Tag: City Hall

May 21

2025

Buffalo mayoral candidates hit the airwaves

Published by

 State Sen. Sean Ryan, who’s running for Buffalo mayor in the June 24 Democratic primary, released his first TV commercial two weeks ago. The ad hits the talking points Ryan has been using since he announced his candidacy in November:  He’s the son of a Lackawanna teacher and a Buffalo firefighter.  He became a successful housing rights attorney, then a state legislator who brought home money and projects for his districts. The city’s infrastructure and delivery of basic services have gone to pot, and he’s got the experience to put things right. State Senator Sean Ryan’s first TV ad. The[...]

Posted 2 days ago

May 12

2025

Scanlon supports Benderson’s move from Buffalo to Amherst

Published by

Benderson Development wants to move its corporate headquarters — as well as those of Delta Sonic, its car wash company — to an office and warehouse complex the real-estate giant owns in Amherst. And the company wants $1.4 million in property and sales tax breaks from the Amherst Industrial Development Agency to help underwrite the $26 million relocation. Benderson’s local operations are currently housed at 570 Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo. Delta Sonic has corporate offices there, too, and in the City of Tonawanda. Surprisingly, the mayors of both cities wrote letters to the Amherst IDA in support of the tax breaks.[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

May 8

2025

City Hall discusses ‘public-private partnership’ for culturals

Published by

Kleinhans Music Hall. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon’s administration wants to set the record straight: Under no circumstances will the City of Buffalo sell the buildings used by its cultural institutions. “There was never the word ‘sale’ mentioned out of the mayor’s mouth, or anyone in this building’s mouth,” Deputy Mayor Brian Gould said in a recent interview with Investigative Post. “We’ve never said the word ‘privatization.’ We’ve never said the word ‘sale.’” Indeed, it wouldn’t even be possible for the city to sell Kleinhans Music Hall, for example — the deed forbids it. But questions[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

May 7

2025

Buffalo’s streetlight maintenance “haphazard”

Published by

The streets of Buffalo are illuminated by more than 30,000 streetlights, the majority of them installed decades ago, according to the engineer who once oversaw the entire system.  And every year the city’s 311 citizen complaint line receives hundreds of reports of damaged or missing streetlights, according to city data.  And yet the city’s Department of Public Works can produce no records of the city inspecting, maintaining or replacing any streetlights in the past seven-and-a-half years. That’s according to DPW Commissioner Nate Marton, to whom  Investigative Post in February directed a Freedom of Information request, seeking all documents tracking the[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

May 5

2025

Control board asks Scanlon for a backup plan

Published by

The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority last week instructed Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon to produce a fallback plan should the revenue projections in his proposed budget fail to pan out. Particularly worrisome to the control board is an estimated $26.5 million Scanlon hopes to raise in the next year by selling the city’s parking ramps. The measure requires state legislation that — as of my hitting send on this newsletter, anyway — has not been approved. Control board members were concerned, too, about how much money the city would get for the ramps, and whether the sale could be completed quickly enough to[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

May 3

2025

Scanlon considers “privatization” of Kleinhans

Published by

The Scanlon administration has been talking about unloading city-owned cultural institutions as part of its efforts to shore up Buffalo’s short- and long-term finances. Since taking office, Acting Mayor Christopher Scanlon and his aides have discussed selling Kleinhans Music Hall, perhaps to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, which is the venue’s principal user. They also have discussed shifting the maintenance costs of city-owned cultural venues — including Kleinhans, Shea’s Buffalo Theater, Sahlen Field, the Buffalo History Museum, the Buffalo Museum of Science and the Buffalo Zoo — to Erie County.  Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz threw cold water on that idea,[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Apr 24

2025

Scanlon disputes Kleinhans “privatization” meeting

Published by

Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon didn’t like our story on discussions he’s had about offloading maintenance costs for city-owned cultural venues such as Kleinhans Music Hall, Shea’s Performing Arts Center and the Buffalo Zoo. Scanlon Thursday morning put out a statement calling the report “inaccurate, misleading and irresponsible.” He took particular issue with our reporting that he’d discussed “the potential of ‘privatizing’ or ‘selling’ Kleinhans Music Hall.” “In fact, there was not and will not be any talk about selling city-owned cultural facilities as long as I’m mayor,” he wrote. Here’s a screenshot of the acting mayor’s full statement. It was[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Mar 13

2025

Buffalo moves to call in Braymiller Market loan

Published by

Inside the now-closed Braymiller Market. Photo by Garrett Looker. Capping off the saga of downtown Buffalo’s failed grocery store, city officials on Thursday took a major step towards calling in the loan issued to  Braymiller Market two years ago. In a unanimous decision, the loan committee of the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency voted to issue a letter of default, the legal mechanism for demanding back the $561,000 the city is owed. BURA’s full board is expected to approve the recommendation when it meets March 27. It remains unclear whether the city will recoup the funds.  By issuing the default —[...]

Posted 2 months ago
Investigative Post