Categories for Co-produced with WGRZ

Jul 12

2017

Dispute over Wheatfield landfill test results

Published by

The Department of Environmental Conservation on Tuesday said a toxic landfill in Wheatfield isn’t leaching chemicals onto nearby properties. But Michael Stag, a New Orleans attorney representing current and former residents in a lawsuit, contends that the state got it wrong. In addition, he warned state authorities more than a month ago that his testing found dangerous levels of chemicals inside homes, not the soil. In December 2015, the DEC deemed the landfill a significant risk to public health. The state designated it a Superfund site after removing 80-dump truck loads of Love Canal waste buried there in 1968. Some residents[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jul 12

2017

Hurdles ahead for Metro Rail extension

Published by

An extension of Buffalo’s light rail system to Amherst is as close as it’s ever been – which still isn’t very close. The plan gained momentum when Gov. Cuomo threw his support behind it in his State of the State earlier this year, as part of the second phase of the Buffalo Billion initiative. Still, the decision to build an extension has not yet been made, said Thomas George, director of public transit for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. “We’re not moving along in a process to the construction, we’re moving along in the evaluation process,” he said. “It’s absolutely not[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jul 11

2017

Removing the muck from Scajaquada Creek

Published by

The ongoing restoration of Scajaquada Creek has reached one of the most-polluted sections in Delaware Park. For three years Investigative Post has reported on the creek’s disgusting condition. The chief causes of the pollution are the Buffalo and Cheektowaga sewer systems, which spew raw sewage into the creek when deluged by storm water. As a result of decades worth of sewer overflows, the creek bottom is layered with black foul smelling muck. Both Buffalo and Cheektowaga do have plans to address the sewer overflows problems. On Monday, crews began dredging a badly polluted section of the creek by Hoyt Lake.[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jul 6

2017

City Hall slow to enforce lead measures

Published by

Buffalo continues to have a lead poisoning crisis – hundreds of children were diagnosed with dangerous lead levels again last year – but you wouldn’t know it by City Hall’s slow rollout of its plan to deal with the problem. Mayor Byron Brown announced his plan in May 2016 and the Common Council passed companion legislation in October. But an Investigative Post analysis shows there’s been little progress in executing the initiative. Consider: Not a single landlord has submitted a required compliance letter with the city to confirm that they and their tenant are aware that lead paint is presumed[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jun 21

2017

Mayor won’t enforce recycling rules

Published by

The curbside recycling rate in Buffalo continues to lag behind the national average. In 2016, Buffalo reported a curbside recycling rate of 15 percent, a negligble increase from the previous year. That’s still well below the national average of 25 percent for curbside programs. The curbside rate is based primarily on paper, plastic, glass and other materials that residents place in the green totes. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown visited the Modern Disposal plant on Tuesday to accept a $62,500 check for the city’s recycling education fund. The city’s contract with Modern requires the company to finance a portion of the city’s program outreach[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jun 19

2017

“Sloppy” management of state projects

Published by

The second of two reports issued by Bart Schwartz, hired by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to look into the management of state development projects, including the Buffalo Billion, found a “sloppy process” and “systemic problems.” Jim Heaney, speaking to WGRZ’s Michael Wooten, said the reports lack details and “raise as many questions as they answer.” He also noted that the second report was issued two months ago, but that it took a Freedom of Information request from The Buffalo News to bring the documents to public light.

Posted 8 years ago

Jun 13

2017

Headway on toxic former General Motors plant

Published by

It has been a long wait for Virginia Golden and her neighbors in the Delavan-Grider community. For over a decade, they’ve wanted the state to clean up the former General Motors plant. There is finally progress to report less than a month after Investigative Post’s investigation. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has added a portion of the former General Motors auto manufacturing facility to its Superfund program, making it eligible for state funds for remediation. The state hired a consultant to begin the investigaton of the property at 1001 E. Delavan Ave., where oil laced with PCBs from past[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jun 1

2017

State lawmaker’s plan to combat lead poisoning

Published by

Lead poisoning in Buffalo is a public health crisis. In fact, Investigative Post reported in November 2014 that the city is “ground zero”  for lead poisoning problems. Even low levels of lead in children’s blood can cause permanent damage, such as learning and developmental disabilities. On Thursday morning, Assemblyman Sean Ryan announced his plan to combat this problem. Ryan cited in the speech Investigative Post’s reporting in proposing a package of state legislation that he said will help prevent exposure to lead in paint and water. His first proposal would amend the state’s definition of elevated blood lead level to match what the federal[...]

Posted 8 years ago
Investigative Post