BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Common Council Finance Committee is prepared to debate the use of COVID-19 relief funds on Tuesday morning.
Specifically, whether or not Braymiller Market, downtown Buffalo's only grocery store, should receive $560K from the city.
Mayor Brown wanted a downtown grocery store for much of his tenure as the city's leader. He first referenced a downtown grocery store in 2015, according to the WGRZ archive.
"The health of this market is important to the health of downtown," Mayor Brown recently said while pitching his plan to save the market. "We know this will help save the market."
Councilmember Rasheed Wyatt has been critical of the plan to use COVID-19 relief funds, specifically $560,000, for one business.
"I'm just going to continue to beat the drum to give one business this type of money when these other businesses and I've even heard from other businesses who applied and were denied, how do you do that with a clear conscience?" Councilman Wyatt said.
Last week, developer Paul Ciminelli offered $500K towards the effort to save Braymiller Market, so long as the council moves forward with the Mayor's proposal to give the store $560K in COVID funds.
Ciminelli has been a longtime supporter of Mayor Brown and has donated $22,400 towards Brown's various campaigns since 2009.
The Brown administration took time Monday to try and drum up support for the Mayor's plan. According to multiple voicemails obtained by 2 On Your Side, Deputy Mayor of Operations Rashied McDuffie called multiple businesses, that previously were awarded community block grants, to see if they supported the proposal.
A city spokesperson confirmed that outreach efforts had been done, and that city officials are constantly reaching out to members of the community.
The finance committee meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning.