Lackawanna welcomes slaughterhouse

LACKAWANNA, N.Y. (WIVB) - Some people in Buffalo weren't happy about the opening of a slaughterhouse in their neighborhood. Lackawanna is welcoming the business in their city.

Architect Frank Wailand said, "This is an overall site plan."

The plans are to turn a former sheet metal business on Ridge Road in Lackawanna into a year round farmers market, bakery, and slaughterhouse where livestock is killed on site in either the Kosher tradition, or Halal tradition that muslims in the Lackawanna community prefer.

Contractor Eddie Egriu said, "We can't just eat something, kill it and eat it, so we have a way of blessing our food before we eat it, just like before you sit in a dinner, you bless that plate. We do that prior to that, we bless the meal."

Owner Yousef Jaarah said, "We sell like lamb goats calf, gonna be chicken."

Jaarah owns a market like that in Brooklyn, and has noticed customers coming from as far away as western New York, so he's investing over a million dollars to bring one here.

But not everyone likes it.

Neighbor Marcia Veal said, "It'll smell around here for months. We'll have all kinds of vermin and rats."

Lackawanna Council Member Andrea Haxton said, "I think that it was a total cover up. We just found out about it, Saturday morning."

Lackawanna Mayor Norm Polanski sees the 35 new jobs as a boost for the community, "This is a big plus for the area. People want to call it a slaughterhouse. I call it a butcher shop."

The owner has already received approval from the city, the sewer district, USDA, and hopes to open in about three months. The owner is dropping his earlier plans that would have put the business on William Street in Buffalo.