Artvoice: Buffalo's #1 Newsweekly
Home Blogs Web FeaturesEvents Weekly FeaturesClassifiedsContact

Who Else Will Get Fired?

by Geoff Kelly - posted 11:54 am, June 24, 2008

Filed under: Byron Brown, City Hall

Here’s what I want to know:

Mayor Byron Brown said that he asked Rich Tobe to resign because the city’s economic development, permit and inspection services department was being reconfigured. Well, then, who else is getting fired? Are any city inspectors losing their jobs?

Brown said that Tobe had done a good job, but that he wanted some economic development measures to move more quickly than they had under Tobe.

Are other department heads also in danger of losing their jobs for not moving quickly enough? How about John Hannon, the city’s real estate chief? He moves like a three-toed sloth, and his inaction costs the city private investment dollars.

If he wants to prove that Tobe’s firing was not politically or personally motivated, Brown is going to have to clean house thoroughly.


  • Pomeroy

    “Brown is going to have to clean house thoroughly.” “Are other department heads also in danger of losing their jobs for not moving quickly enough?”

    If Brown wants to clean house thoroughly he should call Bill Buyers and the Mayor’s “impact” team, just as long as the work is done on city time and at taxpayers expense. And as for other department heads not moving quickly enough, Andy SanFillipo said on April 24 that he would wrap up his investigation of Bill Buyers’ 30 years of corruption in 2 weeks. Today makes 2 months, any slower and he’d be qualified to work for Citistat.

  • http://tbontb@yahoo.com ToBeOrNotToBe

    No doubt, Brown needs to streamline City Hall and eliminate ALL the patronage jobs. If the city would just hire professional staff and eliminate all the duplicate positions it may have enough money left over to actually staff the 3 or 4 departments left. All a city the size of Buffalo needs is 3 or 4 core departments under a professional city manager (who is insulated from politics and elected officials). Eliminate all the appointed comissioners, etc… . The only other place with so many comissioners in government is Githam City, and Batman had to try to clean that mess up. Brown should move Bufflo into the 20th century and get a city manager once and for all.

    PS: if the state downgrades either control board, all of the state officials should be impeached!

  • moe

    They fired Tobe because he won’t lie, or bend numbers for busy body micromanager Casey who really is mayor. Please, it’s obvious they canned a good guy, an honest buffalonian with buffalo at the center of his actions not money and power like casey. Its enough to make me think of moving. People like Tobe gave us credibility and hope, now its more of the same, lies and political agendas, its embarrassing