The current economic difficulty facing the NFTA provides the WNY area with an unique opportunity to offer to its citizens a community wide benefit provided in few other locations in the world. It also may be a kick start to a change in attitude that our community sorely needs, where we can become a region that is looked on by others as a place where its citizens are progressive, economically smart and world class leaders.

In reviewing the NFTA’s operating budget it appears that its total operating cost is 250 million dollars. The revenue it generates from its passengers is about 60 million dollars, or 24%. The other 76% of the cost is paid for primarily from various governmental subsidies (41%), capital contributions (17%), other sources of income (14%), and what seem to be annual deficits (4%). Nationally, the average subsidy to US public transit expenses approximates 75%, so this seems to be the norm, and clamoring for the NFTA to do more with what it has seems like a no win proposition.

Let’s now imagine a system without fare boxes on its buses and light rail cars, where passengers freely board these mass transit vehicles to go to work, school, or shopping (nationally these three categories comprise 75% of all mass transit rides). Further imagine the same system safely transporting our aging population, encouraging increased urbanization, reducing traffic congestion, avoiding the need for roadway expansion costs, parking lots, and also providing increased health and environmental benefits. (more…)

Tags: buffalo, nfta, public transit, western new york, wny

The release of Business First’s 2010 law-firm rankings – an annual barometer of how the Western New York legal community is stacking up – is out.

Local attorneys say while it has been anything but business as usual over the last 12 months, there are signs that things are looking up – or that the sky was never falling as some people forecast.

Nine of 10 firms retained their position in the top tier of the list, with only Harris Beach PLLC dropping from the top 10. Moving into the top 10 for the first time – from No. 13 to 9 – was HoganWillig, which saw double-digit growth within its attorney ranks with its relocation to a new building that owner Corey Hogan said nearly doubled the firm’s space.

“We felt, from our perspective, that we wanted to get to a certain size so we could be effective in providing all of the services our clients want,” he said. “We also realize those needs are changing, and we want to be able to help our clients avoid problems rather than solving their problems once they are there.”

Hogan says business has been up at the firm. The business is out there, he says, and when times are tough, clients look for a firm that can add extra value through their services.

“We have seen some added buzz since the move,” said Managing Partner Diane Tiveron. “But also, it has allowed us to reconnect with some of our clients that we haven’t seen in a while, invite them in, and show them around a building we are very proud of.”

Other mainstays on the law list credit their ability to weather the economic storm on adjusting the size of underworked practice groups, cutting back on operational costs and capitalizing on growth areas typically seen during a down economic period.

See the full article in the Buffalo Law Journal

Tags: buffalo, law firm, Top 10

From www.buffalolawjournal.com

By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

Though “going green” was once seen as a niche concept reserved for a small segment of the business population, area law firms are seeing the value in adopting green policies.

One Amherst firm has taken green to the extreme, constructing an 80,000-square-foot new building that, when completed in December, will be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. HoganWillig PLLC is constructing the facility across from its current location on John James Audobon Parkway in Amherst, under the direction of Iskalo Development Corp. President and CEO Paul Iskalo.

“When we started working with HoganWillig, the desire was for us to research and find out what productivity-enhancing features we could incorporate into the building,” Iskalo said. Highlighting those features: an under-floor heating and cooling system that, in addition to producing healthier air to breathe, is green.

“By introducing the air under the floor and through natural convection, it allows the air to rise up and then be exhausted at the ceiling,” he explained. “This requires less energy to heat and cool the space because we aren’t forcing air in.”

The building is also being fitted with low-flow fixtures that are expected to be 22 percent more efficient than those commonly installed in office buildings. Thanks to a design that will allow every person working in the building to have a view of the outside, natural lighting will reduce energy waste as well.

“We are using ambient light sensors in the lighting so when you have a nice bright day outside, the lighting in the building is dimmed so you are using less energy and relying more on the natural light,” Iskalo said.

The HoganWillig building is reaping green benefits before it is even occupied, with a construction plan that has reduced landfill waste by recycling construction materials and reducing environmental impacts by using a minimum of 20 percent of constuction materials from regional sources.

The whole article:

http://www.lawjournalbuffalo.com/news/article/current/2009/09/10/100956/the-eco-friendly-firm

Tags: attorneys, buffalo, eco-friendly, green firm, hogan willig, law firm