Meetings are something I've noticed as a sort of trend for nightside reporters to cover, and tonight was no different. Kat and I went to Auburn with Ben and the live truck to cover a story about developer Pioneer Industries trying to build a Hilton Garden Inn on a piece of land in Auburn currently owned by three different people/families.
Eminent domain is on the table right now, as the owners of a vacant lot, a Chinese restaurant, and a dog grooming business are trying to keep their land as developers try to take control of it with the help of the Auburn Industrial Development Authority (AIDA).
Last night, Pioneers' President David Murphy announced he started to make deals with both the Wards, who own the dog grooming business, and the Jangs who own the Chinese restaurant (and their own apartment above it). At this point, the general deal would allow the dog grooming business to stay, but would force the Jangs to relocate their home and restaurant to another part of the city.
Right now, parties are still trying to work out specifics and details of the agreement, so nothing is set in stone yet. Last night, they AIDA board said eminent domain wasn't off the table yet, but they're holding off voting until next month.
It was a pretty crazy meeting, which forced the AIDA board to go into Executive Session in the middle. It was a perfect time for us to get interviews with Doug Ward, the dog grooming business owner, and the Jangs' attorney. After the meeting ended, we also spoke with David Murphy, Pioneer president.
Then it was time to go live, shoot our stand-ups in front of Auburn City Hall, edit in the live truck, and do another live hit at around 9:45. It was a really long night, and maybe unnecessarily so since we had time to drive back to Syracuse. Overall, it was a complicated but interesting story to cover, and definitely not something that's going away anytime soon.
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