Articles for I'Jaz Ja'ciel

Oct 30

2024

Buffalo readying hostel’s former home for sale

Hostel Buffalo-Niagara in downtown Buffalo’s Theater District. Photo by Garrett Looker. Members of the Hostel Buffalo-Niagara board are working to reclaim the lodge’s former home at 667 Main St. – though they may have some competition. The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency last week said its real estate team has been showing the property – located in the heart of the Theatre District – to several potential buyers. BURA officials didn’t name any interested parties beyond the hostel, which is partnering with developer Sam Savarino to create a construction plan for the property. The hostel’s board hopes that Savarino can acquire[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Oct 24

2024

Buffalo asks judge to dismiss lead inspection lawsuit

Attorneys Matthew Parham, far left, with John Lipsitz, representing groups suing Buffalo, and Assistant Corporation Counsel David Lee, right, representing the city, appear before State Supreme Court Judge Michael Siragusa. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. The City of Buffalo is asking a judge to toss out a lawsuit accusing the city of failing to enforce a rental inspection law aimed at reducing lead paint in its aging housing stock. Here’s why the case has no merit, according to the city: Buffalo is enforcing its inspections law, known as the Proactive Rental Inspections Program or PRI — just not as quickly as[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Oct 16

2024

KeyBank approving more mortgages for Black borrowers

Story was updated Oct. 18 to reflect the current relationship between KeyBank and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. After years of criticism over its lending record to Black homebuyers, KeyBank is reporting a sharp increase in the number of mortgages granted to African-American applicants in the Erie-Niagara region. The latest data obtained through the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act shows that in 2023 KeyBank made 48 loans in the two counties, compared to 12 the year before. “All the progress that we have made over time is the result of just being able to listen to the community,” said Chiwuike[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Oct 2

2024

$10 million plan to tackle Buffalo’s lead crisis

Erie County is expected to play a larger role in battling Buffalo’s lead poisoning crisis under a new state program that is pouring millions of dollars into health departments across much of New York State. While the state program won’t be fully operational until late next year, Erie County has already been told it can expect an additional $1.9 million in each of the next five years. The Erie County Department of Health plans to use the money to beef up its lead inspections unit, bringing on eight more inspectors as well as clerical staff to supplement its 18 existing[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Sep 4

2024

Carney retiring as Buffalo’s Housing Court judge

Judge Patrick Carney’s sign hangs outside of Housing Court. Photo by Garrett Looker. Judge Patrick Carney — Buffalo’s longest tenured Housing Court judge — will not seek reelection and plans to retire at the end of the year, Investigative Post has learned. Carney, 68, has served as a City Court Judge since 1994. He was last reelected to his third 10-year term in City Court in 2014, and has presided over Housing Court for almost 14 years. Eighth Judicial Administrative Judge Kevin Carter confirmed that Carney is leaving. “Next year, I’m going to have a new Housing Court judge,” he[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Aug 29

2024

Judges have ignored housing law for 30 years

For the past 30 years, state court officials have ignored a law mandating independent oversight of Buffalo’s oft-criticized Housing Court. After the state Legislature in 1978 passed a law establishing an advisory council to monitor the court and recommend changes, the panel met for more than a decade. But it’s been inactive since the early to mid 1990s. Since then, at least three different administrative judges in the Buffalo-based Eighth Judicial District failed to appoint members to the advisory council. Meanwhile, criticism of the Housing Court has grown, particularly under the current judge, Patrick Carney, who has served since 2011.[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Aug 6

2024

Judge orders ‘House from Hell’ demolished

149 Arkansas St., slated for demolition. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. The “House from Hell” will soon be a pile of rubble. Following years of neighborhood complaints, Housing Court Judge Patrick Carney has issued a demolition order for 149 Arkansas St. — a run-down, vacant house used by squatters and drug users, where two dead bodies were found in 2022. Carney also slapped owner Kwayo Ithe Bonkuka with a $10,500 fine. “I have had Council reports, block club reports. They’re still screaming,” Carney said of the property’s many complainants. Carney issued the demolition order after building inspector Sean Myers testified during[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Jul 30

2024

So long, bed bugs

BMHA Executive Director Gillian Brown, left, and LBJ Apartments tenant representative Erma Ecford. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. The bed bug infestation is gone. So are the rats. And most of the washers and dryers in the laundry room are working again. That’s what tenants at the Lyndon B. Johnson apartments recently said, just over three months after Investigative Post reported that residents had been living with insect and rodent infestations, leaky ceilings and security concerns, among other issues. Tenant representative Erma Ecford, who initially brought to light conditions at the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority-owned senior complex, said the incessant swarms[...]

Posted 8 months ago