BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — As the 7 News I-Team continues pressing for answers about how decisions have been made, regarding the 5/14 Memorial, more questions are coming up about what's being kept from the public.
The 7 News I-Team has requested all emails sent to and from the 5/14 Memorial Commission, through an official open records request. This is something the 7 News I-Team has been working to get since December.
After being told those documents would be released Wednesday or Thursday, the City of Buffalo has yet to turn over those documents.
Since the beginning of December, the I-Team has been working to look at:
- how decisions are made
- with whom the commission is communicating
- who is handling these emails
The commission is supposed to be independent; free of city or state influence, yet the e-mail account is maintained by the City of Buffalo. Furthermore, a City of Buffalo spokesperson, Angelica Morrison, is responding to commission emails.
All of this, while we've been asking questions about how transparent this commission actually is, considering all commission meetings were closed to the public.
Commission Chairman Rev. Mark Blue says the commission has been transparent when asked why commission minutes haven't been posted since December.
"There's no disconnect," Rev. Blue said. "Even if you look on the website now, we've published everything."
WATCH: IS THE COMMISSION AS TRANSPARENT AS IT CLAIMS TO BE?
That was two weeks ago when the commission announced they had selected three finalists to move forward in the memorial design process. Even still, meeting minutes are missing.
The memorial commission is getting almost $1 million from state taxpayers, to build this memorial. The City of Buffalo taxpayers will also be funding the commission of this memorial, though it's still unclear how much.
DRANTCH: Any idea how much the city of Buffalo will be contributing?
MAYOR BROWN: The city is going to make that announcement soon. I think now that we're going to the phase where we're going to see the private sector, the private business community make contributions, the city will also come in with its contribution.
Our request for these emails, sent to and from the 5/14 Memorial email, has been pending for five months. That's outside any reasonable standard, set by Freedom of Information Law, which typically requires a response within 20 business days of the request.
The next 5/14 Commission Meeting is set for Tuesday, April 9, at 4:30 p.m. at Rich Products. It's the first time a commission meeting is open to the public.
