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Five biggest things on the way in 2020

From toll booths to carousels, here's five things Western New Yorkers should keep an eye out for this year.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Big things are expected for the city of Buffalo over the next 12 months, but here's a look at five of the ones that you should keep an eye out for. 

New shopping and housing center to start construction at Canalside

Heritage Point, a $30 million project, will start construction in the South Aud Block of Canalside. The project is expected to have retail spaces, restaurants and apartments. The new development is set to open in the summer of 2021.

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Canalside Carousel set to open this summer

Coming in July, a new solar-powered carousel will open at Canalside. the ride will be inside a roundhouse enclosed in glass. Riders can pick one of 34 animals to chose from and will cost only $1 per ride.

The carousel has Western New York ties, too. It  was built at the Herschell-Spillman factory in 1924, but then went into storage for 80 years. 

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Credit: WGRZ

Special election held for 27th congressional district

Since September, when former Republican congressman Chris Collins resigned his seat after pleading guilty to insider trading, nobody has represented the 27th district in the U.S. Congress. A special election will be held to replace Collins vacant seat. 

Governor Cuomo still hasn't decided when that election will take place. He's said that April 28, the same day as the presidential primary, is under consideration. 

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More jobs from Tesla coming to Buffalo

New York state paid $750 million to build a factory in South Buffalo for Tesla. The company promised to bring 1,460 jobs to the area by April of this year. As of June 2019, Tesla still needed to fill 600 more jobs. 

If Tesla doesn't meet the job requirement, the company will payback $41 million to taxpayers. 

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Cashless tolls coming for entire state

By the end of 2020, it's expected for tolls to be completely cashless in New York. Construction began on installing the system throughout the entire state last summer. 

Cashless tolls have been in place for some of the state, including the Grand Island bridges, for over a year. There have been some issues with late fees for drivers who don't have an EZ Pass, though. Mainly because of incorrect mailing addresses on file.  

The system is expected to be finished throughout the entire state by the end of 2020.

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