Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy.
More Starbucks labor news is on tap this week.
On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board will count ballots cast by workers at Starbucks' store at Transit Commons in Amherst, on whether they want to join a union.
Also Monday, NLRB lawyers will bring their case against Starbucks before an administrative law judge at the federal courthouse in Buffalo. The agency has filed a complaint accusing the Seattle-based corporation of a wide range labor law violations, and is seeking reinstatement of seven Buffalo-area workers who were reportedly fired for their union activities. Starbucks has denied committing any violations of labor law.
Starbucks Workers United members rally outside a store in Amherst last year. More ballot-counting and voting will take place this week. (News file photo)
On Friday, the NLRB will hold a re-run election for workers at Starbucks' store at 1775 Walden Ave. in Cheektowaga. The outcome of the first election was undetermined, and an NLRB official ordered a re-run vote. This store gained attention last year when Starbucks temporarily turned it into a training center before converting it back to a store.
The News' Buffalo Next team covers the changing Buffalo Niagara economy. Get the news in your inbox 5 days a week.
It could be a busy couple days of labor activity at 10 for-profit Western New York nursing homes. Employees represented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East are planning labor strikes Tuesday and Wednesday at the following nursing homes: Autumn View in Hamburg; Garden Gate in Cheektowaga; Northgate in North Tonawanda; Seneca Health Care Center in West Seneca; Fiddler's Green Manor in Springville; Humboldt House Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Buffalo; Elderwood at Lockport; Elderwood at Williamsville; Newfane Rehabilitation; and Gowanda Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
1199SEIU represents workers across the 10 facilities and has been negotiating new contracts for several months. Major issues revolve around low wages for service workers and understaffing.
The Buffalo Planning Board will meet on Monday for a potential final ruling on Samuel Savarino's proposed redevelopment of a former industrial site at 1 Howell St. into a new apartment building. Also on the panel's agenda:
• Frank Burkhart is seeking a special-use permit to sell tobacco, vaping and hookah products at his Mr. Nice Guy shop at 1239-1249 Hertel Ave.
• Ahmed Alokan Alkhoam is applying for a special-use permit for tobacco, vaping and hookah sales at 1282 Clinton St., as part of a new clothing, gift shop and smoke shop business, called 716 Sheba Express. Alkhoam, who owns a deli and take-out operation next door, will be a tenant in the building.
• CMH Counseling, which has been using a former residence at 153 West Utica St. as its offices since 1964, is asking for a rezoning of its property because the current Green Code category of "neighborhood residential" doesn't allow the current use. The family counseling firm needs the change because it wants to build a one-story addition in back to provide a handicapped-accessible entrance for clients.
Have an idea for a startup? Sign up for Pitch-In from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Seneca One. Three early-stage founders will be selected to pitch their idea to an audience and get feedback.
To sign up to pitch, register online for the event and then send your pitch deck, logo and ask to In@joinbootsector.com. The event is free for those pitching and $5 for audience members. To register, visit eventbrite.com/e/pitch-in-tickets-367048190017.
People interested in taking the September 17 civil service exam to become a New York state university police officer at the University at Buffalo can attend information and test preparation sessions starting this week at UB’s Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center (BEOC).
Potential candidates should attend one of two in-person information sessions on Wednesday or Thursday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the center, 555 Ellicott St., Buffalo.
To register, call the BEOC at 716-645-8874, visit BEOC’s website or go to the UB News Center website and scan the QR code in the image.
Following the info sessions, University Police and BEOC will host a series of test preparation sessions that can be attended in-person or remotely. Before attendees can register for the test prep sessions, they must first register for the Sept. 17 civil service exam. The deadline to register for the exam is Aug. 3. Registration and information can be found on the University Police website.
The test prep sessions will be held:
Remotely (participants attend one two-day session):
In-person at the BEOC (participants attend one session):
• July 23 (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
• August 13 (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
• Sept. 10 (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
Businesses continue to wrestle with supply chain challenges, and a virtual meeting hosted by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership's manufacturing council will look at strategies to overcome those obstacles. The meeting will be 8 a.m. Thursday. The panel will be led by Nallan Suresh, a professor in the University at Buffalo's School of Management. It is free and open to Partnership members and nonmembers.
This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest coverage on the changing Buffalo Niagara economy – from real estate to health care to startups. Read more at BuffaloNext.com.
Recent news tied to Buffalo Niagara's economy
Child & Family Services of Buffalo wants to relocate one of its residential treatment centers to a rear carriage house on its Delaware Avenue campus, enabling each of the children residing there to have their own bedroom, instead of sharing rooms.
Two retailers in Buffalo Niagara region, including one with four shops in the area, have been ordered by the state's Office of Cannabis Management to stop the unlicensed sale of cannabis.
The new owner of the Jersey Street Firehouse on Buffalo’s West Side plans to convert the three-story brick building into apartments after a previous redevelopment proposal by another group ran into neighborhood opposition.
Buffalo Transportation, a major non-emergency medical transportation provider, has been suspended 60 days by the state over violations flagged by the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The suspension is set to lift Aug. 14, but in the meantime threatens to inconvenience customers who need rides to medical appointments.
SUNY Erie Community College’s Board of Trustees held a special meeting Tuesday morning to approve a resolution supporting the elimination of 90 positions at the financially troubled college. The 90 jobs being cut will affect members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) who work mostly in part-time clerical positions at ECC. The layoffs are a first round. ECC President David Balkin has said the college will need to cut a total of up to 150 positions if a retirement incentive for eligible faculty and administrators that the county and ECC offered in April does not result in enough voluntary retirements.
Buffalo Next reporters Jonathan D. Epstein, Jon Harris, Natalie Brophy, Matt Glynn, Janet Gramza and Mike Petro contributed to this roundup.
Three reads from Buffalo Next:
1. You might be familiar with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser as a popular stain removal product. But did you know it is made in the Buffalo Niagara region, in a new plant on the former Bethlehem Steel site?
2. New apartments are popping up across Western New York: From the Elmwood Village and Allentown to South Buffalo and the West Side, from Tonawanda and Amherst to Orchard Park and Hamburg, developers are putting up new apartment buildings or converting old industrial warehouses and offices.
3. How community developers can build up neighborhoods: With the support of SAA-EVI, and investments from two national nonprofits, passionate locals are seeking to transform neighborhoods from the bottom up – by starting small, but dreaming big.
The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the region’s economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.
Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com.
Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy.
It was a freezing February evening when 78-year-old Judith Schrecengost moved toward a third-floor window at the Town of Tonawanda nursing home where she lived, squeezed through an opening and plummeted to the ground.
SUNY Erie Community College’s Board of Trustees held a special meeting Tuesday morning to approve a resolution supporting the elimination of 90 positions at the financially troubled college.
The suspension is scheduled to lift Aug. 14, the result of a penalty long ago imposed by the state Department of Motor Vehicles that was just recently upheld by the state Supreme Court. While only a 60-day suspension, it is having a major effect on Buffalo Transportation and its customers.
The project represents a major investment by the city's historic theater to address the needs of its aging patrons, while also offering new features and amenities that can draw more events and programs for additional revenues.
As retailers and new entrepreneurs make the move toward the sale of recreational marijuana and products with higher THC levels, they are in limbo – awaiting regulations from the state and preparing for the application process expected to begin sometime this summer.
Following are real estate transactions over $5,000 as listed in records of the Erie County clerk’s office for the week ending May 20, 2022.
Four Green Vision Wellness stores and CannaGlam2022 on Abbott Road in Lackawanna were among the 52 shops around the state that were sent cease-and-desist letters.
St. Joseph Campus has been through many changes over the years, ranging from the abrupt transition to a Covid-only hospital in 2020 to the ongoing reinvention into an outpatient and ambulatory care center. Constant reinvention is what it takes to fit within the future of health care.
Fidelis Care, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York and Univera Healthcare are just some of the companies evaluating their Western New York office needs.
Supporters of lifting the open container law in Angola believe it will help bring more attention to what’s going on in the village and as a result, increase foot traffic.
Starbucks Workers United members rally outside a store in Amherst last year. More ballot-counting and voting will take place this week. (News file photo)
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