Quality of Life

lowering taxes

Property tax rate reduction since 2006:

What does this mean for the average taxpayer?

A resident who bought a home for $100,000 in 2005, would have paid $2,095 a year in property taxes
A resident buying a $100,000 home today will pay $1,845 in property taxes, a reduction of $250

What does this mean for investors in our City?

An investor in our City would have paid $18,705 in property taxes to move or expand their business with the purchase of a $500,000 property
Today, an investor seeking to move or expand their business in our City with the purchase of a $500,000 property will pay $16,030 in property taxes, or $2,675 less

Mayor Brown’s Zero Tolerance anti-crime effort has:

Installed 67 state-of-the-art surveillance cameras in high crime areas and important commercial districts with an additional 53 set to debut this summer
Reinstitution of the Cold Case Squad
100% increase of arson arrests since 2005 (63 arrests)
24% decline in arson since 2005 (412 arsons in 2005 versus 313 arsons-to-date in 2008)
Created the new position of Chief of School Safety and Security in the Buffalo Police Department to increase safety and security in the Buffalo Public Schools
Launched the Mobile Response Unit, a specialized police unit designed to target and eliminate areas of high crime, illegal guns, gang activity and drug trafficking throughout Buffalo

Creative solutions to the City’s housing challenges

“5 in 5” plan targets to demolish 5,000 vacant and dilapidated structures and rehabilitate 500 units within five years
Since 2006, over 2,500 vacant, dilapidated properties have been demolished or have been scheduled for demolition during 2009
Began working with faith-based groups and community-based organizations to landscape vacant lots in an effort to “green” residential neighborhoods
Overhauled the Division of Real Estate to ease the process for purchasing property owned by the City of Buffalo
Instituted a policy that recommends not-for-profit entities like People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH), Inc. Buffalo be granted “redeveloper” status for vacant structures that can restored to productive reuse

Comprehensive targeting of blight

The City of Buffalo's Save Our Streets Task Force was named to American City & County® magazine’s list of the 2007 “America’s Crown Communities”
According to American City & County Magazine®, Buffalo was “…recognized for its Save Our Streets Campaign to eliminate crime, vacant buildings and drug houses while expanding human services”
Last year, the Save Our Streets Clean Sweep Task Force conducted 19 Clean Sweeps, going into each City Council district to address blight and quality of life issues:
35 drug houses were identified and shut down,
11 homes were identified for demolition,
424 homes were baited for rodents,
174 tons of debris were removed,
225 smoke detectors were given to residents who did not have them,
557 code violations were discovered and addressed

Enriching our youth

Since taking office, over 7,500 city youth (ages of 14-24) have gained summer employment through Mayor Brown’s Summer Youth Employment Program

Since the Summer Reading Challenge was established in 2001 by Mayor Brown (while he was serving in the New York State Senate), there have been over 4,000 student completions and 23,500 books read

Reinvesting in our neighborhoods

In 2008, the $7.5 million Sycamore Village, a pedestrian friendly, park-like community that includes 24 new homes, comprised of 20 market rate homes and 4 low to moderate-income units within a mile of downtown Buffalo
In 2008, a $7.2 million Hickory Woods Settlement Agreement was achieved that ended four lawsuits against the City
$2.3 million infrastructure improvements in South Park commercial district
Revitalization of Jefferson Avenue anchored by the Beverley A. Gray Business Incubator
$1.3 million infrastructure improvement to the Seneca Street Business District