Investigative Post

Jim Heaney and David Lombardo discuss problems with the IBM and Tesla projects in an interview broadcast Tuesday on The Capitol Pressroom. The program is heard on some 20 public radio stations across the state, including WBFO, where it airs weekdays at 8 p.m.  

Several years ago, the Cuomo administration spent $55 million of state taxpayer money to buy, renovate and equip seven floors of a downtown Buffalo office building to bring IBM to town. The payoff, we were told, would be 500 good-paying software engineering jobs and the start of a technology hub with all sorts of spin-off […]

Susan Arbetter and Jim Heaney discuss two Investigative Post stories that published this week regarding a proposal to build state-subsidized data centers in western and central New York. The interview aired on The Capitol Pressroom.  

An alliance of environmental, community organizations and local governments support a plan to build massive data centers in two upstate towns, including Somerset in Niagara County.  Project backers contend the data centers would help the environment, provide jobs to displaced workers and replenish the tax coffers of local governments.  “It really is a win-win-win for […]

Subsidized data centers can be expensive propositions for taxpayers. They typically require hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer assistance for every job created — and the price tag is sometimes much steeper. The cost of subsidizing data centers built over the past decade in Lockport, for example, worked out to $1.9 million per job. […]

Kate Kaye joined the Investigative Post reporting staff in August. She shared some initial observations about the lack of economic development on the city’s East Side with WBFO’s Jay Moran, who also quizzed Kaye on her previous reporting on technology.  

You’d think that the construction of a million square feet of manufacturing space on a brownfield along the Buffalo River would warrant a thorough environmental investigation before shovels bit into the soil. And you’d be wrong. The Tesla plant in South Buffalo was built on a former Superfund site — once home to Republic Steel, […]

Update: When Investigative Post asked Howard Zemsky about his potential replacement as CEO of the Empire State Development Corp. on Friday, he said someone would be named “soon.” Today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo nominated ESD board member Eric Gertler to take over for Zemsky, once he is confirmed by the state Senate. Gertler, executive chairman of […]