A day after Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino criticized the City Council for not authorizing $1.17 million in state funding awarded through the Gun Involved Violence Elimination — or GIVE — grant, Council Member Vincent Cauley tells BTPM News why he's had a history of voting "no" on the funding.
Cauley says he is not opposed to GIVE itself but wants a more detailed accounting of where the money goes and whether the funded programs are reducing gun violence.
“I was on the council in 2023, and I voted no to the GIVE grant back then because I didn't see the effectiveness of how the money was being spent and where it was being spent," he said.
The Niagara Falls Police Department says its share of the grant would support hotspot policing, focused deterrence, community and youth engagement, nonfatal-shooting investigations, two crime analysts, a dedicated detective and the city’s GIVE coordinator.
Cauley acknowledges GIVE coordinator John Faso previously briefed him and later presented to the full Council. But he says his follow-up questions to the Restaino administration have gone unanswered, saying Restaino acts as a "gatekeeper of information."
He pointed to the two Independence Day weekend shooting deaths while questioning whether the city has provided enough evidence that GIVE-funded programs are effectively reducing gun violence.
“Not to use that as a leveraging tool, and that’s not what I’m doing. But I’m just saying, when I vote on things—I don’t speak for the rest of the council—but when I vote on things, I take taxpayers’ dollars seriously, and I like to see accountability, oversight, and effective and efficient spending,” he said.
The resolution failed on a 2–2 deadlock last month. Council Chair Brian Archie was absent due to a death in the family.
Niagara Falls police presented data showing shootings have fallen substantially since 2021 and argued GIVE helped drive that decline. Cauley says he wants stronger evidence directly connecting the program and its spending to those results.
He says he is not calling to defund the police and does not oppose accepting grants but wants proof the money is being distributed effectively.
“If I'm going to accept and spend money, I would love to see a breakdown of where the money is going, how the money is being used and how effective it's being used to combat the problem it's supposed to solve," he said.
Cauley says he could reconsider once he receives that information. The funding could return for another vote after the Council’s August recess or sooner if a special meeting is called.
