A Climate Resiliency Plan came before council members in this week’s Caucus and Regular meetings. It explains how the city will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% in the next five years and 85% by 2050. This proposal, which aligns with New York State environmental objectives, is especially important at a time when the federal government no longer fights, or even acknowledges, the climate crisis. “The burning of fossil fuels disproportionately affect[s] marginalized…communities,” the document notes, so environmental planning is crucial to “building an inclusive and equitable city.”

The Climate Resiliency Plan focuses only on city-government-controlled areas (e.g. city-owned vehicles and buildings). The next phase will be developing an entire community plan, involving residents, businesses, and everything within the city’s limits. The Community Development Committee will discuss this more at their meeting on February 25th.

Acting Mayor Scanlon sent over six nominations for the Buffalo Water Board. The board was recently involved in a scandal related to misuse of federal American Rescue Plan funds, and the head of Buffalo Water—who was also head of the Buffalo Sewer Authority—left for another job. (To learn more about Buffalo’s water system and inequitable water shutoffs, check out PPG’s recent report.) Scanlon also appointed a new chief of police, Alphonso Wright, after the acting mayor’s office abruptly parted ways with Joseph Gramaglia last month.

The Administration and Finance Department asked permission to transfer $4 million between city accounts to pay settlements. The largest of these is for two men, Darryl Boyd and John Walker, who were unjustly imprisoned for decades. Niagara District representative David Rivera asked Acting Commissioner Raymour Nosworthy where the money for these settlements would come from in the budget. Nosworthy explained that the money would come from department budgets and some unspent money (i.e. for things like supplies). (More details about these numbers can be found in the Gap Report, the city’s quarterly statement on how close or far its actual expenditures and revenues are to what was budgeted.)

Even with these transfers, though, this year the city will overshoot its claims budget by $5.6 million, estimated Nosworthy. “Could we not drive carefully? Could we not break laws?” wondered Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope quietly in the background, as the council prepared to navigate a round of new claims.

These claims include $650,000 to a man who was seriously injured when an entire light post— rusted, busted, and uninspected—fell on him. A man who was riding his motorcycle was deliberately backed into by a police officer; he will receive $65,000. $30,000 will go to a man who was pulled over for tinted windows, then violently arrested and left at ECMC. The city will also pay $125,000 to a woman whose car was crashed into by police running a red light without slowing down.

Next week, the Claims Committee will hear about these cases. They will meet at 1:00pm on February 26th, but the Law Department will almost certainly ask to go straight into executive session to discuss sensitive and pending matters.

The council sent the Buffalo Public Schools redistricting plan to the Education Committee. The redistricting plan determines which kids go to what neighborhood schools. It will be discussed at 3:00pm on February 25th.

At 2:00pm on February 25th, the Community Development Committee, along with community activists, will discuss proposed legislation banning renewable offshore wind energy development. They will also hear about two council appointments, by President Pro Tempore Bollman and Majority Leader Halton-Pope, to the city’s arts council. Halton-Pope also submitted, and the council adopted, an appointment for a new city marriage officer: Byron W. Brown.