Articles for J. Dale Shoemaker

Apr 6

2023

Experts: Stadium CBA comes up short

According to experts, the community benefits agreement for the new Buffalo Bills stadium lacks key provisions that are common to successful CBAs elsewhere. That’s partly by design. The CBA for the Bills stadium, announced Wednesday, is the first such agreement for a major project in Erie County. It calls for the team to commit $3 million annually over 30 years to fund projects that benefit the community. That’s in exchange for a $850 million public contribution to the $1.5 billion stadium. But the deal does not specify how that money should be spent, leaving those decisions up to an oversight[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Apr 3

2023

Report details Tesla’s solar struggles

Tesla and state economic development officials have long treated activity at the company’s plant in South Buffalo as a state secret. Aside from an annual report listing Tesla’s total investment and employment in Buffalo, company and state officials have been loath to clue the public in on what exactly is going on at the factory. The lack of transparency comes despite a state investment of $959 million to build and equip the plant, on the promise it would spawn a clean energy sector in Western New York. That’s changed with the release of a first-of-its-kind report from a global consulting[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 29

2023

Subsidizing a downtown grocery store … again

In 2019, Buffalo’s plans for a downtown city block seemed to be the platonic ideal of urban redevelopment: turn an old parking lot into hundreds of units of affordable housing and place a grocery store directly next door. And you could say that’s exactly what the city accomplished. Today, the corner of Ellicott and Clinton Streets — right across the street from the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library — features 201 affordable housing units on one-half of the 2.52-acre lot, and Braymiller Market on the other half, downtown’s only full-service grocery store. But completing that project has come at[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 22

2023

Yet another subsidy for Moog

The Erie County Industrial Development Agency on Wednesday rubber-stamped nearly $3 million in tax breaks for Moog, the defense contractor based in Elma. It was the 14th round of assistance from the agency since the 1970s. The IDA has now approved $12.8 million in subsidies for six Moog projects since 2006. Moog, a profitable company that netted $155 million last year, has won federal contracts in the past decade totaling more than $6 billion. The company manufactures parts for fighter jets, missile launchers, rocket ships and submarines. Federal contracts make up about half of its total business, while private aviation,[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 20

2023

Moog seeking 14th tax subsidy from IDA

Moog Inc., one of Western New York’s largest employers, is a highly profitable company, netting $155 million last year alone. That’s partly due to the billions in federal defense contracts it’s landed over the past decade. Yet time and time again — 13 times since 1973 — Moog has gone before the Erie County Industrial Development Agency seeking — and receiving — millions in tax breaks. It’s received nearly $10 million in subsidies since 2006. The company is headed back to the IDA on Wednesday asking for a 14th round of subsidies. Moog’s request for $2.9 million in sales[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 15

2023

Commitment to diversity on stadium project

State and local officials on Wednesday pledged that construction of the new Buffalo Bills stadium will include opportunities for local businesses owned by women and people of color — and that they’re working with local unions to diversify their ranks ahead of the groundbreaking. Officials also said the new stadium in Orchard Park will include additional bus service for Bills fans who can’t or don’t want to drive to games. Those commitments came as the Erie County Stadium Corp. — a subsidiary of the state Empire State Development Corp. — met to approve a framework for the $1.4 billion stadium[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 8

2023

Union busting hamstrings adoption agency

The complicated process of adopting a child was upended last year after Western New York’s largest adoption agency lost a third of its staff, an exodus triggered by what one labor attorney called the worst case of union busting she has seen. Adoption STAR, founded in 2000 in Amherst, fired four staff members last April who were attempting to organize a union. The firings resulted in an exodus of the agency’s staff — 13 out of approximately three dozen employees. The departures included the agency’s executive director — who left a month after the firings — and an associate director.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 22

2023

Ryan wants Tesla firings investigated

State Senator Sean Ryan has called on New York’s economic development agency to investigate Tesla’s firing of more than 40 employees last week in the wake of a union organizing drive at its South Buffalo plant. In a related development, attorneys for Tesla Workers United amended one of its complaint against the company with the National Labor Relations Board. The union charges that at least 25 of those fired last week were in retaliation for the organizing effort. Ryan, in a letter to Empire State Development President and CEO Hope Knight and Fort Schuyler Management Corp. Vice Chair Kristin Pound,[...]

Posted 2 years ago