Categories for Investigations

Aug 2

2012

City’s audit chief abruptly fired

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By Jim Heaney / Investigative Post Comptroller Mark Schroeder fired the city’s chief auditor this afternoon for undisclosed reasons and ordered him to leave City Hall immediately. Schroeder said he fired Darryl McPherson over an incident, rather than his work performance, but declined to go into details. McPherson, who served as chief auditor since 2007, has a history of drunk driving arrests, but Schroeder said the incident was not alcohol related. “This is a work-related issue,” Schroeder told Investigative Post, which broke the story along with WGRZ, 2 On Your Side. “There was an incident that took place. It wasn’t[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 19

2012

Who is stiffing Housing Court?

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Investigative Post identifies the biggest scofflaws who have failed to pay fines and why the court came down so heavy in the first place. Featured Thursday on WGRZ.

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 18

2012

City Hall forgoes millions in housing fines

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You can’t get away without paying your property taxes or garbage fee or even a parking ticket without City Hall coming after you. Letting your property go to seed is another matter. Judges in City Housing Court have imposed more than $22 million in fines since 2006 against some 1,470 property owners who ignored orders to repair building and health code violations. A vast majority have ignored the fines and gotten away with it, an Investigative Post inquiry has found. Less than $800,000 in fines have been paid during that period – less than a nickel on the dollar. It’s[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 4

2012

Feds find aiding city is risky business

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Federal housing officials are tightening the screws on City Hall over its chronic mismanagement of anti-poverty funds. A series of critical reports and audits have documented problems dating back to the Griffin-era, but meaningful sanctions to this point have been few and far between. But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is now moving on three fronts to force compliance from City Hall in how it spends about $18 million a year – three-quarters of it block grant aid that is the primary pool of money used to combat poverty in one of the nation’s poorest cities. HUD,[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jun 24

2012

Complete Lenihan interview

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Erie County Democratic Party chairman discusses his plans, upcoming elections and how long it’s been since he and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have spoken.

Posted 12 years ago

Jun 13

2012

Have a question for Mark Poloncarz?

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Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney is interviewing Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz Wednesday for a segment that will air Sunday on WGRZ’s Daybreak. If you have a question you’d like Heaney to consider posing, e-mail him or post a comment below by 1:30 p.m. today.

Posted 12 years ago

May 17

2012

Smith continues to flout election law

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The New York Board of Elections has slapped a campaign committee controlled by Common Council Majority Leader Demone Smith with another fine for failing to file  financial disclosure reports. The most recent fine of $1,121 is at least the seventh assessed against Smith campaign committees.  The fines total $4,084 and the committees have yet to pay any of them, including one that dates to March 2008. Smith, in an interview Tuesday, said he is working with the Board of Elections in an effort to reduce the fines. “We’re trying to get them lowered,” he said. However, John Conklin, a spokesman[...]

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post

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