Tag: Buffalo

Feb 26

2015

Urban League hits back at whistleblowers

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The Buffalo Urban League, accused of submitting inflated bills for social services to Erie County, is retaliating against whistleblowers and impeding an investigation by the county comptroller, numerous sources have told Investigative Post. Some of these sources said whistleblowers have nevertheless provided investigators with evidence of “blatantly fraudulent billing” that buttresses their original claims that the Urban League was bilking the county. They’ve provided the comptroller documents purporting to show, among other things, 15 instances of double-billing and a one-day bill from a single employee that claimed 170 hours of work, sources said. Despite public statements to the contrary, internal[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Nov 11

2014

Buffalo is ‘ground zero’ for lead poisoning

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Young children in Erie County, mostly from Buffalo’s inner city, are testing positive for lead poisoning at more than triple the state average. As a result, hundreds of children enter Buffalo schools every year dealing with the impacts of lead poisoning, which can include lowered IQ and behavioral problems. The chief source of the problem is lead-based paint chips and dust in Buffalo’s old housing stock. “Buffalo is ground zero in the entire country for lead poisoning,” said David Hahn-Baker, a local environmental activist who has studied the lead problem for three decades. Yet City Hall treats lead poisoning as[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Nov 10

2014

Buffalo’s big lead poisoning problem

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Investigative Post, in the first of a three-part series, examines the danger posed by lead paint contamination in Buffalo. Buffalo children aged five and under test positive for lead poisoning at more than three times the state average. Erie County’s rate is the worst of the 11 counties that test 10,000 or more children a year. “Buffalo is ground zero in the entire country for lead poisoning,” said David Hahn-Baker, an environmental activist in Buffalo. Dr. Stanley Schaffer, director of the Western New York Lead Poisoning Resource Center in Rochester, said the consequences can be dire: Reduced IQ, learning disabilities and[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Oct 29

2014

Sabres score big subsidies at HarborCenter

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The Buffalo Sabres like to point out that HarborCenter, which opens later this week, is privately financed to the tune of $172.2 million. Left unsaid is that the complex is also publicly subsidized, enjoying an estimated $57 million in local and state tax breaks. That makes HarborCenter one of the most heavily subsidized downtown development projects in recent history. The project – which includes two ice rinks, a hotel, two restaurants, shops and a parking ramp – is projected to employ the equivalent of around 425 full-time workers. The $57 million in tax breaks works out to about $134,000 per[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Oct 9

2014

Unfinished business for Buffalo’s Outer Harbor

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Buffalo, which has suffered over the years from a series of planning mistakes, is nearing a decision on how to develop its Outer Harbor even though the state agency managing the project hasn’t completed its homework on key legal, financial and environmental issues. These unresolved issues, particularly whether to build five-story condos, shops and restaurants near the environmentally sensitive Times Beach Nature Preserve, are at the core of a dispute that boiled over last week. Rep. Brian Higgins and Assembly Member Sean Ryan went public last Friday in their opposition to the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation’s development plan for[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jul 24

2014

Battle is joined on Buffalo school reform

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Jim Heaney, in his latest column for City & State, provides his take on the reform agenda being advanced by the new majority on the Board of Education. Heaney, who formerly covered Buffalo schools in the 1990s when he was a reporter for The Buffalo News, said he’s struck by the majority’s top priority: contract changes that would enable the district to assign the best teachers to the worst performing schools. He wrote: In Buffalo, as in many districts, that’s a challenge, because of seniority clauses in labor contracts. As a result, veteran teachers gravitate to the better schools, while[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Apr 25

2014

Council lacks initiative, independence

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The good news: Buffalo’s Common Council doesn’t busy itself passing resolutions honoring people, be they dead or alive. But like the Erie County Legislature, the Council passes few laws and makes few changes to the executive branch’s spending plans, including the chronically troubled Community Development Block Grant program. The Council’s track record the past few years reflects a cozy relationship between lawmakers and Mayor Byron Brown. Few miss the bickering of the Griffin and, to a lesser degree, Masiello eras. But critics, who include former Council President David Franczyk, say lawmakers have surrendered their independence in the process. This report[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Apr 22

2014

A buzz in Buffalo

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A secret network of beekeepers in Buffalo has developed. Well, it’s no secret now after this report from Grist. The city doesn’t have laws that prohibit beekeeping at a time when towns, cities and counties across the country are changing rules to be more bee friendly while also protecting neighbors.

Posted 10 years ago
Investigative Post

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