Tagged: binghamton

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In an audit released Wednesday, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli cited Broome County's Industrial Development Agency (BCIDA) for a conflict-of-interest.

The problem: George Akel, the IDA's chairman of the board, is also part owner of a company involved in one of the agency's big ticket projects.

The comptroller says that's a no-no.

Binghamton looks to many visitors like any other post-industrial city in the Northeast: The historic buildings are in disrepair, and the rundown strip malls hide years of slow progress towards a revitalized Binghamton.

For years, the strategy for rebirth has been to perk up a storefront here, tear down a building there.

That's in evidence at the "Southside Commons," a concrete open space across the river and Route 434 from Binghamton's city center.  The space offers a raised area where bands can play in the summer, and a few tables and chairs scattered around the single lot wedged between two buildings.

It doesn't look like much, but a significant amount of work went into making it happen.

The vast majority of those who lined up before the doors of the Forum Theater in Binghamton opened on Thursday, were there to speak out against hydrofracking in New York State.

They were there for the second set of hearings, hosted by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Some, like state Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, were disappointed with how regulators have handled the run up to fracking:

"There is no health study. There is no real plan to deal with the polluted wastewater," she testified. "There is no assessment of the cumulative impacts. There is no economic impact study. And on and on. While there have clearly been some improvements in this draft, many of these critical issues remain unaddressed."

Others, like Glen Williams, just don't trust gas companies.

"There is a smell in the air. The only ones who really know what is coming are the top people in the gas industry and most top level politicians," he railed, during his allotted three minutes. "They are colluding to reap profits from drilling at the expense of all of us."

Binghamton has started to recover from its disastrous flood, and the list of necessary repairs is long, and expensive:

• Nine sinkholes have been found so far on Binghamton's roads
• As much as $25 million in damage have been done to the sewage treatment plant
• The city has racked up at least $2.35 million in other costs.

The Red Cross is running the Broome County area's biggest shelter, at Binghamton University. It's hit capacity, with about 1,700 people sleeping on cots on the gym floor.

The university provides some of the food, there are enough cots for everybody and things aren't too bad there, according to 91-year-old Josephine Edwards.