Tag: Peace Bridge

Feb 20

2013

Peace Bridge duty free operators big political donors

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The Florida-based owners of the duty free store on the Buffalo side of the Peace Bridge are big-time operators with more than 100 stores here and abroad. They’re also big-time donors to politicians in both the United States and Israel with contributions approaching $1.8 million, although none of the money has funneled into Western New York. Their company, Duty Free Americas, stands to potentially profit by an expansion of the Peace Bridge plaza on the Buffalo side. The expansion would likely require the duty free store to relocate, presumably into bigger, better and more profitable quarters on the Episcopal Church Home campus[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Feb 7

2013

Locals chime in on Peace Bridge story

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Last week’s story on Investigative Post that reviewed the Public Bridge Authority’s revenue streams along with its U.S. plaza expansion plans sparked some interesting feedback from readers. The story was shared with our media partners —Artvoice and WGRZ — and here are a few of the comments from those two sites: The following comments come from reddit.com’s Buffalo page:

Posted 11 years ago

Jan 31

2013

Is traffic—or money—driving Peace Bridge plan?

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Public Bridge Authority officials say they’re focused on expanding the Peace Bridge Plaza on the American side because it will improve traffic flow. But a look at the authority’s books reveals another possible motive: Money. While passenger vehicles account for almost 80 percent of bridge traffic, car tolls account for only 21 percent of authority revenue. Truck tolls, on the other hand, generate 48 percent of the authority’s revenues, almost $16 million a year. Duty Free stores at the base of the bridge in Buffalo and Fort Erie account for another 22 percent, or $7.2 million projected for this fiscal[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 28

2012

EPA differs with Peace Bridge on air quality

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The authority that operates the Peace Bridge and a trio of state agencies maintain that fumes from traffic crossing the bridge have little impact on the health of residents who live nearby. The Environmental Protection Agency disagreed Friday, and backed up those concerns with a grant to the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York to monitor air quality around the bridge and educate and mobilize neighborhood residents. The $25,000 Environmental Justice Small Grants Program award announced Friday will be used by the Clean Air Coalition to partner with West Side residents to train them in mobile air sampling and educate[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Nov 28

2012

Texting out idling trucks around Peace Bridge

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More light may be shed on just how big of a problem idling trucks are for the Lower West Side. The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and the Clean Air Coalition of WNY launched a program this week called Grow 716 that allows people to text a six-digit number whenever they see an idling heavy-duty engine truck or bus in the Lower West Side. The foundation provided the technology and the Clean Air Coalition will be responsible for the outreach campaign. This is how it works: If you see an idling truck in the Lower West Side, text TRUCK to[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Nov 25

2012

Q&A: Stephanie Simeon

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Stephanie Simeon is executive director of Heart of the City Neighborhoods, a non-profit housing development corporation serving Buffalo’s Lower West Side. Simeon, 31, is a native of Brooklyn who moved to Buffalo to attend the University at Buffalo, where she earned an undergraduate degree in social science and master’s degree in urban planning. She serves on the board of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women. Last year she was selected by Business First as one of the region’s top 40 young people under 40. Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney interviewed Simeon on Nov. 20. A 4 minute, 45[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Nov 15

2012

Breaking down the idling story

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Yes, it’s true that diesel truck engines run cleaner than they did a decade ago. But it doesn’t mean you should go ahead and inhale the fumes from thousands of trucks on a daily basis. There’s a law in New York that prohibits heavy-duty diesel engines from idling for more than five minutes under normal circumstances and that law is not being enforced, especially on the Lower West Side, where there is a long history of respiratory problems. That’s the basis of my report published on investigativepost.org and broadcast on WGRZ TV. The lack of enforcement here is not a[...]

Posted 11 years ago
Investigative Post

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