Tag: Economy

May 10

2016

How to diversify the building trades in Buffalo

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  When Minnesota lawmakers agreed to put millions of dollars toward building a new football stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, contractors were told they had to what some thought impossible: ensure that minorities accounted for a third of the construction workforce. Work on the $1.1 billion stadium is wrapping up, and contractors, despite their initial skepticism, have not only met the 32 percent goal but exceeded it, reaching 36 percent minority participation. This kind of ambitious goal-setting has been absent on major projects in the Buffalo area. The minority workforce goal was just 13.2 percent on the $130 million renovations[...]

Posted 8 years ago

May 10

2016

Yet more bad news on SolarCity

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I’ll dispense with the MayDay! declarations of past and get to the latest double-barrel dose of bad news regarding SolarCity. The company released its first quarter earnings report Monday afternoon and it was drenched with more red ink than usual. SolarCity lost a record $283.1 million. That was double the $149.9 million it lost for the same period in 2015. The stock market reacted as you’d expect, with the trading price dropping by 21 percent from the close of trading Monday to Tuesday. SolarCity is now going for $17.54 a share, down from $57.26 as recently as mid-December. Yet another crisis in[...]

Posted 8 years ago

May 6

2016

Latest Buffalo Billion scandal developments

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There were two noteworthy developments Friday involving the mushrooming Buffalo Billion scandal. Gannett newspapers reported that Alphonso David, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s legal counsel, has issued an edict that requires the bureaucracy headed by Alain Kaloyeros to run all decisions regarding the Buffalo Billion and nanotechnology projects in Albany past Bart Schwartz, who is heading the governor’s review of numerous state economic development programs. Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reported that longtime Cuomo associate Todd Howe has been fired from the law firm that employed him to, among other things, represent politically connected upstate developers. Howe is a focus of U.S. Attorney[...]

Posted 8 years ago

May 6

2016

Heaney interviews on Capitol Pressroom

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The Capitol Pressroom broadcast interviews Thursday and Friday with Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney. Topics of discussion included the Buffalo Billion scandal, the ramifications of this week’s School Board elections, and efforts by City Hall and Erie County officials to deal with Buffalo’s lead poisoning problem. The interview that aired Thursday starts at the top of the program and runs to 13:07. The Friday interview runs from 13:09 to 22:35.    

Posted 8 years ago

May 2

2016

Cuomo’s M.O. enables corruption

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One Albany insider told The Buffalo News over the weekend that “everyone is literally flabbergasted” at the turn of events in the federal probe of what can safely be termed the “embattled” Buffalo Billion program. I suppose the spectacle of Cuomo insiders turning on each other as the governor scrambles into damage control mode is a bit jarring. But no one who has been paying attention to Cuomo’s governing style in general, and his administration’s management of the Buffalo Billion program in particular, should be the least bit surprised. In short, the Cuomo crowd is obsessed with secrecy and operates[...]

Posted 8 years ago

May 2

2016

Heaney talks Billion probe on WBFO

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Jim Heaney of Investigative Post discusses the latest developments in the federal probe into the Buffalo Billion program with Jay Moran of WBFO. Heaney said the expanding investigation is unlikely to derail construction of the SolarCity plant or any other projects. He also said the allegations of misconduct are not surprising, given what he said is the Cuomo administration’s culture of secrecy and ethos that “the rules don’t apply to us.”

Posted 8 years ago

Apr 29

2016

Buffalo Billion probe targets Cuomo insiders

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U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation into the Buffalo Billion, triggered by Investigative Post’s relentless reporting, appears to have targeted members of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s inner-circle. The feds issued subpoenas to the governor’s office Friday, and, in turn, the Cuomo administration announced its own investigation and issued a press release that appeared to throw one or more close associates under the bus. Folks, this could get real ugly real quick. Those under scrutiny include Joseph Percoco, a top Cuomo aid and political enforcer who recently left the administration; longtime associate and lobbyist Todd Howe; and Alain Kaloyeros, the so-called nanotech guru who the[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Mar 14

2016

Buffalo: Real State of the City

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Buffalo is doing better, but is it doing as well as the politicians and much of the local press would have us believe? The answer, in a word, is “no.” That was the bottom line to my address Feb. 24 at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Progress has been overstated. There’s a lot of racial inequality. We’re a high-crime city where few criminals get caught. And Buffalo is a ward of the state. Charlotte Keith and I dug deep into the data to provide a factual, statistical framework on which I based my conclusions. Here they are, in a nutshell:[...]

Posted 8 years ago
Investigative Post

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