In Buffalo, we don’t so much have progress as we have differing degrees of failure.

In Buffalo, we don’t so much have problems as we have problems of our own making, oftentimes plunged through with the best of intentions.

The Canal Side project on the inner harbor will exist thanks to massive expenditures of public money. $300 million in public money to build an open-air shopping center with pretty bricks. As a result, the city’s Common Council has unanimously passed a resolution, which amounts to a condition precedent to the city transferring the Bass Pro site to the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation. The city wants a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) in place to ensure that there are green buildings, minority-owned businesses, affordable housing, and that workers at certain businesses earn a living wage.

Jim Heaney thinks the CBA is an important positive step. Brian Castner thinks the CBA will kill the deal. Specifically, Brian cites the “living wage” provision that would kick in for workers at any business employing more than twenty people (read: Bass Pro). He says the living wage is a “completely unrealistic number not paid by retail establishments anywhere in the country”. The details of any CBA have yet to be worked out, but here is how Buffalo defines a “living wage”:

Buffalo’s Living Wage Ordinance was passed unanimously in 1999 and amended in 2002 and 2007. It provides that certain workers must be paid a living wage. As of January 1, 2010, the rate is $10.57 if the worker receives health benefits from the employer and $11.87 if the employee does not. (The 2009 rate was $10.31 with benefits and $11.57 without).

The Ordinance applies to all City employees. It also applies to employees working under contracts with the City when the contract is for more than $50,000 and the employer has more than ten employees. Subcontractors are covered as well.

The city has made the policy determination that its employees, and employees working under city contracts, should earn what amounts to a couple of dollars more than what the McDonalds on Sheridan pays. The minimum wage in New York State right now is $7.25 per hour.

Is a $3 – 4 difference in hourly wages a dealbreaker for a Bass Pro, which is looking to be the recipient of millions of dollars in incentives, as part of a $300 million outlay of public money? I somewhat doubt it. Is it the best news to come out of City Hall in forever? I doubt that, too. But I think it’s unfair to criticize a city council as succumbing to special interests when the whole project is being publicly funded.

If someone wants to ensure that Canal Side is successful and return retail to Buffalo’s central business district, the creation of a sales tax-free zone, as recommended by the late, lamented WNY Coalition for Progress in July 2005, would be the best first step.

Hopefully, the CBA provisions will be negotiated in such a way that everyone can claim to be satisfied. Luckily, Buffalo is a major producer and net exporter of hope.