420 Search Results for buffalo billion

May 23

2012

Making the case for more than a park

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The Outer Harbor represents Buffalo’s opportunity to get something big right. And what an opportunity it presents. Lake Erie out front. Downtown out back. Just a few miles from a busy international crossing. Is there another city in the nation that has such a prime piece of undeveloped real estate? There’s a push on to redevelop 120 acres of the Outer Harbor into a park. What’s not to love about a park? Well, in this case, several things, if all that’s developed is a park. Consider: Our winters pretty much assure that a stand-alone waterfront park would go largely unused[...]

Posted 12 years ago

May 7

2012

Byron Brown’s bridge over troubled water

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Momentum is building to do something with the Outer Harbor and just days after a group of  community activists called for developing its 120 acres into a park Mayor Byron Brown make a pitch for City Hall to play a role, perhaps a big one. The Outer Harbor is state land, controlled by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. The NFTA wants to get out of the real estate business, which has begged the question, who would assume responsibility for developing the property? Some think the task should fall to the Erie Harbor Canal Development Corp., a subsidiary of Empire State[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Apr 14

2012

Superheroes, mere mortals and corporations

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Planes, trains and automobiles Bruce Fisher has an interesting read this week in Artvoice regard U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins’ call for $1.25 trillion in spending to repair the nation’s infrastructure. With luck, Higgins and his buildup plan could become the national counter to Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. The proposal is bound to encounter resistance, but Higgins will gain some nature stature if it gains traction. Stay tuned. Money to ply politicians, but not to pay taxes More than two-dozen major U.S. corporations paid no net federal income taxes from 2009-11 despite posting billions upon billions of dollars in profits.[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 19

2012

Q&A: Sam Radford, parent leader

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Samual Radford is president of District Parent Coordinating Council, which has emerged the past several years as the most organized and vocal advocate of reforming Buffalo public schools. After a stint in the Marines, Radford, 45, became an activist and organizer on a number of fronts, including president of the student government at Erie Community College, a trainer with the Martin Luther King Institute for Nonviolence, and head of a youth detention center for at-risk kids and a homeless shelter for young women. He’s currently a program coordinator for the Community Action Organization of Erie County. The District Parent Coordinating[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 7

2012

A new tack for Central Terminal

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One billion dollars opens the door to all sorts of possibilities. Consider the Central Terminal. Despite its scars, the Central Terminal might be the neatest space in Buffalo. The city’s proverbial diamond in the rough, even if the emphasis is on “rough.” Plans to revive the hulking structure have been kicked around for years, to no avail. Now comes a pitch from Larry Quinn, conveyed in an interview published Tuesday at investigativepost.org  to restore the Central Terminal and relocate the Albright-Knox Art Gallery there. I asked Quinn how he would spend the $1 billion in cash and incentives that Gov.[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 5

2012

Quinn: How to spend Cuomo’s $1B

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Larry Quinn, a developer and former managing partner of the Buffalo Sabres, weighed in yesterday with his thoughts on the team, Canalside and the future of HSBC bank in downtown Buffalo. Today, Quinn fields questions posed via-e-mail from Jim Heaney of Investigative Post on what ails local economic development efforts and what he thinks of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to invest $1 billion in state incentives to revitalize the region’s economy. You’ve been very critical of economic development efforts in Western New York. What’s the problem? Too many organizations and little chiefs and not much capital.  There should be one[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 4

2012

Larry Quinn on Sabres, Canalside, HSBC

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To quote Frank Sinatra, Larry Quinn has “been up and down and over and out,” perhaps moreso than any public figure in Buffalo over the past generation. He’s been a boy wonder city development whiz under Jimmy Griffin and a Manhattan developer. Managing partner of the Buffalo Sabres not once but twice and now involved in an effort to build an Irish Olympic hockey program. Hailed for building the downtown arena and later working with Tom Golisano to save the team from bankruptcy. Lambasted for the departures of Pat LaFontaine and Chris Drury. Lauded as a visionary planner and reviled[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Feb 24

2012

Q&A: Howard Zemsky

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Howard Zemsky is co-chairman of the Regional Economic Development Council for Western New York and will play a significant role in the shaping of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to invest $1 billion of state incentives in the Buffalo-area economy. He’s been hailed for his company’s redevelopment of the former Graphic Controls building on Seneca Street into the Larkin at Exchange Building, which has served as a catalyst for the revitalization of the surrounding neighborhood. He’s active in the civic and preservationist community. Cuomo recently appointed Zemsky chairman of the Buffalo State College Council and is expected to soon elevate him[...]

Posted 12 years ago