for the Niagara Gazette.

Parlato also added one more dimension to the Niagara Falls experience. He opened up the 9th floor of the building giving the US side of Niagara Falls something it never had before- a panoramic aerial view of the Falls as well as the upper rapids and lower river.

Sometimes controversial, Parlato’s articles in the Gazette, opposing the re-licensing of the New York Power Authority’s exclusive use of the Niagara River’s hydro-power and the Seneca Nation of Indians legal preferences over US citizens in Niagara Falls, have created public debate in the cataract city. In the case of the former, Parlato’s articles, which brought out the fact that--although Niagara Falls produces a billion dollars a year of inexpensive hydro-power, local residents pay the third highest rates in the country – have reopened the debate on whether the Power Authority should have its license renewed. Prior to Parlato’s sole voice against it, re-licensing was considered an almost certitude (see Niagara Gazette articles and rebuttals by NYPA president Timothy Carey.) His arguments used in opposition to granting Native Americans legal and tax-free business preferences over tax-paying US citizens provoked additional controversy, not only in Niagara Falls but in other states where his arguments and web sites were quoted. See controversies in Michigan and Dartmouth College.

Other developments and social projects include Hidden Hollow in Hamburg NY, and the preservation of Sturgeon Point in Lake Erie.

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