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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v11n3 (01/19/2012) » Section: Week in Review


The Bus Stops Here

In an open letter addressed to the “Metro Customer” found on its website, NFTA Executive Director Kimberley Minkel states that the “Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority and its Metro Bus and Rail system is [sic] at a crossroads.” The letter goes on to say that “increasing expenses, coupled with reduced state and county operating assistance, in addition to a drop in revenue is not a recipe for success.”

Odds and Ends

Another favored cause for the region’s newest state legislator is IDA reform. This Friday, January 20, Assemblyman Sean Ryan will hold a press conference to outline how competition between regional industrial development agencies most often results in a zero-sum shuffling of jobs across municipal boundaries rather than net economic growth. The object of competition in this iteration of the familiar narrative is VWR Education LLC in the Town of Tonawanda, where 41 people are being put out of work because operations are being shifted to Henrietta, following approval of tax breaks by the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency. For the past 15 years, VFW has enjoyed a tax abatement package from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, which expired at the end of 2011. The move to Henrietta is essentially a consolidation of the company’s operations: Just seven new jobs will be created in Henrietta, a net loss.

Scorecard: The Week's Winners and Losers





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