Nov 25
2015
Not to rain on the parade, but despite talk from politicians about Buffalo’s resurgence, job growth in Erie and Niagara counties continues to lag behind the nation and state. Sounds like this might make for a good discussion.
Nov 24
2015
Diversity hiring goals set for the construction of the SolarCity plant in South Buffalo have not translated into a lot of jobs for African-American workers. While African Americans make up an increasing share of the project’s workforce, they accounted for only 5.7 percent of those on the job for the quarter ending this September, an Investigative Post analysis found. That’s in a city that’s almost 40 percent African-American and a county with a workforce that’s 11 percent black, according to the state Department of Labor. The project is nevertheless meeting its minority workforce goal of 15 percent, largely through the[...]
Oct 30
2015
I have called Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s investment in SolarCity a high-risk, high-reward undertaking. The project took on an added air of risk Thursday, in light of not one, not two, but three pieces of bad news. For starters, the company disclosed it posted a net loss of $234 million in the third quarter. That’s the biggest quarterly loss in the history of the company and brings the year-to-date losses to a staggering $537 million. That puts SolarCity on track to lose more than $700 million for 2015, compared with net losses of $375 million in 2014, $152 million in 2013[...]
Oct 26
2015
The current issue of Buffalo Spree includes a plug for a “New York News” segment taped over the summer by WMHT, the PBS station for Albany and the Capitol Region, which includes comments by Jim Heaney and Charlotte Keith of Investigative Post. The story deals with progress developing Buffalo’s waterfront and the lack of progress revitalizing the Central Terminal. Spree reported that Matt Ryan, the program’s managing editor, “interviews the usual rash-rash suspects – local politicians and other boosters – but he speaks to more cautiously optimistic types like Investigative Post’s Jim Heaney.” “Overall, it is a positive segment, but[...]
Oct 9
2015
Protesters from local community groups gathered outside the SolarCity construction site in South Buffalo to call for a return to the 25 percent minority workforce goal originally floated for the project. As Investigative Post reported last week, that goal was agreed to when the city sold the land for the factory to the state, and publicly announced in two press releases. But a more recent agreement between developer LPCiminelli and the construction unions established instead a goal of 15 percent. State officials now say the higher goal was purely “aspirational” and that the revised goals are being met. Erie County[...]
Oct 5
2015
The state released figures Monday related to the employment of minority construction workers at the SolarCity plant that they had previously refused to disclose. The release follows a report last week by Investigative Post that showed it was unclear whether the project’s diversity hiring goals were being met. Those figures show that minorities have done 16.2 percent of work on the site from the start of construction in May 2014 through July this year, based on the number of hours worked. Investigative Post had earlier reported that minorities made up 6 percent of the workforce from the start of construction through[...]
Sep 30
2015
Buffalo’s African-American community is starving for jobs, while the ongoing construction of the SolarCity plant in South Buffalo is employing hundreds upon hundreds of construction workers. Yet state officials agreed to cut the project’s diversity hiring goal – included on state contracts to ensure minorities get a fair share of work – from 25 to 15 percent. [continuing-coverage]That’s lower than on other high-profile publicly funded projects, such as the Buffalo schools reconstruction program and the University at Buffalo Medical School. It’s also significantly lower than the 25 percent minority workforce goal that was stipulated in the sales agreement that transferred[...]
Sep 21
2015
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara took on the role of investigating the Buffalo Billion after none of the watchdogs in state government would. I did a story last December that detailed the questionable circumstances surrounding the awarding of development contracts to LPCiminelli and McGuire Development and the lack of transparency involving the Buffalo Billion program. I made inquiries in January with the offices of both Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to ask if either of them intended to follow up. I found no takers. Bharara’s office, meanwhile, took note and began issuing subpoenas over the summer, as detailed Friday[...]