Will a demand for specific community economic
benefits in return for City Council support for a big, $294 million development
on Buffalo's waterfront doom the project? Or will it help push
the development to construction, following years of struggle to get it to that stage?
That is the question City Council members
and community groups will attempt to answer in bringing a negotiator to the table
who has been involved in similar efforts elsewhere that aim to include a "community
benefits agreement" as an integral element of a project's development.
While the head of the Erie Canal Harbor Development
Corporation dismisses the need for a pact that would mandate commercial space
for local businesses as well as payment of a "living wage" to all workers in the tenant stores, others say it would
be the right thing to do and become a model for future progress in Downtown Buffalo.
See www.buffalonews.com2010/04/25/1030529/canal-developer-urged-on-benefits.html
for the full story.
