Tag: City Hall

May 1

2014

Common Council needs to step up

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Right about now, people ought to be missing Jim Pitts. Yeah, yeah, I know, obstructionist and all. I’ll concede, he could be frustrating at times. But Pitts was nobody’s pushover, and during his time in office the Common Council could be counted on to take the occasional lead on issues and function as some sort of check on executive power. That’s in sharp contrast to the “go along to get along” crew now occupying the Council’s nine seats. I did a package of stories last week for WGRZ that considered the effectiveness and independence of the Council and Erie County[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Apr 25

2014

Council lacks initiative, independence

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The good news: Buffalo’s Common Council doesn’t busy itself passing resolutions honoring people, be they dead or alive. But like the Erie County Legislature, the Council passes few laws and makes few changes to the executive branch’s spending plans, including the chronically troubled Community Development Block Grant program. The Council’s track record the past few years reflects a cozy relationship between lawmakers and Mayor Byron Brown. Few miss the bickering of the Griffin and, to a lesser degree, Masiello eras. But critics, who include former Council President David Franczyk, say lawmakers have surrendered their independence in the process. This report[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Apr 3

2014

Buffalo’s decade-long dust bowl

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The Weaver family and their neighbors on Peabody Street may be the only people in Buffalo who don’t look forward to warm weather. That’s when concrete crushing kicks into full gear at Battaglia Demolition, a construction and demolition processing facility that abuts their homes in the gritty Seneca Babcock neighborhood about a mile southeast of downtown. “I can’t open my windows because of all the dust from the rock crushing,” Jan Weaver wrote to the state Department of Environmental Conservation last fall. Between 80 to 200 diesel trucks a day rumble down Peabody Street loaded with concrete, scrap metal and[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 27

2014

Chippewa Street is a red blight district

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Last week I wrote about the overflowing trash bins up and down Chippewa Street that greeted fans in town for the NCAA basketball tournament. That did not make it an unusual week for the downtown entertainment strip – actually, it was a typical one. The truth is, Chippewa is dirty, smelly and uninviting most of the time. I know because I walk the street five, sometimes six days a week. I park workdays at WGRZ on Delaware Avenue and walk up Chippewa to my office on Pearl Street. I retrace my steps on the way home in the evening. In[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 21

2014

Belated Chippewa Street cleanup

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Rain washed away the stale beer and vomit and city crews finally emptied overflowing trash receptacles along Chippewa Street on Wednesday after Investigative Post and WGRZ pointed out the poor impression conditions were leaving on basketball fans visiting Buffalo for the NCAA tournament.

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 20

2014

Welcome to Pigsty City

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Buffalo is teeming with visiting basketball fans who are being encouraged to hit the town. Chippewa Street is the entertainment strip closest to the NCAA tournament action, but the city has yet to empty the trash cans, much less clean up the trash, vomit and broken glass from last weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day ‘festivities.’

Posted 12 years ago

Feb 27

2014

City Hall scandal over anti-poverty funds

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Our partners at WGRZ have broken a number of stories recently about Buffalo’s misuse of block grant funds and the failure of federal regulators to hold city officials accountable. The latest story by Jeff Preval includes an interview with Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney, who has covered the issue for more than 15 years.

Posted 12 years ago

Sep 29

2013

Buffalo’s disappearing Democrats

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Four years ago, Mickey Kearns lost the Democratic primary for mayor in a landslide. He garnered 14,866 votes. Earlier this month, Byron Brown won the Democratic primary for mayor in a landslide. He received 14,433 votes. In other words, more people voted for Kearns four years ago than for Brown this year. That’s what happens when four out of five voters stay at home on primary day. This year’s turnout was a paltry 20 percent, well below any other mayoral primary in recent history, where up to 60 percent of registered Democrats cast ballots. Much has been made of the[...]

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post