Buffalo ReUse: James Green Executive Director - Q&A
16 Comments Published by fixBuffalo on 8/18/2011 at 12:43 AM.
Buffalo ReUse is located in the heart of Buffalo’s East Side. On any given day customers may include a downtown attorney searching the piles of green limestone that once graced Minoru Yamaski’s plaza at the base of the M & T tower or neighbors buying hardware and replacement screens. Landlords and local contractors were streaming through the door during a recent visit and were searching an inventory of donated doors, moldings and windows and architectural salvage. Landfilling these items no longer makes sense, especially now.
James Green - Executive Director
I had the opportunity recently to sit down with James Green, the new Executive Director and talk with him about the organization’s past, present and future. Here's the podcast (running time 10 min).
Javoun & Tyshawn - Buffalo ReUse garden volunteers
Shortly after meeting with James Green, the following Buffalo News story appeared about the organization’s eviction from the Northampton Street location. I sat down with Vince Kuntz, Buffalo ReUse board President on Wednesday morning and asked him about the eviction proceeding. Vince remains confident about the organization’s future as a number of possible options are actively explored. While the details and plans are being hammered out Vince explained that all the recent changes that have taken place on Northampton Street have resulted in a stronger organization, an organization that is rapidly becoming an organization of the East Side. 
Len, Rose & Akhalaq - customers
Hear what Len, Rose and Akalhaq have to say - podcast (running time 3 min.) - about their Buffalo ReUse experience. I chatted with them while they were shopping the endless aisles of salvaged inventory from some of Buffalo’s most storied buildings and neighborhoods while working on their own home based projects. - Buffalo ReUse Archive - links to previous posts & photo set
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building index • fixBuffalo flickr • creative class • shrinking cities • americansuburbX
spacing toronto • infrastructurist • inhabitat
Thank you David!
Great interviews especially with the customers!
Michele J
What a terrific resource for Buffalo residents and others. It would be a shame to let anything happen to it. Nice piece.
Kristen M
It's not all good news at BuffaloReUse. Read this:
http://hayescreative.com/2011/08/nys-labor-department-says-buffalo-reuse-created-a-hostile-work-environment-hayes-forced-out-of-his-job-by-a-hostile-board-of-directors/
Nice story. So much bad mojo surrounding this organization it seems. Really too bad, given the good work they have done....and do..
We went in the store last week and were happy with the prices and service.
some of the people once associated with reuse remind me of an abusive ex-boyfriend. we all know the kind: "if i can't have you, nobody will."
fortunately, they'll eventually be discredited by their own excess. sabotage and revenge have a way of backfiring on you.
Dear anonymous: I guess the NYS Labor Department judge is trying to discredit BuffaloReUse. 'The judge found, based on the facts presented to her, that my (Hayes) “voluntary quit” (quoting from her decision) “was an instance of an individual being forced out of his job by a hostile Board of Directors.” She also characterized the testimony “of the Board president [Kuntz] to be obtuse and evasive.”'
Some of us people once associated with BuffaloReUse happen to be loyal friends with high ethical standards.
How many boards did reuse go through?The founders had no idea how to run a business.
indeed. they seemed to think that the board should rubber stamp their every impulse and clearly it was fascism at work when their handpicked trustees failed to do their bidding.
new york state nonprofit law is very clear that staff report to boards, not vice versa.
Seems from the outside looking in that finally Buffalo Re-Use is finally on a better path.
After looking through their tax information it is quite apparent they had a lot of overhead in the past.
That building is not worth $1,000 a month and it looks like they are paying 3 times that.
Payroll costs were excessive,In one year it looks as if they received over $200,00 in grants.
Salaries and benefits for their 3 highest paid employees in that year totaled over $140,000
That is no way to run a successful business.
The new board as I understand were virtually handpicked by the founders.
They had no idea the extent of the problems.
From what we have heard and read they have had to make hard decisions to keep Re-Use afloat.
I hear several of the current board members are volunteering daily to keep Re-Use open.
They are often verbally abused by a former employee who lives in close proximity to the store.
This behavior has been witnessed by many.
Recently several former employees and former members came into the store and caused a scene.
Witnessed not only by current staff but also teenagers volunteering at the store.
A former employee and member argued with the current E.D. who asked them to leave the premises
He was then spat on.
Allegedly by accident?
To Becky: Stop spreading false rumors. I am a CURRENT and founding member of BuffaloReUse and I was with two other current and founding members of BuffaloReUse when we visited the store with the two former employees(and founding members) you are speaking about. The story you are telling is a total lie! No one spat on the ED. The only scene was caused by the ED James Green. He told the two former employees that their membership had been revoked and ordered them to leave the store. He then accused one of the other current members of spitting on him when the member asked if he also had to leave. The ED then threatened to call the police. We all immediately left the store. The ED followed us out of the store and started taking a video of us. My husband and I were strong supporters of BuffaloReUse. We spent a bit of money there and referred many customers from our business to BuffaloReUse. It's a shame they are on their way out.
To Mary:
What was the purpose of your visit that day?
Was it to spend a leisurely afternoon shopping with several former employees or was your visit to disrupt a filming taking place at the store?
No response to all the facts I presented?
How many board members left Re-Use due to the founders behavior?I have heard about 15
Was the current board handpicked by the founders?
I have heard they were.
How many times can former and current members be blamed for being problematic before you realize maybe the problem is the founders behavior?
You make a great witness for BuffaloReUse, Becky. You are very convincing using phrases like "seems", "as I understand", "from what we have heard", "I hear", and "I have heard".
Mary,
Still no answers?
I can't speak to a lot of the issues here, but as a real estate guy, I can tell anyone who wants to know that $3k/month for their space is not at all unreasonable. It includes a lot of land and a substantial building. By commercial real estate standards, that's pretty economical. And while I'm not associated in any way with Buffalo ReUse or any other competing organization, $140k for the top three salaries/benefits packages doesn't sound outrageous to me; that's under $50k/yr for salaries and benefits combined. What does that equal? $35-$40k/ea in salaries? Hardly exorbitant.
From what I hear the most pressing weakness in the current organization is getting new product into the door.
Steering clear of the conflict, I want to report on purchases at ReUse. It is the closest building materials yard to my home. I have been a customer and member for years, buying a variety of materials there.
I buy 2x4s and 2x6s when I find them at the yard. Dimensional lumber is a hot item and scoots out the door quickly. I decided to measure the price. I arbitrarily paid myself $25 per hour to remove nails, screws and staples and clip off ragged ends. I added up my labor and purchase prices and factored that into the pile of lumber I ended up with.
What I ended up with was high quality lumber at more than 25% off the low price of what Home Despot sells. Needless to say the lumber at HD is crap. I've run this experiment twice now. I won't bore you with the details of the $25 US made toilet that would flush a dozen ping-pong balls with ease, nor the $35 vanity with sink and faucet that went in like screwing the lid on a mustard jar.
As one former employee put it: "It's a great business model that's gonna work." I have found the past and current employees to be eager and competent. The yard is more organized now than ever before. I personally miss the old staff and also really like the people there today.
The bottom line is that Buffalo ReUse is a great resource and we all need it to continue.