Written on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 9:11am by Alan Bedenko | 23 Comments

You Think You've Seen This Town Clear Through

In follow-up to the previous post, wherein I describe the time-wastefulness of the City Council in condemning a private citizen, I present to you this tidbit from Artvoice’s Geoff Kelly.

You see, Mr. Kelly wanted to attend a public hearing yesterday afternoon at City Hall in the City of Buffalo, New York, United States of America. One supposes, given such a moniker, and given such an address, that accommodations would be made for the public to actually attend that hearing.

But hold on – this is the Buffalo of Steve Casey, Byron Brown, and other Pigeonistas – people for whom politics is about power and silence. People who pander to voters during election cycles and then shut them out once power is attained.

What happened? The public hearing for the 2008-2009 proposed budget for the City of Buffalo, which taxpayers were ostensibly invited to attend, and where they were supposedly permitted to speak, took place yesterday at City Hall at 5:30 pm. How progressive that the hearing was held after 5:00 pm, so that people could attend after work.

Problem is – City Hall was locked.

I arrived at 5:40 and found every door to City Hall locked. Seriously. This sucks, I thought. Then: But at least its’s fodder for a column.

So I hung around, pering in the door, ringing the bell that surely does not work, waiting for someone to leave. At about 5:45pm I was joined by a news crew from Channel 4. We tried calling people we knew inside, but everyone was gone for the day — or in Council Chambers, attending the “public” hearing that the public was unable to attend, because all the doors were locked.

At about 5:50pm, Inspections, Permits and Economic Development Commissioner Rich Tobe exited the building but let the door close behind him before I could shout out to hold it open. “Sorry, I can’t get back in now,” he said. I told him I was trying to attend a public hearing up in Council Chambers. He agreed that locking the doors on the evening of such a hearing was curious. But not, he thought, unusual.

Nor did Deputy Mayor Steve Casey seem to consider it strange that the doors were locked, as the Channel 4 team and I raced to the elevators at 6pm, when we finally slipped in the door behind an exiting bureaucrat. “Hurry up,” he said, “it’s just about over.”

Right he was: In the absence of any “public” in the public hearing, the Council had rolled two hearings into one and wrapped the whole thing up by 6:10pm. Exactly one person had signed up to speak. Everyone in Council Chambers was on the public payroll.

Afterward, Delaware District Councilmember Mike LoCurto summed up the hearing for me: a whole lot of nothing. He too was unsurprised to learn the doors had been locked. They had been locked during the previous day’s public hearing as well, he said.

Democracy is dying in Buffalo. It’s up to the people to fight to get it back.

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23 Comments

  1. Paul Jonson says:
    May 9, 2008 at 9:56 am

    Well done Byron, well done.

  2. hank says:
    May 9, 2008 at 10:06 am

    Good thing Kevin Helfer didn’t get elected Mayor. He “Might have invited Bush to town”, reasoning of a BRO commentor to vote for Byron Brown.

    Such is the result of a whopping 30% turnout at the polls,and the statement by the Buffalo Snooze that “It’s time Buffalo had a Black Mayor”.

    For those of you who didn’t support or vote for Byron Brown, good on ya.

    For those of you who did–Are you enjoying yourself? Feel good about your vote now? Look in the mirror and say to the image found there “Yes, I am a blithering fool”.

    I’ll be asking my friend Councilman Golombek why the public was locked out of a public hearing–did Council not notice the lack of ANYONE wanting to speak? Like they were gonna listen anyway?

  3. Mike says:
    May 9, 2008 at 10:08 am

    The only time Vince locked the doors of city hall in Niagara Falls was when they were having parties.

  4. Derek J. Punaro says:
    May 9, 2008 at 10:44 am

    Also of note in Geoff Kelly’s article was the the complete lack of any other “public” other than himself and a Channel 4 news crew trying to get in. If the doors are locked and nobody’s trying to get in, does it matter?

  5. shopitall says:
    May 9, 2008 at 11:36 am

    There is NO SHAME……….they get a paycheck of our tax dollars each week to boot; and they keep getting RE-ELECTED!

    Unbelievable…………..

  6. Chaz says:
    May 9, 2008 at 11:52 am

    It is bad for democracy when city hall’s doors are locked for a budget hearing but ok for democracy when the votes of Democrats in Michigan and Florida fail to count for anything in terms of choosing their party’s nominee to run for president.

  7. Mike says:
    May 9, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    I attended a public hearing a few weeks ago. As I was leaving, I happened to share the elevator with a city official. I expressed my concern that there didnt seem to be that many people there to which the city official answered that its intentional so that only limited numbers of the public can attend and meetings dont “go until midnight.”

  8. Chris Smith says:
    May 9, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    Its the same way for evening school board meetings. I’ve attempted to attend a couple only to be confronted by locked doors.

  9. Haterade says:
    May 9, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    Probably due to some LOONION rules. I think I’m gonna move 500 miles away and negatively blog about WNY on a daily basis. I think I need to get a life ….

  10. hank says:
    May 9, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Stop thinking Prison Guard. You do need to get a life.

    Or perhaps you can spin this into a positive?

    Who ya watchin’ today John? The inmates convicted of selling dope or the guards selling dope to the inmates?

  11. Mike says:
    May 9, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    Haterade, what do you expect from toothless, trailer park trash.

  12. Lawyers are expensive says:
    May 9, 2008 at 2:28 pm

    It’s a shame that one needs to hire an attorney to get the attention of the people who represent you. Otherwise they use parlimentary tactics and other tricks (locked doors, limited time, no rebuttal) to silence their critics.
    Or certain board members will belittle you so that you’re silenced.

    Nevertheless, you have to get in their faces en mass or else they will marginalize you!

  13. hank says:
    May 9, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    MIkey–I’ve got all my teeth, and I don’t live in a trailer.
    Whatsamatter, suddenly get an image of your mother?

  14. Haterade says:
    May 9, 2008 at 6:11 pm

    Why do you think I was referring to you, Hankie ? Hit a little close to home ?

    Check back often for your daily dose of e-fighting tubby ! You are a one-trick pony – a blubbery mound of goo trying his tired cyber bully routine from some little hicktown in NC. You probably go over to redstate and brag to the other bloated wannabe’s about how you just whooped up on some “libbies” ! YEEEE HAAAAW, fat boy ! I know, I know … you went to St Joes with the Mazur’s – very impressive. You debated Vietnam with Ostrowski … Dave Swarts was your teacher. You are a real Riverside tough-guy. You claim to have been the “baddest white boy” in some lame county lock-up in Virginia … Your little homespun tales (complete with ya’lls and the like) are really folksy and endearing. Now go rearrange the air fresheners and wiper blades …..

  15. Becky says:
    May 9, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    Can’t you guys exchange email addresses or something so the comments can stay remotely on subject?

  16. Haterade says:
    May 9, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    Sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities Becky … how about you just scroll on by ? Would that be too much to ask ? I certainly don’t read all of your posts … and you could do the same. Let BP handle his site … you handle yours ….

  17. Becky says:
    May 9, 2008 at 7:55 pm

    I guess I just needed a reminder as to why I don’t read the comments here very much any more.

    Take your own advice and scroll on by, and I’ll just click out and stay out. Works for me.

    Meanwhile, the official answer for locking the doors to the public is…Watch it on public access?

  18. TseTse says:
    May 9, 2008 at 9:40 pm

    With all this crap going on and the Buffalo News does a front page article on Hannah Montana. Go figure.

  19. James Z from KT says:
    May 14, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    Naive black Muslim B Hussein Obama said he visted all 57 states. He must be thinking about Heinz ketchup.

    The late night TV comedians wouldn’t tell any jokes about Obama, oh no. That would be racists, but jokes about McCains age and Hillary being a shrewd witch are okay with them.

    You brought all these problems onto yourselves.

    Take some personal responsibility for your OWN actions.

    You bought these big fat gas guzzling SUV’s and trucks.

    You took out these new fangled sub primes loans that you couldn’t afford.

    You elected that loser Clinton who let Osama bin Laden get away in the 90s after attacking American embassies in Africa, Saudi Arabia and the USS Cole. Bin Laden declared war on the United States in 1998.

    You let your liberal politicians create ethanol which uses food/corn to fuel and now we suffer higher prices for all of our food.

    YOU DID IT. YOU scumbag liberals.

  20. James Z from KAISERTOWN says:
    May 14, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    Are you kidding me. Do you see all the fat minorities and white trash walking around?

    I’m tired of paying for lazy, ignorant people who do NOTHING an abuse welfare and food stamps for generation after generation.

    The liberal Democrats have enslaved blacks with promises of FREE money, FREE MEDICAL CARE and FREE FOOD for their votes and it’s been like that since the 60s.

    People have NO incentive to work hard or work at all if they’re getting everything paid for by the government.

    They don’t want to work or contribute to our society in any way.

    I’m sick of seeing Shaniqua load up her car with steak and formula for her ten illegitimate kids by 6 babies daddies that we have to pay for.

    The kids dad just moves right along to another ho and gets them prengant and leaves them with another kid that WE have to pay for and NO responsibilty of his own.

    Gang bangers get stot or stabbed. They get a free ambulance ride and free medical care at ECMC paid for by YOU, the working men and women of this country.

    This liberal socialist society has to be stopped. Obama is the most liberal and socialist politican and he will bankrupt this country.

    The ignorance by the liberal Americans in this country is appalling.

  21. James Z from KAISERTOWN says:
    May 14, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    Better yet, go to my blog at http://blog.myspace.com/navy_jim

    THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!

  22. George Winfield says:
    May 14, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    Geoff Kelly is selectively outraged when it comes to black people. He picks on Mayor Brown for insignificant things then hypes it up in his rag as some kind of important event that he was ignored. I am black and have told him of racist/discriminatory hiring practices at Forest Lawn Cemetery,which I would testify to in court, and he completely ignores the story to stalk and harass Mayor Brown instead. Karma, Mr. Kelly, Karma

 

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