Tag: Buffalo Billion

Feb 10

2021

Samsung to WNY? Unlikely.

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Samsung has economic development officials — and Sen. Chuck Schumer — dreaming big. The semiconductor giant has plans to build a $17 billion plant that would employ 1,800 and says it is considering five locations in the United States, including an undeveloped industrial park in Genesee County. Schumer has spoken directly with Samsung officials and offered federal assistance to entice Samsung to Western New York. Economic officials in Buffalo and Rochester stand ready to make their case, if they haven’t already. It seems unlikely that Samsung is coming, however.  In addition to Western New York, Samsung is weighing two sites[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Aug 23

2020

Buffalo Billion audit: shock and ugh

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The audit released Friday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli told us a lot of things we already knew or strongly suspected: the Cuomo administration failed to assess the value of high-tech projects like the Tesla plant in South Buffalo both before and after the investment of tax dollars, and largely kept the public and press in the dark in between. But the audit added a lot of detail and included some new eye-popping findings, two in particular: The Tesla project fell way short — way, way short, actually — of the state’s desired return on investment. The audit said Empire[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Mar 17

2020

Heaney talks Buffalo Billion on ‘Pressroom

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Jim Heaney and David Lombardo discuss problems with the IBM and Tesla projects in an interview broadcast Tuesday on The Capitol Pressroom. The program is heard on some 20 public radio stations across the state, including WBFO, where it airs weekdays at 8 p.m.  

Posted 4 years ago

Mar 5

2020

Buffalo Billion: $50 million of waste

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Fifty million dollars is a lot of money. To most of us, anyway. Andrew Cuomo, not so much. At a time the state is grappling with a deficit you can count in the B as in Billions, taxpayers have been greeted with the news that Tesla’s plant in South Buffalo has scrapped some $50 million of equipment purchased with state tax dollars. It turns out Tesla didn’t need the equipment after all, what with its constantly changing plans to produce solar power products at the plant. Steve Brown of WGRZ broke the story last week — not that you would[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Feb 26

2020

State stonewalling on IBM project

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Several years ago, the Cuomo administration spent $55 million of state taxpayer money to buy, renovate and equip seven floors of a downtown Buffalo office building to bring IBM to town. The payoff, we were told, would be 500 good-paying software engineering jobs and the start of a technology hub with all sorts of spin-off development. Now, four of those floors at Fountain Plaza are available for lease, raising all sorts of questions about IBM’s commitment to Buffalo. Has it pulled out? Working on a Plan B? None of the above? IBM isn’t saying. Neither is the Cuomo administration. In[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 10

2019

Buffalo Billion felon: Wired and hired

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 Republicans on the Niagara County Legislature voted Tuesday to hire a felon involved in the Buffalo Billion scandal to serve as the county’s spokesperson. In a partisan 8-5 vote, the Legislature approved the hiring of Kevin Schuler, a politically wired executive at LPCiminelli until he pleaded guilty in May 2018 to two felony charges involving the fixing of a bid to manage the construction of the $750 million Tesla plant in South Buffalo. Schuler will serve as the county’s public information officer and earn $79,003, an increase of nearly $10,000 from the job’s 2019 salary. The job entails handling[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 6

2019

Buffalo Billion felon candidate for county job

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 A felon who played a central role in the Buffalo Billion scandal is now a finalist to land a job as the public face of Niagara County government. Kevin Schuler is one of two candidates county legislators are scheduled to interview Monday for the job of public information officer, who acts as spokesman for county government and fields media requests. The county’s 2020 budget proposes the PIO job pay $79,003 a year. The new salary amounts to a nearly $10,000 raise. Schuler was the longtime political fixer for Louis Ciminelli, a prominent developer and influential Republican until his fall[...]

Posted 4 years ago

May 31

2019

Ciminelli appeals corruption conviction

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 Lawyers for Louis Ciminelli have appealed his felony conviction last summer on corruption charges related to the Buffalo Billion. Ciminelli, president of LPCiminelli, and Alain Kaloyeros, head of a state-affiliated development corporation, were convicted for their roles in the awarding of the contract to develop the $750 million facility to house Tesla’s solar panel manufacturing plant. Jim Heaney told WGRZ that Ciminelli’s attorney is using the same failed legal arguments in the appeal that he did during the trial.  

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post

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