Business First of Buffalo articles from August 1997

Business First of Buffalo archives from August 1997

Positive signs offset slump in WNY index. (Western New York)
August 4, 1997... Western New York's economy stumbled this spring, but still entered the summer in generally positive condition. The bad news is that the Business First Economic Index slipped 1.1 percent during the second quarter. The good news is that its score...

Wilson will stay, Bills alums say. (Ralph C. Wilson Jr., former employer of Buffalo Bills)
August 4, 1997... In a different time, Buffalo was a manufacturing hub with jobs aplenty. The bustling Great Lakes industrial center thrived, unaware of lurking economic changes and a population migration that would soon decimate the city's core. Yet one aspect...

Big projects boost construction jobs.
August 4, 1997... Travelers in Western New York are anxiously awaiting the completion of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport this fall. Jack Dumpert is not as excited. It's not that he doesn't want to see the project completed, it's just that it will...

Building trades protest strategy gains intensity.
August 4, 1997... Union construction workers, who are in the midst of a dispute with their nonunion counterparts, are gearing up for more intense protests against an area general contractor. Their actions may lead to protesters getting arrested, union officials...

Merger of telephone giants won't hurt, officials say. (Nynex and Bell Atlantic)
August 4, 1997... Nynex officials expect little negative impact to Western New York customers as a result of the merger between Nynex and Bell Atlantic. Nynex representatives say rates may go down. "The impact that it's going to have will be positive," said...

Bison Truck Center deal keeps business in family. (Rosa family)
August 4, 1997... Bison Truck Center Inc., a Cheektowaga franchised dealer of Peterbilt and Ford trucks, is being sold. Paul Rosa, board chairman and majority stockholder, said a deal in which the business would be acquired by his son, Richard Rosa, president...

Three-way hospital merger closes in on key deadline. (three major hospitals in Buffalo, New York)
August 4, 1997... Three of Buffalo's major hospitals were expected to take another step toward merging after the anticipated endorsement of the boards of directors this week. The Millard Fillmore Health System board unanimously approved the merger July 29. The...

Nurse staffing tells part of story. (nurse-to-patient ratio - New York area nursing homes)
August 4, 1997... Government guidelines, patient need and budget considerations contribute to the disparity in the number of patients per registered nurse on staff at area nursing homes. According to the 1997 Business First list of Western New York's largest...

Lack of conventions dents WNY hotel occupancy rates. (Western New York)
August 4, 1997... The good news for Buffalo area hotel operators is that occupancy rates in May were above the national average. The less-than-good news is that they were down about 8 percent from 1996, but there is one specific reason - no major anchor...

3 WNY daily newspapers combining print operations. (Niagara Falls, Lockport and Medina newspapers)
August 4, 1997... The owner of the Niagara Falls, Lockport and Medina newspapers is close to deciding on a site for a new centralized printing plant for the daily newspapers. Three locations between Niagara Falls and Lockport in the area of the Town of...

Idea of guaranteed revenue not unique to Buffalo Bills. (deal of City of San Diego with the Chargers)
August 4, 1997... NFL ticket news: If you're following the Bills' lease situation then you've heard the notion of guaranteed revenue being tossed into the negotiations. Dumb idea, right? Well, here's definite proof in the making. The City of San Diego made such...

Chautauqua County airport struggles to attract fliers.
August 4, 1997... Chautauqua County's airport in Jamestown serves some 60,000 residents and visitors each year, a 25 percent decrease from its peak a decade ago. While upstate New York's large commercial airports in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany...

Tourism and agriculture recipe for farms' success. (agritourism)
August 4, 1997... The economic reality of modern-day agriculture continues to take its toll on family farms in Western New York. Smaller farming families are being pressed into seeking outside income and alternative revenue sources. One result is the...

Family's nightclub business follows recipe for success. (JT Wheatfields)
August 4, 1997... From dishwasher to janitor, busboy, waiter, cook and bartender, Joseph Tomasino has filled every role in his family's restaurant, Raintree Pizzeria and Sports Bar in the Town of Tonawanda. Now, at age 32, he is vice president of operations at...

Cattaraugus assesses impact of development strategies. (Cattaraugus Economic Development Zone)
August 4, 1997... The Cattaraugus Economic Development Zone thinks it has some substantial numbers to back the claim of having a major impact in creating and retaining jobs. Those statistics are helping quiet critics of the agency. The EDZ, created 10 years...

The beat goes on. (Clarence recording studio)
August 4, 1997... Clarence recording studio makes beautiful music What's going on: What do the 10,000 Maniacs, Shredd & Ragan, Rick James, Richie Havens, Roy Clark, ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker and former Moody Blues/Paul McCartney sidekick Denny Laine all have...

Women's business seminar focuses on finance, growth.
August 4, 1997... When U.S. Congressman John LaFalce graduated from law school in 1964, there was just one woman in his class. Women were rare in many post-graduate classes, whether medical school, law or MBA programs. Today, women generally represent 50 percent...

Corporations play it safe with some training at NCCC. (Niagara County Community College)(Special Report: Education and Training)
August 4, 1997... Robert Klinger of Bloomsburg, Pa., liked safety instruction at Niagara County Community College's corporate training program so much, he came back for more. "It's excellent, it gets into what OSHA is all about," he said. Klinger is one of...

Companies make mistakes in training.(Special Report: Education & Training)
August 4, 1997... One of the most risky questions that management training consultants ask their clients is, "Are you serious about training your employees?" Although we risk turning off a client, we ask the question because many employers don't understand the...

Hilton hotel checks in at Amherst.
August 11, 1997... The Amherst so-called Golden Triangle of hotel rooms is about to get a new player: the Hilton Garden Inn. Commercial Development Group Inc. of Nashville plans to build an $11 million, 158-suite Hilton Garden Inn on Millersport Highway, just...

Canadian firm thrives in Wheatfield. (Jenisco Inc)
August 11, 1997... In 1990, yearly sales at Jenisco Inc., a Niagara County manufacturer of fiberglass sleevings for the electrical industry, totaled about $50,000. Sales last year reached $1.4 million. "We expect to increase to $3.5 million in the next 12...

Legislation gives more clout to state bank charters.
August 11, 1997... At the eleventh hour, state lawmakers passed a bill giving regulators the authority to grant state banks similar powers to those given banks with national charters. The so-called "wild card" bill was sought by Gov. George Pataki and the New...

Fisher-Price, Rhino Entertainment sign on for 2nd Great Adventure.
August 11, 1997... Last year Fisher-Price Inc. found sweet music by bringing its Great Adventure toys to life through a partnership with a prominent Los Angeles-based entertainment industry firm. Now the East Aurora toy maker is singing a happy refrain....

16 WNY bank branch sites now owned by Benderson. (Benderson Development Co Inc)
August 11, 1997... Benderson Development Co. Inc., one of the Buffalo area's largest real estate developers, has acquired 16 of the 18 branch office sites that Marine Midland Bank consolidated in May. The branches, including seven in the Buffalo area, involved...

Greatbatch plant expansion lands in commercial park.
August 11, 1997... Wilson Greatbatch Ltd., the Clarence medical products manufacturer, has signed a long-term lease to occupy a 45,300-square-foot building in the Wehrle Heights Commercial Park. Wilson Greatbatch is taking a building currently occupied on Buffalo...

Declining price of milk skims profits from farmers.
August 11, 1997... Dairy farmers in Western New York are contending with the negative impact of federal legislation. The Freedom to Farm Act, according to Rep. Amory Houghton, R-Corning, and others, has put Northeastern dairy farmers at an economic disadvantage....

Lending a legal hand. (lawyers' pro bono work)(Special Report: Business and the law)
August 11, 1997... The goodwill of lawyers like Buffalo's Christina Agola has helped keep the pro bono effort voluntary in New York state. Agola is among the 850 Erie County lawyers, and 47 percent statewide, who offer unpaid legal help to the poor while...

New businesses open to Williamsville. (Williamsville, NY)
August 18, 1997... When Benjamin Sayers opened his communications software firm last year, he had several reasons for choosing Williamsville: Besides being close to home, locating IVR Inc. in the village meant superior telephone fiberoptic access, important to...

Busy bees bring sweet success. (beekeeper Bruce Fiegel)
August 18, 1997... Brace Fiegel can boast of having 44 million workers. And there is hardly a disgruntled employee among them. No one takes sick time, asks for vacations or demands a pay raise. The labor force is literally worked to death, but no health and...

Prospective buyer emerges for Medina Fisher-Price plant. (Medina, NY)
August 18, 1997... It was three months ago that Mattel Inc. ended manufacturing at its Fisher-Price toy plant in Medina. The closing and loss of 175 jobs left the Orleans County village of 7,000 wondering how or whether it would rebound from the loss of its...

HMOs anticipate increase in enrollments by retirees. (health maintenance organizations)
August 18, 1997... Area HMOs that cater to retirees can expect to build membership when the government gives Medicare beneficiaries an option to join managed care plans. The budget signed by President Clinton last week includes a provision for the year 2002...

Infrared deicing system takes off for developers. (Process Technologies Inc's Infratek system)
August 18, 1997... John Chew, 62, left a successful career as vice president of sales and marketing at an area space heater manufacturer in 1992. He began work in his garage to develop and test Infratek, an infrared aircraft deicing system. In 1993 he formed...

'Temps' gain permanency in new workplace order. (temporary employees)
August 18, 1997... Once considered the ruin of worker security, temporary labor has become a mainstay of the work force. As changing need for specific employee skills grow, coupled with rapidly changing technological and industrial project requirements,...

A stroke of genius. (A different stroke store for women golfers in Cheektowaga, NY)
August 18, 1997... Women's store caters to the clothing, equipment and lesson needs of golfers What's going on: As Kathy O'Connor's rookie season winds down, her "female friendly golf company" has found a niche in a market that has long been male dominated. When...

Harboring Buffalo's hopes: waterfront development will take time, officials. (Buffalo, NY)(Special Report: Architects & Engineers)
August 18, 1997... From his vantage point of his ninth floor office in Buffalo City Hall, Alan DeLisle has a bird's-eye view of the city's waterfront. Inside his office are maps and plans that offer an insider s look at how the waterfront may look in a just a...

Engineers seeking relief from liability. (liability for designs in New York)(Special Report: Architects & Engineers)
August 18, 1997... When a bridge on the New York State Thruway collapsed near Schoharie in the late 1980s, no one was more surprised than the engineer whose firm designed the bridge. Though he was retired for many years and living in California, the engineer was...

WNY's Maroone nears pinnacle of auto empire. (Michael Maroone, president of AutoNation USA's new vehicle division)
August 25, 1997... The summer buzz with some auto dealers is not the sound of bugs circling the lights on vehicle lots. Nor is it about the new models that have begun arriving in Western New York showrooms. It is about H. Wayne Huizenga, the billionaire...

New rinks put private owners on thin ice. (ice skating rinks in Buffalo, NY)
August 25, 1997... The Buffalo area is preparing to enter a new ice age with a skating rink building boom that critics say the region cannot support. All the while, Glenn Grundtisch wonders if anyone cares. For 25 years, Grundtisch has owned and operated Leisure...

Marine Midland shifts jobs from Rochester to Buffalo. (New York)
August 25, 1997... Marine Midland Bank's acquisition of First Federal Savings and Loan Association has added 1,000 new jobs, including 450 positions filled locally, to the Buffalo-based bank's payroll. Of the new jobs, about 330 are support staff positions...

Rising prescription costs brings higher HMO copay. (health maintenance organization; copayment)
August 25, 1997... To offset escalating drug costs, Independent Health will begin collecting 50 percent copayment from members using certain kinds of prescriptions. The increase from 20 percent copayment levels will apply to members who use self-administered...

Blue Cross & Blue Shield gets low financial grade.
August 25, 1997... Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Western New York has been given a low grade for its financial status by a Florida firm that analyzes Blue plans across the country. But the "D" grade by Weiss Ratings Inc. is in the eye of the holder, according to...

WNY hospitality industry finding that religion pays. (Western New York)
August 25, 1997... The Greater Buffalo Convention & Visitors Bureau has found God. In recent months, the CVB has booked several meetings and conventions that have ties to religious groups, including the Promise Keepers annual meeting, which was held in June at...

Eckerd ready to do battle in competitive WNY market. (Eckerd Pharmacy chain; Western New York)
August 25, 1997... The transition from Fay's Drug Stores to the Eckerd Pharmacy chain has former Fay's customers seeing blue. Blue, as in the Eckerd corporate colors. The nearly century-old chain is making its Western New York debut, following a hectic year...

Being a good neighbor. (Gloria Hirschbine, manager of the Chase Manhattan branch at Broadway, New York)
August 25, 1997... This Buffalo banker has spent her career in a neighborhood branch For Gloria Hirschbine, being a banker sometimes means going to funerals. That's life for a veteran neighborhood banker, even when she is a Buffalo branch manager for the...

Quantum chooses new site for Niagara County expansion. (Quantum Color Corp.)
August 25, 1997... Quantum Color Corp. is continuing its plans to expand with a second Niagara County site - but in a different location than first planned. The Niagara Falls printer, which had planned to build a 50,000-square-foot facility on two acres in...