Categories for Co-produced with WGRZ

May 27

2014

Buffalo’s recycling program still struggles

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Buffalo is trying to burnish its green credentials with big public investments to clean up its waterways and attract clean energy companies. Recycling is an easier lift, but the city’s anemic program is plagued by fits and starts. City Hall took the major step of distributing green recycling totes to residents in late 2011. Last year, Mayor Byron Brown hired a full-time recycling coordinator. But City Hall is otherwise batting 0 for 4 when it comes to building a successful program. As a result, the city’s curbside recycling rate has leveled off and remains less than half the national average.[...]

Posted 10 years ago

May 27

2014

Subpar recycling effort in suburbs

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Dumpster divers in Niagara Falls find jackpots 5 cents at a time in the form of cans and bottles by the bagful in the garbage. A scruffy man who regularly pulls the bottles and cans out of the trash behind Hyde Park Ice Pavillion said his motivation is simple: “M-O-N-E-Y.” A few minutes of work earned him $12 the April afternoon he spoke to a reporter. That lesson is lost on officials in most of the largest cities and towns in Niagara and Erie counties, where recycling programs are largely an afterthought, an Investigative Post analysis has found. Most of the localities[...]

Posted 10 years ago

May 16

2014

IDA chairman won’t discuss resignation

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Chris Johnston, chairman of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, has dug in his heels in the face of questions regarding his suspension and resignation from his private sector job. Johnston rejected a request from John Mills, chairman of the Erie County Legislature, to appear Wednesday before the Government Affairs Committee to answer questions about his departure last month from the World Trade Center of Buffalo Niagara. Johnston was suspended in late March in the midst of an internal review of trade center finances. He resigned in early April. Johnston told Mills in a letter that he would only answer[...]

Posted 10 years ago

May 14

2014

No swimming at Gallagher Beach

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The bottom line is there won’t be any swimming this summer at Gallagher Beach off Route 5 in South Buffalo. Instead, state officials announced Monday that testing will continue through the spring and summer. Last fall, Investigative Post reported about potential water contamination at Gallagher Beach, where U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Byron Brown had hoped to open for swimming this summer. Three weeks after the story aired, the state agreed to test the water, soil and harbor floor. The testing, which was conducted over just a few days in late October, found a couple of potential concerns.[...]

Posted 10 years ago

May 12

2014

Maziarz, Gallivan spending questioned

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Do state lawmakers pocket campaign contributions for personal use? The Moreland Commission, charged with investigating corruption in state government, was asking that question before Gov. Andrew Cuomo disbanded the panel in March. A couple dozen state legislators were on the commission’s radar screen because their campaign finance disclosure reports didn’t document some expenses or failed to itemize their spending to detail precisely what they spend their money on. Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, topped the commission’s list, with about $140,000 in unitemized spending over a six-year period, according to a report published today by City & State, a magazine and website that[...]

Posted 10 years ago

May 6

2014

EPA investigating Battaglia Demolition

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The federal Environmental Protection Agency confirmed Tuesday that it’s investigating Battaglia Demolition for potential environmental violations. The EPA investigation comes less than a month after Investigative Post reported how residents on Peabody Street and elsewhere in the Seneca Babcock community have complained for a decade about quality of life problems they blame on the construction and demolition debris business owned by Peter Battaglia. Our report also revealed how the business continues to operate without one, and possibly two, state permits. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has cited Battaglia for operating a concrete crusher without an air permit and at[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Apr 30

2014

Still in charge, but under a cloud

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Chris Johnston, acting chairman of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, recently resigned as president of World Trade Center Buffalo Niagara after sources told Investigative Post a review of some aspect of the center’s finances prompted his board to suspend him. Johnston remains chairman of the ECIDA and has the “complete confidence” of Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, according to a statement his office issued. But neither Johnston nor Poloncarz will answer questions and the chairman of the World Trade Center won’t discuss specifics of what he characterizes as a personnel matter.

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
Investigative Post

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