Mayor Byron Brown

Yesterday morning, Visit Buffalo Niagara (f/k/a the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors’ Bureau) released its new branding idea for Buffalo. Buffalo For Real. According to news reports , this was “developed by a volunteer team of local advertising and marketing executives” and will promote the region’s “architecture, culture, museums and historical sites.” County Executive Chris Collins has pushed throughout his administration to wrest control of the CVB and install his own hand...Read Full Story

1. Mark Croce, a local developer and restaurateur, has teamed up with James Eagan to bid $700,000 for the Statler Tower in the wake of the IssaFail follies . $200,000 for the building, and $500,000 to bring its taxes up to date. Croce’s efforts may be successful because he owns parking and parking-ready lots nearby. 2. Mayor Byron Brown’s son is in trouble again – this time, for hilariously shoplifting $60 worth of crap from AJ Wright in North Buffalo. Everyone remembers Byron III’s early...Read Full Story

It was both predicted and predictable that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo would most likely tap an upstater – an upstater with executive experience – as his running mate. Some speculated that Buffalo mayor Byron Brown might have been on the short list, given his geography and experience. The mayor of New York’s second-largest city is, however, noticeably absent from this convention. Sources tell me that Brown stayed home as a sort of miniature hissy fit over the Cuomo snub...Read Full Story

Mayor Brown is a nice and personable guy. I’ve met him several times, and I like him. He clearly loves Buffalo, he exudes a no-nonsense downstate sensibility, and he also seems sincere in his desire to lift Buffalo up. He’s a good figurehead and excellent booster for the City of Buffalo. But his policies and their implementation have often been too little, too late, too poorly implemented. Some notable examples include his haphazard demolition “plan” , the showy, political implementation of...Read Full Story

Image via Wikipedia Byron Brown and Len Lenihan had a falling out in 2006 because Byron Brown insisted on hand-selecting Antoine Thompson to succeed him (pun intended) in the State Senate .  Lenihan refused, noting that neither Jimmy Griffin nor Tony Masiello had been given that opportunity when they shifted from the senate to become mayor, and that the interim replacement in the state senate would be the committee’s choice, and they chose then-councilman Marc Coppola. Coppola...Read Full Story