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Oct 9

2015

Protestors want more diversity at Riverbend

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Protesters from local community groups gathered outside the SolarCity construction site in South Buffalo to call for a return to the 25 percent minority workforce goal originally floated for the project. As Investigative Post reported last week, that goal was agreed to when the city sold the land for the factory to the state, and publicly announced in two press releases. But a more recent agreement between developer LPCiminelli and the construction unions established instead a goal of 15 percent. State officials now say the higher goal was purely “aspirational” and that the revised goals are being met. Erie County[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 8

2015

The pending protest r.e. hiring at SolarCity site

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It’s not all that often that the city’s black community rallies in great numbers to protest a perceived wrong, but Friday may prove to be one of those exceptions. Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant is among the organizers of a rally scheduled for 10:30 a.m. outside the gates of the SolarCity plant at Riverbend calling for the project’s 25 percent minority workforce goal to be reinstated. In a Facebook post earlier this month, citing last week’s story by Investigative Post, she wrote: “This is a disgrace for the city of Buffalo and a case of theft of jobs and[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 6

2015

State rejects Cheektowaga’s sewer plan, again

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For the second time in five years, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has rejected Cheektowaga’s plan to reduce sewer overflows into Scajaquada Creek and other local waterways. The DEC says the town’s latest plan does not adequately address a core problem, the diversion of runoff into the sewage system from downspouts and sump pumps. One town council member, however, maintains that some of the blame lies with the DEC for taking three months to respond to the proposed plan. As the two sides square off, Scajaquada Creek remains the real victim. Investigative Post this year has documented a dozen dead[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 5

2015

State says lower Riverbend goal being met

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The state released figures Monday related to the employment of minority construction workers at the SolarCity plant that they had previously refused to disclose. The release follows a report last week by Investigative Post that showed it was unclear whether the project’s diversity hiring goals were being met. Those figures show that minorities have done 16.2 percent of work on the site from the start of construction in May 2014 through July this year, based on the number of hours worked. Investigative Post had earlier reported that minorities made up 6 percent of the workforce from the start of construction through[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 5

2015

Outrages & Insights podcast

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Jim Heaney of Investigative Post and Steve Brown of WGRZ discuss the latest developments involving the Buffalo Billion on a TV edition of Outrages & Insights that broadcast Sunday on WGRZ.

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 5

2015

Outrages & Insights on WGRZ

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Investigative Post and WGRZ on Sunday launched a television companion to my muckraking blog. The format involves a three-minute conversation between me and Steve Brown, investigative reporter with WGRZ. The discussion will touch on a recent news development or one of my blog posts or story reported by Investigative Post. The program, entitled “Outrages & Insights,” will broadcast Sunday mornings on Daybreak. I’ll post the video to our website later in the day, along with a podcast of the discussion. Readers most likely won’t venture to our website Sunday, but the segment will be waiting for them first thing Monday.[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 1

2015

Cuomo stonewalling goes from bad to worse

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I’ve documented – more than once – efforts by the Cuomo administration to obstruct our reporting of the Buffalo Billion. But the tactics employed by the Cuomo crowd during the course of Charlotte Keith’s reporting of her story on the lack of diversity at the SolarCity construction site represent a new low. Once again, state officials refused to grant interviews, but this time they came up with a novel reason. Peter Cutler, the temperamental spokesman for the Buffalo office of the Empire State Development Corp., objected to who Charlotte was interviewing for her story. She had the audacity to talk[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 1

2015

Heaney discusses ‘Billion lack of diversity

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Susan Arbetter of Capitol Pressroom interviews Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney about a lack of minority hiring at SolarCity construction site. Heaney was also interviewed Thursday by Brian Lehrer of WNYC, the NPR outlet for New York City, on Buffalo Billion matters.

Posted 10 years ago
Investigative Post