Categories for Featured

Aug 16

2013

Buffalo is not Denver. Darn.

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I spent three-and-a-half days in Denver recently while on vacation in Colorado, which is a beautiful state. I couldn’t have come away more impressed with the city. First, what’s there: An inviting, tree-lined downtown pedestrian mall that has block after block of stores, restaurants and people. A second thriving section of downtown, known as LoDo, anchored by a striking baseball stadium and a train station under restoration. (Imagine that.) An ample stock of historic buildings, many of them nifty brick structures. A light rail system that actually goes someplace. More than 200 parks, plus several municipal parks operated outside the[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Aug 1

2013

Environmental regulators slow on the draw (again)

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The Department of Environmental Conservation has ordered Covanta Niagara to stop construction of a natural gas boiler and a 190-foot smokestack in Niagara Falls because it hasn’t obtained the required air permit. Covanta, which has spent more than $820,000 over the past three years in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses, started construction months before the public comment period on the project closes on Monday. The notice of violation came less than 48 hours after three Niagara County residents raised concerns about the the DEC’s oversight of the Niagara County waste-to-energy plant’s $30 million expansion project, as first reported by the[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 25

2013

WNY has 3 of state’s worst greenhouse gas polluters

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The 650-foot smokestack at the Somerset coal-fired power plant in Niagara County billows plumes of smoke carrying greenhouse gases that can be seen on a clear day all the way across Lake Ontario in Toronto. The amount — 3.8 million tons in 2011 — makes the coal plant the top greenhouse gas polluter in New York State. That’s equivalent to the emissions from 712,893 cars annually. Western New York has two other facilities that rank in the state’s top 10 of greenhouse gas polluters: coal-fired power plants CR Huntley in the Town of Tonawanda and NRG Dunkirk in the City[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 24

2013

Buffalo Housing Court fines: Progress and problems

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City Hall’s belated effort to collect $22 million in unpaid Housing Court fines is coming up empty. A dry run by a collections agency hired by the city earlier this year that sought about $430,000 from deadbeat court defendants yielded only $59 in fine payments, according to City Comptroller Mark Schroeder. That experience prompted city officials to scale back their expectations of what was collectable from the $22 million in unpaid fines that have accumulated since Mayor Byron Brown took office in 2006. Rather than $1 million, Schroeder said administration officials believe only $40,000 to $80,000 is collectable. “In terms[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 17

2013

Brown challenger off to decent fundraising start

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It’s been a foregone conclusion that Mayor Byron Brown would continue to raise oodles of money in pursuit of a third term as mayor. The question has been whether his challengers would be able to raise enough money to mount a serious challenge. Brown’s two challengers – Bernie Tolbert, a Democrat, and Sergio Rodriguez, a Republican – filed their first campaign finance disclosure reports this week, and they provided insight into their viability as candidates. The numbers show Tolbert is well on his way to reaching his goal of raising up to $350,000 before the Sept. 10 Democratic primary. His[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 11

2013

Critical look at Cuomo’s Start-Up NY

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David Cay Johnston, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of best selling books on tax and economic policy, is no fan of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Start-Up NY program. Or the governor, for that matter. “His new law undermines market economics and promotes corporate socialism, in which profits are privatized and costs are socialized,” Johnston writes in a piece for City Newspaper in Rochester. “Cuomo’s plan redistributes wealth upwards, showing that he is no Democrat in the traditional sense that Democrats care about working people,” Johnston wrote. “Rather, Cuomo is part of the growing cadre of politicians whose success depends on[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jun 26

2013

Cuomo’s failed huffing and puffing on Peace Bridge

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First Gov. Andrew Cuomo huffed. In October, he had his emissaries tell the Public Bridge Authority he wanted it to turn over control – along with $95 million – to New York State to redevelop the U.S. side of the bridge plaza. When that didn’t work, he puffed. The governor in April had a member of his senior staff write a caustic letter to a senior Canadian transport official accusing Canadian members of the bridge authority of “foot dragging” and a “lack of cooperation” and demanding the removal of general manager Ron Rienas who, you guessed it, is a Canadian.[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jun 21

2013

DEC’s sewage discharge reports lack details

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The intent of the Sewage Pollution Right to Know law passed 10 months ago was to inform state residents within four hours of sewage overflows into waterways to protect them from the dangers of swimming or fishing in tainted water. Not only would residents know the estimated amount of all overflows, they would know where it happened, the duration, what time, the reason and a description of steps taken to control it from happening again. But only half of the disclosure is happening 45 days since the law went into effect.   The Department of Environmental Conservation and environmental advocates are[...]

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post