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Special News Report

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Publication Date: 11/16/2004

Artistic success, fiscal failure
By JAMES HEANEY- NEWS STAFF REPORTER - 11/16/2004

Last of Three Parts

Buffalo's Theater District is one of Western New York's most subsidized stretches of real estate.

Government, primarily the city, poured about $60 million into the block since the late 1970s on the premise: "If you build it, they will come."

For its investment, the city has brought back from the dead architectural gems such as the Market Arcade, financed theaters, nightclubs and restaurants, and helped spur development along nearby Chippewa Street.
complete story >>




	Condos thrive; movies slump - 11/16/2004 The movie theater started with a bang; the condos down the street with a bankruptcy. Little more than a decade later, Market Arcade Cinemas and City Centre find their fortunes reversed.

	Fixing troubled Main Street - 11/16/2004 Proponents of the Theater District have modified their mantra. It's now: "If you fix it, more will come." Simply building the district over the past quarter century didn't produce the economic vitality originally envisioned. There are plenty of ideas from business and government officials on how to improve matters, however.

	Good money gone bad - 11/15/2004 Second of Three Parts Peter Elia's company borrowed $1.5 million from the city in 1995 to develop plans for a trade center near the Peace Bridge. The complex was never built, and Elia's company stiffed the city for almost the entire loan.

	Failed loans, modest job gains mark city lending - 11/15/2004 Businesses borrowing from City Hall have done a better job meeting modest employment goals than they have repaying their loans, a Buffalo News analysis shows.

	The half-billion-dollar bust - 11/14/2004 City Hall squandered much of the half-billion dollars in federal aid it received over the past 30 years to revitalize its downtown and neighborhoods and to recharge its ailing economy, a Buffalo News investigation has found.

	A study in neglect on one East Side street - 11/14/2004 Train tracks cut Koons Avenue in half. There's a bad side of the tracks. And a worse side. The bad side starts on Genesee Street, has 45 abandoned houses and vacant lots as well as 2-year-old athletic fields already sporting crooked goal posts and missing nets on the tennis and basketball courts.

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