In the shadow of Buffalo’s Central Terminal stands a vacant three-story building.
Built in 1948, it was originally an American Legion Post and more recently served as the Matt Urban Community Center. Now, city officials want to renovate the city-owned property to create a new police training facility.
But the plans have been met with mixed reactions from residents.
Christopher Robinson and his neighbors are collecting signatures for a petition opposing the proposed facility, just a few blocks up the street from his home.
He said most people he asks are signing.
"I don't even get to get out the whole thing or what it's for," Robinson said. "I just ask them, 'Hey, would you guys like to sign my petition?' And then they be like, 'What is it for?' And then I be like, 'The police are trying to -' And they be like, 'Yeah, let me sign that.'"
Kaale Pope, who lives approximately six blocks from the site, adds his signature. Though the city's plans for a new police training center have been in the works for six years, Pope said he only learned the center was slated for his neighborhood the previous day.
"I was told [the city] were basically saying that they had locals, you know, coming already participating and whatnot, and that everybody agreed to like this, this thing, but I haven't spoken to anyone, and neighbors I have spoken to - they haven't spoken to anyone," Pope said.
"We were unaware about this situation that's under our nose," he added.
"We were unaware about this situation that's under our nose," - Kaale Pope, Broadway-Fillmore resident.
Renovations at 379 Paderewski Drive are expected to cost $5 million, paid for by bonds already signed off by the Buffalo Common Council. Though plans are not yet public, the building is expected to include classroom space and an indoor gun range to help train members of the Buffalo Police Department and possibly other agencies.
Brian Borncamp has lived on the street for 12 years and learned about the planned facility through BTPM NPR’s reporting.
"If I brought a $5 million weapons complex into Amherst, the Elmwood Village, or literally any other neighborhood, people would be rioting in the streets. But somehow you come to our neighborhood and you think you can just run roughshod over us and not talk to anybody, not get the consent of the people? It's unacceptable," he said. "Ever since I moved here day one, my neighbors have always looked out for me, and City Hall has always been stepping on our necks."
Borncamp and Co. gathered around 60 signatures opposing the facility in less than 24 hours, as seen by BTPM NPR. That’s on top of a separate, unaffiliated petition of more than 2,000 signatures against the plan collected by grassroots group, LOLA.
"We take issue with the fact that the City of Buffalo can take out millions of dollars in bonds for a police training facility, but can't find the money to support the communities through social services and other basic needs that Buffalonians need met," said Hannah Krull, a LOLA organizer.
That petition was received and filed by the council since it did not reach the threshold to trigger a public hearing, so the group plans to host their own town hall later this month.
Krull added the group reached out to Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski several times, since the facility is in his district, but has not heard back from him directly.
"You come to our neighborhood and you think you can just run roughshod over us?...It's unacceptable, " - Brian Borncamp, Broadway-Fillmore resident.
In July, the Common Council held a public hearing on the city’s plans to rezone the 1.2 acre site to allow for non-residential use, but it was sparsely attended. Of three city residents that spoke, one supported the plans – President of the Central Terminal Neighborhood Association, Chris Hawley, who’s also an urban planner with the city.
He said his members met with BPD representatives as well as Nowakowski and would "welcome the additional police presence in Broadway-Fillmore." He thanked Buffalo Police Commissioner, Alphonso Wright, and Deputy Commissioner Patrick Overdorf for "genuinely listening" to members' concerns and ideas.
Police in New York State must receive deadly force and firearms training at least once per year by state law. The BPD does not currently have its own gun range, and Nowakowski estimates the department currently spends $175,000 or more annually to rent facilities in surrounding municipalities.
In response to this story and claims of a lack of communication from city officials, city and BPD spokesperson Mike Read said: "This spring, Buffalo Police leadership met with the Central Terminal Neighborhood Association to discuss the project. Following that meeting, the association’s president was provided with the architectural plans for review, along with responses to additional questions.
"Councilmember Nowakowski and his office have also been actively engaged in this process, with the council advancing the proposal after holding a public hearing last month. The Buffalo Police Department will continue to work with the Central Terminal Neighborhood Association, along with government partners, on this proposal.”
In an email to BTPM NPR Nowakowski, who supports the new police training site, also pointed to that meeting with the neighborhood association as an example of "meaningful community outreach."
Though he did not name them, he alluded to LOLA, and stated he has “no interest in validating manufactured outrage or engaging with groups who only show up when a camera is rolling or a post is to be made.”
He added: "Groups that don’t share leadership, don’t list contact information, and don’t attend public meetings shouldn’t be treated as serious stakeholders. They are not rooted in this community, not accountable to it, and do not speak for it. I remain committed to working with the residents I am elected to represent and who have a vested interest in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood and the greater East Side."
The council will vote on the rezoning application September 2.
