Schumer Tells Gsa To Keep All Former Dulski Building Workers In Buffalo's Downtown Core
With 1,200 federal employees who worked at downtown Dulski Federal Building being relocated, GSA announced last week that it will expand its search area to other parts of Buffalo outside of downtown
Schumer: Buffalo needs to keep all of its federal employees downtown to keep city's core stable and spur the city's economic revival
US Senator Charles Schumer today pressed the General Services Administration (GSA) to keep its commitment and retain Buffalo's 1,200 federal employees in the city's downtown core. GSA recently announced that it would expand its search area for a new Buffalo location to outside of downtown for employees being relocated from the Dulski Federal Building. Schumer said that keeping the jobs in downtown is vital for building the area into a thriving economic center for growth.
"Downtown Buffalo needs a critical mass of people on a daytoday basis to keep it a lively hub of activity," Schumer said. "That's what will attract people from outside the city limits to come downtown to live, work, and take advantage of the firstrate arts and entertainment downtown has to offer. The federal government made a commitment to play a positive role in this effort and now it's time to hold them to it."
Many of the federal offices currently located in the Dulski Building, including Schumer's Western New York Regional office, are being moved to new or existing private office space downtown. Among the locations being offered to the federal agencies are new office buildings on Court Street and Niagara Street, as well as existing space in buildings such as the Key Center. Although GSA committed to keeping the jobs in downtown in January, 2003, last week the agency revealed that it was expanding its search for a new location to outside of downtown.
While he praised GSA's efforts to find suitable private office space for the federal agencies that currently occupy the Dulski Building, such as Customs and the IRS, Schumer said that downtown Buffalo cannot afford to lose any of its current workforce, especially when such a loss is avoidable. "Why would we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?" Schumer said. "We can already see the positive results of GSA's downtown relocation plan, with new private office buildings going up and vacant space being filled. Now is not the time to give up on downtown."
To hold GSA to its commitment, Schumer today pressed General Services Administrator Stephen Perry to keep the employees in a downtown location. "As you know, federal policy regarding the siting of government offices requires the GSA and the agencies it represents to give preference to downtown office locations," Schumer wrote today in a letter to Perry. "With a workforce already firmly established in downtown Buffalo, I see no reason for GSA not to stick to its commitment and keep those jobs there."
