Mayor Brown vetoes bill that would aid arts groups

BuffaloNews.com reported about a new wrinkle surfaced in City Hall's plan to provide grants to dozens of arts and cultural groups after Mayor Byron W. Brown vetoed a Common Council bill.

Brown's office stressed that the mayor remains committed to providing one-time grants to arts organizations, but he objects to the way the Council has structured the aid.

As one of their final actions before leaving for summer break, lawmakers late last month unanimously approved a plan to channel $200,000 to city-based arts groups.

Under an informal deal that was hatched between the Council and the Brown administration, lawmakers would provide $100,000 from their budget lines, while the executive branch would provide another $100,000.

Mayoral spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said today that the administration remains committed to providing the money. But he said Brown objects the Council specifying how the entire $200,000 sum will be spent.

Lawmakers insist that the money should be channeled to 27 city-based arts groups that saw their Erie County funding eliminated. The Council wants to use the Funds for the Arts, a consortium of local foundations that has distributed aid to cultural groups, as a pass-through entity for the city aid.

While the mayor has "no problem" with any of the groups on the Council's list, DeGeorge said, Brown believes that he should have the right to establish his own process for distributing the $100,000 that his office is providing. All arts groups that are currently on the Council's list would be welcome to apply, as would other Buffalo-based cultural groups, DeGeorge said.

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