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May 21

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Subscribe to WeeklyPost and you’ll receive it, free, in your inbox Sunday mornings, including a summary of Investigative Post’s reporting of the previous week. The Trace, a nonprofit news organization that reports on gun violence, marked the one-year anniversary of the Tops Massacre with a story that notes the lack of progress addressing systemic problems on the city’s East Side. Local foundations have directed some money east of Main Street. The state, too. City Hall? Not really. In fact, the response from Mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council has been tepid. Geoff Kelly is looking over the mayor’s proposed budget[...]

Posted 1 year ago

May 17

2023

Mayor’s budget a step backwards on tree planting

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Buffalo has been cutting down twice as many trees as it plants in recent years. It plans on cutting down more than three times as many as it plants under Mayor Byron Brown’s proposed budget. Investigative Post reported last year on the slow deforestation of the city, particularly on the East Side, where some neighborhoods are losing four trees for every one planted.  “By removing those street trees, and even planting smaller street trees, we’re going to run into the problem of creating more and more heat, more and more temperature increases,” said Nick Henshue, assistant professor of ecology at[...]

Posted 2 years ago

May 16

2023

Joseph resigns from Roswell board

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Michael Joseph — whose company, the Clover Group, was accused last week of  “racist and illegal housing discrimination practices” — has resigned as chair of Roswell Park Cancer Institute. A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul, who appoints seven of Roswell’s 15 board members — including the chair — sent Investigative Post a statement Tuesday evening announcing Joseph’s resignation. “Governor Hochul is committed to making Roswell Park a more equitable and inclusive institution for employees, patients and families,” the statement reads.  “The Governor has accepted Michael Joseph’s resignation from the Board of Directors and named Leecia Eve as Interim Chair.” Joseph,[...]

Posted 2 years ago

May 16

2023

Is Roswell chair eligible to serve?

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Michael Joseph — whose company, the Clover Group, was accused last week of  “racist and illegal housing discrimination practices” — has split time for at least the past decade between Buffalo and West Palm Beach, Florida. That’s not unusual for a well-to-do real estate developer.  But it raises questions about his legal residency — and thus about his eligibility to serve as chair of the board for Roswell Park Cancer Institute. In April 2018, Joseph registered to vote in Florida, according to that state’s records, and his registration remains active. He is registered as a Democrat. For voting purposes, the[...]

Posted 2 years ago

May 15

2023

‘Inappropriate and questionable spending’ at IDA

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A state review of the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency has found more than $250,000 of “inappropriate and questionable discretionary spending,” including costly holiday parties and membership to a golf club. Among other issues, the draft review by the Authorities Budget Office obtained by Investigative Post found: The IDA’s chief financial officer, Richard Dixon, was reimbursed $30,600 for use of his personal vehicle and $18,429 for a membership and other expenses at a local golf club. CEO Mark Geise, Dixon and other staff used IDA credit cards to pay for $26,000 in “inappropriate meal purchases.” The agency made more than[...]

Posted 2 years ago

May 15

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Subscribe to WeeklyPost and you’ll Jim Heaney’s recommended reading for the week. As in below. Michael Joseph and his Clover Group have been in the news of late — that’s an understatement — as they were in 2021 when they bought a mansion that shares a waterfront with Mar-a-Lago, home to you-know-who. Here are snippets published in September 2021 by The Real Deal, a real estate website, regarding Joseph’s purchase of a West Palm Beach mansion for $15.9 million. The two-story home in the Prospect Park neighborhood has six bedrooms and nine and a half bathrooms, according to Realtor.com. Completed[...]

Posted 2 years ago

May 11

2023

Calls for consequences for Clover and its CEO

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Pressure is growing on the Clover Group and its CEO, Michael Joseph, in the wake of a federal lawsuit accusing the company of “racist and illegal housing discrimination practices.”  On Thursday, the Erie County Legislature unanimously passed a non-binding resolution calling for the dismissal of several Clover executives surreptitiously recorded discussing the company’s practice of avoiding areas with significant Black populations when choosing sites for senior apartment complexes. Joseph was not among those recorded in the conversations. The resolution declares: “The allegations against the Clover Group and the corresponding evidence are clear and disturbing enough that immediate action needs to occur,[...]

Posted 2 years ago

May 10

2023

Subsidies for developer accused of racism

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Editor’s note: This is the final of three stories triggered by the filing of a lawsuit Monday that accuses the Clover Group of discriminating against Blacks in the placement of senior apartment complexes. Monday’s story focused on the lawsuit. On Tuesday we profiled Clover’s CEO, Michael Joseph. The Clover Group — the target of a federal lawsuit accusing the company of “racist and illegal practices” — grew its business in Western New York with the help of millions of dollars of tax subsidies and low-interest government loans. The public assistance to the company owned by Michael Joseph, a generous donor[...]

Posted 2 years ago
Investigative Post