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Jul 30

2024

So long, bed bugs

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BMHA Executive Director Gillian Brown, left, and LBJ Apartments tenant representative Erma Ecford. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. The bed bug infestation is gone. So are the rats. And most of the washers and dryers in the laundry room are working again. That’s what tenants at the Lyndon B. Johnson apartments recently said, just over three months after Investigative Post reported that residents had been living with insect and rodent infestations, leaky ceilings and security concerns, among other issues. Tenant representative Erma Ecford, who initially brought to light conditions at the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority-owned senior complex, said the incessant swarms[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jul 29

2024

Trump vs. Harris: The heavyweight battle begins

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I like to lead my Monday Morning Read with something local, but how can you ignore the presidential election? Maybe it’s just me, but it seems every time Donald Trump or J.D. Vance open their mouths, they alienate non-MAGA voters and turbo-charge supporters of Kamala Harris.  Take, for example, Trump’s pronouncement the other day that there will be no need for elections in four years should he win the White House in November. Here’s a story and, better yet, the video. Then there’s the proposal floated by Vance in 2021 to give voters with children more clout at the polls[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jul 26

2024

Recite the Pledge of Allegiance … or leave

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OTB Chairman Dennis Bassett. Photo by Garrett Looker. If you want to walk into Batavia Downs, the price of admission is pretty obvious: You’ve got to have a few pennies for the slot machines. But the board of directors that runs the casino and harness track has decided there’s a new cost if you want to hear them discuss the business of the publicly owned Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation: Stand up, place your hand over your heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance loud enough for Chairman Dennis Bassett to hear you.  If you don’t? Bassett doesn’t want you[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jul 25

2024

A questionable city contract

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The Broadway Market. Photo by Garrett Looker. Buffalo’s Department of Public Works this week asked city legislators to give a contract to a security company helmed by a former city cop whose brief career was rife with complaints of misbehavior, on and off duty. Elite Protection & Investigation, with offices in Williamsville, won the contract to provide security at the Broadway Market with a bid of $267,150. Two other bidders bid about $20,000 higher. It’s a one-year contract with the option to extend the deal annually up to four times. Elite’s CEO, Mitchell R. Thomas, began his career with the[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jul 24

2024

A changing of the guard for STAMP

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Mark Masse, incoming president of the Genesee County Economic Development Center. Illustration by Garrett Looker. Effective August 1, Mark Masse will take over as president and CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center — the public agency building the STAMP industrial park. Hailing from Genesee County, Masse earned a public accounting degree from Nazareth University and has worked for the IDA since 2010 as its vice president of operations. He takes over for Steven Hyde, the longtime president and CEO who initiated STAMP’s development. He’ll earn a salary of $185,000 and manage an agency with a $10.5 million budget.[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jul 23

2024

STAMP struggling to fill rural industrial park

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Two companies are backing away from plans to move into the sprawling Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park in Genesee County, Investigative Post has learned. Scannell Properties, a multinational builder, will no longer construct three large warehouse-like buildings at the industrial park, according to a June email from the Genesee County Economic Development Center, the industrial development agency building STAMP. In addition, an unnamed company — whose proposed development was called “Project Emporium” — will no longer construct a campus of buildings, including large data centers and office buildings. Scannell Properties had signed a “right of first refusal” contract for[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jul 22

2024

Joe Biden: American Patriot

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Politicians tend to be egotistical, me-first creatures. That’s what makes President Biden’s decision to withdraw as a candidate that much more remarkable. He faced facts and put his country ahead of his ego.  Good for him, and good for us. Lindsey Graham, before he went to the dark side, described Biden as “as good a man as God ever created.” I wouldn’t go that far, but he’s been a good president who struck me as a decent human being – Gaza notwithstanding. While his legacy is yet to be written, it will no doubt include him saving us from another[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jul 18

2024

Mayor’s staff growing in numbers and cost

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When Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown prepared his first city budget, he allowed for eight employees in his office, including himself. He had a communications staff of one.  Those jobs were scheduled to cost taxpayers $571,806, not including healthcare and retirement benefits. The actual cost was less — just under $500,000 — because he didn’t fill all the positions. This budget year, which began July 1, the mayor’s budget allows for 19 staffers. The Office of Communications and Intergovernmental Affairs has grown to seven budgeted positions.  Combined, the salaries for those 26 jobs add up to $2,453,665. That’s nearly three times[...]

Posted 2 months ago
Investigative Post