Tag: economic development

Jul 23

2024

STAMP struggling to fill rural industrial park

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Two companies are backing away from plans to move into the sprawling Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park in Genesee County, Investigative Post has learned. Scannell Properties, a multinational builder, will no longer construct three large warehouse-like buildings at the industrial park, according to a June email from the Genesee County Economic Development Center, the industrial development agency building STAMP. In addition, an unnamed company — whose proposed development was called “Project Emporium” — will no longer construct a campus of buildings, including large data centers and office buildings. Scannell Properties had signed a “right of first refusal” contract for[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Jul 16

2024

New York’s generous subsidies to Amazon

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The future site of an Amazon distribution center in Niagara County. Photo by Garrett Looker. New York in recent years has awarded so many tax breaks and subsidies to Amazon that it now ranks as one of the top states in the nation for doling out assistance to the $2 trillion company. The state’s more than $700 million in total subsidies to Amazon ranks it fourth in the country, according to a new data analysis by SwitchOnBusiness, a consulting firm. Only Oregon, Virginia and Illinois have given the e-commerce giant more. The consulting firm gathered its information from Good Jobs[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Jul 15

2024

Buffalo’s ever-present hole in the ground

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You could have read this, and more, yesterday if you subscribed to our newsletters. Doing so is just a click away. Perhaps nothing symbolizes the inertia that holds Buffalo back more than the site of the now demolished Memorial Auditorium. Portions have been redeveloped, most notably Explore & More, but much of the property remains a hole in the ground – literally – 15 years after the Aud was demolished. The inaction has been under the watch of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp., a state agency, and Mayor Byron Brown. The lack of action was in the news last[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Jun 27

2024

Hochul, Schumer pressured regulators over STAMP

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Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part package. Our second story is here. In the drive to build a massive industrial park in rural Genesee County, the offices of Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer pressured regulators to issue approvals for the project that ran afoul of environmental laws and policies, ignoring an indigenous nation’s legal rights along the way. Investigative Post found that: Aides to Hochul pushed top officials at the state Department of Environmental Conservation to work more quickly. Schumer aides intervened with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And a string of state[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Jun 12

2024

A mixed bag on IDA reform in Albany

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New York State Sen. Sean Ryan.  The push to reform New York’s industrial development agencies gained significant momentum this year, but not enough to net a serious win for the coalition of labor unions, teachers and good government groups backing the effort. Smaller measures, however, did make it over the finish line, including one expanding representation on IDA boards and another increasing transparency over agency projects. “The momentum is building and we’re going to continue to build that momentum,” said state Sen. Sean Ryan of Buffalo. “But the community itself is building it.” IDAs, of which there are 107 across[...]

Posted 1 year ago

May 23

2024

Harris Beach, Hodgson Russ profiting off IDAs

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A meeting of the Erie County IDA board of directors. Photo by Garrett Looker. When New York’s industrial development agencies grant tax breaks, it’s not just local companies that benefit — two upstate law firms walk away with major paydays, too. Hodgson Russ and Harris Beach — based in Buffalo and the Rochester area, respectively — earn millions of dollars in fees each year, according to research from the watchdog groups Reinvent Albany and Good Jobs First. That report comes on the heels of state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s annual IDA report, also released Wednesday. The comptroller’s report showed that for[...]

Posted 1 year ago

May 16

2024

A lot of time (422 days) and money ($50,493.50)

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Photo illustration by Garrett Looker. Fifty-thousand, four-hundred ninety-three dollars. And fifty cents.  That’s how much a New York state agency paid an Albany law firm to review and redact records about the Tesla factory in South Buffalo before releasing them to Investigative Post. It took the agency 14 months to fulfill the Freedom of Information Law request. “I think it’s outrageous,” said Paul Wolf, president of the New York Coalition for Open Government. “It’s outrageous to spend $50,000 on an outside attorney to process one FOIL request. And this is for a project that has already received $959 million in[...]

Posted 1 year ago

May 14

2024

Secretive state board gives Amazon another break

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The 3 million-square-foot Amazon distribution center being built in Niagara County will not have to pay construction workers prevailing wages, a state board has ruled, despite the project receiving $137 million in tax breaks and subsidies.  State law says the developer must pay prevailing wages if a private construction project costs more than $5 million and subsidies account for at least 30 percent of costs. The wage rate is set by the state Department of Labor and influenced by union pay.  But the state Public Subsidy Board decided in March those rules won’t apply to the Amazon facility.  Why not?[...]

Posted 1 year ago
Investigative Post