A One Term Mayor?

From the first time I saw Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan on television, something about his vibe struck me as “know-it-all.” That was my impression, fair or unfair. He seemed to project the certainty of someone convinced he was the smartest person in the room. We all know the type.

I have been hesitant to write about him because I wanted to give him a fair chance. A new mayor deserves time to establish himself, and it would be unreasonable to expect Ryan immediately to inspire the affection many residents felt for Byron Brown. Still, what stands out to me is the absence of something that cannot be supplied by a law degree, a policy briefing, or a press conference: a personality!

I remember Jimmy Griffin, the rough and-ready Irishman from the Old First Ward. Griffin could be blunt, combative, and downright cantankerous. Yet, to me, he was a likable curmudgeon, whose personality even some political opponents could appreciate. You knew who Jimmy Griffin was, and you rarely had to wonder what he thought.

Byron Brown had a different style. One of his greatest strengths, in my view, was the compassion and consideration he extended to his constituents. Brown won five mayoral elections, and I believe those personal connections helped sustain him. At many funerals I attended during the Brown administration, there was a proclamation, a representative from the mayor’s office, or some acknowledgment extending the city’s condolences.

When a family loses someone, a gesture from City Hall tells them that their loved one’s contributions were recognized. Friends and relatives remember that kindness long after the service ends. Recently, I have attended funerals for highly respected community servants that drew hundreds of mourners. At those services, I saw or heard no acknowledgment from Mayor Ryan’s office.

Meanwhile, Ryan has been involved in public disputes with members of the Common Council and the Seneca Nation. Disagreement comes with governing. A mayor sometimes must take an unpopular stand. But leadership also requires knowing how to build relationships and keep disagreements from defining an administration.

It makes me wonder whether Ryan could become the first one-term mayor since the 1950. What most do not know is prior to the 1950 most of the mayors in Buffalo history were one two-year term I’m not sure why but I suspect it was become government at that time was so corrupt that one term as a mayor was quite lucrative, and many walked away rich men. This brings back a story I overheard decades ago about the mayors of yester years.

In the late 1970s, while working through the CETA program, I was having lunch in the City Hall cafeteria. Nearby sat several older white men, including a recently retired sanitation worker. Their conversation turned to how he had first obtained his city job. According to his account, a Democratic committeeman told him to report to City Hall on a particular day during the Sedita administration and bring an envelope containing $100. He said he was directed to an office on the second floor, where he filled out an application and told to place it, along with the envelope, in a desk drawer. Within a week, he said, he was working. That story comes back to me whenever I hear someone insist that city employment in the old days was simply a matter of hiring the “best qualified.”

Mayor Ryan may have confidence in his answers. I am waiting to see is whether he can make people feel that he hears them.