Ben Tsujimoto | January 17, 2025

A community think tank says that in 2025, it hopes to address quality of life concerns in Erie County, better rental housing conditions and ensure major development projects don’t leave out the surrounding community.

The Partnership for Public Good‘s annual Community Agenda presentation on Friday at SUNY Buffalo State University included leaders of nonprofit organizations, elected officials, higher-education representatives and community advocates. The PPG, led by Executive Director Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, meets at the beginning of each year to share the public policy efforts that unite its more than 370 partners.

Reflecting on past successes energized a crowd of about 150 at the university’s Alumni & Visitor Center. State Sen. April Baskin, a Democrat whose 63rd District includes most of the City of Buffalo, lauded the organization’s impact in her remarks, especially in helping to inspire the drive for a community benefits agreement attached to the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium in Orchard Park.
 
 “We’re holding the Bills accountable,” she said. “We want them to win the Super Bowl, but we want them to invest in our community.”

Speakers also praised Erie County legislators’ passage of a language access law, which requires translation services to be offered across county departments.

The group adopted 10 planks for its 2025 platform. Some of them included: restoring Frederick Law Olmsted’s Humboldt Parkway and Delaware Park by removing the Kensington and Scajaquada expressways that now cut through the park, ending what they deemed unfair suspensions in Buffalo Public Schools, adopting ranked-choice voting in the City of Buffalo, passing good-cause eviction protections for tenants, expanding access to drug treatment courts, fulfilling the city’s commitment to the arts and passing the Working Families Tax Credit.

Community responder teams

One major issue the group said it will address will be establishing neighborhood groups who can respond to “low risk” and nonviolent 911 calls, including calls involving people having mental health crises, without immediately involving the police. Similar programs exist in more than 100 American cities, and generally work to reduce racial disparities in health and policing, according to the PPG.

Alia Williams, a member of the Community Responders for Erie County Coalition, said teams would address mental health and substance abuse concerns, and also calls involving unhoused people.

The team would “respond to mental health calls, not police, who often do not have the proper training to de-escalate,” Williams said.

The Buffalo Bills’ Social Justice Committee in December awarded the coalition $40,000 in grant money for such a program.

Community benefit agreements

The $100 million in community benefits secured from the Buffalo Bills as part of the agreement to build a new stadium in Orchard Park should be an example for future projects, advocates at the meeting said. This CBA policy aims to guarantee the involvement of residents affected by a large-scale project, who could then negotiate benefits such as hiring a local workface, paying a livable wage and partnering with local organizations.
 
“This is more than a couple dollars to a block club or to one event,” said Taisha St. Jean Tard, an Erie County legislator. “Let’s really work on making sure we are seeing a benefit for years to come.”
 
Another state senator, Sean Ryan, said community benefit agreements need to be linked to any large project in Western New York that requires public money.

“Like ham and cheese, they should go together, said Sean Ryan, a Democrat who represents the 61st District and who recently announced his candidacy for mayor of Buffalo.

Proactive rental inspections

The Buffalo Common Council in 2020 adopted a Proactive Rental Inspections law to require inspections of any non-owner-occupied single or double unit before it could be rented out. According to Alex Fehrman, supervising attorney for the Center for Elder Law & Justice, the city has inspected about 5,000 of 36,000 eligible units. “That law has not been fully enforced since it was passed,” Fehrman said.
 
Meanwhile, Fehrman said, his office frequently represents residents in housing court on issues involving “lead paint, mold, vermin, lack of heat and hot water.” The effort was supported by Assembly member Jonathan D. Rivera, Common Council member Rasheed Wyatt and Ryan, who cited how effective a similar policy has been in Rochester to reduce the prevalence of lead paint.

“It’s common sense,” Wyatt said. “We have poor housing in the city. People are complaining because they are paying rent for something I wouldn’t give a dollar for. They are forced into that situation.”