Categories for DailyPost

Sep 15

2024

Arena/stadium planning done right

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They’re thinking big in Carolina. The hockey Hurricanes just unveiled an ambitious $1 billion plan to develop 80 acres into a mixed use campus. That’s on top of a $300 million renovation to its PNC Arena, which sits adjacent to the North Carolina State’s football stadium. It’s funny what you can do when you put sports facilities next to each other – located in the city proper, no less.  Buffalo News hockey writer Mike Harrington noted the lack of progress around KeyBank Center, aside from LECOM Harborcenter and a couple of hotels. Alumni Plaza has been untouched for more than[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 12

2024

And the next mayor of Buffalo is …

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Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown hasn’t yet accepted his job offer from Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.  He hasn’t submitted a letter of resignation from office. I asked the city clerk on Tuesday, just to be sure. But smart money says he’ll have vacated the second floor of City Hall before Halloween, leaving Common Council President Chris Scanlon as acting mayor. As acting mayor, Scanlon will be a quasi-incumbent when voters choose a new mayor next year. That may not be much of an advantage, given the city’s financial issues, and there will be many candidates vying for many different voting[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 10

2024

Jail deaths substantially higher than reported

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At least 57 Erie County jail inmates have died since 2005, a much higher number than previously reported. The death rate has barely budged in nearly a quarter century. Indeed, it has ticked up since Sheriff John Garcia took office, taking over from a predecessor widely criticized for the number of jail deaths on his watch. Forty-four prisoners, or one inmate every 4½ months, died under former Sheriff Timothy Howard, who became sheriff in June 2005, after five inmates had already died earlier that year under the previous sheriff, Patrick Gallivan. With eight deaths since Garcia took office in January[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 9

2024

Buffalo fails to collect $2.3 million in ambulance fees

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The company that provides ambulance service to the City of Buffalo hasn’t paid an annual franchise fee to the city since its contract expired in 2020. That lapse has cost the cash-strapped city nearly $2.3 million in revenue, according to city budget documents and Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski, chair of the Common Council’s Finance Committee. Nowakowski blames the company for not paying and Mayor Byron Brown’s administration for failing to collect the money and negotiate a new contract. “They are operating in our city without a contract and for free,” Nowakowski told Investigative Post. “This a failure within[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 8

2024

So much for reforming OTB

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The Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. stayed true to form last week in hiring Byron Brown as its new president and CEO. OTB, perhaps the sleaziest government operation in Western New York, conducted what appears to be a sham recruitment process leading up to the mayor’s hiring. Officials have been largely silent about how they went about advertising the job, aside from Chairman Dennis Bassett telling The Buffalo News the agency posted the job on LinkedIn. LinkedIn? No ads in trade journals? No outreach through recruiters? If OTB did anything beyond LinkedIn, officials aren’t saying. OTB officials said 133 people[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 8

2024

The continuing assault on the public’s right to know

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On paper, New York State’s Freedom of Information Law is OK. Not great, but OK.  In practice, however, state and local government officials often flout its requirements, using them not to produce records, but delay their release.  The response of the state Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul hasn’t been to toughen the law to penalize bad faith conduct, but to add a requirement that public employees be notified when their disciplinary records are requested under FOI. Good government groups vigorously opposed the change, saying it places further burdens on a system already functioning poorly and could discourage members of the[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 5

2024

Byron Brown is leaving City Hall. What happens now?

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Mayor in waiting: Common Council President Chris Scanlon. Photo by Garrett Looker. Byron Brown soon will step down as mayor of Buffalo after 18 years and eight months in the office.  The five-term mayor has been offered the job as president and CEO of Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp., a possibility Investigative Post first reported in February. He is expected to accept the position, pending completion of negotiations for an employment contract and obtaining a license from the state Gaming Commission. The precise date of his exit from City Hall is uncertain; later this month or October is most[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 5

2024

Byron Brown chosen to lead Western OTB

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Mayor Byron Brown, incoming OTB chief. Photo by Garrett Looker. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown today was selected to head the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.  Brown, 65, was one of two finalists interviewed by OTB’s governing board, which unanimously selected the mayor after five hours of closed-door interviews and deliberations. Elliott Winter, who represents Niagara County on the OTB board and served on the search committee, told reporters Brown is a good fit given his experience running a city government. “He oversees 3,000 employees with a budget of over $600 million. He’s worked in the same capacity for the last[...]

Posted 2 months ago
Investigative Post