Categories for News

Nov 21

2024

OTB hotel expansion delayed

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Hotel at Batavia Downs. Photo by Garrett Looker A planned expansion of the Batavia Downs hotel is on hold, possibly for as much as a year, officials with Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. announced Thursday. Outgoing CEO Henry Wojtaszek said the agency put the 73-room addition on pause after two estimates solicited from Buffalo-based developers came in above expectations. The pause could last six months to a year, he said. According to Wojtaszek, both The Krog Group and Ciminelli Real Estate estimated the project would cost around $16 million. Both offers were far above what the agency had hoped to[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Nov 20

2024

Lawsuit alleges housing discrimination against families

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The Elliot on Linwood Avenue, owned by Buffalo Management Group. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel Fair housing advocates are suing a large apartment manager on claims they’re refusing to rent to families with children — a violation of state and federal laws. In its lawsuit, Housing Opportunities Made Equal said it sent prospective renters with children to inquire about living in apartment buildings near the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus — The Mayflower at 66 Summer St. and The Elliott at 171-175 Linwood Ave. — owned by Buffalo Management Group. The lawsuit, filed Nov. 14, contends the company ignored phone calls, screened[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Nov 19

2024

Buffalo, Rochester fail transparency test

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The cities of Buffalo and Rochester have received failing grades for a lack of transparency involving tax breaks given to the owners of old commercial buildings converted to new uses. The 485-a program is often used to retrofit office buildings into mixed uses that include housing and retail. The report by Good Jobs First found that the granting of the tax breaks is done by bureaucrats without any public review and the cities don’t readily disclose the award.  The report, however, gave high grades to the industrial development agencies in the cities of Utica, Albany and Syracuse. Transparency improves public[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Nov 14

2024

How Erie County voted for president

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The Democratic presidential ticket’s margin of victory in Erie County was provided by voters in the City of Buffalo. Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz won the county by 42,243 votes, according to the current count. She won Buffalo by 46,765, snagging more than three-quarters of the ballots cast by city voters. The Democrats also won by lesser but still substantial margins in the towns of Amherst, Tonawanda and Aurora, and squeaked out victories in Cheektowaga and Lackawanna. The rest of the county registered various shades of red, ranging from pinkish communities like Orchard Park, Hamburg and[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Nov 13

2024

Cheektowaga’s faded blue electorate

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As goes Cheektowaga, so goes the nation, former Buffalo News political reporter Bob McCarthy likes to say.  The McCarthy maxim held true in 2016, when Cheektowaga voters broke by the thinnest of margins for Republican Donald Trump, and in 2020, when they favored Democrat Joe Biden. This year the results were mixed: The Democratic presidential candidate won the town but lost the race nationwide. However, Republicans made rare and important gains in local races. Unofficial results show Democrat Kamala Harris carrying Cheektowaga by about 4 percentage points, or just shy of 1,700 votes. Her margin of victory in the town[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Nov 12

2024

Low-income tenants for high-income towns

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Section 8 rent allowances to vary by neighborhood. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel With rents increasing throughout Erie County, a trio of Buffalo-based housing agencies hope to see more low-income rentals in some of the region’s most affluent communities. These housing agencies, which administer federally funded rental vouchers, say they are looking for more private-sector landlords in East Amherst, Clarence Center, Orchard Park and similar communities to participate in the government’s Section 8 subsidized rent program. Attempts to increase Section 8 housing in suburban and other higher-income areas have occurred in the past, according to representatives of the housing agencies —[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Nov 8

2024

City Hall: No more money for Braymiller Market

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Braymiller Market in downtown Buffalo. Photo by Garrett Looker. The Buffalo Common Council is sending a new message to Braymiller Market, downtown’s struggling grocery store: If the business is going to fail, it better fail within the next year.  That way, University Common Council Member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt said, the city can recoup the $561,000 it loaned the business last year. Under the terms of the forgivable loan, the store must stay open for two years to avoid repaying the city. “If we can get our $561,000 before he closes, let’s get our $561,000 back because I think that can[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Nov 7

2024

Harris’ underwhelming victory in New York State

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Kamala Harris won New York State on Tuesday. Or, more accurately, she won New York City, whose voters provided her margin of victory. She also won in counties with urban centers — Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany — while losing Long Island and most of rural upstate. Harris this year drew 900,000 fewer votes in New York State than Joe Biden did in 2020. Biden beat Trump that year by 23 percentage points, as did Hillary Clinton in 2016. Harris’s margin of victory was just shy of 12 percent.  Trump, meanwhile, has gained support with each appearance on the ballot[...]

Posted 3 months ago
Investigative Post