Articles for J. Dale Shoemaker

Sep 14

2023

Lockport IDA subsidies likely despite AI fake

In July, a plastics manufacturer gave the Lockport Industrial Development Agency a fake study generated by artificial intelligence to support its request for subsidies. Thursday, the IDA signaled that it’s prepared to give the company $312,000 in tax breaks anyway. Two months ago, SRI CV Plastics gave the IDA’s board of directors an abstract and citation for a study that purported to show the safety and benefits of PVC pipes, which the company wanted to manufacture. A group of 48 environmental groups are protesting the project, arguing that a public agency in New York should not be subsidizing a plastics[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Sep 11

2023

A high-stakes battle between WNY counties

In an unusual move, one Western New York county has sued a neighboring county’s industrial development agency in an effort to stop a key component a major economic development project. Orleans County filed a complaint Monday in state Supreme Court against the Genesee County Economic Development Center, seeking an injunction to stop the construction of a wastewater pipeline that will service the Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, known as STAMP. The Genesee County EDC “started construction without having all their ducks in a row and did so at their own risk,” Jennifer Persico, an attorney representing Orleans County, wrote[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Aug 23

2023

Former OTB employee alleges discrimination

Click “unmute” to listen. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating discrimination claims made against the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. after a former employee said she was the victim of “racism and humiliation and discrimination.” Tonya Stewart-Gray, who worked as a security officer at the Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel from January through April, has alleged her former coworkers and supervisors routinely harassed her, belittled her and denied her request for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, causing her to develop sciatic nerve damage. Stewart-Gray said that when she brought her concerns to CEO Henry Wojtaszek, he[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Aug 9

2023

Niagara IDA extends Amazon tax breaks

Amazon’s stalled warehouse project in the Town of Niagara won a reprieve Wednesday. The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency, in a unanimous vote, granted the e-commerce giant a six-month extension on a package of $124 million in property, sales and mortgage tax subsidies tied to its proposed distribution center. That means Amazon has until February 2024 to close on the subsidies the agency granted one year ago for its planned 3 million square-foot facility on Packard Road. Board Chairman Mark Onesi said the IDA could vote on two more six-month extensions, meaning Amazon could have until February 2025 to begin[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Aug 7

2023

No action on Amazon’s warehouse in Niagara

One year after winning $124 million in tax subsidies from the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency, Amazon has taken few steps to build its promised 1,000-employee warehouse in the Town of Niagara. On Monday, the 217 acres of land along Lockport Road where Amazon plans to build its three-million-square-foot facility remained vacant. No earth had been moved, no stakes were in the ground. No construction equipment was present. In response to the delay, the IDA is now poised to grant Amazon a six-month extension on its subsidy package. The extension — which the IDA’s board will consider Wednesday — indicates[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Aug 3

2023

No more free golf for Chautauqua IDA

The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency has agreed to make changes to the way it operates after a scathing state review in May found “inappropriate and questionable” spending at the economic development outfit. Those changes, however, come with some consternation from the IDA. While it told state officials it would curtail some of its spending and review some of its policies, it vigorously defended other practices the state Authorities Budget Office critiqued, arguing the agency can’t force it to change. The IDA, for example, will no longer reimburse an executive for a country club membership where he played golf with[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Jul 30

2023

Feds sanction local defense contractor — again

A Western New York-based military contractor was rebuked by federal agencies three times between 1996 and 2021 for improper accounting practices and mishandling defense contracts, according to records obtained by Investigative Post. The investigations and audit into the Calspan University at Buffalo Research Center — or CUBRC — have resulted in more than $500,000 in penalties against the nonprofit organization. The most recent investigation, which ended in December 2021, was initiated after a tipster alleged CUBRC was committing fraud. Federal investigators ultimately did not charge the organization with crimes, but fined it $129,000 for violating federal contracting rules. A spokesperson[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Jul 27

2023

Mayor, Council cut deal to bail out Braymiller

The Buffalo Common Council on Thursday voted to approve a package of funding for small businesses across the city, a pot of money Mayor Byron Brown’s administration conjured out of pandemic relief aid to make a $563,000 forgivable loan to a downtown grocery store more palatable to lawmakers. Under the plan, Council members will each have $389,000 earmarked for small business grants in their districts, with an additional $2 million in loan funding also available. That $5.5 million package passed Thursday alongside a plan that reallocates $59.9 million of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding from various proposed community programs[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Articles for J. Dale Shoemaker

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