Tag: economic development

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 2 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 2 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 3 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 3 years ago

Oct 8

2021

Plug Power lawsuit dismissed

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A judge has rejected the Tonawanda Seneca Nation’s legal challenge to the findings of an environmental review of  the planned construction of a $264 million hydrogen fuel plant in rural Genesee County.  In a Sept. 28 ruling, Genesee County Judge Charles Zambito determined that the nation failed to add the plant’s developer, Plug Power, as a “necessary party” in a lawsuit that sought to prevent the company from building its new plant near “sacred” hunting grounds on the nation’s territory in the Town of Alabama.  “The Nation is considering next steps in light of this decision,” said Gussie Lord, an[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Sep 10

2021

Another competitor for Samsung plant

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A small city in central Texas is making big moves in the race to secure a $17 billion Samsung microchip plant that Western New York officials are hoping to lure to an industrial park in rural Genesee County.  Multiple news outlets in Texas have reported that officials in Taylor – a city of 18,000 in central Texas – have approved a development agreement for the Samsung project and taken steps to clear the way for the company to buy land for a 6-million-square-foot chip fabrication facility there.   The Austin American-Statesman reported last Thursday that the Taylor City Council approved tax[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jul 14

2021

Tax breaks approved for Falls project

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Economic development officials in Niagara County have approved nearly $500,000 in tax breaks for a Buffalo developer seeking a total of $2.6 million in public subsidies to open a small event center and a brewery and restaurant in a “highly distressed” area of Niagara Falls.  The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency’s board of directors voted Wednesday to authorize $457,000 in property, sales and mortgage tax abatements to support T.M. Montante’s $3.3 million redevelopment plans on Third Street in the Falls. The company has committed to creating 14 full-time jobs, mostly for bartenders, waitresses and cooks. With incentives totaling $2.6 million,[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jul 8

2021

Rich subsidies for low-wage jobs

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Generating business growth in downtown Niagara Falls has proven to be a challenge for years. A state agency charged with job creation has adopted a unique approach, even by Western New York standards. The state-run USA Niagara Development Corp. gave Buffalo-based T.M. Montante Development four properties valued at nearly $1 million in the city’s Third Street business district.  Now, as the company plans to renovate and reopen two Third Street buildings— one as a small event center and the other as a brewery and restaurant— state and county economic development officials are preparing to sweeten the pot with $1.7 million[...]

Posted 3 years ago
Investigative Post

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