BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A month after Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown handed down his first veto in four-terms, his common council was poised to overturn his executive action.
It needed a supermajority vote of 6-3 it to reinstate its original decision to limit school zone camera hours to arrival and drop off times, but the Brown administration was able to buy some time before a special session next Tuesday on the matter.
Only five zones are operational right now out of 20.
Critics of the mayor’s veto say the extended hours ticketing drivers when students were safely in class is a revenue-generating measure for the City of Buffalo which he denies.
Brown doubled-down ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s common council meeting, where it was tabled, saying his decision is about the safety of children in schools.
In the first 7-days of operation, our I-Team learned the City of Buffalo issued $1.7 million dollars worth of tickets to drivers — half of those tickets were to people who live in surrounding suburbs.
Buffalo Parking Commissioner Kevin Helfer acknowledged Tuesday morning the camera system is not perfect, and there will be human and vendor error with a new system.
Helfer expressed a desire to quickly resolve any problems drivers may have and toss out any citations that were incorrectly issued to drivers.
This comes after multiple people reported to our I-Team they received tickets outside of the cameras’ operational hours.
Helfer said an error occurred during testing of the cameras which resulted in some people getting citations, which were thrown out.
If you received a ticket you think was sent in error you can call or email the Buffalo Parking Violations Department at pvboffice@city-buffalo.com or by telephone at (716) 851-5182.
Helfer recently brought on additional staff to take calls in the call-center and resolve ticketing complaints.
