Categories for Featured

Nov 13

2013

A smell surrounding Peace Bridge air study

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State officials proclaimed a month ago that air monitoring results near the Peace Bridge showed no serious pollution problem in the adjacent neighborhood plagued by high asthma rates that studies have linked to bridge traffic. In fact, officials went so far as to declare: “the data suggest that there are no significant differences between air quality in the plaza neighborhood and in the City of Buffalo overall.” However, an Investigative Post analysis has determined that conclusion is “not scientifically valid,” in the words of Sherri Mason, associate professor of chemistry at SUNY Fredonia, one of nine experts interviewed for this[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Nov 4

2013

Major developers vying for Buffalo project

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A half-dozen firms, including some of the region’s most prominent developers, have entered the competition to build economic development hubs the Cuomo administration has proposed for Buffalo, Investigative Post has learned. Firms responding to a request for proposals include LP Ciminelli Inc., Uniland Development and Acquest Development. Others submitting proposals include McGuire Development, TM Montante Development and Mark Balling on behalf of Lend Lease, an international contracting and finance firm. The developers, in their submissions, identify elements of the team they would assemble to first design, finance and construct the hubs and then recruit companies function as anchor tenants. At least[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 24

2013

State pursuing major jobs initiative for Buffalo

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The state has quietly launched a major initiative to develop a series of economic development hubs in Buffalo aimed at attracting medical, energy and technology companies that would generate thousands of good-paying jobs. The state recently issued a request for proposals seeking developers to construct two or three facilities in the city and partner with a handful of anchor tenants who would employ an estimated 1,500 to 2,000. Much like a shopping mall, these large tenants would attract small and mid-sized firms that would add to that employment base and build a critical mass in fields regarded as regional strengths. The[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 16

2013

Cuomo muddies the waters on Gallagher Beach

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A month-and-a-half ago, Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared his intent to open Gallagher Beach near the South Buffalo – Lackawanna border for public swimming. Congressman Brian Higgins is pushing to open the beach as soon as next summer. Not so fast, concluded an analysis by Erie County’s former senior public health engineer. He concluded opening Gallagher Beach for swimming is “probably impractical” because of a raft of environmental concerns. The analysis, coupled with reporting by our environmental reporter Dan Telvock, painted a picture of a beach whose waters rest in a harbor basin contaminated with PCBs and whose neighbors include two Superfund sites that[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 3

2013

Troubled waters at Gallagher Beach?

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Opening Gallagher Beach for swimming is “probably impractical from a public health standpoint” because of stormwater pollution, sediment contamination and neighboring toxic sites, a consultant for the Erie County Health Department has concluded. The consultant’s analysis, obtained under the Freedom of Information Law, and subsequent reporting by Investigative Post raises serious concerns about a plan being pushed by U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Byron Brown. They want to open the beach for public swimming as part of a larger plan to develop the Outer Harbor into a state park. Higgins, a champion of opening the city’s[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Sep 29

2013

Buffalo’s disappearing Democrats

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Four years ago, Mickey Kearns lost the Democratic primary for mayor in a landslide. He garnered 14,866 votes. Earlier this month, Byron Brown won the Democratic primary for mayor in a landslide. He received 14,433 votes. In other words, more people voted for Kearns four years ago than for Brown this year. That’s what happens when four out of five voters stay at home on primary day. This year’s turnout was a paltry 20 percent, well below any other mayoral primary in recent history, where up to 60 percent of registered Democrats cast ballots. Much has been made of the[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Sep 11

2013

A rich, but tolerable development subsidy deal

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Anyone who has followed my work the past dozen years knows I am not a fan of economic development subsidies. And the deal announced Tuesday of a manufacturing plant involves a lot of public money – some $25.9 million over the next decade in grants, tax breaks and power discounts. That works out to nearly $151,000 per job, which ranks this as one of the region’s richest subsidy deals ever. It’s not the obscene $2.1 million per job subsidy awarded a few years back to Yahoo’s data center in Lockport. But it’s more than all but a handful of deals[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Aug 29

2013

Fact checking the Buffalo mayoral debate

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Jim Heaney examined the words and numbers expressed by Byron Brown, Bernie Tolbert and Sergio Rodriguez regarding the local economy during Wednesday’s mayoral debate. The bottom line: Tolbert and Rodriguez were generally accurate, while Brown made several claims that were unsubstantiated.  

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post