Articles for Mark Scheer

Jan 17

2022

The hidden costs of housing the Bills

There was a time when Erie County made money from Buffalo Bills games in Orchard Park. From the opening of the football stadium in 1973 through 1997, the county collected millions of dollars from parking, concessions and the sale of stadium naming rights. No more. Erie County in 1998 made major concessions that gave all the revenue from parking, concessions and naming rights to the Bills. The county and New York State also agreed to take on a host of expenses previously covered by the Bills, ranging from stadium maintenance to the cost of ushers and ticket takers. The bottom[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jan 11

2022

Nearly $2 billion wasn’t enough

State and local officials, determined to win the competition for a semiconductor plant that will employ 1,800, offered Samsung $1.89 million in subsidies to locate the factory in Genesee County, just north of Batavia. The chief competition, two sites in and around Austin, Texas, dangled large subsidy packages, as well. But at $1 billion each, they fell way short of what New York was offering. Nevertheless, Samsung opted for Taylor, Texas. Why did the company bypass Genesee County? It’s unclear, but the remote location could have been a factor. How remote? It was going to cost $200 million just to[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jan 11

2022

Tesla: Better late than never

Tesla has finally met its job goals at its billion dollar plant in South Buffalo. The state had extended Tesla’s deadline twice. The third time was a charm, and in this case, a way of dodging a $41.2 million penalty. Tesla had until the end of the year to meet the target of 1,460 jobs; employment as of early November stood at 1,557. Let’s hold off celebrating, however. A look at Tesla’s online job postings shows a lot of positions pay modest wages. And the plant, built with nearly $1 billion in state subsidies, has produced little spin-off development, aside[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jan 11

2022

Sued into doing the right thing

You may have read or watched stories in the daily newspaper or local television stations about the details of studies involving the proposed construction of a new stadium for The Buffalo Bills. You can thank Investigative Post. The state released the studies after we sued Empire State Development, the state’s primary economic development agency, after it rejected our requests for copies under the Freedom of Information Law. Only when we filed the lawsuit did the state relent. Said Michael Higgins, one of our attorneys: ““These documents were always public records and Empire State Development withheld them, gambling that no one[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jan 5

2022

Samsung turned down subsidies worth $1.9B

Think the $950 million the state doled out to build and equip a factory for Tesla in South Buffalo was a lot of money? State and local officials offered Samsung twice as much to build a semiconductor plant in rural Genesee County. The $1.9 billion subsidy package would have been the second-largest deal in state history if the company had accepted it. It ranks high nationally, as well. “It would be right in the top dozen of all time in U.S. history,” according to Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a national subsidy watchdog group. Still, New York’s[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Dec 28

2021

Tesla reaches its jobs target

Tesla has finally met its job creation goals at the company’s plant in South Buffalo, according to a state spokesperson. The state required Tesla to employ 1,460 at the plant in exchange for subsidies worth $950 million. Meeting that mandate has proven difficult for a variety of reasons, including Covid-19. Employment stood at 1,058 on May 31, the original deadline to meet the job goals. The state extended Tesla’s deadline to Dec. 31. In response to questions from Investigative Post, a spokesperson for the Empire State Development Corp. said Tuesday that, as of Nov. 10, Tesla had reported employment of[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Dec 13

2021

Little economic benefit from new stadium

A new stadium for the Buffalo Bills would boost the Western New York economy as much as a new Target store. Which is to say, very little. While some supporting construction of a new stadium maintain it would be an economic boon, research by economists across the political spectrum has found stadiums generate limited new spending. Rather, they simply redirect how leisure dollars are spent. “All you are doing is moving time and money around. People are going to the game instead of the movies,” said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a national subsidy watchdog group. Nor[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Nov 24

2021

Downtown Bills stadium could displace 3,000

Building a football stadium on the edge of downtown could displace up to 3,000 residents, as well as schools, churches and other neighborhood “institutions,” according to a report published by The Athletic. A downtown facility would impact more residents in and around the Old First Ward than previously reported because the stadium would require more land to comply with a “mandatory Department of Homeland security perimeter,” event staging and game day requirements. In short, a stadium located along South Park Avenue near Louisiana and Hamburg streets would require a much larger footprint than previously believed. The site would need to[...]

Posted 3 years ago