Aug 13
2025
Scanlon administration ignoring records request
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Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon’s administration is once again violating the Freedom of Information Law.
The latest example: For more than three months, City Hall has ignored a FOI request for documents related to the proposed sale of the city’s parking ramps. Scanlon wants to sell four downtown parking structures to an independent authority in a bid to close budget gaps.
City Hall ignoring requests for public records has proven to be a pattern. Earlier this year, the Scanlon administration ignored a request for Scanlon’s daily calendar until Investigative Post appealed. Those records ultimately revealed Scanlon had held meetings where the “privatization” of the publicly-owned Kleinhans Music Hall was discussed. Scanlon’s administration also delayed, in violation of the law, requests for records related to streetlight maintenance and documents related to the mayor’s salary.
The latest FOI request the administration has ignored pertains to the valuation of the parking ramps, estimated at $42.2 million.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomThat’s how much Scanlon’s administration believes the city’s four parking ramps are worth as he seeks to fill a projected $50 million to $70 million budget deficit. Under a plan put forth by the acting mayor, a newly-created Buffalo Parking Authority would issue a bond for that amount and take ownership of the parking ramps, kicking the money raised to the city to balance the budget. The ramps contain 5,203 parking spaces and have proven key to attracting major employers to the downtown core.
The $42.2 million figure is based on the value of the ramps and the net revenue they bring in each year. In recent years, the ramps have provided the city an average of $3.8 million annually, according to data provided by Buffalo Civic Auto Ramps Inc., the nonprofit that currently operates them. Scanlon’s enacted 2025-26 budget is balanced using $26.5 million from the sale of the ramps.
The administration, however, has so far refused to release documents or other analyses showing how it reached the estimate of the ramps’ value.
On May 9, Investigative Post submitted a request for parking ramp records pursuant to the state’s FOI Law. The request was filed shortly after the state Legislature passed a budget that included a provision allowing Scanlon to create the City of Buffalo Parking Authority.
Specifically, Investigative Post sought:
- Assessments used to determine the value of the ramps/lots.
- Letters and/or memos related to or describing valuation of the ramps/lots.
- Entries from the calendars of Scanlon and Deputy Mayor Brian Gould related to the valuation of the ramps and formation of the parking authority.
Investigative Post emailed the request to Deputy Mayor Brian Gould (annual salary $148,000) and Abba Abramovsky, a city attorney (annual salary $93,649). Both have quarterbacked FOI requests in the past.
The FOI Law requires a government agency to acknowledge a records request within five business days and to usually provide documents no later than 20 business days later. In this case, the city has failed to meet both requirements.
Investigative Post subsequently filed an appeal on July 28, arguing that the city’s failure to respond amounted to a denial of the request. Corporation Counsel Cavette Chambers (annual salary $150,000) had 10 business days to respond. She never did.
Neither Chambers nor Gould returned phone calls seeking updates on Investigative Post’s request.
