BUFFALO, N.Y. — Talk about bringing the Buffalo Bills downtown is transitioning. With no chance for a stadium anywhere else in the city, advocates who wanted an urban stadium are now focused on one part of the team's deal with the state: the Community Benefits Agreement.
"If we can't have a stadium we don't need the Bills in Buffalo, but we'd love to see the dollar bills in Buffalo,” said ‘Bills in Buffalo’ co-founder Benjamin Siegel.
Siegel was the man behind a concept drawing for a stadium on South Park Avenue in the Perry Projects. That idea, which was already on life support, died Monday when the state and Bills’ ownership announced they had reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for construction and funding of a new stadium in Orchard Park.
“We knew this was coming, we fought a good fight but when you’re speaking truth to power and money it’s a really hard fight,” Siegel said.
That’s why Siegel and others who were pushing for an urban site are shifting their focus to advocating for a CBA that benefits impoverished parts of the city which would have benefitted from the team moving to Buffalo.
“I think that the most important part of this, at this point, is the Community Benefits Agreement and the money has to go to the city,” said Siegel.
Pat Freeman a sports columnist for the historic African-American newspaper 'The Criterion' is fighting for the same kind of investment.
“They were just not listening to what we had to say, but we must continue to fight to make sure a project like this benefits the masses of people,” said Freeman.
Freeman who has been reporting on the Bills since the glory days is hoping that improved mass transit access can be added as part of the CBA. He also wants to see minority workers recruited to help with the construction of the stadium or be given apprenticeship/training opportunities to do so. Future concessions could also better serve a wider number of individuals.
“If this is such a deal that gets so much public money we want to make sure that our young entrepreneurs are given a fair and equitable opportunity at the table and that is going to be the thing that we're to lobby on,” Freeman said.
Siegel hopes that funding can also be used to improve the area around the South Park site because he feels that community was used as a pawn during negotiations, given the overwhelming preference for Orchard Park.
Erie County Legislative Chair April Baskin was another big supporter of bringing the Bills downtown and while she does not think the CBA will make up for the lack of a team in Buffalo she is ready to spearhead the process.
“I hope to see a strong strategic investment into our community and when I mean that I'm not talking about a light agreement I'd like to see something that is legally binding. I'd like to see an agreement that has community oversight and I'd like to see investment that lasts the entire terms of the lease itself which is 30 years,” Baskin told 2 On Your Side.
While the deal unveiled on March 28 is set to be approved along with the state budget by the end of the week and at the latest Monday, the Community Benefits Agreement will be worked out during construction. Siegel, Baskin, and Freeman just want to make sure it is not forgotten like the downtown stadium.
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