Categories for News

May 5

2023

Lawsuit: Developer selects sites to avoid Blacks

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Editor’s note: This is the first of three stories on The Clover Group. Wednesday we profile Michael Joseph, the company’s CEO and major player around town. Our story Thursday details the numerous subsidies Clover has received over the years to help grow its business.  When the Clover Group — one of the region’s biggest real estate development and management firms — reviews potential building sites for senior citizen apartment complexes, it pays careful attention to what its  executives call “the Canadian factor.” When the firm’s executives talk about “Canadians,” however, they’re using a code — for Black people. And those[...]

Posted 2 years ago

May 3

2023

Big shakeup at the besieged OTB

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The embattled Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. is finally getting reformed. In a big way. The state public benefit corporation — mired in allegations of malfeasance and subject to multiple critical audits and investigations — saw its entire 17-member board of commissioners terminated Tuesday night, thanks to a budget provision sponsored by Sen. Tim Kennedy of Buffalo and Assembly Member Monica Wallace of Lancaster, both Democrats.  New board members will be appointed and weighted voting instituted to reflect the population of the 15 counties and two cities that in-effect own OTB. That will shift control from mostly rural counties controlled[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Apr 30

2023

Former BURA chief alleged City Hall fraud

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City of Buffalo officials misused millions of dollars in federal anti-poverty funds and steered grants to favored real-estate developers, according to a federal lawsuit filed three and a half years ago and kept under seal until a month ago. The lawsuit was brought by Nona Watson, a former executive director of the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency, which serves as a pass-through for federal funds intended to fight poverty, blight and substandard housing.  Watson led BURA from September 2015 until she was fired in October 2018 — an act of retaliation, she claimed in the suit, “because she raised concerns about[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Apr 26

2023

Big subsidies for factory rehab in Tonawanda

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A century ago, tusks from thousands of elephants from Africa — dug up from graveyards or collected by hunters — made their way to a Town of Tonawanda factory complex where the Wood & Brooks Company used them to make piano keys. Closed by the 1970s, the factory complex on Kenmore Avenue today is “substantially vacant” according to a developer who wants to rehabilitate two of the property’s dozen buildings into business incubator space and 55 apartments. The developer, Michael Wopperer, has estimated the project will cost $23 million. He hopes to complete the redevelopment by the fall of 2024.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Apr 11

2023

Judge gives City Hall an edict

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Last week a judge ordered the City of Buffalo to tell John Mahar — yes or no, one way or another — whether the city would give him the $131,ooo in profit it made by selling his house at a tax foreclosure auction almost three years ago. He’s been waiting for an answer for 10 months, but has been greeted by what a state Supreme Court Justice Donna Siwek called “radio silence” from the city. Mahar laid claim to the money last June, using an application process the city posted on its website in November 2021, instructing former property owners[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Apr 3

2023

Report details Tesla’s solar struggles

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Tesla and state economic development officials have long treated activity at the company’s plant in South Buffalo as a state secret. Aside from an annual report listing Tesla’s total investment and employment in Buffalo, company and state officials have been loath to clue the public in on what exactly is going on at the factory. The lack of transparency comes despite a state investment of $959 million to build and equip the plant, on the promise it would spawn a clean energy sector in Western New York. That’s changed with the release of a first-of-its-kind report from a global consulting[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 22

2023

Yet another subsidy for Moog

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The Erie County Industrial Development Agency on Wednesday rubber-stamped nearly $3 million in tax breaks for Moog, the defense contractor based in Elma. It was the 14th round of assistance from the agency since the 1970s. The IDA has now approved $12.8 million in subsidies for six Moog projects since 2006. Moog, a profitable company that netted $155 million last year, has won federal contracts in the past decade totaling more than $6 billion. The company manufactures parts for fighter jets, missile launchers, rocket ships and submarines. Federal contracts make up about half of its total business, while private aviation,[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 15

2023

Commitment to diversity on stadium project

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State and local officials on Wednesday pledged that construction of the new Buffalo Bills stadium will include opportunities for local businesses owned by women and people of color — and that they’re working with local unions to diversify their ranks ahead of the groundbreaking. Officials also said the new stadium in Orchard Park will include additional bus service for Bills fans who can’t or don’t want to drive to games. Those commitments came as the Erie County Stadium Corp. — a subsidiary of the state Empire State Development Corp. — met to approve a framework for the $1.4 billion stadium[...]

Posted 2 years ago
Investigative Post