[FONT=Verdana]After years of court battles and delays, demolition will start this week on the abandoned Spaulding Fibre facility in the City of Tonawanda, NY. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Cleaning up the contaminated property is the culmination of work by the city, Erie County and Erie County Industrial Development Agency to secure funding for the demolition.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation granted $3.24 million toward the project, and $1 million came from the Erie County Department of Environment and Planning, through block grants and private donations. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The demolition and cleanup were supposed to start earlier this year, but bidding for the first phase of the project came in over budget. As a result, officials decided to split up the work into three parts. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The first phase of demolition, expected to last 16 weeks, will take down a processing plant, boiler house, administration building and garages along Wheeler Street. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Construction vehicles will move onto the property beginning today, according to Paul Kranz of the county Environment of Planning department. Demolition is expected to begin a few days later. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Tonawanda Mayor Ronald Pilozzi said officials are attempting to secure funding for the next phase of the project - possibly through a recent state bill promising $300 million for the demolition of buildings. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"We're taking a very cautious approach to make sure we can finance what we can do," Pilozzi said. "We're on our way. We're not fully funded, but we're going to work hard to make sure we get additional funding so we can continue the demolition and remediation so there's no stoppage." [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]In anticipation of the demolition, workers over the past two weeks engaged in some rat control, so that once the buildings are gone, vermin won't scurry into nearby neighborhoods. [/FONT]