(BUFFALO) - "Bittersweet vindication" is what some within the local Labor Movement might believe Laborers Local 210's leadership is experiencing these days in regards to the Statler Towers - after disgraced former owner Bashar Issa initially placed much of the blame on the Union for his financial problems in a sad and misrepresented attempt to rehabilitate, restore and revive the revered Downtown Buffalo office building to its former grandeur.

The perceived "vindication" for Local 210 comes after Issa's unfounded charges the Laborers Union was the cause for his problems at the Statler, and "bittersweet" in terms of the once-prestigious downtown mainstay now having been mothballed and boarded up as a new ownership group ultimately failed to turn things around.

But Laborers Local 210 Business Manager Sam Capitano (pictured above) told WNYLaborToday.com during an interview conducted at the Union's business office that he really doesn't see it that way.  In fact, Capitano says British businessman Issa - who was welcomed by so many locally and proclaimed a "savior," who boasted he would transform the former Statler Hotel back to the opulence it once enjoyed - wasn't right from the git-go.

"I don't (have any feelings either) way towards it.  This is the 'City of Good Neighbors' and we welcome people.  That's our nature in Buffalo.  But this was a farce from day one.  This was never going to make it and (Issa) stiffed a lot of people.  He sold them all a bill of goods," said Capitano, looking back at the recent decision to finally board-up and mothball the Statler - including the placement of ugly plywood panels over its ground floor windows. 

"We've all seen this before" of out-of-area businesspeople being given more than the benefit of the doubt before anyone takes the time to research their background in order to make sure they are legitimate, Capitano sad.  "(Issa) blamed Local 210 for all his problems.  He never once paid Prevailing Wages to his workers.  He paid them eight dollars an hour and exposed them to asbestos and lead while they working inside that building," he said.

Local 210 had attempted to organize a number of workers employed by Issa who were renovating the Statler floor by floor.  Issa, who publicly criticized the Laborers Union in the local press, was subsequently accused of threatening, demoting and firing his employees who were interested in being represented by the Laborers Union.  As a result, the National Labor Relations Board issued an $80,000 settlement in favor of the workers and awarded them full back pay.

Local 210 was able to help secure Issa's workers back pay and fought for their rights - even though they did not become part of the Laborers Union. 

"We footed the bill for the legal fees because the workers Issa were employing were all minority/working poor.  Many were still on public assistance while working at the Statler," Capitano said.  "(The media coverage) was terrible.  One local web site wrote that our members were making forty-dollars-and-hour to push a broom.  They and their readers just didn't understand.  We are considered a skilled trade and we have a bonafide training program."

Issa was described in one local media report as "bursting on to the Buffalo development scene in 2006 with ambitious plans that started with rebirth of the Statler and grew to include a plan to construction Buffalo's tallest structure - a 40-story, $361 million tower - on South Elmwood Avenue.  He also floated plans for underground parking beneath Niagara Square, and hinted at future involvement in resurrection of the Central Terminal and the Richardson Complex."

But it was reported that Issa, who boasted more than $1 billion worth of ongoing projects in Great Britain, made little forward progress on the Statler beyond blueprints, new elevators and a new marble lobby floor before running out of cash.  He subsequently sold off the proposed tower site to raise capital, and all of his U. K. projects have unraveled and are now in the British equivalent of bankruptcy.  It concluded Issa's much-ballyhooed, but poorly-executed development blitz in Buffalo, one media report read.

However, when the dust finally settled, Issa skipped town, owing tens of thousands of dollars to those who had placed their trust and reputations in him, and headed back over the pond to England.  One local media outlet later reported that Issa's business address was nothing more than a post office box outside London. 

Meanwhile, the Statler remained in limbo and continued to languish. 

Months thereafter, a Buffalo-based investment group came forward during a public auction and took control of the building.  However, in the end, they failed in their attempt to close their monetary deal to take over the Statler.

"This is a lesson well-learned that even though (Issa) appeared to be good, he was not legitimate," said Capitano, who added that Laborers Local 210 attempted to work with the investment group that tried to pick up where Issa so terribly left off.  "They appeared to be credible and legitimate, and it was a shock that it didn't go any further with these local people."

Asked what he thought should now be done with the Statler, Capitano told WNYLaborToday.com: "Honestly, I've always felt from the beginning the Statler should be imploded, and since it is a such a prime piece of real estate downtown, something monumental should be built in its place.  Why?  Because it would take more than one-hundred-million dollars to renovate it.  How do you recoup that investment over the course of time?" he asked.

"What the entire Issa situation taught me is that it's very difficult to change this culture of thinking we have here in Buffalo.  I believe we must make a decision to move forward and make history, instead of preserving it," Capitano added.