Tag: Mayor Byron Brown

Sep 9

2024

Buffalo fails to collect $2.3 million in ambulance fees

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The company that provides ambulance service to the City of Buffalo hasn’t paid an annual franchise fee to the city since its contract expired in 2020. That lapse has cost the cash-strapped city nearly $2.3 million in revenue, according to city budget documents and Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski, chair of the Common Council’s Finance Committee. Nowakowski blames the company for not paying and Mayor Byron Brown’s administration for failing to collect the money and negotiate a new contract. “They are operating in our city without a contract and for free,” Nowakowski told Investigative Post. “This a failure within[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 8

2024

So much for reforming OTB

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The Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. stayed true to form last week in hiring Byron Brown as its new president and CEO. OTB, perhaps the sleaziest government operation in Western New York, conducted what appears to be a sham recruitment process leading up to the mayor’s hiring. Officials have been largely silent about how they went about advertising the job, aside from Chairman Dennis Bassett telling The Buffalo News the agency posted the job on LinkedIn. LinkedIn? No ads in trade journals? No outreach through recruiters? If OTB did anything beyond LinkedIn, officials aren’t saying. OTB officials said 133 people[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 5

2024

Byron Brown is leaving City Hall. What happens now?

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Mayor in waiting: Common Council President Chris Scanlon. Photo by Garrett Looker. Byron Brown soon will step down as mayor of Buffalo after 18 years and eight months in the office.  The five-term mayor has been offered the job as president and CEO of Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp., a possibility Investigative Post first reported in February. He is expected to accept the position, pending completion of negotiations for an employment contract and obtaining a license from the state Gaming Commission. The precise date of his exit from City Hall is uncertain; later this month or October is most[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 5

2024

Byron Brown chosen to lead Western OTB

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Mayor Byron Brown, incoming OTB chief. Photo by Garrett Looker. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown today was selected to head the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.  Brown, 65, was one of two finalists interviewed by OTB’s governing board, which unanimously selected the mayor after five hours of closed-door interviews and deliberations. Elliott Winter, who represents Niagara County on the OTB board and served on the search committee, told reporters Brown is a good fit given his experience running a city government. “He oversees 3,000 employees with a budget of over $600 million. He’s worked in the same capacity for the last[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 5

2024

Buffalo City Hall vandal explains himself

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Today, we’re sharing a portion of  political reporter Geoff Kelly’s weekly newsletter, PoliticalPost. To receive his free report in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up in the subscription box at the end of this article. The man arrested Sunday for breaking windows at City Hall and making threats against Mayor Byron Brown is the uncle of a woman who was killed when she fell out of a moving car on the Kensington Expressway in February. On Facebook Antonio Nunes, 40, posted links to stories about his arrest and described his actions as “a warning.” His family, he wrote, was “being disrespected by nobody being[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 28

2024

OTB holds off hiring Wojtaszek successor — for now

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As the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.’s board nears a decision on who the agency’s next president and CEO will be, there’s plenty of speculation about the finalists for the job – one of whom is said to be Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. Our J. Dale Shoemaker discussed the latest with Michael Wooten on WKBW’s “Voices” newscast Tuesday evening. The OTB board of directors was scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss its search for a new CEO to succeed Henry Wojtaszek, but the agency canceled the meeting Tuesday morning. No explanation was given.  Several board members told Investigative Post the[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 8

2024

City pulls back on “amusements” fee

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The Town Ballroom on Main Street. Photo by Garrett Looker. The City of Buffalo has backed off from a plan to tax music and other entertainment venues for every event for which they charge admission. Investigative Post last week broke the story about the city’s effort to collect an “amusements fee” described in an obscure and unevenly applied section of the city code. Music club owners and managers two weeks ago began receiving letters from the city’s Department of Permit & Inspection Services “reminding” them of their obligation to pay the fee — which few of them had previously heard[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Jul 31

2024

City Hall targets music clubs with costly tax

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The City of Buffalo, facing projected budget shortfalls and desperate for revenue, is turning to a little-known chapter of the city code to collect a fee from music clubs and other entertainment venues for every ticketed event they produce. The fee could add tens of thousands of dollars to the operating costs of bigger venues like Babeville, RiverWorks, Iron Works and Town Ballroom, as well as smaller clubs like Nietzsche’s and Mr. Goodbar.  Nearly all the venue owners and managers Investigative Post spoke to said they were blindsided by the fee, which they learned about last week via letters sent[...]

Posted 1 year ago
Investigative Post