Welcome to our weekly Buffalo Common Council update! Here, we summarize the most interesting information from Buffalo Common Council meetings, including items related to our Community Agenda. This week, the Common Council held four meetings, but our attention will focus on the Community Development Meeting and the Legislation Meeting. The Community Development Committee focuses on matters pertaining to work or improvement using revenue from another government unit. The Legislation Committee examines all matters relating to local laws, ordinances, and general legislation, except for civil service matters.

During the Community Development Meeting, the Council discussed the Racial Equity Task Force potentially placing a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination site at the Neighborhood Health Center connected to the Northwest Buffalo Community Center. Common Council requested the vaccination site because 14207 is in the top three zip codes for the number of positive COVID cases in Buffalo, and in the top four for the highest percentage of cases. However, it was not included in the Vaccine Equity Task Force early vaccination program.

Members of California-based cannabis company and marketplace, Eaze, presented to the Council on their efforts to support legalizing adult-use cannabis in New York State, and their intent to enter the cannabis delivery market at the time of legalization. Eaze reps spoke about the cannabis delivery process and the legal compliance that comes with it. They also discussed age and identity verification, vehicle compliance, tracking, tracing, and multiple child-resistant packaging levels – in addition to addressing impacts from the War on Drugs in the most affected communities. Eaze provides a business accelerator for underrepresented cannabis founders, preferred payment options, and partnerships to help clear 250,000 low-level offenses.

At least two marijuana legalization bills are pending in the New York State Senate, including the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), a legislative bill PPG supports in partnership with the Drug Policy Alliance. Multiple news sources and political leaders of the two largest political parties in the state expect marijuana legalization to occur in New York before the end of the 2021 legislative calendar.

Council Member Wyatt penned a letter to Brendan Mehaffy, the Director of the Office of Strategic Planning, stating he has received numerous "irate phone calls from residents" regarding a proposed Compass House for Housing Homeless Youth in his district at 308 Highgate. The letter states the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA) failed to include both the community and the Common Council in planning the site. Council Member Wyatt asked the Department of Permits and Inspections to investigate the property and have all work stopped "until there is immediate attention to address the necessary procedures and requirements accordingly."

During the Legislation Meeting, the Council officially informed the public of a pending lawsuit against the City of Buffalo. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the City's right to operate the school speed zone cameras near the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood Children's Academy on Bailey Avenue. Common Council did not enter an executive session to discuss the lawsuit against the city.

The Council declined to discuss the proposed "Right-to-Know" law in this meeting. The "Right-to-Know" law requires police to provide reasons for their encounters with residents and a written record of interactions with the police in situations that do not result in arrest summons. No residents appeared to speak on behalf of the law, even though at least one requested to speak. I noticed that the Common Council, during this same meeting, discussed and moved forward a separate unrelated item where a resident speaker was not present. The Council seems to have the option to discuss an item without a scheduled speaker present, but again did not choose to do so on the "Right-to-Know" law.

I was happy to see Madeleine Thompson, former PPG Social Work Intern, and current Community Support Specialist and Outreach Coordinator for the New York State Department of Health, present information to the Common Council on the NYS COVID-19 Contact Tracing Initiative.  Madeleine and her colleague, Schuyler Banks, explained what COVID-19 is, what the source is, how it spreads, what the symptoms are, and the risk factors for COVID-19. They spoke about COVID-19 spread prevention and community mitigation before arriving at their central point, which is contact tracing. Contact tracing involves three main steps: letting people know they may have been exposed to COVID-19, helping those people get tested, and asking people to self-isolate or self-quarantine – all in the interest of slowing COVID-19 spread. The outreach coordinators ended the presentation by sharing where to find information on COVID-19 included below:

• Local Health Department Contact Information: https://www.health.ny.gov/contact/contact_information/
• NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) COVID-19 Hotline: 1-888-364-3065
• NYS Government "Ask Us a Question" about COVID-19: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/form/ask-us-a-question
• NYS Coronavirus Website: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/home
• NYSDOH vaccine updates, eligibility, and general information: https://covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/

Need more than just a summary? Contact us at info@ppgbuffalo.org, or find full meeting information and schedules here: http://buffalony.iqm2.com/Citizens/Default.aspx