Tag: economic development

Nov 29

2018

43North winner delinquent on loan

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Four years ago, local manufacturing startup ASi was riding high, the first ever $1 million prize winner of the state-funded 43North business plan competition. Now, the company is in financial trouble. It’s not currently operational, has just one employee – the founder and CEO – and recently defaulted on a $250,000 loan from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. In exchange for the prize money, 43North takes a 5 percent stake in each winning company. 43North officials say the struggles of one company, even a winner of the $1 million – the largest prize offered – don’t reflect the track record of the[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Nov 13

2018

Western New York’s version of the Amazon deal

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 The agreement that will place a new headquarters for Amazon in Queens is the biggest economic development deal for a private company New York has ever seen, with a subsidy package that could add up to more than $2 billion. The full value of the incentives Amazon stands to receive is unclear, but it might still work out to be a better deal for taxpayers than Western New York’s own marquee economic development project, the Tesla factory in South Buffalo. On top of a $500 million state grant, and more than $1.5 billion in performance-based tax credits, Amazon will[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Nov 9

2018

Heaney talks “big lie” strategy on ‘Pressroom

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What to make President Donald Trump’s banishment of CNN reporter Jim Acosta? Jim Heaney tells Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom that Trump’s continued assault on journalists is part of a “big lie” strategy intended in part to destabilize democratic institutions. Heaney also discusses a recent Investigative Post story on two economic development programs in Western New York that go begging for takers. Arbetter will discuss state and national politics this coming Tuesday at an Investigative Post event at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Details and tickets can be found here.  

Posted 5 years ago

Nov 7

2018

Slowdown in Power Authority subsidy programs

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It’s an unusual problem: subsidy programs that can’t find takers. The New York Power Authority has two of them in Western New York. One provides low-cost hydropower to local industry, but a quarter of the pool of electricity lacks for customers and is sold on the wholesale market. The profits from the sale of this unallocated power are earmarked for a program that funds business activity and community projects throughout Western New York. But that money hasn’t been in high demand recently, either. Roughly $4 million sits, unused, in the fund and the board in charge of awarding the money[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Sep 28

2018

Successes and stumbles for 43North program

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 As the 43North startup competition, funded by the Buffalo Billion, enters its fifth year, organizers have made progress in addressing the program’s weak link: winning companies leaving Western New York after their mandatory year here is up. But, in a notable stumble, one company singled out to receive extra funding slipped through organizers’ fingers, moving all but one of its employees to Toronto earlier this year – despite receiving a total of $1 million in investment from 43North. “Jobs moving to Toronto after a year and a half doesn’t seem like a good investment,” said Kirk Laubenstein, executive director[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 31

2018

Heaney discusses anti-corruption bill

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Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney discusses the effort by Assembly Member Crystal Peoples-Stokes to stymie an anti-corruption bill that has languished in a committee she chairs. Heaney spoke with WBFO’s Jay Moran on Press Pass.  

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 1

2018

Job deadlines set for Tesla solar plant

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The Buffalo News is reporting that the state and Tesla have agreed on deadlines for the company to create jobs related to its solar panel manufacturing plant in South Buffalo. Tesla has two years to create 1,460 jobs in the Buffalo area, including 500 at the factory at Riverbend. Tesla faces fines of up to $41 million a year if it fails to meet the job goals. The state spent $750 million of taxpayer money to build and equip the facility, the centerpiece of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative. Alain Kaloyeros, a top state economic development official, and Louis[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Jul 29

2018

Heaney talks media on WBEN

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Kevin Hardwick and Bill Conrad interview Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney on the media, the rise of Investigative Post and its coverage of the Buffalo Billion on their Sunday morning interview program.  

Posted 6 years ago
Investigative Post

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