Peters Says to Expect Major Changes to the Organization Before End of Season

[I-90 W]

He’s probably getting a raise or something.

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Spare me, please. This is essentially a pump and dump scheme, and he’ll hope to get out with a tidy profit before the developer welfare incentives evaporate and he’s consequently illiquid.

The guy has been saying the quiet parts oit loud.

I’m hoping Jemal punks out before he can persuade Byron Brown to allow condos to be placed in City Hall.

Not interested in having an out of town Hammister taking over.  We dodged 1 bullet.  No thanks to the possibility of another.

[JohnC]

1 minute ago, Curt said:

Just spitballing on this Jamel guy, but would he really be that involved I wonder?  Wikipedia says he is 79 and his two sons have prominent roles in his businesses.  If his “group” purchased the Sabres, I’m guessing it would the sons who are primarily involved.  79 seems a bit old to immerse yourself  into the world of sports team ownership.

Douglas Jamel's approach in his development business is to surround himself with top shelf people. He has a number of projects going in a different cities. He handles his numerous projects by putting competent people from his staff and quality outside contractors to manage his myriad projects. He is good at juggling projects because he relies on quality staffing inside and outside his company.   

[JohnC]

7 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

@JohnC:Spare me, please. This is essentially a pump and dump scheme, and he’ll hope to get out with a tidy profit before the developer welfare incentives evaporate and he’s consequently illiquid.

The guy has been saying the quiet parts out loud.

I’m hoping Jemal punks out before he can persuade Byron Brown to allow condos to be placed in City Hall.

I have the opposite view of him than you do. The projects that he gets involved in are projects that he completes. I don't know anything about the City Hall condo proposal. But what I can say is that his Seneca One Project was masterfully done. This outsider has been an asset to western NY.

[Curt]

6 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Douglas Jamel's approach in his development business is to surround himself with top shelf people. He has a number of projects going in a different cities. He handles his numerous projects by putting competent people from his staff and quality outside contractors to manage his myriad projects. He is good at juggling projects because he relies on quality staffing inside and outside his company.   

Cool

Edited March 1, 2022 by Curt

[Brawndo]

If Jemal is buying anything from the Pegulas it would probably be some of Their Downtown Properties. 
 

And John C is right Jemal has taken on many projects in WNY that no one else would touch including the Seneca One, the Statler and is even interested in the Central Terminal. 
 

 

[Curt]

14 minutes ago, I-90 W said:

He’s probably getting a raise or something.

Who?  Peters?  Actually they wanted to cut his hours so he quit.

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, Porous Five Hole said:

We all know Terry loves the Sabres....

No, we don't. In fact I see plenty of evidence to the contrary.

[Stoner]

3 hours ago, Weave said:

Nothing would be more Buffalo than having a convicted felon own the team.  Again.

I think I missed the first time.

[Buffalonill]

7 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Jemal  was convicted of fraud but was  pardoned by Trump who was going to buy the Bills. It all makes sense.🤪😁

So buffalo made trump president. 

 

 

[That Aud Smell]

7 hours ago, JohnC said:

I have the opposite view of him than you do.

7 hours ago, Brawndo said:

And John C is right Jemal has taken on many projects in WNY that no one else would touch including the Seneca One, the Statler and is even interested in the Central Terminal. 

I suppose that a debate on what developers actually *do* for a city like Buffalo is beyond the scope of this thread. Colour me skeptical about and distrustful of them, especially when they arrive from out of town. The fact that I alluded to a potential Jemal plan to *privatize City Hall for profit*, and the reaction seemed to be [Chip from Napoleon Dynamite voice] “yeah, that seems like it could be pretty cool” is … well, I’m not sure what to say.

He beautified the big tower and got some tenants in it. He’s buying up properties left and right. He’s talking a big game about some of our most neglected jewels. Shoot, maybe he’ll even run fer Mayor!

MONORAIL!

There’s essentially a playbook for this sort of thing. Madoff did fine for a long while too.

If Jemal proves a net positive for Buffalo, I will eat my hat. 

[Weave]

7 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

I think I missed the first time.

John Rigas.  I know, semantics.

[tom webster]

Two things about Jemal.

 

1) His fraud conviction was relatively minor in the realm of corporate money comingling

3) He doesn’t have anywhere near the personal wealth to pull this off. Like someone else alluded to, he is like Hamister in that he uses other people’s money rather creatively which kinda caused number 1.

[PromoTheRobot]

10 hours ago, Curt said:

Peter’s has been pretty transparent that what he has heard is that the Sabres are probably for sale, at least a minority stake.

He has been asking Elliot Friedman on his podcast what he knows about a possible sale literally every week for over a month.

How do you create a "story" from thin air? Maybe they are for sale. But if you wanted to start a rumor, that's how you do it.

[PromoTheRobot]

9 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Maybe Jemal just wants to rebuild the arena.😁

BASS PRO!

[Curt]

18 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

How do you create a "story" from thin air? Maybe they are for sale. But if you wanted to start a rumor, that's how you do it.

I guess, but I don’t see it. They aren’t making a big story of it as far as I can see.  It was 5 mins of a 42 minute podcast.

[JohnC]

2 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

I suppose that a debate on what developers actually *do* for a city like Buffalo is beyond the scope of this thread. Colour me skeptical about and distrustful of them, especially when they arrive from out of town. The fact that I alluded to a potential Jemal plan to *privatize City Hall for profit*, and the reaction seemed to be [Chip from Napoleon Dynamite voice] “yeah, that seems like it could be pretty cool” is … well, I’m not sure what to say.

He beautified the big tower and got some tenants in it. He’s buying up properties left and right. He’s talking a big game about some of our most neglected jewels. Shoot, maybe he’ll even run fer Mayor!

MONORAIL!

There’s essentially a playbook for this sort of thing. Madoff did fine for a long while too.

If Jemal proves a net positive for Buffalo, I will eat my hat. 

The projects he gets involved in end up being completed. The Seneca One project was a dead zone for a generation. Now it is an employment hub. He bought the Police HQs location in downtown. He restored it to fully occupied apartments. He took over a mostly empty Statler Building and is now steadily restoring it bringing back some business activity for a building that was coming apart and being a public danger. The Bidwell/Elwood project was a multi-year stalled project because of some community resistance. He took over the project and worked with the community to satisfy their complaints. He did it by listening to them and then scaling the project down to satisfy their concerns. 

Jemal is a developer who pays his contractors and provides jobs. He doesn't get entangled in legal wranglings because he does things in a complicated and high stakes business the right way. Why do you  think bankers fund his projects? Because he pays off his loans! And this is a guy you compare to Madoff! 

[JohnC]

10 hours ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

This Douglas Jemal?

NO THANKS.

No thanks to what? To the many building projects in western NY he has successfully completed?  He has transformed many vacant and non-functioning buildings and restored them to hubs of economic activity. And you find that problematic? 

He got convicted for making illegal political contributions. He got caught and paid for it. And now he is one of the main participants in working to transform a lagging region. And because of his past indiscretion are you saying he should be disqualified from rebuilding the community he has chosen to work in? That makes absolutely no sense.  

[JohnC]

10 hours ago, Brawndo said:

If Jemal is buying anything from the Pegulas it would probably be some of Their Downtown Properties. 
 

And John C is right Jemal has taken on many projects in WNY that no one else would touch including the Seneca One, the Statler and is even interested in the Central Terminal. 
 

 

The one project that he took on that impressed me is the Bidwell/Elmwood project. A faction of the community was at war with the developer who wanted to take on a sizeable project in that community. The project was hopelessly stalled because of the conflict between the community (faction of it) and the developer. Jemal came in and took over the project. He met with the resisters and modified the project by scaling it down to get their approval. The project got completed to everyone's satisfaction. This is the type of developer you want working in your community. 

[Stoner]

So he restores dilapidated things?

You don't say.

[Eleven]

9 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

No, we don't. In fact I see plenty of evidence to the contrary.

He loves the team so much that he meddles.  He's too much of a fan.

Oh wait, he doesn't love the team.  There's plenty of evidence to the contrary.

You can not like him without getting into weird contradictory theories, you know...

[Stoner]

1 minute ago, Eleven said:

He loves the team so much that he meddles.  He's too much of a fan.

Oh wait, he doesn't love the team.  There's plenty of evidence to the contrary.

You can not like him without getting into weird contradictory theories, you know...

I never thought love was behind the meddling.

I know you love the Sabres and I know you wouldn't behave like Terry if you owned the team.

This isn't that complicated.

[Eleven]

3 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I never thought love was behind the meddling.

I know you love the Sabres and I know you wouldn't behave like Terry if you owned the team.

This isn't that complicated.

Believe me, if I owned the Sabres, the meddling would be MUCH worse than whatever you perceive Terry is doing!

[JohnC]

2 hours ago, tom webster said:

Two things about Jemal.

 

1) His fraud conviction was relatively minor in the realm of corporate money comingling

3) He doesn’t have anywhere near the personal wealth to pull this off. Like someone else alluded to, he is like Hamister in that he uses other people’s money rather creatively which kinda caused number 1.

You are right that for the most part he doesn't put up his own money but rather he gets financed by banks and other financial entities. That's how most developers finance their projects. One of the reasons that he has such access to money is that his projects are successful resulting in the loans being paid in a timely manner. Or to put it in simple terms: He is credit worthy. 

[That Aud Smell]

46 minutes ago, JohnC said:

The projects he gets involved in end up being completed. The Seneca One project was a dead zone for a generation. Now it is an employment hub. He bought the Police HQs location in downtown. He restored it to fully occupied apartments. He took over a mostly empty Statler Building and is now steadily restoring it bringing back some business activity for a building that was coming apart and being a public danger. The Bidwell/Elwood project was a multi-year stalled project because of some community resistance. He took over the project and worked with the community to satisfy their complaints. He did it by listening to them and then scaling the project down to satisfy their concerns. 

Jemal is a developer who pays his contractors and provides jobs. He doesn't get entangled in legal wranglings because he does things in a complicated and high stakes business the right way. Why do you  think bankers fund his projects? Because he pays off his loans! And this is a guy you compare to Madoff! 

Be sure to lift with your legs when you carry that much water.

Placing faith or belief in a developer is a fool's game. (Something-something about fools and money.) Not so long ago, Jemal festooned key DMV-area government bureaucrats with gifts, and flooded their bosses' coffers with donations. And business for Jemal was good! Very good! Buildings got built! Loans got paid! Progress! MONORAIL!

Jemal & Co. wound up so enmeshed with the political class in the DMV that they were criminally tried for wire fraud, bribery, and the like. Jemal managed to wriggle out of the most serious charges. But the stink of that episode lingers for those with eyes that will see, ears that will hear, and ... actually, forget those other 2 senses, the stink lingers for those with a nose that can smell. 

Some years later, Jemal is inexplicably up here in sleepy Buffalo, NY -- quickly becoming City government's darling, filling the (sizable*) void left by civic paragon** Marc Croce.

The comparison to Madoff was hyperbole. I'm not suggesting Jemal is operating an actual Ponzi scheme. But it's fair to say that regional leaders (and our region) would end up being about as well-served by placing faith or trust in Jemal as an investor would have been doing the same with Madoff.

*Ha. You see, this is a joke I have made.

** And another.