Tag: economic development

Jan 5

2022

Samsung turned down subsidies worth $1.9B

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Think the $950 million the state doled out to build and equip a factory for Tesla in South Buffalo was a lot of money? State and local officials offered Samsung twice as much to build a semiconductor plant in rural Genesee County. The $1.9 billion subsidy package would have been the second-largest deal in state history if the company had accepted it. It ranks high nationally, as well. “It would be right in the top dozen of all time in U.S. history,” according to Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a national subsidy watchdog group.  Still, New York’s[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Dec 28

2021

Tesla reaches its jobs target

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Tesla has finally met its job creation goals at the company’s plant in South Buffalo, according to a state spokesperson. The state required Tesla to employ 1,460 at the plant in exchange for subsidies worth $950 million. Meeting that mandate has proven difficult for a variety of reasons, including Covid-19.  Employment stood at 1,058 on May 31, the original deadline to meet the job goals. The state extended Tesla’s deadline to Dec. 31. In response to questions from Investigative Post, a spokesperson for the Empire State Development Corp. said Tuesday that, as of Nov. 10, Tesla had reported  employment of[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Dec 13

2021

Little economic benefit from new stadium

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A new stadium for the Buffalo Bills would boost the Western New York economy as much as a new Target store. Which is to say, very little. While some supporting construction of a new stadium maintain it would be an economic boon, research by economists across the political spectrum has found stadiums generate limited new spending. Rather, they simply redirect how leisure dollars are spent.  “All you are doing is moving time and money around. People are going to the game instead of the movies,” said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a national subsidy watchdog group. Nor[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Nov 23

2021

Surprise winner of Samsung plant

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At the beginning of the year, it looked like Austin, Texas, was the frontrunner to land a $17 billion Samsung microchip plant that Western New York officials were hoping to lure to rural Genesee County.  In recent months, a new leader emerged – the City of Taylor, just outside Austin – that agreed to a slew of city, county and school district incentives that would reportedly reduce Samsung’s tax burden by 90 percent during the first 10 years of the plant’s operation.  “I thought this was Austin’s to lose,” said Nate Jensen, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin who[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Nov 23

2021

Report: Samsung building plant in Texas

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The tech giant Samsung has apparently decided where it’s going to build a new $17 billion microchip plant in the United States and a report from the Wall Street Journal suggests the project won’t be landing at a large industrial site in rural Genesee County. The Wall Street Journal reported early Tuesday that the company will build its plant in Taylor, Texas. While representatives from Samsung have not confirmed the decision, the Journal reported that the decision on the selection of Taylor will be discussed at 5 p.m. today when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is scheduled to make an “economic[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Nov 13

2021

Envisioning a thriving WNY

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Editor’s note: A version of this column appeared in Buffalo Spree. My wife recently told me of an acquaintance who was moving to California. My response: Who would want to move to California? The land of forest fires, droughts and water shortages? The same could be said of much of the West and Southwest. It’s not uninhabitable – yet – but give it another generation and you’re likely to see an out-migration. That represents an opportunity for cities around the Great Lakes, including Buffalo and Western New York.  We’ll never run out of water. Massive forest fires? Nah. Ditto for[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Oct 17

2021

Tribe reaches settlement on project

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The Tonawanda Seneca Nation has ended its legal bid to stop the construction of a new hydrogen fuel facility at a large industrial park in rural Genesee County.  The Nation announced Friday that it has reached a settlement with the Genesee County Economic Development Center and Plug Power, a hydrogen fuel firm that is planning to build a $264 million plant at the 1,250-acre Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, located just east of the Nation’s territory in the Town of Alabama.  The plant would be built with subsidies worth $4 million per job. Under the settlement, Tonawanda Seneca leaders[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Oct 14

2021

Report: Conditions worsen for Blacks in Buffalo

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In 1990, researchers at the University at Buffalo took a comprehensive look at what it was like to be Black and living in Buffalo. They found large numbers of African Americans were out of work, living in poverty, lacked a college degree and were renters rather than homeowners. The report predicted that the “downward trend” for the city’s Black population would continue unless an action plan was put in place to halt the decline. The “portrait of Black Buffalo remains unchanged” more than 30 years later, a follow-up study released this week has found. The report concluded that Black Buffalonians[...]

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post