Articles for Mark Scheer

Jan 11

2022

Tesla: Better late than never

Tesla has finally met its job goals at its billion dollar plant in South Buffalo. The state had extended Tesla’s deadline twice. The third time was a charm, and in this case, a way of dodging a $41.2 million penalty. Tesla had until the end of the year to meet the target of 1,460 jobs; employment as of early November stood at 1,557. Let’s hold off celebrating, however. A look at Tesla’s online job postings shows a lot of positions pay modest wages. And the plant, built with nearly $1 billion in state subsidies, has produced little spin-off development, aside[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 11

2022

Sued into doing the right thing

You may have read or watched stories in the daily newspaper or local television stations about the details of studies involving the proposed construction of a new stadium for The Buffalo Bills. You can thank Investigative Post. The state released the studies after we sued Empire State Development, the state’s primary economic development agency, after it rejected our requests for copies under the Freedom of Information Law. Only when we filed the lawsuit did the state relent. Said Michael Higgins, one of our attorneys: ““These documents were always public records and Empire State Development withheld them, gambling that no one[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 5

2022

Samsung turned down subsidies worth $1.9B

Think the $950 million the state doled out to build and equip a factory for Tesla in South Buffalo was a lot of money? State and local officials offered Samsung twice as much to build a semiconductor plant in rural Genesee County. The $1.9 billion subsidy package would have been the second-largest deal in state history if the company had accepted it. It ranks high nationally, as well. “It would be right in the top dozen of all time in U.S. history,” according to Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a national subsidy watchdog group.  Still, New York’s[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Dec 28

2021

Tesla reaches its jobs target

Tesla has finally met its job creation goals at the company’s plant in South Buffalo, according to a state spokesperson. The state required Tesla to employ 1,460 at the plant in exchange for subsidies worth $950 million. Meeting that mandate has proven difficult for a variety of reasons, including Covid-19.  Employment stood at 1,058 on May 31, the original deadline to meet the job goals. The state extended Tesla’s deadline to Dec. 31. In response to questions from Investigative Post, a spokesperson for the Empire State Development Corp. said Tuesday that, as of Nov. 10, Tesla had reported  employment of[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Dec 13

2021

Little economic benefit from new stadium

A new stadium for the Buffalo Bills would boost the Western New York economy as much as a new Target store. Which is to say, very little. While some supporting construction of a new stadium maintain it would be an economic boon, research by economists across the political spectrum has found stadiums generate limited new spending. Rather, they simply redirect how leisure dollars are spent.  “All you are doing is moving time and money around. People are going to the game instead of the movies,” said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a national subsidy watchdog group. Nor[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 24

2021

Downtown Bills stadium could displace 3,000

Building a football stadium on the edge of downtown could displace up to 3,000 residents, as well as schools, churches and other neighborhood “institutions,” according to a report published by The Athletic.  A downtown facility would impact more residents in and around the Old First Ward than previously reported because the stadium would require more land to comply with a “mandatory Department of Homeland security perimeter,” event staging and game day requirements. In short, a stadium located along South Park Avenue near Louisiana and Hamburg streets would require a much larger footprint than previously believed. The site would need to[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 23

2021

Surprise winner of Samsung plant

At the beginning of the year, it looked like Austin, Texas, was the frontrunner to land a $17 billion Samsung microchip plant that Western New York officials were hoping to lure to rural Genesee County.  In recent months, a new leader emerged – the City of Taylor, just outside Austin – that agreed to a slew of city, county and school district incentives that would reportedly reduce Samsung’s tax burden by 90 percent during the first 10 years of the plant’s operation.  “I thought this was Austin’s to lose,” said Nate Jensen, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin who[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 23

2021

Report: Samsung building plant in Texas

The tech giant Samsung has apparently decided where it’s going to build a new $17 billion microchip plant in the United States and a report from the Wall Street Journal suggests the project won’t be landing at a large industrial site in rural Genesee County. The Wall Street Journal reported early Tuesday that the company will build its plant in Taylor, Texas. While representatives from Samsung have not confirmed the decision, the Journal reported that the decision on the selection of Taylor will be discussed at 5 p.m. today when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is scheduled to make an “economic[...]

Posted 2 years ago
Investigative Post

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