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Oct 30

2024

Buffalo readying hostel’s former home for sale

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Hostel Buffalo-Niagara in downtown Buffalo’s Theater District. Photo by Garrett Looker. Members of  the Hostel Buffalo-Niagara board are working to reclaim the lodge’s former home at 667 Main St. – though they may have some competition. The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency last week said its real estate team has been showing the property – located in the heart of the Theatre District – to several potential buyers.  BURA officials didn’t name any interested parties beyond the hostel, which is partnering with developer Sam Savarino to create a construction plan for the property. The hostel’s board hopes that Savarino can acquire[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 29

2024

16 deaths blamed on domestic violence in one year

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Last year, nearly 6,600 women, men, and children throughout Erie County were victims of domestic violence.  It was the highest victim total in the past decade — 14 percent higher than the previous year, according to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. Domestic violence incidents have been on the rise in the past several years. Since 2018, 61 domestic violence deaths were reported in Erie County.  In most cases,  the victims of abuse were killed, though several abusers and other family members also died.   Sixteen of those deaths occurred in one year, 2022. Those rising numbers concern[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 28

2024

Ethics board says former Evans supervisor owes $23K

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Mary Hosler, Erie County’s chief auditor, should be fined $23,000 for payments she took but was not entitled to while serving as Evans town supervisor, the town’s Ethics Committee concluded last week. The five-member panel  agreed with a recent audit by the state comptroller’s office that found Hosler improperly took compensation for opting out of the town’s health insurance coverage.  (Investigative Post wrote about  the audit last month.) Elected officials were not entitled to such opt-out payments at the time Hosler sought the money, the ethics board concluded. On top of that, Hosler was covered by the town’s health insurance[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 27

2024

Billionaire wants to buy parent company of Buffalo News

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A Florida billionaire is making noises about buying Lee Enterprises, and with it, The Buffalo News. The New York Times reported last week that David Hoffmann, worth $1.6 billion, has bought 5.2 percent of Lee’s stock and wants to obtain majority interest. Hoffman told The Times that while he recognizes the newspaper industry’s trend to digital, he believes print still has a future. And he believes in local news. As The Times wrote: “He wants to preserve community news — including more local sports coverage.”  The Times provided this background on the 72-year-old investor: Mr. Hoffmann is a relative newcomer to the[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 24

2024

OTB hires two Brown lieutenants from City Hall

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Byron Brown answers questions from reporters at Thursday’s OTB meeting. Photo by Garrett Looker. Steven Casey, a longtime aide to Byron Brown and a political operative whose consulting firm pleaded guilty to felony charges in 2021, was hired Thursday as the former mayor’s right-hand man at the Western Regional Off-Track Betting. The OTB board voted to hire Casey for one year as chief administrative officer and chief of staff under Brown, OTB’s new president and CEO. Casey will be paid $190,000. OTB will retain Scott Kiedrowski, OTB’s current No. 2, who is named in a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 24

2024

Braymiller Market pays its delinquent taxes

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Braymiller’s grocery includes a deli. Photo by Garrett Looker. It took two formal warnings from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency and the threat of losing a key tax break, but Braymiller Market owner Stuart Green paid his overdue city taxes Wednesday. Green’s $8,200 payment, half his annual bill, was nearly three months late and was at least the third time he’d missed the deadline for paying his city property tax, according to city records. Under the terms of a 2019 package of tax breaks, which totaled $765,000, Bryamiller is responsible for paying 20 percent of its tax bill. John[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 24

2024

Buffalo asks judge to dismiss lead inspection lawsuit

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Attorneys Matthew Parham, far left, with John Lipsitz, representing groups suing Buffalo, and Assistant Corporation Counsel David Lee, right, representing the city, appear before State Supreme Court Judge Michael Siragusa.  Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. The City of Buffalo is asking a judge to toss out a lawsuit accusing the city of failing to enforce a rental inspection law aimed at reducing lead paint in its aging housing stock. Here’s why the case has no merit, according to the city: Buffalo is enforcing its inspections law, known as the Proactive Rental Inspections Program or PRI — just not as quickly as[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 23

2024

Brown’s OTB contract could rise to $315,000 in 2027

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Outgoing OTB CEO Henry Wojtaszek, left, recently appointed CEO Byron Brown, center, and attorney Rajat Shah. Photo by Mark Scheer. Former Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has the chance to boost his annual salary of $295,000 by another $20,000 within two years as the new CEO and president of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. At the start of Wednesday’s OTB board of directors meeting — the first attended by Brown since he resigned as mayor to head the public gambling agency — Brown released a copy of his employment contract. The three-year contract will, as has been previously reported, pay Brown[...]

Posted 7 months ago
Investigative Post