“We’re all nosy neighbors. We gotta be. We gotta watch out,” explained Stephanie Jeter sitting on the porch of her Blaine Avenue home.
Blaine Avenue in Buffalo’s Hamlin Park District is a pretty safe street. Just ask Jeter.
“I like most of all, the neighbors.”
Still, the 67-year-old said she worries about an increase in gun violence several blocks away. “They’re shooting girls, and kids, they’re shooting men waiting to go to work. There is a reckless abandonment for honor and faith,” she said.
That’s why Jeter said she’s glad to see the state making gun violence a priority.
Governor Cuomo’s Executive Orderat a glance:
-Requires Division of Criminal Justice Services to gather and share incident-level data weekly from local police departments on gun violence
-Creates an Office of Gun Violence Prevention to coordinate efforts and direct resources to emerging gun violence hot spots
-Creates new State Police Gun Trafficking Interdiction Unit to stop the flow of illegal guns into the state
-Invests $138.7 Million in intervention, prevention and jobs programs to engage at-risk youth and get young people off the streets
But, according Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Buffalo’s piece of the pie, the specific dollars, who will receive the money and the number of jobs created aren’t yet known. “Those are great questions and the answers are forthcoming. It’s going to the urban areas that need the most help,” Hochul said when asked by 7 Eyewitness News Reporter Ali Touhey.
According to State Senator Sean Ryan, unlike the pandemic’s state of emergency, which gave Governor Cuomo executive powers without legislative approval, the disaster emergency doesn’t give him additional authority on possible gun control reforms or spending policies.“The State of Emergency will allow him to say hey let’s change this $20 million for this public health issue and put it towards another public health issue. But, those powers are already inherently his.”
