Mayoral election in Buffalo, New York (2021)

Dear Friends,

When you elected me as Buffalo’s Mayor in 2005, I promised that I would work to revitalize our City, build a safer, smarter, stronger Buffalo and ensure that every community shares in our opportunity and success. And we’ve made incredible progress.

We have made progress by growing our City for the first time in 70 years! Census numbers show a growth in our population to 278,000. Our Buffalo Complete Count Committee worked with community stakeholders to educate people in every community to show how an accurate count would direct hundreds of millions of dollars to Buffalo over the next ten years.

We have made progress by hiring the most diverse workforce in the history of the City of Buffalo. And we will continue to provide dependable, experienced leadership and management in City government. We will promote the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion to increase the chance for every resident to succeed.

We have made progress by building a stronger economy. With 8 billion in new economic activity and the creation of more than 12,000 jobs, we are experiencing one of the fastest recovery rates from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. And we will accelerate economic development, job creation and job training to continue to improve quality of life Citywide, as we implement a plan for a complete and rapid post-pandemic recovery.

We have made progress by keeping Buffalo affordable. We reduced residential property tax rates in Buffalo by 16%, making it much easier for families to own homes. Hundreds of millions have been spent on affordable housing, and when the moratorium on eviction and foreclosure expires, we will partner with the State to connect qualified residents with HUD-certified mortgage counselors to assist with loan modifications and provide referrals, as well as providing up to 12 months of rental and utility assistance to residents impacted by the pandemic.

We have made progress by making our neighborhoods safer. We have hired more than 200 new police officers, torn down more than 6,000 blighted vacant structures, installed hundreds of surveillance cameras, and taken over 15,000 illegal guns off our streets. We’ve created and deployed a specially trained behavioral health team to respond to mental health crises with mental health professionals from Endeavor Health Services alongside police officers. All of our police officers are, and will continue to be, trained community police officers.

We have made progress by dedicating resources to our Citywide Infrastructure Program. We have allocated more than $200 million for engineering capital improvements since 2006, including paving, and curb and sidewalk upgrades. We have returned cars to Main Street and rehabilitated commercial corridors in every neighborhood across the City of Buffalo.

We have made progress by creating opportunity for Buffalo youth. 12,000 children have completed our Reading Rules! Summer Reading Program. We have provided millions for free college tuition for high school graduates, created 22,000 job opportunities through our Summer Youth Internship and Employment Program, and have provided more than a billion dollars in direct funding to the Buffalo Public Schools. And we’re investing in broadband Internet access in every community across our City.

We have made progress by investing in our local businesses and our workers. Throughout the pandemic, the City of Buffalo facilitated direct aid for our local businesses through grants and programs, and we stood up a 100 percent virtual employment center with counseling, referrals and job placements for our residents. The Beverly Gray Business Exchange Center serves as the region’s only dedicated business assistance center focused on minority owned businesses. We’ve completed the first two phases of the Northland Workforce Training Center, a massive mixed-use development under construction on Northland Avenue, which is training residents for high-paying manufacturing jobs, while transforming an entire neighborhood on the East Side of Buffalo.

We have made progress by investing in our community centers and cultural institutions, and by re-imagining our parks and open spaces. We’ve invested more than $77 million in parks and parks facilities since 2006, including courts, pools, rinks and splashpads, and we have built more than 100 miles of contiguous bicycle lanes. We will continue to ensure that Buffalo is a world-class City for arts, culture, parks and recreation.

We have made progress by earning the designation of a Climate Smart City. The Buffalo Sewer Authority has issued a $50 million green bond to support sewer and water facility upgrades to improve the quality of our water treatment systems and increase our capacity to build green infrastructure, and our award-winning Raincheck 2.0 program helps guide future City infrastructure investments that manages rainwater and takes on other challenges in a more sustainable manner. Our investment in replacing old lead lines has increased the availability of healthy, affordable housing that Buffalo will need to serve our growing population in the future.

We must keep the progress going.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my campaign website. It would be my honor to continue to serve as your Mayor in this next phase of recovery and revival, and I know that, together, we can build on our progress and continue to improve and strengthen every neighborhood in Buffalo.

I’m humbly asking you to WRITE DOWN BYRON BROWN for Mayor on your ballot – vote by absentee ballot, vote early starting October 23rd, or vote on Election Day on Tuesday, November 2nd.

Truly yours,

Mayor Byron Brown

I’m humbly asking you to WRITE DOWN BYRON BROWN for Mayor on the November 2nd ballot. When I was elected in 2005, I promised that I would work to revitalize our City, build a safer, smarter, stronger Buffalo and ensure that every community shares in our opportunity and our success. And we’ve made incredible progress. I’m running in the General Election because there is far too much at stake to stop now. We cannot afford to turn back Buffalo’s progress.^[75]

Our platform is centered on people and rooted in love, with the belief that equity and justice are essential.

We believe in love for community, respect for culture, and reverence of resources. We believe that housing, healthcare, healthy food, and a quality education are basic human rights; and when we invest in our community, we create the conditions where all residents feel valued and can thrive.

Buffalo is rich in resources. From our waterfront location to our wonderful arts and cultural community, it has many economic engines. We envision a Buffalo where people are housed, healthy, and have the agency to live to their full potential. As we have built our platform in a community with stakeholders, we invite everyone to send suggestions to info@indiawalton.com.

Getting Serious About Public Safety
2021 has been a devastating year for gun violence and homicide in Buffalo for as long as we can remember.

Year after year, the current administration invests in one policy response, to the exclusion of all others: heavier policing, more aggressive prosecutions, and harsher punishments. Clearly, this approach to public safety has been a catastrophic failure.

From her experience as a Registered Nurse, trailblazing community organizer, survivor of violence, and executive director of a democratically-run housing development corporation, India Walton is dedicated to a holistic approach to public safety.

In the old approach, the answer for every social ill is more policing. As a result, we ask our law enforcement officers to take time away from solving crimes to perform a whole host of other functions, for which they are not trained and should not be held responsible.

India’s approach is evidence-based, data-driven, and founded on proven practices in Buffalo and elsewhere. Our city already has promising models to point to, in Buffalo SNUG and BRAVE, and the University of Buffalo’s pioneering work of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design to draw from.

There are viable solutions for us to implement, if our vision is bold enough, and if we are politically courageous enough to finally get serious about public safety.

No. 1: Safe Neighborhoods

For too long, gun violence and other forms of violent crime have made Buffalonians afraid to walk the streets in our own neighborhoods. It’s time we addressed the root causes of violence before harm occurs, rather than simply punishing it after the fact.

Priorities in City Hall:

Life Camp

Erica Ford’s pathbreaking LIFE Camp model is a multi-faceted approach to interrupting violence. Violence Intervention and Prevention Specialists (VIPS), teams of credible messengers with histories of violence themselves, canvass neighborhoods daily, mediating conflicts, de-escalating gun violence, educating the community, and mentoring youth. Additionally, Life Camp provides therapeutic services, including yoga and art therapy, to help heal our communities’ abundant traumas.

Lastly, Life Camp provides wraparound services to those adjacent to violence, including financial literacy classes, technology learning labs, and more. New York City’s Crisis Management System (CMS), of which Life Camp was a founding member and key architect, accomplished a stunning 15 percent decline in shootings in the 17 highest violence precincts in New York City.

Mobile Crisis Teams

New York City’s Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division (B-HEARD) has achieved impressive results in its pilot program this summer. B-HEARD sends out mobile crisis teams staffed by therapists, social workers and other trained mental health professionals as a non-violent first responder corps for calls involving mental health crises, such as suicide attempts, substance misuse and serious mental illness.

In 95% of cases, people accepted care from the B-HEARD team, 13% higher than when the response team includes police, and only 50% of people treated by B-HEARD were transported to the hospital, a 32% reduction from police-involved 911 responses.

No. 2: Safe Schools

As a former school nurse, India knows firsthand the factors that increase the danger of violence in schools. There are perfectly viable solutions to address these factors without resorting to criminalizing our youth and funnelling them into a pipeline to prison

Priorities in City Hall:

Reduce Class Sizes

Overcrowded classes overwhelm already strained teachers and administrators, frustrate students who need individual attention, and dramatically increase the likelihood of classroom conflicts to boil over into violence. Only with adequately funded public schools and robust staffing support can we assure that students will develop sufficiently solid relationships with educators to solve violence.

Invest In Student Care

Every single student deserves ongoing and regular mental health and wellness checks from a guidance counselor, youth therapist or school nurse. If we invest in hiring those professionals, instead of school police, we will be able to provide much greater support to the students in the greatest danger of finding themselves in violent conflicts.

No. 2: Safe Housing

Our unhoused neighbors face terrible dangers of violence and illness. Their desperate circumstances increase the risk of property crimes and other public hazards. Abundant affordable housing is a vital pillar of any evidence-based public safety strategy, and as an accomplished housing development executive, India possesses the knowledge necessary to enact a successful housing program.

Priorities In City Hall:

Non-Violent Homeless Outreach

Asking the BPD to evict encampments and relocate our unhoused neighbors pulls them away from law enforcement and crime investigations, and increases the risk of violent interactions on the street. Instead, we need mental health professionals, community organizers, and other trained experts to help connect people to housing and services.

Democratic Real Estate Development

When we outsource the development of our city’s housing stock to private real estate moguls, the priority becomes developers’ profits, not the housing needs of our communities. We need to support community land trusts to enable communities to democratically direct their own development, and guarantee livable, decent housing to all residents, on a permanent basis.

No. 4: Safe Hospitals

As a former critical care nurse, India knows very well how dangerous hospitals can be. In high-stress life-or-death environments, tense situations can rapidly escalate, which is why nurses and hospital workers face some of the highest rates of workplace violence.

Priorities In City Hall:

Safe Staffing Ratios

When nurses are stretched to their limits by overwhelming patient loads, wait times grow longer and stress levels increase, giving rise to dangerous conditions for patients, their loved ones, and hospital staff. Only by working with organized labor and state legislators to guarante safe nurse-to-patient ratios can we ensure timely care and quality attention paid to our neighbors in need.

Medical Social Workers

Additionally, we must invest in trained medical social workers to defuse potentially explosive situations by connecting people to services and helping patients and their families navigate an all-too-complicated healthcare system.

No. 5: Safe Streets

Too many of our neighbors are injured or killed in traffic collisions and automotive accidents. As a proud member of the coalition that defeated the current administration’s disastrous school speed zone camera initiative, India is well versed in the traffic safety policy landscape.

Priorities In City Hall:

Infrastructure Improvements

Street design changes and infrastructure investments are proven to reduce incidents of traffic collisions much more effectively than routine traffic stops. Priority improvements include a citywide network of physically protected bike and bus lanes, widened and accessible sidewalks, speed bumps in problem areas, and narrowed roadways.

Steamline Investigations

Collision investigation responsibilities should be moved from the police department to the Department of Transportation, expanding its focus from merely determining criminality for individual crashes, to more broadly assessing factors underlying traffic risk. This would streamline the process of transforming the findings of traffic investigations into strategic recommendations for life-saving infrastructure improvements.

No. 6: Safety From Gender Violence And Sexual Assault

As a survivor of domestic abuse, India has an all-too-intimate understanding of the resources and systems needed to address sexual and intimate partner violence.

Priorities In City Hall:

Support Survivors

Survivors of domestic or sexual violence, too often reliant on their abusors for economic footing, need community-based supports to find safety. We should be investing in trauma-informed mental and physical healthcare, housing services, childcare, and the other pillars of a life independent of a violent partner

Restorative Justice

In order to move those who have harmed others along a path to accountability, amends, growth, and healing, and protect potential future survivors, we must invest in non-carceral community-based support services and restorative justice programs.

Building A Healthy Community
We need to address the social detriments of health.

One Tuesday, back when I was serving as a nurse in the Buffalo Public School system, a group of sisters who had contracted head lice came to see me. I called their mother and told her she had to pick them up from school, but assured her that, if she gave them a good shampooing, I’d check their scalps the next day, and clear them to return to the classroom. She told me that they would have to stay out until the following Monday, because her paycheck wouldn’t come until Friday.

These girls were bright students, and they were going to have to miss three days of school, because their mother couldn’t afford a five-dollar bottle of shampoo. Right then, it hit me: to truly maximize my impact on the health of my neighbors, I had to turn my focus from individual patients to society at large.

The fact is, a lot of children came to see me not because they were physically ill, but because they bore the symptoms of a society plagued by concentrated poverty, structural racism, and endemic community violence.

Public health researchers refer to these as “social determinants of health.” I’ve heard it said that a person’s health outcomes have more to do with their zip code than their genetic code. We need massive changes to our healthcare system, but no matter how good we make it, it will only provide harm reduction, if our society keeps making us sick in the first place.

We need to address the “social determinants of health.”

No. 1: Green Job Creation Is Healthcare

Buffalo continues to be one of the poorest American cities of its size. Poverty means processed foods, low-quality healthcare services, and living in the vicinity of mold, lead, and other pollutants that make us sick. A healthy Buffalo will require the creation of good paying green jobs by fostering worker-owned small businesses that keep the money right here in Buffalo.

By investing in a low-carbon, good-job economy with thriving worker-owned businesses, we can transform Buffalo from one of the poorest cities in the country to a model of economic growth. This in turn will reduce the number one factor leading to illness, building a healthy Buffalo for future generations.

Out-Of-Town Corporations

• Wealthy, remote CEOs overwork and underpay workers in order to increase profits to shareholders.
• Have no trouble polluting the communities where production occurs, since the owners live far away.
• Can generate profits by relocating production centers to regions with lower wages and fewer labor and environmental protections.

Local Co-Ops

• Worker-owners decide together how the business is run and what happens with the profits.
• Protect the community from pollution, since the owners are the very workers who live nearby.
• Keep jobs in the neighborhood, becoming anchor institutions in the community, never leaving workers high and dry.

No. 2: Housing Is Healthcare

A dependable, comfortable home is a pillar of a dignified life and a healthy body. Those who live on the streets, in shelters, or under the stress of bouncing from couch to couch are at much greater risk for violence, disease, and illness-producing stress.

My administration will be an energetic partner in cultivating a citywide federation of Community Land Trusts like the one for which I was the founding Executive Director. We will devote much of the city’s significant holdings in vacant lands to this model of neighborhood self-development.

Housing For Profit

• Billionaires capture public subsidies to develop luxury housing that leaves behind low-income communities.
• Homelessness, savings-depleting rent hikes, and gentrification that prices people of color out of longstanding communities.
• City Hall becomes captured by the interests of real estate interests, and prioritizes their profits.
• City Hall pushes the city to the brink of bankruptcy shelling out windfall tax breaks to wealthy and well-connected developers.
• Temporary housing, the threat of eviction and homelessness, neighborhoods that lack networks of long-lasting relationships.

Community Land Trust Federation

• Communities democratically develop themselves, so as to meet their own needs and cultivate their own neighborhoods.
• Land taken off the market, insulating residents from the threat of forced displacement.
• City Hall remains accountable to everyday residents and families, and prioritizes our quality of life.
• City Hall guarantees truly affordable housing, on a permanent basis, to working class Buffalonians.
• Permanently affordable housing, freedom from fear, the conditions necessary to grow deep community ties.

No. 3: Education Is Healthcare

Oftentimes, schools are the only refuge students have from violence and poverty, the only place they are reliably fed, and the only environment where they have adult mentors with the resources and wherewithal to provide attention and guidance. We must fully fund high quality, trauma-informed, culturally- and linguistically-responsive public education, both universal pre-k and K-12.

My administration will establish a dedicated line of funding to Buffalo Public Schools, separate from the general fund, to enable them to begin to make necessary investments. We will establish partnerships between BPS and community organizations, which will include paid internships for students. And we will improve communication and transparency between the City and the Board of Education.

Corporate Education

• Children reduced to scores on standardized tests, trained to be obedient, and denied world-class arts, emotional, social, and sexual education.
• Students policed, surveilled, and funnelled into a pipeline to prison.
• Teachers blamed for all negative educational outcomes and held to unreasonable standards of student success.
• Students without broadband internet are left at a disadvantage relative to more affluent peers.

"Whole Child" Education

• Student’s intellectual health, mental health, emotional health, sexual health, and ability to form and cultivate healthy relationships all prioritized.
• Investments made in school nurses, youth therapists, and guidance counselors.
• Poverty, racism, and violence acknowledged as social determinants of educational outcomes.
• Universal broadband ensures all students have equitable access to educational opportunities.

No. 4: Climate Justice Is Healthcare

As long as we breathe dirty air, drink contaminated water, and eat food from poisoned soil, we will continue to be a city plagued by illness. The amount of lead flowing through the blood of our babies is an utter disgrace, and a profound stain on the current administration. Needless to say, the impact of lead poisoning has been disparate by race, class, and neighborhood, with the most marginalized, impoverished, and historically oppressed communities suffering the worst.

For the health of our children, families, and communities, it is imperative that we invest in environmental protection and energy conservation.

Priorities In City Hall:

• We will vigorously pursue all resources available at the municipal, county, state and federal levels to remediate the lead poisoning that has plagued our city for too long.
• We will create and energetically implement a robust “Re-Tree” initiative in East Buffalo.
• We will convert City of Buffalo fleets to electric cars.
• We will establish a sustainable workforce roundtable to inform new, green workforce initiatives.
• We will convene city officials and community leaders to produce Buffalo’s first comprehensive Climate Action Plan.
• We will establish an office of sustainability to monitor efforts to reduce emissions and facilitate a plan to move to renewable energy.
• We will develop an improved stormwater management plan.

No. 5: Police Accountability Is Healthcare

For Black Buffalonians like me, a given interaction with a police officer is as likely to be terrifying as comforting: The experience of utter powerlessness in the face of an armed agent who can act with impunity is traumatic. That pervasive fear compounds our collective anger at injustice to create toxic stress.

This is terrible for the mental health and physical well-being of especially Black Buffalonians. Healthy neighborhoods free from fear, violence, and anger at injustice require accountability for bad actors in law enforcement.

Priorities In City Hall:

• We will vigorously pursue all resources available at the Work with the Buffalo Common Council to amend the city charter to establish an independent oversight body with investigatory and subpoena power.
• Make police data public to the extent allowed by law including data on racial disparities in stops and arrests, officer disciplinary records, the number of officers who live outside the city, and an inventory of weapons and military equipment owned by BPD.
• Order the Law Department to conduct a full review of the city's ability to discipline and fire bad police officers, and to defend disciplinary decisions to the fullest possible extent. determinants of educational outcomes.
• Create a task force to investigate every police officer and fire or demote officers with consistently bad records.
• Mandate unpaid leave for police officers being investigated for police brutality.
• Codify public participation in union contract negotiations to the extent allowed by law and ensure meaningful ongoing public input into all police department functions and union contract negotiations and cement this public right into the future by law.
• Provide resources for law enforcement suicide prevention and access to mental health services for officers.

Public Safety
India will bring accountability, transparency, and community-centered service to the Buffalo Police Department (BPD). She will prioritize addressing the root causes of crime such as concentrated poverty and lack of living-wage jobs; emphasizing harm reduction and restorative justice programs rather than punitive measures.

Download India’s Policy Agenda on Public Safety

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• Remove police from responding to most mental health calls and work with County and BPD leaders to establish a new response to crisis mental health calls that utilize mental health professionals.
• End enforcement of low-level drug possession by directing police not to arrest people for simple possession of a small number of drugs and paraphernalia like syringes.
• Order the Law Department to conduct a full review of the city's ability to discipline and fire bad police officers, and to defend disciplinary decisions to the fullest possible extent.
• Make police data public to the extent allowed by law including data on racial disparities in stops and arrests, officer disciplinary records, the number of officers who live outside the city, and an inventory of weapons and military equipment owned by BPD.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Work with the Buffalo Common Council to amend the city charter to establish an independent oversight body with investigatory and subpoena power.
• Train officers in trauma-informed care and implicit bias.
• Increase the number of trained community-oriented officers.
• Mandate unpaid leave for police officers being investigated for police brutality.
• Establish a civilian Traffic Safety Division to enforce routine traffic safety laws and remove police from routine traffic enforcement.
• Create a task force to investigate every police officer and fire or demote officers with consistently bad records.

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Create unarmed public safety detail to address quality of life and social calls to 911, freeing trained police officers to focus on solving crime.
• Fund and expand proven public safety programs such as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) and violence interruption programs like Advance Peace.
• Invest in crime prevention strategies such as youth employment programs like Mayor’s Summer Youth, and crime prevention through environmental design.
• Codify public participation in union contract negotiations to the extent allowed by law and ensure meaningful ongoing public input into all police department functions and union contract negotiations and cement this public right into the future by law.

Housing
Housing is a human right. As mayor, India will use her experience creating permanently affordable housing to address the longstanding affordable housing crisis in Buffalo. She will work to ensure that all Buffalonians can live in safe and healthy neighborhoods while ensuring a just and equitable recovery from the pandemic.

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• Sign the Tenant’s Bill of Rights to strengthen local protections for renters.

• The 2019 NYS Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act allows municipalities to opt in to rent stabilization. Completing a vacancy study is the first step a municipality must take to be eligible for rent stabilization. Rochester has already begun working on its vacancy study.

• Provide financial relief to small landlords in exchange for rent forgiveness for tenants.
• Direct the city’s Department of Permit and Inspection Services to put an emergency stay on the demolition of historically designated buildings such as the Willert Park/A.D. Price courts.
• Landlord registration:

• Create and publicize a user-friendly online portal where tenants can type in a property address to get landlord information, including the history of property violations.
• Require LLCs to disclose contact information and addresses of interested parties.
• Increase regulations and requirements for property maintenance agencies.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Implement a comprehensive land-use policy that sets aside 50% of city-owned vacant parcels for the public good.
• Allow for longer grace periods to cure past-due taxes and user fees prior to foreclosure actions.
• Create a pot of funds to assist homeowners who have fallen behind on their property taxes due to an unexpected hardship (job loss, medical bills, etc.). This could provide one-time payments to assist homeowners in getting back on track to pay their taxes, which would save many from unnecessary and devastating foreclosure.
• Give communities control to democratically regulate themselves through establishing ground-up neighborhood planning efforts. Work with block clubs and existing community organizations to create Just Neighborhood Plans that empower residents to take control of the regulation of their own neighborhoods (by forming neighborhood committees) including the power to approve or deny planning & zoning.

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Support the creation and capacity of a city-wide land trust federation with democratic decision-making at the neighborhood level.
• Repair and redress the harm done to public housing, and allow for greater resident control of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority.
• Implement Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) upon enactment by the NYS legislature. This means that when a property goes up for sale, existing tenants will have the first option to purchase the property. TOPA programs provide funding and technical assistance for tenants to do this. If a tenant does not want the ability to purchase, they can assign their right to purchase the property to a local non-profit housing agency, which will then manage the property. TOPA is a powerful anti-displacement and wealth generation tool.

Immigration
As mayor, India will represent all residents of the City of Buffalo and give voice to individuals whether they have resided here for a lifetime or have newly arrived in our city. She will allocate resources to improve accessibility to city services, increase legal aid for immigrants, and end all forms of local police collaboration with immigration enforcement.

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• Declare Buffalo a sanctuary city, which means that city employees will NOT use city resources to:

• Assist or cooperate with any ICE investigation, detention, or arrest relating to alleged violations of the civil provisions of federal immigration law.
• Ask about immigration status on any application for city benefits, services, or opportunities, except as required by federal or state statute, regulation, or court decision.
• Limit city services or benefits based on immigration status, unless required by federal or state statute or regulation, public assistance criteria, or court decision.
• Provide information about the release status or personal information of any individual, except in limited circumstances when law enforcement may respond to ICE requests for notification about when an individual will be released from custody.
• Detain an individual on the basis of a civil immigration detainer after that individual becomes eligible for release from custody.

• End BPD cooperation with ICE. As mayor, India will be transparent with immigrant communities by enacting written legislation/policy that bars information sharing between local law enforcement (BPD) and ICE and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials.
• Ensure that all city agencies work for the needs of all residents, regardless of their immigration status. City agencies will maintain open dialogue and ongoing outreach with the communities they serve.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Dedicate funding for legal services that offer options to grant fee waivers for adjustment of status fees, work permit fees, citizenship fees, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) fees.
• Improve outreach and accessibility for the Office of New Americans, which should act as a liaison offering funding opportunities for all organizations providing direct services, community education, and advocacy to immigrant communities.
• Improve accessibility to city agency services through improved/expanded language access. All residents should be aware of and be able to access the resources and services available to them in the language they prefer to speak in.

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Actively recruit multilingual officers to serve communities and increase trust between new residents and police.
• Increase civic participation by all residents through the establishment and facilitation of neighborhood caucuses that encourage democratic participation regardless of voting/immigration status.

Pandemic Recovery
India will advance a just recovery from the pandemic, putting peoples' health and well-being first by strengthening social safety nets, supporting essential workers and training new workers for the just transition to an inclusive economy; and improving public spaces and reclaiming streets to ensure liveable local communities for all.

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• Establish clear lines of communication between City Hall staff and the community.
• Work with experts to create a publicly available crisis response plan that ensures our most vulnerable community members are supported during all phases of recovery.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Reduce barriers to assistance for tenants, landlords, homeowners, and small businesses; especially in communities underserved by traditional financial institutions.

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Work with existing community centers and organizations so resources and mutual aid can be democratically governed and deployed efficiently and at the neighborhood level.

The Arts
As Mayor of Buffalo, India will commit to invest in frontline arts organizations with consistent annual funding. She will ensure funding is distributed equitably and that currently underserved communities are given access.

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• Establish a more transparent and democratic model in which more arts organizations and artists can be engaged in the city’s public art initiatives.
• Commit to commissioning local and underrepresented artists and art forms for city contracts.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Invest in front-line arts organizations with consistent dedicated funding.
• Create arts programming to reach immigrant, differently-abled, and low-income members of our community.
• Create/identify non-permitting areas of the city dedicated to public art. These are “free zones” where Buffalo city residents can gather to perform, create, and experience art without the need for a permit.
• Advocate for more union jobs in Buffalo's growing film industry and seek more state support for projects both big and small
• Incorporate more educational opportunities to public school students and local college graduates to get more involved in the local film industry

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Establish Buffalo as an international destination for arts and culture.
• Treat the arts as the economic driver it is and ensure that city infrastructure, policy and budget allocations reflect that.

Climate
Buffalo has been designated a climate refuge city—we need to prepare for that future while prioritizing our people and habitat in the present. As mayor, India will hold polluters accountable, preserve and protect our waterways, and promote energy conservation programs.

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• India will implement and support the goals of the NYS Climate Leadership and Protection Investments Act.
• Convene city officials and community leaders to produce Buffalo’s first comprehensive Climate Action Plan.
• Establish a sustainable workforce roundtable to inform new, green workforce initiatives.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Improved stormwater management plan.
• Establish an office of sustainability to monitor efforts to reduce emissions and facilitate a plan to move to renewable energy.
• Engage in regional climate initiatives to work with other municipalities to advance our climate goals.

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Convert City of Buffalo fleets to electric cars.
• Update the green code to provide for aspects of zoning that make strong, resilient, climate-safe communities.
• Create and implement a “Re-Tree” initiative in East Buffalo.

Economic Development
India will ensure that resources are invested in both the basic needs of our most vulnerable residents and the tools that create a vibrant and sustainable local economy. She will focus on cooperatively-owned businesses, green jobs, and democratic control of land instead of trickle-down policies and subsidies that have increased income inequality.

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• Commit to full Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) compliance for city-funded projects.
• Prioritize small and minority-owned local businesses through the RFP process to increase successful bids for small, local contractors.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Add new procurement criteria and set measurable benchmarks to grant more contracts to locally-owned, independent businesses, minority, and women-owned businesses, and to buy more environmentally sustainable goods and services.
• Make appointments based on expertise, diversity, and inclusion, rather than political patronage.

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Work to establish a public bank. India will advocate for this at the state level, and ensure it is a priority to invest our city dollars in a public bank that invests in our community— not in fossil fuels or carceral institutions to make profits.
• Establish a comprehensive and transparent participatory budgeting process.

Education
India will be a strong and involved partner with the Board of Education and Buffalo Public Schools. As mayor, she will work to build a coalition of education advocates with representatives from the Board of Education, Buffalo Teachers Federation, the Common Council, and the greater Buffalo community to stress the importance of education in our city. True progressive leadership takes a stand on important issues, and Buffalo deserves clear, concise, and timely information from the mayor’s office in regards to educational issues and our children’s health and well-being.

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• Appoint a staff person to attend BoE meetings and maintain an open line of communication with Board members, administrators, and staff.
• Support the whole-child, whole-school, whole-community agenda of trauma-informed and culturally and linguistically responsive teaching.
• Advocate for locally sourced and culturally appropriate meal options for all students.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Create a dedicated budget line for BPS separate and apart from the general fund.

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Partner with local companies, nonprofits, colleges and universities, and city departments to create paid internships for students. Paid employment opportunities promote college and career readiness, improve family health and safety, and help students build confidence alongside their résumés.

Food Access
India will support community-based initiatives to increase access to fresh and healthy food, including neighborhood-owned grocery stores, community gardens, and open-air markets.

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• Work with the Common Council to amend food-store licensing requirements to include fresh produce.
• Pre-identify lots appropriate for community gardens, and ensure access to water.
• Prohibit discrimination of breastfeeding mothers in the workplace and in public places where a mother and child would otherwise be present.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Support community-based initiatives to increase access to fresh and healthy food, including neighborhood-owned grocery stores, community gardens, and farmers’ markets.

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Ensure access to healthy, culturally appropriate, and affordable food for all residents regardless of income, and promote personal wellness.
• Reduce the disparities in health outcomes by allocating resources to deploy community health workers in target zip codes.
• Provide a tax credit against the city's personal property tax imposed on qualified supermarkets within defined “food-desert incentive areas.”

Infrastructure
As mayor, India will improve the state of our streets by using capital improvement funding for Complete Streets designs, such as more crosswalks, wider sidewalks, and traffic calming practices that increase accessibility and safety, and reduce reliance on enforcement.

Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):

• Halt the school-zone camera program.
• Pilot a Municipal Sidewalk Snow Removal Program targeting shared walkways in high-pedestrian traffic areas.
• Implement Snow and Ice Clearing Assistance Programs employing neighborhood youth servicing seniors and homeowners unable to clear snow.
• Target infrastructure investments to create safe streets, calming traffic, and increasing accessibility for people of all ages and abilities.

Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):

• Reduce the speed limit on residential streets to 25mph citywide.
• Create a municipal broadband network to expand access to affordable high-speed internet across the city, particularly in underserved neighborhoods.
• Commit more funding for the maintenance of sidewalks, roads, signs, streetlights, and street furniture.
• Color bike lanes, crosswalks, and school zones to slow traffic and alert drivers to changes in speed limits and traffic patterns.

Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):

• Bring municipal snow removal to scale.^[75]

Prevent Socialism From Taking Root In Buffalo
Buffalo is on the verge of becoming the first American city in over 60 years to elect a socialist. Socialism has failed every time it has been implemented. Cuba is the most recent and obvious example. I’m entering this race to provide voters with a choice other than socialism or the status quo.

Make Buffalo Schools A Model For The Nation By Bringing Together Buffalo's Chefs, Restaurants, And Farmers To Develop Nutritious Meals For Our Children
Both of my parents were in education before they retired. My dad was a school principal and my mom was an English teacher. My parents instilled in me the value of a good education from an early age. While I understand that we can’t fix Buffalo’s schools overnight, one thing we can do immediately is make sure every Buffalo student has access to good healthy food. I’ll work with local chefs, restaurants, and farms to get a sustainable program off the ground my first year in office.

Implement A Two-Term Limit For Every Elected Office In Buffalo, Including Mayor
Byron Brown is the poster child for why term limits are so desperately needed. When a politician stays in office too long, complacency and arrogance set in. If the common council fails to address the issue of term limits, I will commit to serving no more than two terms.

Community Engagement
I will meet monthly with Block Club presidents. The purpose of the meetings will be to listen to the concerns of citizens from all over the city, and to inform residents about new initiatives and services. By the end of my first term in office I will be on a first name basis with every Block Club president. My staff will also work with the community to set up new Block Clubs all over the city.

Maintain Funding For Law Enforcement
Ironically, the only area of funding that India Walton wants to cut is the one area that needs its funding preserved: law enforcement. The increase in crime under Brown’s neglect is unacceptable, and India Walton’s plan to defund the police is more than idiotic, it’s downright dangerous. I will help foster a better relationship between police officers and the community they serve. Community policing is vital to the safety of a neighborhood. As Mayor, there is no obligation I will take more seriously than keeping our streets safe.

While I support adequate funding for police, it does not mean a blind eye should be turned when an officer commits a criminal act. I attended the first BLM protest in downtown Buffalo in May 2020. After the sun went down, the police were ordered to clear Niagara Square. I joined in solidarity with other peaceful protesters and refused to yield my First Amendment rights. When ordered to leave, I sat on the ground. When ordered to stand up, I lied down. Peaceful civil disobedience prevailed that evening. Unfortunately, instead of adopting the model of peaceful civil disobedience that Gandhi, MLK, and John Lewis pioneered, Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA spread horrific violence all over our county last summer, and the Democrats egged them on. It’s one of the main reasons I no longer identify as a Democrat.

Make City Hall Work for Everyone, Not Just The Connected
When I’m Mayor, no one will be cutting the line to get cooperation from City Hall. And I’ll work to simplify the building code to spark new development. Everyone knows what it takes to get a project developed under Byron Brown’s corrupt regime, but what India Walton is proposing makes Brown’s cronyism almost seem appealing. When I’m mayor, all citizens and all developers will be treated equally.

End Party Politics In Buffalo
I’m not running as a Democrat or a Republican, just a concerned but hopeful Buffalonian. When I get to City Hall, I will work with everyone, regardless of party affiliation. No party has a monopoly on good ideas. I’m not looking to reach across the aisle, I want to remove the aisle altogether.

More Tree And Less Telephone Poles
My administration will set a goal to have all utilities buried underground by the end of my first term. This will reduce power outages during bad winter storms, and it will end the need to constantly cut limbs off of trees to accommodate ever spreading power, telephone, and cable lines. For every telephone pole that comes down a new tree will be planted in its place.^[75]