A choir of 30 filled the air with gospel, as the Houston Gymnasium at Buffalo State College filled up with a crowd nearing 2,000 last Thursday night. Voice Buffalo, a faith based organization, consisting of 28 Catholic congregations, gathered together, in order to voice their demands and commit public officials to make a difference in our city. Voice Buffalo spoke to an elite audience of public officials, which consisted of Mayor, Anthony Masiello; County Executive, Joel Gambia; County Legislator, Al DeBenedetti, and State Assemblyman Sam Hoyt. The purpose: "To rise above race, religion, economics, and special interests, and focus upon issues involving our city and suburbs."

As defined by press contact for Voice Buffalo, Katrina Long, Voice Buffalo is, "a faith based, non-partisan organization that brings together elected officials, and makes them accountable for community action." They invite elected officials to their meetings, and tell them what it is that they want to see done to improve the quality of life in the city. Voice Buffalo makes specific demands of the officials, which includes dates by which they want each "project" planned. After they present their demand to the officials, they call them up to a podium, and ask the officials if they will promise to follow through with what Voice Buffalo has asked. The official is then put on the spot, and given two minutes (Voice Buffalo is very adamant about restricting the officials to only two minutes) to explain their reasoning behind their answer. On Thursday night, not a single elected official said no.

Voice Buffalo took their business seriously; they set down their agenda, adhering to it strictly. While they were looking for support from the elected officials that were present, it was clear that they were in no way going to brown nose anyone in order to get their way. The name of each elected official that had been invited was called, if that person was not there, Reverand Willie J. Brown Jr., made note of it to the large, highly spirited audience. Hoyt arrived twenty minutes late. "You're late assemblyman." Said Brown, "Around here we do things on time." While Brown went back to his business, Hoyt sat down, clearly embarrassed. It was quite evident throughout the evening, that the elected officials were indeed merely guests. When the officials took the stage, an aura of fear filled the room. Not only could Voice Buffalo smell the fear, they took advantage of it.

While Voice Buffalo's tactics may seem somewhat harsh, they get things done. On April 14, 1999, Voice Buffalo held a meeting similar to the one that was held last week. In the 1999 meeting, Voice Buffalo was able to successfully commit officials on two pilot projects, which have now grown into what has been named Project Palante. As described by Voice Buffalo, Project Palante is a "four point revitalization plan," for the West and East sides of Buffalo, located near Our Lady of Loretto Roman Catholic Church. They have four main areas that they are working on: increased home ownership, a youth mutli-cultural center, an economic development incubator, and new services for seniors. Along with attempting to increase homeownership by 50%, they are also looking to renovate 20 plus homes. Voice Buffalo believes that a major problem is that more houses are being built in the city, so more people are moving in, but there are still problems. As more people move in, the problems only become greater. Before the city builds more homes, they need to fix the problems they have. As Marsha Huard, from St. John the Baptist, said, Voice Buffalo is "ready to put the neighbor back in the hood." Voice Buffalo has selected the areas that need the most improvement. Their goal is to complete 6 blocks in 2001 (these blocks being in the immediate area of Our Lady of Loretto Roman Catholic Church). On Thursday night, they coerced the Erie County officials to promise to complete Project Palante. Both Massiello and Hoyt commited themselves to attending the People's Housing Summit Meeting, where they will discuss the actual details concerning the issue.

There were other issues that raised great concern among Voice Buffalo. At one point in the night, four members of the community came on stage to share their stories of concern with the audience.

One issue was that of better transportation for the disabled. Voice Buffalo raised a very good question that night, "if you only have $100 for groceries, do you want to pay $59 for transportation?" In order for the disabled to try and live independent lifestyles, they must be given a chance. Laura Schmidt took the stage to speak for the disabled community. She told the audience that there has been no transportation provided for the disabled to sporting events, church services, voting booths, or fairs. Schmidt demanded that a Transportation Assistance Program for the disabled be implemented in order to better the quality of life for the disabled. Schmidt told the audience of how she and other members of the disabled community wear heart shaped lockets around their necks, in order to symbolize that they have been locked from a better quality of life.

Another issue was raised by community member Mary Bartley who shocked everyone in the room, when she stated how she sold her home for $4,000 last year. One may wonder why, but clearly it cannot be solely dependant on the condition of the home. It reflects the reluctance of Buffalo residents to invest in property in the area due to their plummeting values, inadequate parking, rising pollution problems, and the growing rat infestation problem in the city. The need for neighborhood revival in the area was made quite evident.

Sandra Scruggs asked for better bus routes, so that she doesn't have to spend three hours commuting to work daily. Scruggs is forced to switch busses three times before arriving at work, making her total work day thirteen hours because of the inconvenient bus system. Scruggs spoke strongly about how the city had failed to actually make a route that worked. As Rev. Brown stated, "It's amazing that we can put a man on the moon... but we can't create a transportation system in this city that works."

These issues, ignited and personified by the speeches of these Buffalo residents, were presented to public officials throughout the night. Once again, the officials were forced to take stand at a podium and promise reform. Voice Buffalo continued their meeting by bringing up the ongoing public health issue of Buffalo's rat problem. At the meeting in '99, officials promised the Voice's "rat pack" (as Voice Buffalo creatively calls their anti-rat activist group) to minimize the rat problem in the city, especially in the downtown area. Since then, local government has issued "blue cans" throughout the city. These trash vestibules are airtight and keep rats out thereby reducing the amount of garbage available for rats to consume, and ultimately killing them off. Since then, however, officials have not formally informed the public on how to correctly use the trash cans, instead, they have informed local law enforcers to ticket Buffalo citizens that are using the "blue cans" improperly. Thursday's meeting addressed the unfairness of the situation, and Voice Buffalo once again forced officials to rectify the situation. As a result, Sullivan committed to inform the people on correct usage of the "blue cans" before any fines will be issued.

The last issue addressed Thursday evening was the improvement of Buffalo's waterfront. Voice Buffalo validly proposed facts on how improvement, development, and renovation of waterfront areas will elevate the quality of living for neighborhood residents. The group stated that the waterfront should not be "gobbled up" by the elite, but instead, should be developed into such things as recreational facilities and parks that will benefit owners, workers, visitors, and local citizens alike. Legislator DeBenedetti promised to commit to completing a $5,000 dollar waterfront improvement project by June 30, 2001.

Voice Buffalo concluded their evening by recapping their accomplishments, thanking the officials for their attendance, and by saying a short, but powerful prayer. The prayer reminded the community that they succeeded that night, because they rose above race, and forged together in the fulfillment of their goals.

After the conclusion of the meeting, Generation spoke with Mayor Masiello about his feelings on the night's events.

Generation: Mr. Mayor, what is your opinion on Voice Buffalo?

Masiello: I think that they are a great organization, and they are really good about bringing up the necessary issues of the city. They also have united the community.

G: How did you feel about attending tonight's meeting?

M: I enjoy working with them, like I said, they are a great organization, and it is my job to help our community, and show my support for them and their issues.

G: How do you feel about Voice Buffalo's technique of cornering you into saying what they want to hear?

M: They have a good technique.It works.

G: Were you intimidated at all by such a technique?

M: No, they are good about briefing officials beforehand on exactly what will be presented in the meeting. There aren't really any surprises.

G: What are your overall feelings on the evening?

M: It's my job to reach out into the community and help where I am needed. I think we accomplished a lot tonight, and I look forward to continuing my work with Voice Buffalo.

The evening proved to be productive in both bringing the community and it's officials together. The organization made scripture, prayer, and song as strong a part of the meeting as the political issues themselves. Combining this, with their way of pressuring officials to take immediate action, is undeniably effective. Voice Buffalo presented their issues, their demands for reform, and received immediate response. At the start of the meeting, when speaking of the past two years, Susan Bowles asked the audience, "are things really better for all of us?" The response was a loud "no" however, if Voice Buffalo continues to be as successful as it has recently proved to be, then the community will certainly begin it's path to enrichment. As Reverend Brown said, "we can save this city."