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Aug 22

2019

Cop car shortage sidelines new officers

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Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council have shortchanged the Buffalo Police Department’s police fleet in recent years. They’ve replaced cars at less than half the rate the police department has lobbied for, and which is considered best practice by experts in fleet maintenance. Last week, Investigative Post reported on the sorry state of affairs. The police department has too few patrol cars, we found, and many of the cars that are in service are in poor repair. The situation, said John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, is “dire.” “There aren’t enough cars for the patrol[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 19

2019

Cuomo names successor to Zemsky

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Update: When Investigative Post asked Howard Zemsky about his potential replacement as CEO of the Empire State Development Corp. on Friday, he said someone would be named “soon.” Today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo nominated ESD board member Eric Gertler to take over for Zemsky, once he is confirmed by the state Senate. Gertler, executive chairman of US News and World Report, previously served as executive VP of New York City Economic Development Corp. and as co-chair and co-publisher of New York Daily News. Howard Zemsky announced in May he was stepping down as the state’s economic development chief, but he remains on[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 15

2019

Buffalo police handcuffed by ramshackle fleet

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On any given shift, Buffalo police have just half the patrol cars they need to do the job. “I would describe [the situation] as dire,” John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, told Investigative Post. “There aren’t enough cars for the patrol officers to patrol the streets and get to the calls.” The cause: The Brown administration has not replaced police vehicles as frequently as the police department would like and national standards advise. As a result, the police fleet is aging and in disrepair. The cars that do work are driven into the ground, while those in[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 14

2019

Introducing our new reporter

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Kate Kaye, a 20-year reporting veteran who has covered business and technology for a variety of publications, has joined the reporting staff of Investigative Post. Kaye’s career has included stints as a reporter, editor, book author and podcast host. She returns to her native Buffalo after working in New York City, and most recently, Portland, Ore. “A chance meeting at a journalism conference led to a job offer from Jim Heaney to move back to my hometown to join Investigative Post,” said Kaye. “Once the shock wore off, I realized the opportunity to immerse myself in the Buffalo culture and[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 11

2019

A problematic downtown development project

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The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason. —T. S. Eliot When one Western New York developer sues another, the motive — no matter the arguments presented in court, however they may be presented in the media as a pursuit of the public good — is of course money. It has to be: To have standing to sue, a petitioner must demonstrate a financial or quality-of-life interest to the court. So, when Rocco Termini sued Ciminelli Development in mid-June to stop Ciminelli’s latest plan for 201 Ellicott Street, naturally Termini had a financial motive:[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 7

2019

Progress on fair housing front

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Editor’s note: This is the last story Charlotte Keith wrote for Investigative Post. She joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in July. A recent change in state law offers new protections for thousands of Western New York residents who receive federal housing vouchers, offering a way to pursue discrimination complaints without relying on the City of Buffalo’s flawed system. The new measure — included in the state budget that passed in March — means landlords can no longer refuse to rent to someone because they rely on government assistance to help pay rent. Buffalo already had a local law in place prohibiting[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 6

2019

Comptrollers behaving badly, Part 2

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On June 21, Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw issued an invitation to Department of Motor Vehicles employees across the state: If you disagree with the new “Green Light” law, under which New York State will soon issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, and you suspect such a person is applying for a license, call or email the Erie County Comptroller’s Whistleblower Hotline. Mychajliw promised he would forward anonymous tips gathered therein to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Two weeks earlier, at the request of Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns, Mychajliw issued a report “regarding the consequences of granting licenses[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Aug 5

2019

Comptrollers behaving badly, Part 1

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On the website of the Buffalo city comptroller, the top tab on the left — the place of pride — is occupied by the word “Transparency.” I guess that’s meant to be ironic. Click on that tab, and follow the prompts to the page titled “Financial Reports,” and you’ll soon discover what I mean. In the last week or so, Barbara Miller-Williams, the interim comptroller who is running unopposed for a full term in November, wiped that page clean of critical reports created and published by the staff of her predecessor, Mark Schroeder. Buy tickets now to iPost benefit featuring[...]

Posted 7 years ago
Investigative Post