Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - During the last Buffalo Common Council meeting on July 11 at City Hall, the Council adopted a resolution emphasizing the need to allocate American Rescue Plan (ARP) and COVID relief funds to support the recovery and growth of small businesses across the City of Buffalo.
As a result of the meeting, the Common Council asked a number of small businesses in the city who are interested, who have applied and were denied in the past to come to the next week's Finance Committee meeting and make their voices known.
When Tuesday's Financial Committee meeting commenced, several local small business owners took to the mics in the Council Chambers at City Hall to inform the Council of their need for assistance.
LISTEN LIVE TO WBEN:
This included the likes of Vinny Guercio, who was on-hand representing his family's business that was established in 1961 in the Grant Ferry business district.
"Right now, if you go up-and-down the Grant Ferry District, it's a desert. Several stores have been closed, our store is suffering since the pandemic," said Guercio during Tuesday's public session. "I'm asking the Council today to allocate some of that money to the Grant Ferry District to keep us surviving in that area. It's poverty stricken. Homes are dilapidated. We need to come up with a better plan in how to build up that area again."
Local construction firm owner Henry Mingo knows most small businesses are self-funded, and need this type of funding being discussed to help them grow and help others.
"I pay my employees, and I don't get paid for months sometimes, you've got to make sure everybody is good. So we need help so we can help everybody else," said Mingo on Tuesday. "I can't hire as much because I don't have funding, and I'm a younger business owner. We need more knowledge and knowing about these meetings, knowing about funding. I didn't know. I'm so happy to know the Councilman, so I've got the knowledge. But look at this room, it's empty. It should be full. I know thousands of business owners that have no knowledge of what's going on. You need to get out more, talk more, more advertisement. We need to know what's going on so we could get involved, so we could get help. If you help us, we'll help you all. It's that simple. Small businesses run the city, we are the city."
While a number of Buffalo's small business owners provided their story on struggles since the COVID-19 pandemic and what funding can do to support them, there were others who also spoke to provide input on whether or not Braymiller Market downtown is worthy of receiving its request of more than $560,000 from the city.
Some residents in-and-around Braymiller on Ellicott Street are avid shoppers at the Market, and would like to see it remain open with whatever funds necessary.
"To keep that going, because they've got a lot of great products in there. I'm always busy, I'm always on the go, I know a lot of people are, and somebody like me wants to keep that open. If it takes money, $62,000, whatever it is, let's get what we need. There's funding," said one local resident of Braymiller. "If we could get that going so we can keep the place open, it's a nice place where people are in a hurry, people are on the move, especially people like me because I'm going every day, and it's right there in my community because I live right next door."
A couple of weeks ago, a local organization called the Downtown Prosperity Roundtable - led by Dan Leonard - organized a "cash mob" to shop at Braymiller to show their support for the Market downtown and its importance for the community.
Related
When speaking with the assembled community in attendance for Tuesday's Finance Committee meeting, Leonard, once again, explained the importance of a critical amenity to create a more livable downtown for everyone.
"We know what the pandemic has done to business, to real estate. It's been absolutely devastating, especially to commercial business and retail. It's been an enormous challenge to be able to recover from that," said Leonard on Tuesday. "Certainly the Braymiller Market has experienced those challenges, and has had to deal with trying to make it through that. They opened [during] the pandemic and really have had to struggle ever since.
"It's not because [owner Stuart Green] doesn't know how to run a business. He got extremely creative to bring a grocer that was absolutely needed, and the pandemic just wiped out that part of his business for several years."
For several other people in attendance on Tuesday, they openly spoke out against the idea of granting Braymiller's request for an exorbitant grant from the City of Buffalo.
While former Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant, owner of Grant's Variety Shoppe, is not saying Braymiller should not get the money they're asking for from the city, she is asking the Common Council and the city administration to take care of the city's other small businesses who have been dedicated to the community for several years.
"To give Braymiller a half million dollars and leave the rest of us wanting is not a fair city. It's not a fair administration, and won't be a fair Councilmember," said Grant on Tuesday. "Divide the money. $62,000 may not be much to some people, but if I get a portion of that, if I get $500, I can pay a part of my taxes. Divide the money up, or give us another product, because we have been ignored."
Deidre Batson-Griggs from Kiper Moving and Transportation LLC believes if other businesses were afforded this type of grant, it will be an immediate impact not only for local businesses, but also the families of the people who they employ.
"I think it's important to keep pouring directly into the communities. Downtown is great, but the people who I employ do not go downtown for groceries," said Batson-Griggs. "They're going directly in their community, whether that's Black Rock with the new store over on Ontario, or if it's East and West, we have Jefferson, and then Tops in West Buffalo. They're just not going downtown for that at all. As far as the grant funds, there are 27,452 small businesses in Buffalo. I think we could find a way to help a few more people instead of just one."
For local advocates like Archie Brooks, he admits he's all in favor of Mayor Byron Brown's visions and his administration's visions for Downtown Buffalo. However, Braymiller Market is not the answer for residents living downtown.
"For sustainability, you have families, you have elderly people, retired that need medications, they need a pharmacy. They need a full-line grocery store. What you have right now is a step above 7-Eleven, and it's called Braymiller [Market]," said Brooks.
"How are you going to feed 6,000 people you're infusing the city with, with families, and they come home after school, kids are hungry, and the mother and father got to go to Aldi, Walmart to get groceries, to get medication. Why? Because that location doesn't have it. You bring in the people, but you're not going to have the sustainability, and Braymiller does not seem to have the financial or the business-minded management of the property."
As for city residents like Michael Stanley Gallisdorfer, all he wants to see going forward is the city he grew up in brought back to life.
"When you build the city, when you rebuild the city, you've got to start somewhere. It's like building a house. The place to start has to be somewhere, and it's with food," said Gallisdorfer. "Food is like the Northeast corner of our city. If you're gonna build a neighborhood downtown, a place for people to be, to live, to do, to work, you've got to have something that people are used to. I know a lot of these big companies around here are having trouble attracting people to work in Buffalo, so you've got to help the top of that level. You've got to help the middle. Meanwhile, on the East Side, you've got to help people there too.
"I'm in favor of finding a better solution. I say help Braymiller, help the businesses on the East Side. Come together and find a solution."
Hear more public reaction during Tuesday's Finance Committee meeting for the Buffalo Common Council available in the player below:
Related
