by Betty Jean Grant
A big Thank You to Ms.Holly Nowak, Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Justice (CEJ), for stating the obvious. Elected officials that represent us, here in Buffàlo and taxpayers across NYS, failed to hold those who negotiated the Buffalo Bills stadium deal accountable for approving a deal that does not have the best interest of a struggling and poor city and its people, at heart.
Instead of putting a sound and community minded Community Benefit Agreement in place that would call on the benefactors of the almost one billion dollar tax payers payment to support and fund community centers, child care, after school programs, education and crime prevention programs and health and wellness programs, our money will be used to allow multi- billionaires to keep a larger percentage of their wealth. Now, let’s talk about the M/WBE component that elected officials are touting as a ground breaking aspect of this deal. Please do not hold your breath as those Back and Brown subcontractors did when the Joint School Construction Project and the SolarCity Initiative happened. Minority contractors were left at the starting gate then and they will be left during this upcoming stadium project as well. Please, just think about this; if minority workers were not utilized during the Buffàlo-based, Joint School and SolarCity projects, who is going to guarantee that they will be hired for a suburban, Project Labor Agreement (PLA) or unionized workforce and contractors’ project? How many minorities or minority owned companies are members of unions? I guarantee you that number is extreme small!
I am still shocked that after numerous meetings where the majority of taxpayers who participated wanted a stadium with a retractable roof to be built in Buffalo, those who were elected to do the Will Of The People, were derelict in carrying out the people’s agenda.
I believe that to build a roofless stadium in Orchard Park will join the Failed Leadership List that includes the Robert Moses Parkway in Niagara Falls, that destruction of a vibrant Eastside neighborhood with an expressway down the middle, the failure to locate the train station back again at the Central Terminal and condos for the elite, on the Waterfront.
With the Erie County Executive, The Mayor of Buffalo, the Governor of NYS and the Majority Leader of the New York Assembly all residing in Buffalo, one would think that the City had enough allies rooting for a downtown stadium to work this deal.
Right now, we are looking at an ‘out of Buffalo’ stadium that will be used less than a dozen times a year, built in an area that limits the game experience for poor and inner city residents who have severe transportation issues if public transit is not a factor. Poor and minority residents may not be great tailgaters but they are great at working hard, oftentimes at low paying jobs, to ensure that the billion dollars that NYS needs from us, will be there so the wealthy can get to keeping most of their cash.
We are Women Warriors Founder / Community Organizer Betty Jean Grant