Brown wins election, Croce barricades another bar and Mac has had enough of it...

I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!

Byron Brown

On December 31, 2005 Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown was sworn into office. Since then it has been one allegation of corruption or abuse of power after another. Whether it is the "One Sunset Fiasco" the multiple FBI investigations or his, then, under age unlicensed son stealing his car and crashing it all over Buffalo.

Political pundits and the equally corrupted Buffalo News all argued that if Brown lost this year's Mayoral Primary Election to South Buffalo native Michael "Mickey" Kearns that it would be a return to the days of "Six Pack" Jimmy Griffin.

The guilt by association tactic used on Kearns, who is from the same neighborhood as Former Mayor Griffin, seems to have worked. What the Buffalo News failed to report and what the Political Pundits did not want the good people of Buffalo to realize is that most of the people who supported Griffin from South Buffalo, the people who received patronage jobs from Griffin, didn't want Kearns in office.

Why you may ask? Because all of the supporters and pundits from the Griffin days were all well taken care of with patronage jobs they received under the Brown administration.

Brown said that if Kearns was elected to office that he would divert money away from poorer neighborhoods on the East Side and reroute it to South Buffalo. Brown's administration has actually proven itself guilty of it's own slander. Brown's administration diverted money from the East Side of Buffalo and gave the Money to former NBA player Leonard Stokes to open up the failed "One Sunset" restaurant.

$90,000 of the $160,000 loaned by the City of Buffalo to Mr. Stokes has virtually disappeared according to City Hall's accountants.

Then as of to make matters worse for the already embattled Mayor, it is now being reported that when Stokes was found to have a stolen handicapped tag for his vehicle Brown allegedly got Stokes off the hook after Stokes was taken to Brown's office the day he was arrested. Brown as usual refuses to address this or any issue insisting it is just "dirty politics."

The Brown Administration is now also under fire for allegations of voter fraud by deciding to keep certain polling places open later than they were supposed to be. There are also allegations that voters in poor neighborhoods were being coerced into voting with offers of a free bag of groceries.

Local Buffalo developer Carl Paladino has also recently made allegations that the Brown Administration has been running a "pay to play" policy within their administration as well.

Mark Croce

Another source of a lot of Buffalo's problems lie with Mark Croce. The local restaurateur and parking lot conglomerate has done some fairly shady things over the years. Croce, who started his career as a Deli owner and allegedly lived out of his car at one point has made a big name for himself. He has also become too big for his britches. both literally and figuratively.

My first interaction with Mark Croce was in 2005 when My cousin opened a Bar on Pearl Street behind Shea's. Croce, who owns the parking lot which surrounds it immediately proved himself to be an uncontainable ball breaker. We were hassled about using the back door or parking by it momentarily to load or unload anything and constantly harassed by his staff.

Nine times out of ten the lot was unattended. This meant paying at a prepay terminal. However the terminal was constantly broken. Croce's company would actually print up official looking tickets and leave them on your window. First time $30, second time $60 and third time? Towed or booted.

The only problem with this is it is illegal for a private company to write parking citations. Only the the City of Buffalo has the authority to do this. Unfortunately for most people they do not realize this and assume it is a valid city parking ticket and insert a check or money order into the prepaid envelope which is sent to a P.O. box which Croce owns.

Unfortunately with the pay to play mentality which was mentioned before, the City of Buffalo: Parking Violations Bureau will not do anything to stop it. Although they do not advise paying them.

The final straw was the barricading of our aforementioned back door by Mark Croce, who insisted the bar staff were shooting fireworks at his lot attendants. The City sided with Croce and the Fire Marshall allowed the barricade and lowered our occupancy limit. Ultimately one of the reasons business began to decline.

Fast forward four years to present day. Croce has moved on from simple harassment to extortion. When Club W opened on Delaware, Croce's mouth piece for his parking endeavours came in and offered the owners a lease on four spots outside of the back door of the bar for $150 each a month. Not overly unreasonable. A little pricey but I have seen people get gouged worse. Within no time the price rose to $400 dollars a spot each and every month. Most bookies don't even charge a vig like that. Twenty thousand dollars a year for four parking spaces.

When the owners refused to be taken advantage of any longer and gave up the spots they were met with multiple visits from the Fire Marshall. To make matters worse Croce was back to his old tricks. Barricading doors. Occupancy went from somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 people to somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 people.

Croce has now focused his efforts on the new owners of Crocodile Bar. They as well were tired of being taken for an exorbitant amount of money for having their back door accessible. So Croce barricaded their back door as well.

Chris Wahl from Club W recently appeared on the evening news discussing the issues they were having with Croce. He can probably expect a visit from the Fire Marshall any day now. That aside though, it's about time someone stood up to Croce.

Mark Croce has endangered the lives of everyone in those establishments if there is ever an emergency such as a fire or an explosion. near the front doors. However Croce is unrepentant and unapologetic. He has even gone so far as to show up with Buffalo Police Officers at Club W threatening to press charges if the barricades are removed.

Croce, who owns the Buffalo Chophouse, D'arcy McGee's, Laughlin's and the Buckin' Buffalo, seems like he does not want competition or free enterprise in Buffalo. It appears he is happier just trying to be the only gig in town. well played Croce, oh, and I have news for you, The Chophouse sucks, Prime 490 or E.B. Greens makes a hell of a lot better steak for nearly half the price.

Until next time kids... Don't drink anything I wouldn't...

Mac The Bartender