By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown spent the day in Albany Wednesday, participating in a series of meetings with the state's top leaders.
Brown joined the mayors of Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Yonkers and other upstate cities in making their case for an urban agenda in New York.
"We talked about such issues as education and the needs of urban schools districts, including resources for student safety programs," Brown said. "We talked about additional resources for brownfield clean-ups and acquisition, so that in urban areas, we can create more shovel-ready development sites."
Brown and the other mayors met with Governor Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
Brown said he was asked to work with Albany's mayor in coming up with an urban education reform package for legislative leaders to look at for possible inclusion in next year's budget.
He said it's important that he and the other mayors are working together to advance their agenda.
"There was certainly greater strength in numbers. We were all speaking with the same voice. We were all carrying the same message," Brown said. "It certainly seemed like legislative leaders were paying very close attention to what we were saying."
Because he was meeting with other mayors, Brown said he made no specific requests for additional state aid for Buffalo.
This was Brown's second lobbying trip to the State Capitol since taking office.