Mar 6
2015
In Part Two of our report about contamination on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor, Dan Telvock documents the failure of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. to release public documents and answer questions regarding efforts to develop the waterfront. A growing list of critics have faulted the state agency for its lack of transparency. Part One can be found here.
Mar 5
2015
(Editor’s note: Watch WGRZ’s 6 p.m. newscast Friday for a second installment of the package.) The state’s latest approach to developing the Outer Harbor calls for expediting the construction of housing next to a partially remediated Superfund site contaminated with sludge that possibly causes cancer. The revised scheme is aimed at mollifying opposition to the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation’s original plan to build housing next to the environmentally sensitive Times Beach Nature Preserve. Shifting the first phase of residential and commercial development a mile south of Times Beach borrows from a plan advocated by Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper that has[...]
Mar 3
2015
Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen knows the city’s recycling rate is well below the national average of 34 percent. In an effort to boost the recycling program, he has gained approval from his colleagues for a resolution that proscribes steps he wants the city to take to promote recycling. They include: The Corporation Counsel should review recycling provisions in the City Charter and recommend changes to bring them in line with state’s recycling mandate. The Public Works Department must remind businesses that recycling is mandated. Many don’t recycle. Summer seasonal hires should visit households that are not recycling and[...]
Feb 26
2015
The Buffalo Urban League, accused of submitting inflated bills for social services to Erie County, is retaliating against whistleblowers and impeding an investigation by the county comptroller, numerous sources have told Investigative Post. Some of these sources said whistleblowers have nevertheless provided investigators with evidence of “blatantly fraudulent billing” that buttresses their original claims that the Urban League was bilking the county. They’ve provided the comptroller documents purporting to show, among other things, 15 instances of double-billing and a one-day bill from a single employee that claimed 170 hours of work, sources said. Despite public statements to the contrary, internal[...]
Feb 26
2015
Byron Brown’s administration is refusing to release the city’s recycling stats, even though the mayor recently touted the program’s supposed success during his State of the City speech last week. Susan Attridge, the city’s recycling coordinator, originally told me she’d supply the statistics in early February when she finished adding in details from commercial recycling. When that timeframe passed, I asked again. Attridge said she was still working on the data and would send it to me as soon as she finished. That same week, Brown cited the city’s recycling stats during his Feb. 20 State of the City speech.[...]
Feb 26
2015
Feb 23
2015
Feb 13
2015