Feb 21
2022
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Editor’s note: WeeklyPost is an email newsletter written by Jim Heaney and published Sunday mornings. It recaps our coverage of the previous week and highlights other local, state and national stories that Heaney finds of interest, along with a bit of commentary. If you don’t already subscribe, you can do so at this link.
To give you a flavor, here’s a sampling of the “What I’m Reading” section of yesterday’s newsletter.
The Buffalo News published some very good pieces last week. Matt Spina reported on how former Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard continues to sponge off taxpayers. Mark Sommer reported on the city’s failure to keep historic structures safe because of its failure to regularly inspect them. And Rod Watson hit another home run with a tongue-in-cheek column on state and county officials negotiating with the Bills suffering from the Stockholm syndrome.
Wrote Watson:
Bring in a hostage negotiating team to replace the public officials leading the talks. After all, the recent comments from a key National Football League team owner about the “urgency” of completing lease negotiations is just the latest example of how Western New Yorkers are being held captive to the whims of the team and its NFL co-conspirators.
Then there was a column by News Editor Mike Connelly announcing the paper’s expanded coverage of what he termed “Buffalo’s economic resurgence.” (Try telling that to Henry Taylor.) Aaron Bartley – one of Buffalo’s most prominent activists when he headed up PUSH Buffalo, and now a bookshop keeper – chastised The News’ approach, declaring on his Facebook page that “the paper is making a formal commitment to boosterism as its dominant journalistic posture.” He went on to suggest better ways the paper can utilize its journalistic resources.
A bit more media news: Lee Enterprises, owners of The Buffalo News, last week scored a legal victory in its efforts to fend off a hostile takeover by Alden Global Capital. Also, a new study documents once again how hedge fund owners further decimate newspapers when they buy them. (Not that other chains such as Lee and Gannett are all that much better.)
McKinley High School has been in the news of late for a shooting and stabbing two weeks ago and for sky-high student absenteeism. Security concerns throughout the district prompted the Buffalo Teachers Federation last week to issue a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Kriner Cash. Sources tell me a number of principals across the district are fed up for the same reason, and that a growing number of school board members have grown disillusioned with Cash, as well. The superintendent, in turn, has gotten snippy at times with board members during meetings.
There’s now been new fuel added to the fire, a website just posted on the situation at McKinley that places the blame on Cash and Marck Abraham, the now-departed principal he appointed to replace Crystal Boling-Barton after she was suspended. The anonymous authors, who describe themselves as “six people consisting of teachers, community members and parent(s)” provide a lot of documentation to back up their claims, although I can’t vouch for their accuracy or conclusions. I will tell you this much: it makes for compelling reading and raises questions the school board needs to address.
Elsewhere, the Albany Times Union, which does a bang-up job, reported last week that state government has poured nearly $3 billion into the struggling horse racing industry without ever bothering to assess whether the money was being put to good use.
Speaking of waste, a new report documents the failures of the state’s 421-a tax break program for real estate developers and landlords. In theory, the program promotes the development of affordable housing. In reality, it largely benefits the real estate industry. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has pocketed huge campaign contributions from the sector, has proposed changes, but housing advocates say they don’t go far enough.
Finally, the Pegulas hired Jerry Jones’ consulting firm a while ago to advise them on their proposal for a new stadium and what to charge fans to attend games there. (Jones, as owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is about as well liked in these parts as Tom Brady.) Well, he and his Cowboys were in the news last week for nothing that has to do with football. ESPN reported that one of his confidants was found out using his cell phone to video record team cheerleaders in various stages of undress in 2015. In a separate incident, he also reportedly took “upskirt” photos of Jones’ own daughter, too. What did Jerry do? The team paid a $2.4 million settlement to the aggrieved Cowgirl cheerleaders and Jones kept the creep around for another six years after the incidents.
