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Jul 17

2024

Brown’s raising money as if he’s running for office

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Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has a fundraiser today at the Diamond Hawk golf course in Cheektowaga, with tickets starting at $100 and sponsorship packages ranging up to $5,000.  Brown also held a fundraiser earlier this month at a Bisons game and another in April at The Atrium @ Rich’s. His Brown for Buffalo campaign committee has raised $58,500 since January, according to campaign finance disclosures filed on Monday.  That’s $22,000 more than Brown raised in the first six months of 2020, as he prepared to run for a fifth term. The mayor’s committee had $192,545 in the bank as of[...]

Posted 10 months ago

Jul 16

2024

New York’s generous subsidies to Amazon

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The future site of an Amazon distribution center in Niagara County. Photo by Garrett Looker. New York in recent years has awarded so many tax breaks and subsidies to Amazon that it now ranks as one of the top states in the nation for doling out assistance to the $2 trillion company. The state’s more than $700 million in total subsidies to Amazon ranks it fourth in the country, according to a new data analysis by SwitchOnBusiness, a consulting firm. Only Oregon, Virginia and Illinois have given the e-commerce giant more. The consulting firm gathered its information from Good Jobs[...]

Posted 10 months ago

Jul 15

2024

Buffalo’s ever-present hole in the ground

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You could have read this, and more, yesterday if you subscribed to our newsletters. Doing so is just a click away. Perhaps nothing symbolizes the inertia that holds Buffalo back more than the site of the now demolished Memorial Auditorium. Portions have been redeveloped, most notably Explore & More, but much of the property remains a hole in the ground – literally – 15 years after the Aud was demolished. The inaction has been under the watch of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp., a state agency, and Mayor Byron Brown. The lack of action was in the news last[...]

Posted 10 months ago

Jul 12

2024

Harsh words for costly OTB buyouts

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State Sen. Sean Ryan, left,  Assemblywoman Monica Wallace and Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. “Egregious.”  “Self-dealing.”  “Corrupt.”  A trio of local Democratic officials used those terms and a few other choice words on Friday to describe contractual buyouts for three outgoing executives that will come at a combined cost to Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. of more than $500,000.  During a press conference outside the OTB branch on Clinton Street in Cheektowaga, State Assemblywoman Monica Wallace, D-Lancaster, assailed the six-figure buyouts as “sweetheart” deals that are “wholly unnecessary.” Joining her in criticizing the deals were[...]

Posted 10 months ago

Jul 12

2024

What about a branch library at the Broadway Market?

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After years of inaction, progress is being made toward bringing library books to the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood – with a branch library in the Broadway Market suggested as one possibility. John Spears, director of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, and Chris Hawley, a community advocate, met last week to discuss ways to address the book desert that exists in a large swath of the city’s East side. As a short-term solution, they discussed the possibility of expanding the library’s bookmobile in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood. As a longer-term goal, they talked about establishing a “physical presence” in the community, Spears[...]

Posted 11 months ago

Jul 11

2024

Buffalo sued over inner-city lead poisoning

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Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, head of the Partnership for the Public Good. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel.   This story was updated at 2:11 pm on July 11, 2024 to include comments from the City of Buffalo. Tenants and community organizations are taking the City of Buffalo to court, contending it is failing to enforce rental inspection laws aimed at reducing lead paint in the city’s aging housing stock. The inspection law, enacted in 2020, was in response to the large number of children testing with high levels of lead in their blood. City inspectors have conducted relatively few inspections since then,[...]

Posted 11 months ago

Jul 10

2024

More drama with jail advisory board

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Erie County Sheriff John Garcia. Photo by Garrett Looker. The Erie County Sheriff’s Department has pulled staff from meetings of a jail advisory board, citing the body’s inability to raise quorums and an adversarial tone from some members. The withdrawal came after Jerome Wright, a former inmate who’s been critical of the sheriff’s office, was elected chairman to the board that’s been tasked with reviewing jail deaths and operations. “This is a disingenuous attempt to go out like a punk instead of standing your ground,” said Wright, who has opposed the sheriff’s push for a new jail and says he[...]

Posted 11 months ago

Jul 9

2024

OTB lawyer says buyouts A-OK

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Henry Wojtaszek at a January OTB meeting. Photo by Garrett Looker. An outside attorney representing Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. says the agency is not covered by a state law designed to prevent public authorities from offering so-called “golden parachutes” to outgoing executives.   In a written opinion provided to members of OTB’s board on Friday, attorney Terry Connors argues that the state’s Severance Pay Limitation Act has no bearing on a June 27 decision by the agency’s board to authorize lucrative buyouts for three departing executives, including CEO and President Henry Wojtaszek.  In his opinion, Connors argues that the act,[...]

Posted 11 months ago
Investigative Post