Latest

Oct 15

2014

Ogilvie: School reform will take 10 years

Published by

It will take up to 10 years to turn around Buffalo’s public schools, School Superintendent Donald Ogilvie told an audience of around 70 at a luncheon Wednesday hosted by Investigative Post. And that turnaround will only happen if best teaching practices, currently stymied by outdated union work rules, are put in place, two other speakers added. Ogilvie detailed the problems he’s encountered in Buffalo schools since starting as interim superintendent in July and told the sold-out luncheon at Osteria 166 that they will take seven to 10 years to resolve. It’s essential, he said, that the Board of Education avoid[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Oct 9

2014

SolarCity’s shaky foundation

Published by

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is investing $750 million of taxpayer funds and the hopes of a community desperate for an economic recovery in a company that is losing money, weathering two federal investigations and facing, by its own admission, an uncertain economic future. To hear Cuomo tell it, the construction of a solar panel manufacturing plant operated by SolarCity Corp. will be a “game changer,” a catalyst to reviving the Western New York economy. Indeed, the company is regarded as a leader in the burgeoning solar energy industry, has acquired promising technology to manufacture solar panels and has enjoyed soaring stock[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Oct 9

2014

Unfinished business for Buffalo’s Outer Harbor

Published by

Buffalo, which has suffered over the years from a series of planning mistakes, is nearing a decision on how to develop its Outer Harbor even though the state agency managing the project hasn’t completed its homework on key legal, financial and environmental issues. These unresolved issues, particularly whether to build five-story condos, shops and restaurants near the environmentally sensitive Times Beach Nature Preserve, are at the core of a dispute that boiled over last week. Rep. Brian Higgins and Assembly Member Sean Ryan went public last Friday in their opposition to the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation’s development plan for[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Oct 6

2014

Higgins, Gioia split on Outer Harbor

Published by

Two prominent politicians have endorsed a nonprofit environmental group’s Outer Harbor development plan that significantly scales back the residential and commercial footprint proposed in the state’s version last month. Congressman Brian Higgins and Assemblyman Sean Ryan both said at a press conference Friday at Gallagher Beach that the state’s proposal does not have broad public support. “The current plan put forth by the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation would not create an Outer Harbor that Buffalo and Western New York had been longing for,” Ryan said. As a result, they both backed Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper’s plan that focuses the residential[...]

Posted 11 years ago
Investigative Post