Tag: City Hall

Jun 5

2020

Scant proof of “outside agitators”

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Politicians and police have been raising the spectre of “outside agitators” since the day protests began in Buffalo. For the most part, local media has amplified the message: Outsiders are slipping into town to incite violence and destruction.  But arrest records suggest that narrative is not true. And officials allow that much of the intelligence underlying the claim consists of posts on social media, not known as a reliable source of accurate information. There are other sources, authorities say, but they are unwilling to discuss them. And so the phrase — freighted with bigotry, according to UB professor Henry Louis[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Jun 2

2020

Heaney talks protests on WBFO

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Jim Heaney wrote Sunday that vandalism associated with the weekend protests shouldn’t usurp a long-overdue discussion about racism, including a failure by city officials to rein in their police department and address other concerns of black and brown residents.  Heaney spoke with Jay Moran on WBFO‘s Press Pass.  

Posted 5 years ago

May 31

2020

Discuss the real issue. Racism.

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Allow me to provide some perspective in light of what transpired Saturday night in Niagara Square. The issue isn’t “outside agitators,” the unsubstantiated claim made by Mayor Bryon Brown and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. And it’s really not vandalism and looting, as unfortunate as that was. No, the real issue is how city government under Brown and his rubber stamps on the Common Council have targeted black and brown residents. Many of them turned out Saturday to rally against not only the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis but the manner in which police treat people of color right[...]

Posted 5 years ago

May 14

2020

Buffalo comptroller critical of Brown budget

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The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the city’s fragile finances. But it hasn’t changed the Brown administration’s proclivity for budgets constructed on risky revenue assumptions and optimistic expense projections, according to a report issued Tuesday by the city comptroller’s office. In her report, Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams expressed “substantial concerns” about the 2020-21 budget proposals Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown released May 1. The charter-mandated response to Brown’s budget identified a host of what Miller-Williams characterized as risky assumptions, including more than $80 million in uncertain revenues and nearly $15 million in expense savings that might not materialize. Brown’s budget relies heavily[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 28

2020

Buffalo facing big budget deficit

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 City Hall is facing the prospect of a COVID-19-induced budget deficit of $20 million to $31 million, with limited reserves to close the gap. A combination of increased expenses and lost revenues will cost city government an estimated $20 million, according to a report filed by Finance Commissioner Donna Estrich.  An additional $11 million in anticipated casino revenues is also at risk, given the closure of casinos during the pandemic and continued legal stalemate between the state and Seneca Nation. Meanwhile, Mayor Byron Brown’s administration is preparing a budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1, knowing[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 24

2020

Safety concerns for ill-equipped Buffalo cops

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Two Buffalo police officers have tested positive for COVID-19, about 10 others are isolating themselves, and yet more are working without protective gear such as face masks to reduce the chances they’ll become infected with the virus, says John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association.  The shortage of working police cars, paired with the department’s coronavirus sick time policy, is putting more officers at risk, he said. Evans and his union are presently the prime source of information on the health of city police officers because the Brown administration is not releasing details, unlike other law enforcement agencies[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 19

2020

COVID-19 expected to worsen Buffalo finances

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The coronavirus, and the attendant slowdown of the local economy, could not arrive at a worse time for the City of Buffalo’s finances. The likely decline in county sales tax — Buffalo’s share of which is a critical portion of the city’s budget — could contribute to a deficit when the fiscal year ends June 30. Early spring is the worst period of the year for the City of Buffalo’s cash flow, as Investigative Post reported last year.  The city comptroller’s office projected the city would run a positive cash flow balance of $3.5 million for February, and that number is[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Feb 19

2020

Lead poisoning plan missing key elements

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In January, the City of Buffalo launched its long-awaited pilot program to combat lead poisoning. The pilot program is small — much smaller than the problem in Buffalo, which has one of the highest rates of children afflicted with lead poisoning in the nation.  And, as it stands now, the program lacks funding mechanisms to make it bigger.  Furthermore, a key element is still missing: a new local law that will allow city inspectors access to the interiors of the city’s abundant rental singles and doubles in poor neighborhoods. Those dwellings comprise 80 percent of the city’s highest-risk properties. Still,[...]

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post