Categories for News

Dec 12

2023

City worker in paid leave limbo

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Two years ago, a dispatcher in the city’s water department complained to his supervisors about work conditions at the pumping station on Porter Avenue. His computer didn’t work properly, often compelling him to do the same data-entry work twice, Rashimee Wilson wrote in an email to his bosses, including then Public Works Commissioner Mike Finn.  Worse, he wrote, he wasn’t allowed to leave his post for meal breaks, not even when he was asked to work two eight-hour shifts in a row.  Further, Wilson claimed, the department’s seniority system granted privileges and accommodations to white employees that were denied to[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Dec 6

2023

City employee retires after years on paid suspension

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The Buffalo Fire Department clerk who spent seven and a half years on paid leave — costing taxpayers nearly $600,000 for no work — has retired. Officially, Jill Repman’s last day on the job was Nov. 30, according to the Office of the State Comptroller.  In reality, she hasn’t done a lick of work for the fire department since accused of wrongdoing in January 2016 and suspended with pay. Even after being ordered back to work in September, Repman used vacation days and other paid time off to avoid coming to work before filing for retirement. It’s been nearly eight[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Dec 4

2023

Poloncarz swaps one potential OTB critic for another

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A recently-appointed director of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.— expected to be a watchdog over the embattled gambling agency — has resigned.  State law prohibits public and political party officials from holding a license necessary to serve on the governing board of off-track betting corporations. That’s the law that prompted Jennifer Hibit — secretary of the Erie County Democratic Committee — to resign Monday from her position as Erie County’s representative on the board of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., based in Batavia.  It’s unclear if the law is being applied uniformly.  Former OTB Board Chairman Richard Bianchi,[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Nov 30

2023

Tonawanda Senecas sue to halt pipeline

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The major industrial park under construction in rural Genesee County has hit yet another roadblock. The Tonawanda Seneca Nation has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and several officials, including Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, arguing that they violated several environmental laws in issuing a permit to the industrial park’s wastewater pipeline. The pipeline, which is being built by the Genesee County Economic Development Center through the federally managed Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, required a right-of-way permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service. “We’re asking them to revoke that permit,” Chief Roger[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Nov 30

2023

City will repair building, won’t evict hostel — yet

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Hostel Buffalo-Niagara lives on. For now. Over two dozen board members and supporters of the institution attended an emergency meeting held by the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency Thursday morning to determine the future of the hostel at its current location.  The BURA board voted unanimously to approve renovations to 664 Washington St. — a building attached to the rear of the hostel, which faces Main Street — not to exceed $2 million in cost. The structure, owned by BURA since 2002, was cited earlier this year by both the city and an engineering report for posing extreme safety hazards to[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Nov 26

2023

Punishment not befitting the crime

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In the wee hours last January, prosecutors say, Jones Woods threw a rock through a window at the U.S. Attorney’s office in downtown Buffalo. No one came. Woods left after 15 minutes, authorities say. Police found him later that day at the downtown bus station on Ellicott Street. After being arrested and charged with criminal mischief, he appeared in City Court the next day and was sent on his way. Ten minutes later, he threw another rock through a window at the U.S. Attorney’s office.  “I knew if I came back here, I would go to federal prison,” he told[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Nov 20

2023

Another claim of misconduct by Buffalo police

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After spending a month in the hospital, a Black Rock man shot by Buffalo police filed a notice of claim against the city Monday, typically precursor to a lawsuit. Jon Battison, 36, was holding a pellet rifle to his own chin in the attic of his home on Tonawanda Street when Officer Kereem Johnson pulled the trigger eight times. One round found the mark, striking Battison near the shoulder.  Police went to the home on Sept. 23 because Battison was reportedly suicidal and had ingested pills. “Suicide by cop,” Battison told police as he lay wounded in the attic of[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Nov 17

2023

Neglected building threatens Theater District hostel

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The city’s only hostel, which hosts some 6,000 travelers a year in the Theater District, is facing the prospect of eviction because an adjacent city-owned building is in danger of collapse after years of neglect. Recent inspections by the city and an engineering consultant found the vacant, rear section of the hostel building has deteriorated to the point that it could jeopardize the structural integrity of the hostel. The rear building, which faces Washington Street, is separate but attached to the hostel building at 667 Main St.  Hostel Buffalo-Niagara is across the street from Shea’s Performing Arts Center, two doors[...]

Posted 1 year ago
Investigative Post