Update: Tobe’s Resignation
UPDATE: Here’s Tobe’s statement on his departure:
At the request of Mayor Byron W. Brown, today, I submitted my resignation as Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development Permit and Inspection Services.
Mayor Brown indicated to me on Friday June 20, 2008 that he will be announcing a reorganization of the City government in the near future and that my resignation will facilitate his plans.I am pleased that when I leave City government Buffalo will be more prosperous, better managed, and more optimistic than when I arrived two and a half years ago. We have seen record investment in both the public and private sectors, have acquired and are developing over 400 acres of former brownfields, and have faced and overcome many of the problems of the past that prevented Buffalo from moving forward. I am confident that the improvements in the City are continuing and will be permanent.
It has been an honor to have been associated with the many hard working employees of the City who strive each day to make Buffalo a better place and with the dedicated citizens of Buffalo who volunteer so much to help the City.
I will depart in two weeks and intend to conduct a smooth and professional transition. Deputy Commissioner James Comerford will serve as acting commissioner until Mayor Brown makes a determination about the permanent leadership of the Department.
My wife Susan and I will remain in Buffalo where I will seek new challenges that will allow me to continue working to improve Buffalo and the region.
The mayor still has not released a statement on Tobe’s resignation, which was promised for this afternoon.
Rich Tobe Resigns
At the request of Mayor Byron Brown, Rich Tobe is resigning his post as commissioner of Economic Development, Permits and Inspection Services. According to Brian Meyer at the Buffalo News, Brown asked Tobe to resign on Friday. His last day will be July 4—exactly two weeks notice.
Tobe has earned a reputation as a sharp administrator who did good work with a short staff and a monumental workload. It’s not clear when he began to run afoul of Brown and Deputy Mayor Steve Casey, but the first time I heard of a rift was during the city’s negotiations with the Seneca Gaming Commission over Fulton Street. Tobe had been a part of the city’s negotiating team, we were told, and then was booted off. For Tobe, it’s been downhill with Casey and Brown ever since. Casey, in particular, seemed to single out Tobe and his department for sharp criticism during CitiStat hearings.
Whatever one made of Tobe’s policies and his department generally, he was certainly the most responsive public servant in the Brown administration. He responded to email. His voicemail was set up (seriously, not everyone in City Hall bothers) and he returned phone calls, even to tell you he wasn’t authorized to respond to your questions. In a mayoral administration that keeps a tight lid on communications, Tobe frequently was the only one who would answer questions. Once I introduced him to a friend as “the only person in City Hall who’s allowed to speak with me,” and he responded, “What makes you think I’m allowed to?”
The mayor is supposed to issue a statement this afternoon. Brian Meyer has the story at the News.
June 20, 2008
Foul Rumor
Rumors of Mayor Byron Brown’s imminent resignation are apparently premature.
His denial that the rumors are true, of course, are front-page news.
Here at AV we heard these rumors earlier in the week but figured they were wishful thinking on the part of the rumormongers. Some of them said that an FBI investigation into BMHA would touch the mayor. Over at the Lefty Line, where Buffalo cops go to gripe and plot, a poster suggested that the purported investigation had to do with organized crime and money-laundering. Governor David Paterson, a Brown ally and fellow Queens native, would helicopter Brown out of the scandal and deposit him in a new, comfortable job in Albany.
The Lefty Line and Glenn Gramigna seem to have been the first to post the rumors, and their posts apparently prompted the mayor’s denial, which was delivered in writing at a press conference called yesterday for 4pm, with 17 minutes notice.
The denial, of course, sounds like a cork popping: Let flow the wild speculation.
May 8, 2008
Taking the “Public” Out of Public Hearing
Tuesday I ran down to City Hall to catch the 5:30pm public hearing on Mayor Byron Brown’s proposed 2008-2009 budget. This is not a particularly popular pastime, I know; usually only a half dozen or so of the “public” attend and address the Common Council, department heads, etc. to make known their concerns about the city’s spending habits.
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, peering 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.
May 5, 2008
FOILed Again: Mayor’s Impact Team, Day 7
It’s been seven business days since I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the City of Buffalo for all financial records related to the Mayor’s Impact Team since January 1, 2006. In that time…
- the chief of the Mayor’s Impact Team, the venerable political hack Bill Buyers, was caught by cameramen from Channel 7 with two of his crew working on his own home on city time, using city equipment (Day 1);
- Mayor Byron Brown suspended Buyers for 15 days without pay and his two crewmembers for five days without pay (Day 1);
- Assistant Corporation Counsel Cavette Chambers acknowledged receipt of my email FOIL request and promised to answer in 10 business days (Day 2);
- Councilmembers LoCurto, Kearns, and Fontana filed a resolution requesting that City Comptroller Andy Sanfilippo audit the Mayor’s Impact Team (Day 2);
- the Office of the Comptroller announced its intention to pursue an audit (Day 3).
Today, I asked Chambers et alia to shorten the timeline for fulfilling my request, arguing that the Comptroller’s intention to perform an audit suggests that the material I requested is being compiled for that purpose. I told Chambers that I expected to receive the requested information at the same time, if not before, the City Comptroller receives it. After all, I asked first, and the law requires that public records demanded under FOIL be furnished as quickly as possible.
Meantime, on Saturday morning I stopped by the Amherst Street VFW post where Buyers hosts a monthly breakfast, to see who would show up to support him (and, I guess to eat for free). There were maybe 50 or so cars in the parking lot, and Buyers stood by the back entrance glad-handing folks as they arrived.
I stayed long enough to see North District Councilmember Joe Golombek arrive.
May 1, 2008
Buffalo Budget Hearings
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has proposed a budget that cuts property tax rates by 4.8 percent and holds the line of garbage fees. If you want to know how he did it, you can read Artvoice in the coming weeks. Or you can find out for yourself—check out this schedule budget hearings.
April 28, 2008
FOILed Again: Mayor’s Impact Team Audit Requested
Delaware District Councilmember Mike LoCurto, South District Councilmember Mickey Kearns, and Lovejoy District Councilmember Rich Fontana have filed a resolution asking City Comptroller Andy SanFilippo to audit the Mayor’s Impact Team.
Last Monday I spoke with Tony Farina in the Comptroller’s office, who told me that he knew of no past audit of the Mayor’s Impact Team, and added that none was likely to be done without an external request.
Here’s that external request:
RESOLUTION
BY: MR. LoCURTO
COSPONSORS: MR. FONTANA, MR. KEARNSRE: Requesting an Audit of Mayor’s Impact Team
WHEREAS: three city workers with the Mayor’s Impact Team were recently suspended without pay pending an investigation for allegedly performing landscaping work during regular working hours Friday at the private property of one of the individuals; and
WHEREAS: these actions represent the misuse of City workers and City vehicles; and
WHEREAS: unfortunately, this is not the first time misuse of City vehicles by the Mayor’s Impact Team has been documented; and
WHEREAS: because of the involvement of many different departments, allocations to the Mayor’s Impact Team are not itemized in the City’s Annual Budget; and
WHEREAS: the actions of a select few should not damage the reputation and work ethic of the Mayor’s Impact Team and the good that it has been able to accomplish; and
WHEREAS: the misuse of taxpayer money breeds mistrust of and cynicism in government.
NOW, THEREFOR BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
The Common Council requests that the City Comptroller performs an immediate audit of the Mayor’s Impact Team’s operations and financial expenditures including equipment and cell phone use; and that given the gravity of the allegations, that this report be returned to this honorable body as soon as possible.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:
This matter be referred to the appropriate committee of the Common Council for further consideration.
___________________ ___________________ _____________________
Michael J. LoCurto Michael P. Kearns Richard A. Fontana
FOILed Again: Day 2
This is the quickest response to a FOIL request Artvoice has ever received from the City of Buffalo. Less than two business days after I requested by email that the city give me all records related to the budget and expenditures of the Mayor’s Impact Team since January 1, 2006, Assistant Corporation Counsel Cavette Chambers has acknowledged receipt of my request:
Mr. Kelly:
Pursuant to Public Officers Law section 89(3), this correspondence will serve as an acknowledgment of your Freedom of Information Law request.
Please be advised that your request has been forwarded to the department of Administration and Finance, Public Works Parks & Streets, and the director of the Quality of Life Programs for a response. Each respective department will conduct a diligent search of its records to determine whether it is in possession of the requested records. Wherein sufficient time is needed to locate, compile, and review the requested records, please allow ten (10) business days from the date of this correspondence for a determination regarding your request.
Should you have any questions regarding the status of your request, you may contact the following individuals:
Donna Estrich with the Dept of Administration and Finance, Charles Masi with the Department of Public Works Parks & Streets, and/or Thomas Smith with Quality of Life Programs.Sincerely,
Cavette A. Chambers
Assistant Corporation Counsel
City of Buffalo Department of Law
65 Niagara Square
1113 City Hall
Buffalo, New York 14202
Office: 716.851.4316
Fax: 716.851.4105
Email: cchambers@city-buffalo.com
So the wheels are turning, and the city now has to determine whether such records exist (which, if they don’t, would be a inexcusable), and, assuming they do, to compile them and send them to me (which, if that isn’t half an hour’s work, suggests some pretty poor bookkeeping methods).
The day after I FOILed these documents, of course, Bill Buyers, the head of the Mayor’s Impact Team was caught by TV crews with two city laborers working on his own house on city time. Mayor Byron Brown suspended Buyers for 15 days without pay and removed him as the team’s supervisor, and suspended his subordinates for five days without pay…and now people are beginning to roll out their Bill Buyers stories: that he’s the guy who got Anthony Capozzi arrested for a rape and murder that he didn’t commit but for which he served 22 years in jail; that Buyers last got in trouble when neighbors complained he dragged his dog on a leash hanging out his truck window; that he foots the bill for big breakfasts for 200 people once a month at the VFW post on Amherst Street; that he is protected by strong political ties.
Plus there’s the rumor that led me to file my FOIL in the first place, before Buyers got busted using the Mayor’s Impact Team to spring-clean his own front yard. More on that soon, I hope.
April 26, 2008
FOILed Again: Funny You Should Ask…
Day 1 of my FOIL watch was a bust: Friday flew by with nary a word from Peter Cutler, director of communications for Mayor Byron Brown. I filed a request with Cutler Thursday evening under New York’s Freedom of Information Law for all budget and expenditure records for the Mayor’s Impact Team since January 1, 2006. By law he’s got five business days just to acknowledge my email request, then a month to fulfill it or explain why he won’t.
Of course, Cutler must have had a busy day on Friday, what with TV crews taping Mayor’s Impact Team head Bill Buyers and two of his crew working in Buyers’ yard on city time, yielding a followup story in the Buffalo News. Who knew my request would be so timely?
Buyers and his two underlings received 15-day suspensions for the offense, because, according to Cutler, it was a first offense. I’m betting here that a careful audit of the Mayor’s Impact Team, which begins with Cutler acknowledging and fulfilling my FOIL request, will suggest it was not the first time the Mayor’s Impact Team used city time and city-purchased materials for private benefit.
Day 2 of my FOIL watch begins Monday morning.
April 25, 2008
FOILed Again: Day 1
A couple months ago, fed up with the City of Buffalo’s policy on sharing public documents, I wrote a piece about it. Basically the city’s policy is this: There is no such thing as a public document that can be shared with a citizen without that citizen filing a formal request under the state’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). The City of Buffalo, in fact, pretends that New York State law compels the city to require a formal FOIL request, even for something so innocuous as the minutes of a meeting that are normally posted online but, for some reason or another, have not been.
That’s nonsense, according to the state’s Committee on Open Government, as I wrote in my article. But the policy allows the city to control and delay the flow of information. In the case of the news media, the policy gives the administration time to anticipate potentially negative stories. The policy forces journalists to pursue information through back channels, which opens their sources to the repercussions that attend breaking the administration’s lockdown policy on sharing information.
The FOIL process comes with built-in delays: The recipient of a request has five business days to acknowledge receipt of your request, even in these modern times when most FOIL requests are filed by email. The recipient has 20 additional business days to provide the information you’ve requested or offer a convincing explanation why they can’t. The city often ignores even those fairly generous constraints.
Why am I rehashing all this today, besides that it’s a frustration that nags at me each and every morning?
Because yesterday afternoon at 5:29pm, I filed a FOIL request with Peter Cutler, Mayor Byron Brown’s director of communications, cutting out the middle men. (This is how it goes usually: You ask the person who might have a document if you can have it; he or she tells you to file a FOIL with Peter Cutler; Cutler forwards your request around and copies in Assistant Corporation Counsel Cavette Chambers; they mull it over; when and if they respond, Chambers forwards the appropriate documents and explanations to you.) The requests asks for all budgeting and expenditure documents related to the Mayor’s Impact Team since January 1, 2006.
I thought that, if only for my own amusement, I’d track the city’s response time. So today is Day 1.
You can read the text of my FOIL request to Peter Cutler after the jump…
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