Tag: City Hall

Jul 13

2021

Why Tony Masiello is supporting Byron Brown

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When Mayor Byron Brown announced his write-in campaign inside the Statler Terrace Room last month, he was surrounded by supporters that included one of Buffalo’s most recognizable political figures. As a fiery Brown pledged to press on despite losing the Democratic primary to India Walton, standing behind him, just to his right, was Anthony Masiello — the man Brown replaced as mayor 15 years earlier.   In the weeks since Brown’s announcement, Masiello has made the local media rounds, offering his thoughts on the mayor’s race and, at times, acknowledging his support for Brown’s write-in campaign. “I talk to the mayor[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Jul 12

2021

Transparency, City Hall style

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Editor’s note: Phil Gambini is working on a story about sewage and stormwater runoff that flows into local creeks and rivers. Municipalities are required under state law to track the volume of these pollutants, but data reported by the Buffalo Sewer Authority does not identify discharge points or, in many cases, the amount of wastewater that flows into individual waterways. Gambini has been attempting to reach the Sewer Authority since the middle of May to make sense of the incomplete data. He documents his efforts below.  There’s many ways to reach Oluwole “O.J.” McFoy, general manager at the Buffalo Sewer[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Jun 23

2021

Walton’s campaign outworked Brown

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The night before the Buffalo mayoral primary, India Walton’s campaign made nearly 19,000 calls to Democratic voters in the city, reminding them to vote and making the case for Walton over four-term incumbent Byron Brown. The campaign sent almost 100,000 text messages, too, while more than 150 Walton supporters stationed themselves at polling sites across the city on election day. The campaign fielded enough people, a campaign spokesperson said, to make a last-minute pitch to half the people who showed up to vote Tuesday as they walked in, and to take their temperature on the race as they left their[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Jun 12

2021

Brown’s non-campaign campaign for mayor

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Mayor Byron Brown seems determined to act as though there’s no primary election next week.  No opponents, no contest, no question that he will cruise to an unprecedented fifth term. He’s barely bothering to raise money, nor is he spending much. There were no television or radio ad buys through the end of May, though some are coming soon, according to the mayor’s campaign finance filings. There have been few mailers and a paucity of lawn signs. Brown barely mentions the June 22 Democratic primary in public, unless compelled by reporters. He has flat-out refused to debate India Walton, his[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 28

2021

Byron Brown’s sorry track record

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India Walton is running for mayor, seeking to dethrone Byron Brown, who is seeking a record fifth term. She is far from the ideal candidate, lacking experience in government you’d like to see in a candidate seeking executive office. I mean, it’s one thing to be an inexperienced legislative backbencher, another to be managing a city with a $500 million budget and a workforce of nearly 2,700. Walton, then, is a bit of an unknown. On the other hand, we know all about Brown.  Consider his sorry track record:  Mismanagement of city finances: Brown inherited a hard control board that[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 23

2021

Kelly talks police referendum on WBEN

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Geoff Kelly reported earlier this week about a petition effort to place a referendum on the city’s November ballot to establish an independent police review panel. He spoke Friday morning with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski on NewsRadio 930WBEN.  

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 21

2021

Reformers pushing for police referendum

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They’ve lost hope that Buffalo’s elected officials will make the police reforms activists have advocated since last summer. So a coalition of groups and individuals is seeking to bypass City Hall entirely and take one of those reforms directly to voters.  The coalition seeks to put a referendum on this November’s general election ballot. The referendum would create a new police review commission with the power to investigate complaints against officers, mete out discipline and review departmental policies and budgets. It’s a recommendation put forth last June by the Buffalo Police Advisory Board, one of three police oversight bodies in[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 1

2021

The worst governments, agencies in WNY

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Western New York is saddled with a lot of bad governmental bodies and departments in need of reform. Some cost a lot of money in the form of high taxes, others are simply ineffective, and still more are outright corrupt. There are some 105 units of local government in Erie and Niagara counties — that is, cities, towns, villages and school districts. And countless other departments, authorities, taxing districts and the like. With apologies to David Letterman’s late, great Top Ten list, here’s my take on the worst of the worst, with the list getting progressively worse as you read[...]

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post