Artvoice: Buffalo's #1 Newsweekly
Home Blogs Web Features Calendar Listings Artvoice TV Real Estate Classifieds Contact
Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v11n49 (12/06/2012) » Section: Week in Review


Back Pay For Seasonal Workers? Dead in Committee

by Geoff Kelly
On Tuesday, the Common Council’s Civil Service Committee held a public hearing on a resolution authored by Delaware District Councilman Mike LoCurto urging the administration of Mayor Byron Brown to heed a court decision declaring that the city’s so-called “seasonal workers” are covered by the city’s living wage statute—a law that Brown championed when he was a councilman—and consequently were due back pay to compensate for the years 2004 to 2007, when they were paid less than the statute requires.

Foiled Again: Jeremy Zellner, Workin' 9 to 5

by Buck Quigley
Based on a series of tips, Artvoice filed a Freedom of Information Law request on October 30 with clerk and records access officer Robert Graber at the Erie County Legislature, asking for time sheet records dating back to January 1, 2012 for Jeremy Zellner and Jerome Schad. We also requested records of the swipe cards used to enter various parts of old Erie County hall, where the legislature is located. Zellner is the chief of staff for the Legislature, and also the new chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party; Schad is a lawyer for the legislature.

Five Republicans and a Democrat Foil Mark Poloncarz

by Geoff Kelly
On Tuesday, Erie County Legislator Tom Loughran of Amherst joined the five Republican legislators to pass amendments to the budget submitted by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. The changes stripped out the small property tax increase ($18 per $100,000 in assessed value) that Poloncarz argued, and the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority affirmed, was prudent and necessary for a balanced budget.



Back to issue index