Kaisertown Community Meeting

January 7, 2025

 

Opening with the pledge - led by John Poniewierski

 

Introduction of Rich Fontana; moderator; welcomed community to the meeting

 

Introduction of guest speakers: Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, Councilman Bryan Bollman, Mayor Chris Scanlon, Assemblyman Par Burke’s representatives, Community Policing Coordinator Lieutenant Jennifer Velez, Community Police Officer Lindsey Zgoda, District Attorney Michael Keene, A-district Lieutenant Andy Shay

 

Police commissioner Gramaglia: Thankful for participation and people talking about driving down crime and wants to hear what people have to say. He addressed the broken windows and stated that a person has been arrested for the involvement of 5 different cases of breaking windows, but investigation is ongoing for further breakage of other windows. Before he was located, he broke another window, and he was able to be caught and charged. He talked about quality-of-life crimes. He stated we need you to call when something is happening. He talked about 311 and explained how that works. He talked about how they are a data driven department and keep an eye on hotspots. It is a preventative measure that has worked well in the last few years. 911 is for crimes in progress, 311 may take a day or two to get to the department.

 

Councilmember Bryan Bollman: He is trying to get funding for Clinton Street. He is frustrated with window breakage, and it is not acceptable. Additional patrols were added a few weeks before Christmas Eve. He reiterated about see something say something. There is an ongoing investigation, and something cannot be spoken about without jeopardizing the case. There are 3 opportunities to help business owners; federal, state and city funds to help affected businesses. Restitution should be demanded by criminals.

 

Commissioner: They are limited in what can be discussed with residents as it is an ongoing investigation.

 

Elizabeth (craft shop owner): Had the shop open by appt and it costs too much to keep it open more. After the first window was broken on the 21st, she made a list of other business owners. Sept of 2024 was when the first window was broken and the business owner did not press charges as he was afraid of repercussions. He provided a video of the incident to the police department. The second was December 8, 11, 12, 15, 18 of 2024. At that point it was on Abbott street. The business owner there identified the individual responsible. Gave the police his name, his address and video tape. After that another incident on the 18, 19, 20, two on the 21st, 22, 23, 24, and 25th. How did this happen?

 

The BPD put out a press release on the 27th. The person was arrested and released twice and was not rearrested until the 26th of December. She is unsure of the time and date. Why is this happening and she was told it is bail reform and goes on to explain it. Unless somebody gets hurt the court lets them go. She called the DA. Why is there no communication between police officers, detectives and DA or is bail reform the scapegoat for it all?  All keeps getting blamed on the courts. She has been thrown out of the police station over this. She was told she needed to vote differently.   The community shouted praise and clapped.

 

Moderator: How many times was the suspect arrested? There will be follow-up with future meetings.  There is a district meeting every month and this will be worked on.

 

Commissioner: trying to find out what crimes have not been reported.  They want to make sure all are reported. Having video alone is not enough to make an arrest. There has to be positive ID and witnesses. The police must have probable cause. If someone does not want to prosecute, he cannot press charges. The individual was arrested on the 26th of November & released on an appearance ticket per state law. He was arrested for a non-qualifying event and he has to be released. He was given a court date of December 27th. 5 cases are being charged to him. He is now held and certain factors need to be made to be held with bail. He assured us that there was a hearing and  is being held. It does not always go as fast as they want but certain things have to fall into place before they can be arrested. They want to make sure they can make a proper case and not have it fall apart because of a technicality. He is frustrated with bail reform. Not all people are put into consideration for this. It takes repeat offenders into account. Since he was a repeat offender he could ask for bail. There are certain offences that the suspect can not be held overnight. Explanation of Bail Reform and the negative aspects of it

 

Elizabeth:  Are you telling me that bail reform doesn’t take into account repeat offenders?

 

District Attorney: It’s complicated. It does take repeat offenders into account. When he was arrested on the 25 - he was arraigned the next day and because of the priors (november incident) we could ask the judge for bail. It’s called the harm-harm analysis. Explained the analysis. There are certain offenses that the police can not hold someone over night and they have to issue desk appearance tickets.

 

Cindy Lawson:  How do we get this changed?

 

District Attorney:: Talk to councilmen, assemblymen, and even the governor's office. There are a few who are sensitive to our needs. There has been a lot of good language by the governor. Everytime they pass laws it has unintended consequences. Legislative issue that needs to be corrected. It has been discussed and amended several times

 

Councilman: It was bought under the guise of wrongfully incarcerating people. I did not vote for bail reform. He has seen the negative impacts on the communities.

 

2: Laura from Gorski street: Every time she calls for help the response time is one and a half to 2 hours. Why is the response time so high? She says it was about 5-6 PM when her incident occurred. The incident was happening when she called 911. The individuals were gone when the policy arrived.

 

Commissioner everything is prioritized. 1-7 If something comes in at a higher priority it bumps the lower priority things down the list of importance. Also depends on the time of day and time of year.

 

2: It has gotten to the point where why call,  nobody will come anyway.

 

Commissioner: She is assured someone will come and encourages them to call the district chief. It will prompt an investigation.

2: there was a knife involved too….

C: we can talk afterward

2: they are squatting at 50 Gorski and want that resolved.  The owner died there. The squatters have destroyed the place. 

C: Does an eviction need to take place? They can't just do something because someone wants them to but have to follow the law as people have rights too. Process was explained. She is assured things are being put into place and yet laws are being followed. Explained how they are trying to get help for the unhoused. They have removed some encampments. They go in with homeless outreach advocates, let them know they will be back tomorrow to remove them, and give them services that they can use. 

2: wants to curfew law

C: would be nice but not enforceable. There has to be a balance. Monthly district chief meetings were discussed.

Police Chief:  Meetings are on the 3rd Friday of each month. They are at 10AM. Council numbers is 716-851-5151.

3:(Krakow resident) His wife (a retired police officer) was attacked on Palm Sunday and it took 11 phone calls to 911 to get someone there. She was attacked by a 14 year old and taken to the ground. They were advised not to move her off the road. It took four months to get the girl arrested. Why aren't there cameras? Or relocate it. The camera is broken. He is concerned about the lack of cameras.  A camera needs to be located covering both community centers.

 

Councilman: There is a state grant. He has made the request for the camera to be moved.

 

Police Commissioner: Cameras can not be put wherever they want they have to be in certain places. There needs to be proper coverage - is there a tree in the way? There are rules for where they have to go. They want to make sure they get the best use of the cameras. There was an approved State technology grant of 6.77 million dollars. There have been a series of funds that are replacing older and broken ones with quad cameras. Advised people to make sure their personal cameras are set to save video for the most time so it is not saved over if needed. Register your camera with Buffalo Safecam (https://www.bpdny.org/162/Register-Now).  Entered into a contract = real time crime center platform - more info to follow.  How cameras are used. Should start at the beginning of March with training..   

 

Rich:  Reminder to not ask specifics but things that affect the whole community.

 

Chris Scanlon: thankful for turnout. Assurance that things are being addressed. They are talking about walking patrols for officers to be visible to the community. They want to make the first meetings positive.

 

Resident 5: wanted to thank people for coming as it really helps. Everybody shows up because they are proud residence of Kaisertown. The negative brought everyone together. They want to make sure because they are a smaller community did it take longer?

 

Resident 6: 1.  We need to hold the landlords accountable for who they rent to.

2. Houghton Park needs to be cleaned up. Residents are throwing their garbage into the park's garbage cans.

3. Also feels bad for all the abandoned cats.

4. People not picking up dog feces is a problem.

 

Mayor Scanlon: talking about the park needs to be respected. Discussed about parks getting cameras. Talked about help being received for those unhoused behind the park and how park being renovated will help garner respect for the park.

Councilman Bollman:  There is $50,000 for cameras for the park out of the district funds last year. There will be 4 cameras on the new shelterhouse and 16 cameras in all when it’s all done. Master plan $1.8 million has been granted for Houghton park- and reconstruction of the pool & splash pad ($7 million) and a new Shelter house. There will also be someone cleaning the park regularly. He has been working with the homeless and the mental illness department.  

 

Connie Miller: (WIllett St) Are there laws about city asking about a business plan and what is going in the old dioceses buildings once sold.

 

Bollman.: They want to landmark the property to be certain of what the dicesses. Is being made into. All other things would need to come before the council before building. There is a deed restriction on it. It would have to go through the planning and zoning board for anything but what it is supposed to be for.

 

Connie: abandoned house on WIllett: She would like to know what can be done to prevent squatters. When squatters were approached the neighbor was told they could do what they wanted to do.

 

Bollman: He thinks that it is a former block club member that died.  Issues with the ownership going forward. They had it cleared up by the impact team.  Call 311 and he is going to get a clean and seal. It can be addressed.

 

Zgoda: Stated that she has spoken with the owner’s son and he is going there next week and will chase them out if possible.

 

Kevin Coyne (building inspector):  Back to the sale of the catholic church property.  Properties come with restrictions, but it is a private sale. The new owner is precluded in doing a lot of things with the property. Unless it is a permitted use within our code, they will have to go through the zoning board or planning board, so you would have an opportunity to come to those meetings and give feedback.

 

20: concerned about 311. as things are not being taken care of. A neighbor's house is not being taken care of. There are rats causing issues.  Contacted the landlord but he owns many houses and isn’t doing anything about it.  Now the house burned down; contacted 311 and they said it’s the landlord’s responsible

 

(unknown) nothing being done about it. The landlord is not doing his part. He is trying to sell it. He is responsible

 

Zgoda/20: Back and forth about the landlord Matt Tain. They know he is a problem. They are having the housing inspectors get involved assessing fines.

 

Jess Warren there is a discussion regarding tax in place for slum lords and that properties can not just sit and rot and get run over by squatters and other things.

 

Scanlon: There is a plan being rolled out that we will hear about in a few weeks about a vacant property piece & a vacant building piece. Where you have to have a plan in place with the City of Buffalo and how you are going to address that property or there are going to be fees associated with that property so you can’t just sit and speculate and let these properties be a blight to the community creating an unsafe  situations, people squatting, fires. Hopefully, it will hold the property owners accountable.

 

 

Ended with thank yous and clapping.