| Date: | December 15, 2023 |
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by Caitlin Crowell
Each week, PPG summarizes important takeaways from the major Buffalo Common Council meetings. We also include information from council meetings related to our Community Agenda items. If you want to learn more about how the council meetings work and how you can get involved, check out our guide.
For this summary, we will report on the Caucus and Regular meetings. We will also include a special summary of the city’s Ethics Board meeting, though this board is not associated with the council. ‘‘Council Member’ is abbreviated as CM; ‘Council President’ as CP; and ‘Majority Leader’ as ML.
In the Caucus meeting, we learned about the city’s tree pruning program. A representative from the Department of Public Works, which contains the Parks Department and the Bureau of Forestry, said that the city spends approximately $400,000 per year on tree pruning.
During their Regular meeting, the council moved to accept a $1 million donation to be spent on improving Roosevelt Park, in the Kensington-Bailey neighborhood. When Buffalo is offered philanthropic gifts, like this one, the city must choose whether to accept them.
The council is now considering resolutions based on the Affordable Housing Task Force report. There are four proposals: one to prevent discrimination based on the source of a renter’s income; one to make the ownership of LLCs (“limited liability companies”) more transparent; one to fund and complete a thorough housing vacancy study; and one to conduct proactive rental inspections. CP Pridgen, the sponsor, asked for another member to step up as co-sponsor so that even after he retires, the resolutions will remain on the council’s docket. CM Wyatt said that he would like to co-sponsor them.
The council also adopted a resolution to support the passage of two bills (A3907 and S4477) that would limit the sale of menthol tobacco products. These bills are working their way through the New York State Legislature. On December 19th, The Public Good radio show and podcast will feature Stan Martin, who is championing this issue in Buffalo.
The Ethics Board met to finalize their decision about a complaint from over 100 residents about the mayor’s use of police, some in official clothes, in a 2021 campaign ad. After going into executive session with Corporation Council Carin Gordon, the Board returned and read out a public response. They found “insufficient evidence” of misconduct but went on to admonish all city workers and policy makers to avoid the appearance of conflict and to maintain high ethical standards.
The next Ethics Board meeting will be on January 8th, 2024.