Tag: City Hall

Nov 28

2023

Spending more on settlements than services

Published by

The City of Buffalo will borrow $43 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a woman rendered a quadriplegic after a police officer hit her with his patrol car more than three years ago. It is the largest payout for a personal injury lawsuit in the city’s history. The city’s top attorney called it “unprecedented.” A city lawmaker called it “catastrophic.” With interest, the total cost of the settlement could approach $50 million, based on current lending rates for municipal bonds, adding nearly $10 million to the city’s annual debt service over each of the next five years.  That’s an[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Nov 20

2023

License plate readers target minority neighborhoods

Published by

Buffalo police have quietly installed license plate readers at 41 intersections in the city, two-thirds of them located in neighborhoods populated predominantly with people of color.  Buffalo police, in response to a Freedom of Information Law request for the department’s policies on license plate readers, wrote that they’re used for “law enforcement investigative purposes only.” While it’s unclear how the department now is using readers, police in the past used mobile readers to issue traffic tickets, at considerable profit to the city.  Unlike many other cities, neither the police nor Mayor Byron Brown, their commander in chief, have made the[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Nov 17

2023

Neglected building threatens Theater District hostel

Published by

The city’s only hostel, which hosts some 6,000 travelers a year in the Theater District, is facing the prospect of eviction because an adjacent city-owned building is in danger of collapse after years of neglect. Recent inspections by the city and an engineering consultant found the vacant, rear section of the hostel building has deteriorated to the point that it could jeopardize the structural integrity of the hostel. The rear building, which faces Washington Street, is separate but attached to the hostel building at 667 Main St.  Hostel Buffalo-Niagara is across the street from Shea’s Performing Arts Center, two doors[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Nov 14

2023

Reading skills of Buffalo pupils rebounding, but still lag

Published by

Reading test scores in Buffalo public schools dropped by nearly a third during the pandemic, with the youngest students being the hardest hit.  Two years later, there’s been significant, but not complete recovery. However, pupils who were in kindergarten and first grade when the district turned to virtual instruction are still struggling to make up for the learning that was lost, according to testing data. “It was catastrophic. It was horrible,” Nicole Herkey, a reading specialist at Southside Elementary, said of the pandemic’s effect on students’ reading ability.  “It was horrible on so many levels that people who were not[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Oct 24

2023

Mayor’s half-baked paid leave report

Published by

Last month, Mayor Byron Brown promised his administration would begin issuing “a comprehensive report encompassing all employees on paid leave” for each biweekly pay period. Investigative Post obtained a copy of the first such report last Thursday, a week after it was distributed to department heads on Oct. 12.  It is hardly comprehensive. The report indicates more than 1,400 city employees across 15 departments — about half the city workforce — took some sort of paid leave during the pay period covering the last two weeks of September. The report identifies the employees by name and department, and identifies the[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Oct 19

2023

Interview: New leadership at Buffalo teachers union

Published by

For the past four decades, the Buffalo Teachers Federation had the same leadership, the same voice and the same direction. Then, in June, long-time BTF President Phil Rumore retired. In his place is Rich Nigro, who, three months into his first two-year term, is making this prediction: He won’t be staying as long as his predecessor. “There is not a next 42 years,” said Nigro. “I’m not looking at 30 years. I’m not looking at 20 years. Ten years would be pushing it,” the 50-year-old union leader said. The president’s office at the Buffalo Teachers Federation is noticeably different than[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Oct 16

2023

Money running out to help Buffalo students catch up

Published by

Programs that help Buffalo students catch up academically after the pandemic are headed for a “financial cliff” because federal aid is winding down. At stake are more than 300 positions for everything from teaching and after-school programming to school security to mental health counseling. Buffalo Public Schools will face cuts about a year from now, when the remainder of $290 million in Covid-19 relief funding through the American Rescue Plan ends.  “The financial cliff, it’s coming for all of us,” said James Barnes, the district’s chief financial officer. “The funding is going away. That amount of money cannot be absorbed[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Oct 10

2023

Fire clerk still not working, but getting paid

Published by

Jill Repman was called back to her job with the Buffalo Fire Department last month after seven and a half years on paid leave that cost taxpayers nearly $600,000. She immediately went on vacation, according to city payroll records.  Repman used four days of her accumulated vacation time to extend the paid Labor Day holiday to a full week. The following Monday, she called in sick.  Then she took a couple personal days, followed by another sick day, followed by another personal day. All told, Repman — formerly known by her married name, Parisi — didn’t work a single day[...]

Posted 6 months ago
Investigative Post

Get our newsletters delivered to your inbox * indicates required

Newsletters *