BUFFALO, N.Y. — If Governor Kathy Hochul and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz like the stadium deal ideas coming from April Baskin, they aren’t saying.
The Chairwoman of the Erie County Legislature went public Saturday with a list of things she would like to see included in a deal for a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills.
In addition to minority hiring targets for the construction of the estimated $1.4-billion stadium, Baskin wants a portion of the shops and restaurants in the completed stadium set aside for women and people of color. Other items Baskin talked about in her annual ‘State of the 2nd District’ address include expanded youth sports programs, more money for affordable housing, and more assistance for small businesses.
2 On-Your-Side is told neither Hochul nor Poloncarz were given advance copies of Baskin’s speech and did not reach out to her office afterward.
Today, 2 On Your Side again asked representatives of both the governor and the county executive whether Baskin’s ideas are priority items during stadium negotiations.
Neither address the question directly. This was a portion of the response from Poloncarz's press secretary:
And this came from Gov. Hochul’s office today:
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