August 23, 2002
Anthony Masiello
August 22,2002, press conference on Council resizing
(annotated version)
Anthony Masiello
August 22,2002, press conference on Council resizing
(annotated version)
WNED-AM interrupted its usual programming on August 22 to broadcast live Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello's brief press conference at 10:30 a.m. WNED-AM also broadcast part of the mayor's Q&A with the press following his prepared statement. What follows is a n annotated transcription of that broadcast. Click here for the text with no interference from your editor.)
Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
The debate on reapportionment has lasted well over a year and this is the only plan—local law number eight—that has been passed by the Council and is before me today.
During this debate many people have viewed this issue through different lenses: race, economics, population, politics and personality. I respect the opinions that I have heard and offer my sincere appreciation to all those who have expressed themselves during these last several months.
My decision to sign this local law has been a very difficult and gut-wrenching decision, but one that I think has to be made in the best interests of the city's long-term viability. Everything we have done this past year—personnel reductions, consolidations, Council downsizing,
[Wishful thinking. There hasn't been any Council downsizing. Masiello hopes the Council will be downsized, but that happens only if the voters vote for it in November.]
reducing our spending by $30 million—all of the really tough stuff, the things that had to be done in the city's best interests.
[That's a sentence fragment; it starts, but it doesn't finish. It mentions things, but never gets to the point. And he hasn't done all the "really tough stuff." He hasn't, for example, stopped giving millions of the city's dollars to developer pals building uneeded office space and condos for the rich, dollars that could have kept a fair number of cops and firefighters on the job.]
I believe that this is a pivotal decision and moment in our city's existence.
We are sending a message loud and clear
[To whom?]
that we mean business, that we're going to match up the size of our government with the size of our population, the size of our tax base and the size of our revenues.
[How does cutting $300,000—which is the total difference between this plan and the plan produced by the commission established by Mayor Masiello and the Common Council—and not cutting back at all on the developer-pal subsidies, send that "message loud and clear?"]
But, ladies and gentlemen, this is not just Buffalo, New York. Other cities, school districts including our own, not-for-profits, corporate America, are all adjusting to the reality of the fiscal times.
[And are they removing all the at-large seats in their city government?]
Yes, change is very difficult for all of us to accept. Yes, this decision has been difficult on me and will be difficult on others. But we all have to work together as a we for the best interests of future generations of our city.
I stand ready to answer any questions that you may have.
Q: Would you support any other nine-member plan?
A: This is the only plan that's before me today. Matter of fact, I think this is the only plan in a generation that has been before the mayor. But let me say this. The hallmark of my administration has always been one to examine options, to listen to people. If the Common Council comes back with a different plan, I have to consider it on the merits. But the only plan I have before me today is this nine-district plan and this is the plan that I have signed. And if the Council, through their own infinite wisdom and dialog come up with a different plan, then obviously, as I have in the past, I will consider that option.
Q: Do you have any indications that the Council is discussing any alternative plans?
A: I do not know that. I don't believe that's the case. But that could happen or it may not happen.
Q: ...This morning some critics of this plan were saying that this is the death knell for race relations in Buffalo, that it will be a permanent blemish on those relations. Can you comment on that?
A: My entire career as a public servant is one that I think I have represented the diverse constituencies of this city and I have represented them well. I have represented them with their best interests. And I'm going to continue to do that. If I thought, Bryan, for a second, that this plan was race-based, I would not sign it.
[Masiello is not answering the question.The questioner said that some people said the plan would have serious consequences for race relations in Buffalo and therefore would harm the city's reputation. Masiello responds by saying he's always represented everybody well. He never says anything about the effect of the plan. But he does go on to tell a few lies:]
However, if you look at the nine-district plan, four of those districts are minority, four of those districts are majority, and one district is a swing district.
[That so-called "swing district" won't be a swing district for a decade. As we pointed out in our report of the public hearing (http://buffaloreport.com/020820waterfront.html), the population in that are is now 50% white, 30% African American and 20% Hispanic. Sure, it's a potential swing vote if the blacks and Hispanics are lumped together, which the whites backing this plan tend to do. Blacks and Hispanics aren't too happy about that assumption of identical interests, however. And sure, a potential swing vote if the whites and others had an equal number of eligible voters. But they don't. There are far more white of voting age in that planned district than there are of African Americans and Hispanics. In theory it's a district that can go either way, but in fact it's a lock for the white majority.]
Also if you look at past Supreme Court rulings, they have expressed themselves in a sense that even the courts believe that district representation is better for minorities' representation, it protects minorities' representation long-term, than council-persons-at-large that oftentimes in other cities were used to dissipate minority representation.
[The Supreme Court has done no such thing. I know of no instance where the Supreme Court has made any kind of general policy statement on this, nor do I know of any case in which it has found a council with the balance of power fairly distributed among sections of the city improper. The courts have intervened only when at-large seats were used to deprive a portion of the people of their rights. Is Masiello saying that Buffalo's present Common Council, with its district and at-large structure, is racist? If not, what is he talking about? I suspect he's just making it up on the spot.]
So people are going to view this from the lens of race, others are going to view it from the lens of population, personality, economics, but I only can say for myself that that is not the case.
[What isn't the case?This is another of those Masiello sentences with a lot of parts but no point. I can tell you this: I've talked to people in City Hall and people in business and I haven't met one who seriously believes this is about saving $300,000. It's about power, about making sure that the Council becomes a toothless lion. And it's about getting rid of Jim Pitts.]
Q: Is time of the essence though, mayor? Don't you have to have something done soon?
A: I'm acting according to the charter and the timetables that are before me right now. That's why today I have signed this local law.
Q: Legislator Charley Fisher said that if you sign this and bring national attention to this, you could possibly bring [too much noise to make out] Would you want that?
A: Obviously I've always strived for what's in the best interests of the city, that puts the city in the best light. Nobody, no mayor in recent times has championed the many strengths and assets of this city.
[Not one of them? Darn!]
From Washington to Albany, to other conference of mayors, functions, I always make Buffalo's presence felt in a very favorable, positive, progressive way. Now unfortunately some people may not view it that way.
[Buffalo's presence?]
Some people may want to paint a different picture. But I say to everybody, make sure that you don't denigrate this city and the people of this city. Yes, these are emotional issues. Yes, there are going to be continued debates. But let's do that in a context of respecting one another and not downgrading one another, and the already tarnished image of our city for other reasons.
[Because of the static, I couldn't make out the central part of the question, but I have a feeling that it's another question Masiello didn't answer. When he really wants to evade answering a question he does two things: he gets very loud and he stresses nearly every word. It's like everything is in bold caps. That's how he was here. A key point he has nowhere addressed is the impact of all of this on Buffalo's image elsewhere. He keeps saying our intentions are good, I'm good, it's bad to say unpleasant things. He never goes to the issues, and that's probably why, even though he's very tall and he can speak really loudly, he remains so feckless.]