663 Search Results for lead

Mar 29

2016

Buffalo failing to enforce diversity law

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  Mayor Byron Brown has done a lot of talking about the need to provide job opportunities for people of color. He’s pushed some 210 businesses and organizations to sign his “Opportunity Pledge” and spoken in favor of apprentice programs that give young workers a foot in the door of the construction trades. The mayor, however, has failed to use a powerful tool at his disposal to promote diversity in the workforce. City Hall under Brown has failed to enforce a law that mandates the employment of apprentices on city-financed capital projects. “They do not enforce it at all,” said[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Mar 21

2016

Higgins interview at iPost luncheon

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U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins discussed a range of local, national and international issues in an interview March 9 with Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney. In perhaps his most noteworthy comment, Higgins gave poor to middling grades to local leadership for what he said is its aversion to risk taking.

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 28

2016

Outrages: Lack of diversity in the trades

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Charlotte Keith reported last week about the lack of diversity in local trade unions. Minorities account for 17 percent of the workforce in Erie County, but only 11 percent of membership of 18 building trade unions. What’s more, that number has barely budged over the past decade, despite a pledge by the unions to dramatically diversify their membership. A fair amount of the blame falls to the unions, but there’s plenty of blame to go around. Unions and community groups that recruit and train minority job candidates generally don’t get along. They accuse each other of a lack of communication.[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 26

2016

Heaney talks diversity with ‘Pressroom

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Jim Heaney, following up on Investigative Post’s report on a lack of diversity in Buffalo’s construction trades, discusses the problem with Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom. Heaney also discusses the latest developments involving lead poisoning in the city. The interview runs from 36:47 to 48:35.  

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 23

2016

Buffalo trade unions lagging in diversity

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  Construction in Buffalo is booming. SolarCity. Children’s Hospital. The University at Buffalo Medical School. Taxpayer-funded projects like these are employing thousands of union construction workers. But the boom has resurrected concerns that the unions have made little progress over the past decade in diversifying their membership. While minorities make up 17 percent of Erie County’s workforce and more than half of the city’s population, they account for only 11 percent of unionized construction workers, according to the most recent figures available. What’s more, there’s been virtually no change in the racial makeup of the building trades over the past[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 22

2016

Action to fence off toxic Wheatfield landfill

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A state senator lashed out Monday at the Department of Environmental Conservation for its failure to protect residents living by a landfill in Wheatfield that was recently declared a Superfund site. In responding to a Feb. 10 story by Investigative Post, Sen. Robert Ortt questioned how the state DEC could insist for 25 years that the landfill off Nash Road did not pose a significant risk to unsuspecting adults and children who have been using the property for recreation. The senator said it made little sense when the DEC in December 2015 reversed itself by declaring the landfill a Superfund site, even[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 16

2016

Event explores how to make democracy work

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Improving the quality of local politics and increasing civic engagement were the topics of debate on Feb. 10 as Investigative Post hosted a panel discussion as part of its “At Issue” event series. The panel agreed that Buffalo has abysmal voter engagement, but differed as to who or what is to blame. Voter turnout in last year’s general election was only 26 percent in Erie County. Meanwhile, seven of the nine incumbents on the Common Council and five of 11 members of the county Legislature, ran unopposed last year. Why the apathy? Democratic Party Chairman Jeremy Zellner cited several reasons, including the[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 10

2016

Landfill with Love Canal legacy still poses danger

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Varsha Kraus and her family fled their neighborhood in Love Canal in 1981 only to learn two years ago that its toxic waste had been dug up and buried in a landfill behind their subdivision in North Tonawanda. After insisting for 25 years that the closed landfill posed no significant health threat, state officials changed their minds in December and declared it a Superfund site. But warning signs were evident all along: rusted chemical drums, battery casings stacked waist high and children getting burns from splashes of orange pond water. The Love Canal waste – enough to fill 80 dump[...]

Posted 8 years ago