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Mayor Brown's Biography

Mayor Byron W. Brown took the Oath of Office as the 58th Mayor of Buffalo, New York on December 31, 2005.

Elected Mayor with over 60 percent of the vote in the November 2005 General Election, Mayor Brown came into office emphasizing greater accountability and efficiency in City Hall, improving the quality of life for all city residents and a commitment to strengthening and expanding the city’s economic development activities.

On September 15, 2009, Mayor defeated his Democratic primary challenger by 28% of the vote (26,314 vs. 14,866) and then was elected to a second four-year term as Mayor of Buffalo by running unopposed in the November 2009 General Election.

Since taking office, Mayor Brown has followed the previously mentioned three guiding principles by launching a Zero Tolerance Law Enforcement initiative targeting quality of life crimes, along with other criminal activity in the city; implemented the management accountability CitiStat Buffalo program, which monitors city departments’ service delivery activities on a weekly basis and started the city’s non-emergency 311 system to accommodate a broad range of resident and business inquiries; and the Mayor reconfigured the city’s economic development activities by creating the Department of Economic Development, Permit and Inspection Services, a change that has provided greater coordination and cooperation in all development activities taking place in the City of Buffalo.

Between 2006 and 2010, Mayor Brown has reduced the property tax rate in Buffalo each year resulting in a cumulative decrease of 12.5% for residential and 14.9% for commercial properties. With this year’s 2.71% residential rate reduction, the tax rates for residential and commercial properties have decreased by approximately 15% each since 2006.

A surge of economic development activity occurred throughout the city following Mayor Brown’s election, including S1.3 billion in projects that have been completed, $1.5 billion that are under construction, which are part of a total of over $5.1 billion in planned, ongoing or completed development projects occurring throughout the City since 2006.

During Mayor Brown’s tenure, New Era Cap Company opened its international headquarters in Downtown Buffalo; Labatt USA relocated its national headquarters from Connecticut to Buffalo; BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York relocated its regional headquarters, along with 1,200 employees, to downtown Buffalo; the $120 million new federal courthouse project has commenced opposite City Hall on the City’s historic Niagara Square; and the $275 million Inner Harbor waterfront mixed-use development project has been initiated, including a Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World retail anchor store.

Since 2006, Mayor Brown has added 285 acres of cleaned-up brownfields, which puts approximately 500 acres of shovel-ready brownfields within the city’s boundaries. It is the largest portfolio of available, remediated brownfields among Great Lakes cities.

In his 2010 State of the City address, Mayor Brown announced that his Administration had commenced the complete overhaul of the city’s zoning code. The zoning reform effort will act as the foundation for the development of a new place-based economic development strategy for Buffalo’s neighborhoods in every section of the city. 

Under this new initiative, city services and investments will be integrated and focused in well defined places, whether near a newly renovated school, a business corridor or similar neighborhood assets.  Investments will be strategic and comprehensive.

Complementing this economic development activity is the continuing decline in crime in the Queen City.  Since 2005, Buffalo has experienced an 11% reduction in overall crime, 125 new police officers have been added to the Buffalo Police Department since Mayor Brown took office and 125 surveillance cameras are now part of the Administration’s anti-crime effort. In addition, the Buffalo Police Department has removed over 6,100 illegal guns from city streets since January 2006.

Under Mayor Brown, the Buffalo Fire Department has added 73 new firefighters to its ranks, including a class of 52 new firefighters in November 2009, which marked the first new class of firefighters to join the Department since 2002. An additional 21 firefighters were sworn in May 2010.

2009 marked a four year low in arson fires in Buffalo – in 2005, the city recorded 556 arson fires; last year, 296 arson fires were reported (47% decrease) and the Fire Investigation Unit of the Buffalo Fire Department oversaw arson investigations that led to 109 arrests (versus 51 arrests in 2005 – a 114% increase).

Prior to his election as Mayor of Buffalo, Mayor Brown served five years in the New York State Senate.  Sworn in January 1, 2001, Mayor Byron Brown became the first African-American elected to the Senate outside of New York City.  He also made history by becoming the first minority member of the New York State Senate to represent a majority white district. 

Mayor Brown was first elected to represent the Masten District on the Buffalo City Council in 1995.  While on the Council, Mayor Brown was called "bright, creative and hardworking," in a Buffalo News survey and was recognized in 1989 by Ebony Magazine as one the “30 Leaders of the Future.” Mayor Brown is a Silver Life member of the NAACP.