By: Maki Becker | April 8, 2022 The debate over bail reform has been one of the most contentious elements of Gov. Kathy Hochul's first budget negotiations as the state's top leader. Amid a jump in gun violence in cities from Buffalo to New York City, she sought to retool the landmark …
By: Sandra Tan | April 3, 2022 Community advocates are demanding that elected leaders refuse to approve any new Buffalo Bills stadium deal unless it's accompanied by a strong community benefits agreement to ensure that the Bills organization gives back to the people of Buffalo and Erie County.
By: Thomas O'Neil-White | March 30, 2022 Following Tuesday night’s car chase, during which four people, including three police officers, were shot, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia rebuked bail reforms, saying it allows dangerous people out of jail and back out on the …
By: Brianne Roesser | March 29, 2022 Community advocates are pushing for a return on investment from the new Bills stadium that will directly impact Buffalo. State and local leaders announced Monday that the new Bills stadium will go in Orchard Park across from the current one and cost about $1.4 …
By: Tom Puckett| February 3, 2022 When a deal on a new lease for the Buffalo Bills and new stadium is finally reached and announced, it will eventually make its way to the desks of Erie County and New York State lawmakers for review and approval. Without the details being yet known, some area …
By: Thomas O'Neil-White| February 2, 2022 A Community Benefits Agreement, or CBA, attached to a large-scale development project is an agreement that spells out what contributions could come back to the community impacted by the project. In Erie County, talk of a new football stadium for the Buffalo …
By: Brianne Roesser| February 2, 2022 A group of people in Buffalo are calling on lawmakers to include a community benefit agreement in the contract for the new Bills stadium. The new stadium will be funded by more than $1 billion in taxpayer money. Advocates with Voice Buffalo and the Partnership …
By: Geoff Kelly| January 27, 2022 Advocates of a community benefits agreement for proposed Bills stadium want initiatives to address poverty and promote diversity and good-paying jobs.
By: Matt Glynn | January 13, 2022 The city of Buffalo should make more-productive use of the vacant lots it owns, said Jeanette Koncikowski, executive director of Grassroots Gardens WNY. "While the city has long evaluated repurposing ideas for its 8,000-plus vacant lots, they continue to …
By: Deidre Williams | December 30, 2021 As Mayor Byron Brown readies for a fifth term, community leaders and organizations are preparing their own wish lists for what they hope to see him accomplish over the next four years. Concern for tenants tops some of the lists. The mayor needs to give …
Are you interested in a space for thoughtful conversation on issues of race in America? Do you want to learn more about activist, novelist, and poet James Baldwin with like-minded, open-hearted people? Join us for our reading and discussion program on James Baldwin’s America, gathering four …
By Matthew Spina | June 30, 2020 When police and federal agents raid residences, they don’t always get it right. Buffalo police in 2008 used a battering ram to force their way into a West Side apartment, and threatened a family of eight with firearms, one of …