White House Advisor Tom Perez Visits Buffalo

On behalf of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, White House Senior Advisor Tom Perez visited Buffalo on Tuesday.

He began his tour on Main Street, where the Cars Sharing Main Street project, a project aimed at opening up car traffic, is underway. He and Mayor Byron Brown walked the street in the afternoon, seeing progress on the project that has received federal and state funding.

Perez, a Buffalo native, has watched the neighborhood change over the years and read stories from Main Street business owners about the lack of traffic for store owners.

“They felt like we had to do something. And because the mayor is a great listener and his council colleagues are great listeners, we can, again, with partners across federal, state and local governments, watch this renaissance continue,” Perez said. .

Perez continued his tour of projects supported by federal funds by visiting the Kensington Expressway, a project aimed at reconnecting the west and east sides of Buffalo. He says the highway has created a division within the Buffalo community.

“This project was about, you know, making sure that everyone in the community could understand what communities should be doing, which is coming together,” he said.

Perez pledged to continue the partnership between the city and the federal government and continue to listen to the community. He then stopped at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue, the site where nearly two years ago, 10 black people were killed and three others injured in a racially motivated mass shooting. There, he discussed the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce gun violence across the country.

“We need to do much more,” Perez said. “And I’m so proud of this visit that we had here today, we went to a number of places to look at Buffalo and, you know, as the president said in his state of the state address of the Union, across this country, there are cities experiencing a remarkable revival. It’s one of the best stories that too few people know.

Perez ended his tour with a roundtable discussion of leaders of Buffalo’s black community.

“My mother taught me two eyes, two ears, one mouth for a reason,” he said. “What I hope to do for the rest is listen to you and learn from you about what we can do to help the community.”

In addition to discussing potential improvements, Perez and local leaders also highlighted accomplishments made by members of the Buffalo community.