South Buffalo Blogger

As part of my series of posts from a community meeting yesterday, Mayor Brown attended and spoke to a nice size crowd of block club leaders in South Buffalo.

“We take the safety of every neighborhood in the City of Buffalo very seriously, and public safety we see as a critical priority to strengthening this city, growing this city and moving Buffalo forward.” Mayor Brown stated.

The Mayor said he, along with the support of the Common Council, has taken a position that [the City] is not going to quibble about money for police and fire to protect the safety and health of the residents of the City of Buffalo.

Brown acknowledged a “historic” $117 million surplus and stated that while there was an “over-spent” for police & fire, there are extra recourses available. Specifically said, “Your taxes are not going to go up.”

He went further to say that the police department is doing an excellent job in cracking down on drugs, gangs and people trying to move guns through the City of Buffalo, but then stated that crime is down over all.

“We’re going to continue to provide our police department and our police officers with the recourses that they need and the tools, technology that they need to continue to send crime in the right direction, and send the criminals on the run.” Mayor Brown affirmed.

Also talked about was the City’s process of installing 60 high-tech surveillance cameras that he said will be a major deterrent in areas of increased crime, in neighborhood commercial districts and areas to protect homeland security.

The Mayor’s goal is to present another 40 cameras in the City’s upcoming budget, bringing the total to 100 cams throughout the City of Buffalo by the end of the year.

“Protecting our neighborhoods and putting more pressure on the criminal element.” He said.

Additionally, the Mayor is currently trying to lobby Albany for the ability to put red light cams in neighborhoods as well, serving as protection in busy intersections of motorists and safety pedestrians.

“We believe” Brown said “that it can reduce accidents by serving as deterrent at some of these intersections would give us the ability to more effectively & efficiently deploy our police officers to areas where they can, again, crack down on the criminal element.”

The Mayor stated that if the red light cams are installed, it could generate $3-8 million in revenue, of which is planned to put additional officers on the streets and use another amount to help negotiate a contract with City of Buffalo Police officers, who he said “have gone for some time without a new contract.”

Twenty-two years serving as a City of Buffalo police officer, and newly promoted A-District police chief, Brian S. Strobele as well addressed the community of block club leaders yesterday evening.

Chief Strobele was involved with the second phase of the operation of last month’s drug bust in South Buffalo, where 63 arrests were made and countless amounts of drugs and weapons were seized.

“The thing that I want to convey to everyone is that we can’t stop there, we need information to keep coming.” He said while expressing success of the Mayor’s Call & Resolution Center.

This picture is not an April Fool’s joke. It is real and it’s a problem when talking about the infrastructure in the City of Buffalo. (Seneca Street at Yale Place)

Reporting this, or any pot hole lets the City of Buffalo know it’s out there, but there’s only so much a 48-hour pot hole patrol can guarantee. For every one reported, there are thousands of others all over Buffalo that aren’t. While quick fixes like filling in pot holes are temporary, the infrastructure frustration has yet to be addressed city-wide.

As the second in the series of posts, Councilman Kearns, attending yesterday’s meeting, announced Jason Shell as the newest person working in the City of Buffalo Sewer Department.

Housing, Councilman Kearns said is one of his biggest issues.

“One of the things that I have been trying to work on over the past two years has been a lot of housing issues. Working with different people, one thing I realized is that it was too much for us, for me. I’ve been trying to wear a couple of different hats, and I realized it’s just not going to work.”

Kearns hired a new housing liaison, Matt Fisher, on the level of being proactive in South Buffalo, to go after absentee landlords, which was what Kearns said he campaigned on.

Other interests in the neighborhood, Councilman Kearns said he would be meeting this week to have a timeline of when Seneca Street will be repaved.

“We haven’t gone over the paving yet, that was one of the things we’re talking about. I know it’s in the works; I just have to sit down and go over it. At the time it was supposed to be all of Seneca Street (City line to Bailey) but I’ll refer to the Mayor on that.” Kearns answered.

The first in a series of posts about community involvement & neighborhood attention.

By: Cindy K. Yesterday evening several members of the City of Buffalo met at a community meeting of block club leaders. About 80 in all attendance included mostly block club leaders, listened to topics of interest and asked questions.

Division of Citizen Services, Oswaldo Mestre, Jr. conveyed the importance of using the Mayor’s Call & Resolution hotline for reporting citizen complaints.

Points of interest included the use of the 311 System, which will be an expansion of the Mayor’s Call & resolution Center. 311’s mission is to provide citizens of the City of Buffalo with access to city services, city information and non-emergency police services with the highest possible levels of customer service.

Saying “graffiti is a big emphasis with the Mayor”, Mestre also talked about Buffalo’s Anti-Graffiti and Clean City Programs.

Graffiti prevention improves the quality of life for communities and residents, and Buffalo’s Anti-Graffiti Clean City coordinator was introduced to the public.

“We take that serious. The whole idea of graffiti, that’s a quality of life call, and we want to be able to do something about it.” Mestre stated to block club leaders.

The Save Our Streets Program was another component that was addressed.

“The whole idea here is to make sure you have recourse. We’re your recourse in terms of following up on those particular calls, and that’s a very, very important thing in that respect.” He said.

For additional information contact Oswaldo Mestre, Jr.
Phone Number- (716) 851-4229
Address: 218 City Hall, Buffalo, New York 14202
email: omestre@city-buffalo.com

or use the Call and Resolution Hotline (716) 851-4890
Online form, click here.
*note: to get a tracking number of your complaint, you have to fill out all the contact information.