By Howard Reidel
Buffalo, NY – The city official responsible for steering public funding to a failed restaurant at Gates Circle has been fired.
Michelle Baron helped secure part of the more than $160,000 in public funding for the One Sunset and helped manage the restaurant owned by former basketball star Leonard Stokes.
Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation president Dennis Penman says Barron was fired from her job with the development agency for significant violations of personnel policies.
City auditors say they cannot account for $90,000s of public money spent on the restaurant and have criticized development officials for circumventing normal processes to obtain loans for Stokes.
The FBI has served subpoenas on the city to obtain documents related to One Sunset.