There was no comment Tuesday morning on last week’s federal raid of the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA)during a BURA committee meeting.
The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency held first committee meeting since last week’s raid of its office at City Hall. It was also the first public appearance with BURA by Brendan Mehaffy, executive director of the City’s Office of Strategic Planning.
Mehaffy is vice chair of the BURA board. The mayor serves as BURA chairman.
Tuesday’s meeting was BURA’s Governance Committee. It was a very brief session. Mehaffy and four other committee members gathered on the ninth floor committee meeting room.
The Mayor’s spokesperson, Mike DeGeorge, attended before the meeting began to tell reporters Mehaffy was not allowed to speak about last week’s raids because of possible litigation.
BURA committee member and Common Council member Joseph Golombek was also in attendance. He also said he is not allowed to speak to the media about the raids due to possible litigation.
The FBI, HUD, the Office of Inspector General and IRS conducted an eight-hour “court authorized” raid inside City Hall last Wednesday at BURA offices.
A City Hall source tells 7 Eyewitness News federal authorities began the day at the home of Mehaffy. But neither investigators nor the city is confirming that information. Mayor Brown told 7 Eyewitness News in a one-on-one interview he had no information about the raid and did not discuss the situation with Mehaffy.
