Articles for Geoff Kelly

Jun 21

2022

Buffalo’s gerrymandered Council districts

A coalition of activists and good government groups is urging Buffalo’s Common Council to reject a redistricting plan that has been moving quickly and quietly toward approval. And they’ve got a plan of their own to put in its place — one they say does a better job keeping neighborhoods together and promoting racial equity, while undoing the gerrymandering of a decade ago. The proposal moving through the Council was submitted last month by a citizens commission charged with recommending new district lines based on 2020 Census numbers. That commission worked largely behind closed doors, with little public notice or[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jun 14

2022

No action on stadium benefits agreement

In January, good-government activists and elected officials said there should be no public subsidies for a new Buffalo Bills stadium without a community benefits agreement. A memorandum of understanding outlining the deal, involving $1.13 billion in subsidies, was announced in March, with no CBA in place. The Erie County Legislature approved the MOU in May, two weeks after it approved a down payment of $100 million towards the county’s $250 million share of construction costs. Still no CBA, though the agreement calls for one to be negotiated. It’s now the middle of June, and there is still no CBA. No[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jun 10

2022

Woman sues over cop’s c-word insult

A year after he left the force, former Buffalo Police Lieutenant Michael DeLong keeps costing taxpayers money. DeLong retired last March, after nearly 21 years as a cop, at least 36 internal affairs investigations, five suspensions for misconduct and six disciplinary conferences with superiors. In his first year as a civilian, he collected $65,761 in pension payments, plus health insurance, as he will until he dies. But DeLong’s retirement benefits are just the first items on the bill. Add to that the price of three civil lawsuits — one recently settled, two pending — for which the city bears[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jun 8

2022

Paladino does it again

Carl Paladino is running for Congress, and his opponents, Democrat and Republican alike, are rushing to remind voters of the real estate developer’s history of making racist remarks and sharing pornographic emails with friends. They need not delve so deeply into the past. Just last Wednesday, Paladino shared a Facebook post suggesting mass shootings such as those in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, might be “false flag” operations, orchestrated by government agencies like the FBI and CIA, using “hypnosis training,” as justification “to revoke the 2nd amendment and take away our guns.” Paladino initially told Buffalo News political reporter Bob McCarthy[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jun 1

2022

Defense attorneys to DA: Zip it

Last week the three court-appointed defense attorneys for the accused Tops shooter asked the judge trying the case to impose a gag order on Erie County District Attorney John Flynn. The defense wants Buffalo City Court Judge Craig Hannah to instruct the DA to refrain from speaking publicly about the case until the trial. Their fear, according to a Buffalo News report: Flynn or his staff might reveal details of the case or make other statements that risked tainting the prospective jury pool “in such a way that it will be impossible for [the accused] to get a fair trial.” [...]

Posted 3 years ago

May 26

2022

City Hall’s paper thin fair housing report

Last week Buffalo’s Fair Housing Office filed its first activity report with the Common Council since April 2019. The new report is five pages long. Given its lack of content, it probably could have been shorter. It was just the third report the office has filed in the 16 years since the city adopted its fair housing ordinance, which created the office and requires it to report annually on its efforts to protect renters from discrimination. Buffalo’s law is a local affirmation of the 1968 federal Fair Housing Act, which outlawed discriminatory practices that contributed to racial segregation. Segregation is[...]

Posted 3 years ago

May 19

2022

A smart purchase by City Hall?

Most of Mayor Byron Brown’s proposed $5.4 million hike in police spending is for new patrol officers and detectives. There is also $364,000 earmarked for a product called ShotSpotter. ShotSpotter deploys an array of microphones in a neighborhood — 15 to 20 per square mile, attached to buildings and light posts — to detect and pinpoint the source of gunshots, then report the location to police. The company claims the technology is 97 percent accurate, provides police with intelligence on gunfire that might otherwise go unreported, improves police response time, and helps to reduce gun-related crime. About 120 cities have[...]

Posted 3 years ago

May 5

2022

First impressions of Brown’s budget

Mayor Byron Brown’s proposed city budget is awash in federal pandemic relief funds. It’s bolstered by the restoration of long withheld Seneca casino money. And, on top of those windfalls, Brown has proposed a property tax hike for only the second time since he took office in 2006. The city needs all the money it can get. Operating costs keep rising. For example, among the spending increases in Brown’s budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1: Police spending would rise $5.4 million, an increase of 6.3 percent. Most of that would pay for 45 new officers. Some[...]

Posted 3 years ago