Articles for I'Jaz Ja'ciel

Jun 20

2024

East Side landlord faces big fines

Farhad Raiszadeh, left, with city building inspector Tracey Krug. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. An East Side landlord being sued by the state attorney general for lead paint violations is also under the gun from city building inspectors — and it’s going to cost him. The city is prosecuting 69-year-old Farhad Raiszadeh in Buffalo Housing Court for 125 code violations at 11 properties. Raiszadeh, who lives in San Diego, was in Housing Court earlier this month, when he was ordered by Judge Patrick Carney to pay the city $65,000, half of which will cover the costs of demolishing a house and[...]

Posted 6 months ago

May 30

2024

A different approach to revitalizing Buffalo’s East Side

What do you like about your neighborhood, the interviewer asked. What are your concerns? How optimistic are you that things will get better? There was no right or wrong answer for the 567 residents who took the survey, but their responses will help determine which neighborhood serves as a pilot to help rebuild Buffalo’s East Side and elevate the city’s Black community. Henry Taylor, director of the University at Buffalo’s Center for Urban Studies, unveiled the framework last November in “How We Change the Black East Side: A Neighborhood Planning and Development Framework.” The model poses a radical challenge to[...]

Posted 7 months ago

May 17

2024

Continuing need for mental health services

Two years after the May 14 massacre at Tops Supermarket on Jefferson Avenue, counselors and other community advocates are calling for expanded mental health services on Buffalo’s East Side. What’s needed, they say, are more community centers serving as “safe spaces” where young people can go, as well as more mental health counseling and more funding for mental health services overall. The advocates and counselors are requesting funds be included in the 2024-25 city budget Mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council are currently working on. “Traditionally, there has always been a lack of any kind of service, and I’m[...]

Posted 7 months ago

May 7

2024

Yup, there’s plenty of bed bugs at LBJ Apartments

Sign in community room of LBJ Apartments warns of infestation. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. Days after Investigative Post revealed a bed bug infestation in the LBJ senior citizen apartments, the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority arranged mandatory pest control inspections for each unit. Twenty-six of the building’s 206 apartments, including some vacant units, were found to have bed bugs, according to BMHA Executive Director Gillian Brown. He said bed bugs were also found in the community room, where Investigative Post on Monday saw each couch and chair had written signs posted to them advising residents not to sit on them, as[...]

Posted 8 months ago

May 2

2024

West Side property still the ‘House From Hell’

149 Arkansas Street on Buffalo’s West Side. Photo by Garrett Looker. Almost two years after two dead bodies were found in a boarded-up West Side house, the property remains a nuisance that continues to attract squatters, drug users and prostitutes, neighbors told Investigative Post. Complaints to the city, including to police, the Common Council and Housing Court seem to be falling on deaf ears, neighbors said this week. “I’m losing my patience,” said Arkansas Street resident Wilmer Peralta. “It’s been two years. The house is still vacant. What are they doing?” The boarded-up house at 149 Arkansas St., owned by[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Apr 23

2024

Bed bug infestation in Buffalo public housing

Bed bugs are out of control at the Buffalo’s Municipal Housing Authority’s Lyndon B. Johnson Apartments, according to tenants who say the infestation is just one of many problems at the 10-story building at Main Street and Humboldt Parkway. “Everyone in this building has bed bugs,” said Erma Ecford, a tenant representative in the 206-unit building who has lived at LBJ the past 10 years. Many tenants are struggling financially because of the cost of replacing furniture and buying pest control products, she said. The median income of tenants in the LBJ Apartments is $16,531, according to a demographics report[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Apr 10

2024

Lights out at Buffalo hostel

Updated at 3:06 p.m. Wednesday The city shut down Hostel Buffalo-Niagara Wednesday following an inspection that resulted in condemnation of the downtown building. City inspectors cited unsafe electrical service to the hostel as well as structural hazards at an attached rear building. The fire department then condemned the city-owned hostel building, citing the electrical issues. The building and fire safety inspectors arrived shortly before noon to inspect 667 Main St., the hostel’s building, according to a hostel employee. The inspectors unscrewed a door in the back to gain access to the adjacent building at 664 Washington St., which is vacant[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Mar 26

2024

Buffalo hostel pushes back against vacate order

Representatives of Hostel Buffalo-Niagara say they’re planning to fight the city’s order for them to vacate their Main Street building. The hostel has no plans to shut down April 15 — the date it’s been ordered to close shop for construction at an adjacent building. As of now, its long-range plan is to remain open, and to eventually buy the hostel building from the city, Hostel Buffalo-Niagara president Alexander Burgos said Tuesday. “We have an engineer that doesn’t feel that closing our business is necessary and that we can continue to operate while they perform construction,” Burgos told Investigative Post.[...]

Posted 9 months ago