Kaisertown Coalition Community Meeting Minutes

Date: March 4, 2025

Meeting was called to order at 6:05 pm by John Poniewierski

He led the pledge of allegiance & a moment of silence was held

Introduction of Officer Lindsay Zgoda

               Mentioned that Leroy Scott is still in jail.  His family has indicated that he is not welcome back in the home and will most likely go to a half-way house when released in a different area. Working on his mental health. An order of protection can be issued if you are scared of him doing harm.

               The faded signs on Cliff St have been called in for replacement, but it is not a school zone.  

               The light at Clinton and Willet & the school zone flashing light– all of those were acknowledge that they are slated to be fixed on the website

The mayor’s impact team on Facebook on 465 Willet (intersection of Griswold and Willet) has been cleaned up and the owner will get a fine.  Officer Zgoda did speak to the owner and it is under contract for sale – so hopefully the new owners will take possession soon and fix it up.

               Woman on Gorski St., Services are involved & trying to get her assistance. There are people that are helping her.  Adult Protection was calling the DMV for a driver assessment as well so transportation can be provided.

               Unwelcome family of skunks that have decided to move under a porch on Gorski have been reported to 311; Multiple houses are affected. Due to “end of life” protocols, there are issues with getting them removed at this time. They are burrowing under the property and leaving a mess.  311 advised the person calling to call an exterminator.

               Another property on Gorski has a opossum that is attacking walkers; the woman is feeding it and encouraging it to stick around. She puts the food on the sidewalk and her porch. There are tuna cans and bread.

               The dead-end section of Weiss St. was reported to have a large dog (80-90 lbs) that is consistently loose and a menace to the area. Officer Zgoda will speak to animal control.  The doghouse is located between the sidewalk & the road.  Is also suspected of dealing drugs from the home. The resident has called animal control several times, called 911 and called 311.  It has caused physical damage to the resident.

               There is a white homeless male in his 20’s, has a beard, brown hair, that is sleeping on the library entrance.  He is also urinating and defecating in the area and is becoming a public nuisance.  Zgoda has attempted to catch him but he is never there.  She will send someone there in the morning.

               Resident had provided a list of properties to Commissioner Gramaglia and wanted an update on the list. Whatever Gramaglia had, was passed on to Officer Wright. Be specific when calling 311 and as specific description of the individual. Reminder 311 are not for emergency, there will not be immediate attention to the matter.  Those calls should go to 911.

Introduction of Kevin Gould, Deputy Commissioner of Department of permits and Inspection Services

               Q. Jerri asked how building inspections work?  Looking at a lot of houses and wonders how the owner can get a certificate of occupancy

               A. a $75 charge will offer a new certificate of occupancy. It can be 1 or 2 family homes, or multiple dwellings, whatever you may be purchasing. They go in and check on the interior, check the hot water tanks, the furnace, check for structural issues that may have been addressed. Certificate is given upon completion of the inspection.

Need a list of funding of NHS -housing group that offers assistance of funding groups for repairs.

If there is a house on your street, you can call John Rossi, to find out if there is an active file on the property. If there is a broken window, falling down steps, dilapidated porch, roofing tiles that are missing, open eaves/ soffits or falling gutters, Call and report the situation.

New judge in the system, Judge Gabney is trying to move properties to get the repairs completed & hold the new owner accountable.  For any LLC’s they need to have an attorney present at any hearing. He is after those that are gathering blocks of homes and not doing the repairs. Provide a list of homes and the building inspector will update and the next meeting. We have to stand together and file complaints and hold the building owners accountable.

Anti-dumping task force has been established.  If you see littering happening, take a picture and turn in the person. Fines are being issued and enforced. Trying to highlight certain areas in the city; need to take pictures and report them.  There is a $2000 fine. Not sure if they get paid or what happens if they don’t pay. The mayor is currently working on holding people accountable.

House on Pontiac St was reported as starting to get dilapidated. Hasn’t been occupied for over 20 years.

Introduction of Donald Poleto – senior operations engineer works at Fisher Martin – works with Nathan Marton, commissioner, Department of Public Works, Parks & Streets

Responsible for the facility on Senca St., works with the traffic signal folks there, the bridge crew, the electronic waste crew, sidewalk and cold patch crew.
               40 ton of cold patch has been used in the last few weeks to fill potholes. There was a Seneca St Blitz on Saturday & Sunday, hopefully, the street is much better. Appreciates the 311 calls to let them know if a pothole exists.
               Don also tracks the ice jams/flows and discussed the procedures;
               The speed humps will not be removed. The residents on the street need to voice their concern. They will add them or remove them depending on the voice of the block club of that street. The authority know the speed humps slow the speeders down. Need to make National Grid & National Fuel accountable if they create the divot or hole.

Guest Speaker Jeremiah Horrigan was introduced.  He is the confidential aide to the mayor

               Discussed the Houghton Park detail unit. Buffalo police are currently being creative with their manpower to address the issues at the park.  Patrol vehicles have been directed to be in the area as often as possible. 

He updated us about squatters.  If reported in under 30 days, officers can remove them from the premises.  After 30 days, by law, they need to be formally evicted by the sheriffs or the marshals. As a community it is important to report the suspicion of squatters in a structure – house, shed, garage – so they can be removed in a timely fashion and before any damage is done. It is best to notify Officer Zgoda or John Rossi to get them out.  As soon as you see something – say something. John Rossi will come in and board up the unit.

Updated us on the grant for the businesses that were affected by Leroy Scott. Councilmember Bryan Bollman met with the mayor’s office of strategic planning & the grant administrator yesterday.  The next step in the process is to get the Buffalo Law Department to review the contract, then it will be submitted to the Council for approval.  The Grant Administrator has a local Buffalo office, which will be open to help businesses impacted by the vandalism apply in person if needed.  Councilmember Bollman has stressed that he would like this program to be open as quickly as possible, so all parties involved are moving as fast as possible.

Q.  Will there be a special police detail in Houghton Park this year.

A.  That is the plan, there are cars now, as the weather changes there will be more foot patrols in the area.

Report of officers:

               President: with the weather getting better, there are a lot of scams going on in the neighborhood.

Kevin Gould chimed in: If using a contractor, verify that he is licensed and insured to do business in the City of Buffalo. If they are licensed there are repercussions against the contractor if the contracted work isn’t completed to your satisfaction – especially roofers.  Make sure you call 811 before doing any work.   

               Vice-president – nothing to report

               Treasurers – report was read off for those present; we are searching for a new treasurer – if you are interested, please contact us.

               Secretary – minutes can be emailed if requested; listed on-line at Christmasinkaisertown.com; click on the Kaisertown Coalition logo to access any meetings, agendas and the business cards of the speakers.

               Sgt of Arms – nothing to report

National Night Out – will be August 5 and will be the community meeting – need volunteers; grants have been applied for.  I’m still looking for a place to hold the event. Police dept & fire department will be invited. St Casmir’s Center might be a good place; however, will depend on the level of construction.

Christmas in Kaisertown – will be December 5 and we need volunteers.  Trying to keep this a community event; but we need more assistance.

Veteran’s Flag Banners; Showed craftmanship of various sample flags.  Doing a double bracket flag system with the flag will be around $300 per flag/bracket. ($100/bracket & $70 per flag plus installation) Sue Bradbury is writing a couple different grants. We are trying for 10 brackets to get this started.  We will need a good jpeg photo, dd paperwork, name, branch of service and years of active duty to be considered.

Community Gardens: A grant has been filed for $13,000. Gail & Megan Bauer have been spearheaded. This will include a budget for a new Kaisertown sign, mulch, topsoil, plants, Heroes Grove update. A park bench would be nice.

Don Poleto stated that we can get free mulch from the West Seneca DPW If the DPW is chopping down trees, it will be brought to the site and thrown in the mulcher and added to the pile. It’s not as high end as the bags, but it is free.

There are 6 concrete planters on Clinton St; the one that is in front of Porky’s is well taken care of and there is one other that has seasonal bulbs in it; but the remaining pots will need attention and the grant that Sue Bradbury is applying for included pots, mulch and topsoil for these. The city will move them free of charge. Granta’s auto would like to have theirs moved to Heroes Grove & possibly the one by All Access Construction.

Porky’s will be holding their annual Easter Egg Hunt.  John requested that we donate $100 for candy for to the event. Marcia S called for a motion to approve; Jerry seconded it. All approved

Next meeting will be April 1, 2025

The winning of the 50/50 ticket was drawn; Kevin Gould won and donated the $$ back

Meeting adjourned 7:17

Respectfully submitted

Cynthia S Lawson