In Reason, Ronald Bailey fact-checks the New York Times on the purported environmental catastrophe near Buffalo that touched off a hundred copycat toxic-tort episodes as well as the federal Superfund program (Mar. 24).
Posts Tagged ‘Buffalo’
Compared with Gotham, getting off easy
Administrators of upstate New York cities are complaining that the cost of litigation saps their budgets: Rochester paid out $443,000 in 2002, while Buffalo writes between $700,000 and $900,000 worth of settlement checks a year. But maybe they should count their blessings: “Last year, despite its massive deficit, New York City paid out $525 million.” (Rick Armon, “More citizens taking governments to court”, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Jul. 28). The figures represent a municipal budgetary burden of about $2 for each of Rochester’s 219,000 residents, perhaps closer to $3 if some share of the $253,000 in outlays for surrounding Monroe County is ascribed to the city. The comparable figure for New York City (in which city and county government are merged) is $65 per resident or $260 for a family of four.