Talk:Byron Brown

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Former good articleByron Brown was one of the Social sciences and society good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Did You Know Article milestones
DateProcessResult
January 11, 2009Good article nomineeListed
February 10, 2009Featured article candidateNot promoted
February 22, 2023Good article reassessmentDelisted
Did You Know A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on November 28, 2008.
The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Byron Brown was the first African-American to be elected mayor of Buffalo, New York, even though six African-Americans had been the nominee before him?
Current status: Delisted good article

Birth date[edit]

Do we know his age? --BDD 18:25, 17 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

We do now.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 22:15, 23 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Opinion/racism?[edit]

  • "Was elected under a deal with the former mayor, where Masiello agreed not to run again in exchange for the party quashing any opposition to his 2000 re-election.

Essentially Brown was appointed mayor, because he is black. Has never held a real job in his life, and chose to stay in Buffalo because he could use his color to advantage."

I took out the uncited, blistering allegations and opinions against Mayor Brown. Perhaps if someone can cite and objectify them, they might have a place under criticism.--Ccoolidge 22:50, 28 March 2007 (UTC)ccoolidge

Early Life/Biography?[edit]

Would like to know a little more information about early life, family, associations, friends, passions, etc. 24.24.232.218 (talk) 15:02, 4 August 2008 (UTC)Greygf[reply]

Why is there no information on who his birth parents are? Who was Byron Brown Sr., and whats his story. Who is his mother?Djh42883 (talk) 06:54, 5 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review[edit]

This review is transcluded from Talk:Byron Brown/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

There's a lot to like here; the foundation of a good article is definitely present. The writing still needs quite a bit of work, and there are some problems with neutrality, however.

I've started reviewing your changes and comments. As I go through, I'll bold anything that I think requires further attention. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 21:47, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Update: All concerns have now been addressed, and the article is a GA. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 13:20, 26 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well-written[edit]

This could use quite a bit of work:

  • "...was elected on November 8, 2005 as the 58th mayor of Buffalo, New York; He is the first African American mayor elected to serve Buffalo." - I think this should be retooled so as to avoid repeating "mayor", "elected" and/or "Buffalo". Maybe something like "...was elected on November 8, 2005 as the 58th mayor of Buffalo, New York and is the city's first African American mayor"?**Good advice.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 04:17, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • "...as a member of the New York State Senate and as a member of the Buffalo Common Council." To avoid repetition, this should be reworded to something like "...as a member of the New York State Senate and the Buffalo Common Council".
    • Almost. I think proper parallel structure requires two ofs though.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 04:20, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
      • It depends where you put the invisible parentheses: It can be "...as a member of (the New York State Senate) and (the Buffalo Common Council)." or "...as a member (of the New York State Senate) and (of the Buffalo Common Council)." I'm not going to insist on mine, though. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 21:47, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • "As a State Senator, he was the first African-American elected to the New York State Senate to represent a district outside of New York City." The words "As a State Senator" don't serve any purpose here.
  • "Before these elective offices..." First of all, this is the second consecutive sentence to use the root "elective offic", which should probably be changed. Second, which offices are being referred to? The preceding part of the paragraph doesn't refer to Brown filling elected offices at all, but to working as an aide and with a regional political organization.
  • "He was born and raised in Queens, New York." This seems out of order - if this is going to be dealt with in the same paragraph as the beginnings of his political career, it should probably come before.
  • "Both he and former Buffalo mayor Grover Cleveland originally came from the New York City region." I can't fathom the relevance of this (besides that, it appears only in the lead, and therefore isn't summarizing anything in the article - it also isn't cited).
  • "As a downstate native and upstate servant..." I take this to mean that he was born downstate but is active in upstate politics, but I'm not sure it's clear.
  • "...he has also been active on the statewide political front..." Since this sentence appears to refer to a specific past event (i.e. the 2006 gubernatorial election), the past tense would probably be better: "...he was also active...".
    • I use the chosen tense to demonstrate that this activity may be ongoing. I don't believe he stopped doing this in 2006. I am sure he continues to have an interest in statewide activities, since he is a statewide candidate himself.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 04:47, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
      • Hmm. In light of that, how about changing it from "he has been active on the statewide political front with endorsements of..." to something like "he has been active on the statewide political front, such as by endorsing..."? That way, it's clear that the endorsements are just examples of his statewide activities. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 21:47, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • The sentence structure in a few places gets pretty repetitive. An example would be the third paragraph of the lead, in which the last four sentences are structured essentially identically.
  • "His legacy as mayor is his development of the Buffalo waterfront." First, he's still mayor, so it seems a little premature to talk about his legacy. Second, I'm concerned that "legacy" tends to be a POV term, in that politicians' legacies are usually debated; could this be changed to something like "He has made the development of the Buffalo waterfront a priority"?
  • "As a Queens resident, he was a New York Mets fan as well as a New York Knicks fan." Unnecessary repetition.
  • There are a few places that the sentences don't flow very well. An example is the first sentence of "Background", in which you go from talking about where he was born to his grandparents' ancestry to where he grew up to his pro sports allegiances to his father's professional background and so on. I think this paragraph, as well as several others, could use a reorganization for coherence.
    • I have reorganized the two paragraphs as three. I hope this helps. If you trace the history of this or almost any article in which I am a major encyclopedic content contributor you will note that I generally add one cited sentence at a time. Sometimes, I rush and slap a sentence in in the wrong place. Given the detail of the following comments, I am assuming you note most times where this causes a problem.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:12, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Brown attended Public School 134 in Hollis, where he attended school in a suit and tie on his first day of first grade." Unnecessary repetition of "attended".
  • "Brown continues to be what is referred to as a suit-and-tie guy." What does this mean?
    • I have met Brown on multiple occasions (even on weekends) and I only remember seeing him wear a suit. I have changed the article in a way that my personal knowledge meshes with the secondary source and improves the article.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:12, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
      • Okay, though I'm not sure how noteworthy it is that a politician at his level has a "proclivity to wearing suits". Sarcasticidealist (talk) 22:35, 23 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • "In high school, he played the trumpet in the school band and in college as a 5-foot-11-inch (1.8 m) guard he played a year of Junior Varsity basketball while dabbling with a potential medical career." I'd break this into two sentences, as I think the second independent clause is probably too long to be just tacked on to the first. As well, it deals with his activities at college, which are primarily dealt with later in the paragraph.
  • "...a position that came with a nice salary..." I find the wording here a little colloquial.
  • "With visions of a glass ceiling..." First of all, I'd suggest a wikilink to glass ceiling. Second, the source says "He liked the job but quickly realized sales was not going to get him into the upper echelons of corporate communications."; I'm not sure "glass ceiling" is a reasonable interpretation of what that says.
  • "...two more years working for Arthur Eve..." Since these are his only two years working for Eve, I'd suggest eliminating the word "more".
  • "After eight years of service, he resigned in July 1993 to run for public office." First of all, I think the root "serv" is overused in this paragraph; I'd suggest rewording some of its uses. Second, we learned just last sentence that he spent eight years in this position, so repeating it here probably isn't helpful.
  • "Later Brown became a member of "Grassroots," which was founded in 1986 by a group of block club leaders." I'd suggest that rather than specifying when it was founded (and what are "block clubs", anyway?) first priority should be given to a brief explanation of what the organization is (which currently doesn't appear until the end of the paragraph). Actually, I think the paragraph in its entirety reads pretty jumpily, and could do with a rewrite.
  • "...as one the "30 Leaders of the Future." with a caption..." Is there a reason for that period
  • "In 1993 he was selected by Business First to its "40 Under Forty Honor Roll."" I don't think you can be "selected to" something, can you? Either "named to" or "selected for" seem better.
  • "In 2001, he was awarded the Infinity Broadcasting/WBLK "Voice of Power Award" and the “Citizen of the Year” award in 2004." *"In 2001" is situated in such a way as to modify the entire independent clause, but clearly it's not intended to modify the "and the "Citizen of the Year" award" portion.
  • "He was originally been pledged..." "been" should probably be deleted.
  • This is more personal preference than anything, but I find some of the sections very short (the five immediately after "History" are all quite short, which I think hurts the article's fluidity). Just have a look and see if you agree and, if you don't, ignore me.
    • I think I have edited the sentences following your suggestions above so I don't quite see the problem where you are pointing. However, as I have explained I find a fact and add a sentence one by one. This sometimes creates flow problems.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 17:11, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
      • I wasn't talking about the sentences, but the sections themselves, which are quite short. If you like them like that, by all means leave them; my personal preference is that the shorter ones be merged or otherwise reorganized. This is bolded not so much because it's an ongoing problem but because I wanted to make sure that you'd read my clarification. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 23:10, 23 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • "In 1993, Brown was invited to attend Bill Clinton's Inauguration." This sentence is very out of place and has no relationship to the section heading or any of the other material in the section.
  • "the endorsement of Eve" How about "Eve's endorsement"?
  • "June of 1993" Per WP:MONTH, the word "of" shouldn't be there.
  • Brown is referred to by name six times in the very short "Buffalo city council" section, including at the beginning of each of the first three sentences. I'd suggest mixing it up with some pronouns.
  • "...he won the November 2 general election." I'd suggest getting rid of the word "he".
    • For the purpose of citation placement (which must follow a punctuation), I prefer to conjoin the phrases with "comma and subject" rather than just and.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 17:24, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
      • That's acceptable (I still think less than ideal, but it's not a GA-breaker). Sarcasticidealist (talk) 23:10, 23 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Brown enjoyed serving..." The source doesn't appear to say anything about Brown enjoying this, and even if it did I don't think such a narrative description of the subject's feelings would be suitable for an encyclopaedia article.
  • Brown is again referred to by name six times in the also quite short "State senate service" section.
  • "Senator Brown" appears twice in the article, and "Mayor Brown" four times; per WP:MOSBIO, professional titles should be omitted, and subjects should be referred to by last name only.
  • "...the state's agreed 18% cut..." This seems a little colloquial - how about "share" instead of "cut"?
  • "In the 2004 elections, Al Coppola opposed Brown as the Republican nominee..." A couple of problems here: first, given that the previous sentence deals with Brown's decision to run for mayor, "the 2004 elections" initially appears to mean mayoral elections, which isn't what's intended. Second "as the Republican nominee" is an ambiguous modifier, that could apply to either Coppola or Brown (I assume it's intended to be Coppola).
  • "Four candidates, including Brown, quickly emerged for the race, and eventually a total of six candidates contested for the office." This sentence is badly written. I'd suggest rewriting to something like "Six candidates, including Brown, entered the race to replace him." (does it matter that four of them emerged quickly, especially if you're not naming who they were?).
  • "but Brown accumulated many endorsements and the backing of organized labor." I don't think the word "but" should be there at all (what's this sentence contrasting with?), but if it is it should be capitalized.
  • Brown's name continued to be overused in the "Mayoral election" section, and also in the "Mayoral service" and "Personal" sections.
  • "Brown was the sixth African-American to win the Democratic Mayor Primary since the 1960s, but all before him had failed to win the general election even though the city had not elected a Republican since 1961." The way this parses is that there have been six African American Democratic candidates for Mayor, but all of them were defeated by candidates other than Republican candidates. If that's what the sentence is intended to say, then all's well; I just found it surprising.
        • Actually, no, this sentence is highly incorrect! The New York Times article is just saying he was the sixth African American Democratic possibility to become mayor, but nothing about *any* of the prior five winning the Democratic primary. Indeed, it is counterfactual because since the mid-1960's all the mayors have been Democratic, and all of them presumably have won their party's nomination in order to run in the general election. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.96.52.172 (talk) 02:40, 21 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • "His Republican opponent, Kevin Helfer, beat him on the Conservative Party Primary" That should be "in the Conservative Party Primary", no?
  • "Brown outdrew Helfer by more than 5:1 in terms of fundraising, however. Brown carried 64% of the vote in the general election to Helfer's 27%." How about merging these sentences, to "Brown raised more than five times Helfer's money, however, and defeated in 64% to 27% in the general election."?
  • "...in favor of the third casino which seemed to cater..." A comma is required here.
  • "...there was a consideration of boycotting the special election due to a perceived racial slight." This is badly worded: the passive voice is much too prevalent, and it's not at all clear what racial slight you're talking about.
  • "...neither of the previous State Senators turned Mayor Anthony Masiello nor James Griffin..." This doesn't work as worded. It needs to be either "neither Anthony Masiello nor James Griffin, the previous State Senators turned mayor..." or "neither of the previous State Senators turned mayor, Anthony Masiello and James Griffin,..."
  • "Lenihan noted that Thompson had not been timely..." This is the second straight sentence to begin with Lenihan's name; perhaps it could be merged with the previous one?
  • "...Democratic New York Attorney General candidate, Andrew Cuomo." There shouldn't be a comma here, as Andrew Cuomo is the object of the sentence.
  • "...the nomination of Cuomo..." Better as "Cuomo's nomination".
  • "...on his road victory." Should that be "road to victory"?
  • "Brown was a supporter of United States Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton." I'd suggest either "a supporter of New York Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton" or "a supporter of Hilary Rodham Clinton, the United States Senator from New York".
  • I'm not sure the "Political dealings" section should be under "Mayoral service", since it doesn't seem to have anything to do with his work as mayor. Maybe it could be worked in with "Higher office", which is quite short, to create a single section on his federal and state activities while mayor?
  • I'm not sure what the blizzard relief stuff has to do with the "Crime and poverty" section it's found in.
    • The story is that what ever actions were taken when the electricity went out there was no crime under such conditions where alarm systems do not work.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 19:58, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Although Mayor Brown called Russert..." I'm not sure what purpose "although" serves here.
  • "Brown was joined by several other officials in recognizing Russert when United States President George W. Bush signed a bill..." Which other officials recognized Russert when Bush signed this bill?
  • "He enjoys basketball and has attended high-level youth basketball camps. He played for City Honors School. On the national level, he was an unheralded point guard in the 2008 high school graduating class, and he went on to attend Queen City Prep in Charlotte, North Carolina." It's not clear whether this is referring to Byron Sr. or Jr.
  • "...he sat on the Board of the Boy Scout Council of Western New York. and the Community Action Organization of Erie County." That first period clearly shouldn't be there.
  • "He was a delegate to the 1992, 2000 and 2004 Democratic National Convention" "Convention" should be pluralized.
  • The last paragraph of the article is quite disjointed.
  • "Brown announced that Byron Brown III, took the senior Brown's car..." That comma shouldn't be there.
  • "...driving without a driver's license and/or leaving the scenes of multiple accidents." "and/or"? Shouldn't it be clear what the charges were?

Factually accurate and verifiable[edit]

Only minor issues here; I have the impression that the material is all sourced, but that an occasional lack of inline citations sometimes makes it hard to tell which source supports a given assertion. Examples:

Besides those cases, there are a few cases where the information in the article doesn't appear to match the sources:

  • "The city, which had a 6:1 Democrat to Republican ratio" This reference says it's 8:1: [1]
  • "Prior to Paterson's ascension to the governor's office Cuomo, Paterson and Brown were the three names most often mentioned." I don't think the source allows you to state that as fact; what the source says is that one consultant said that those were the three names he had heard most often.
  • "...they have a son, Byron III (Byron, Jr. by some accounts)." The only source provided seems to call him Byron Jr., not Byron III.

This now passes the factually accurate criterion. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 21:25, 23 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Broad in its coverage[edit]

Mostly excellent. Some minor quibbles:

  • "Subsequently, he served eight years as director of the Erie County division of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission..." Since the EEOC isn't wikilinked, would it be possible to briefly describe what it does?
  • I gather from the bit about Grassroots that Brown had a falling out with Eve. Is there any information available on that?
    • I am up against data limitations. My Buffalo News archive begins 1/1/89. Brown stopped working for Eve in 1985, which would have been when any falling out occurred. I can not find it easily.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 05:30, 14 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
      • Fair enough - that could become a concern at FAC, but I don't think it's essential for GA status. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 03:54, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • "... the "Harlem Clubhouse" that had dominated state politics." Some timeframe of this organization's dominance may be helpful, as might a brief explanation of what it is.
  • "...and faced a former City Council colleague in the general election." The colleague/opponent should probably be named.
  • "At that time restoration on the original point where the Erie Canal met the Great Lakes was underway. Brown presented his plans for the development on tours by top state leaders, including future New York State Governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson." I find this a little unclear: it sounds as though this was in progress already (since it was underway on his first day in office); is there room for elaboration on exactly what Brown's role with this was?
  • According to a New York Times article in February 2007, after courts ruled that the National Indian Gaming Commission's actions were improper, "the judge ordered the commission to reconsider, which could take six months." That six months would have elapsed in August 2007; is there anything new to report?
  • "Brown even ran to be a delegate for Clinton at the 2008 Democratic National Convention." Did he win?
    • dunno.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 06:42, 14 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
      • I'd almost say that it isn't worth including unless you can say how his candidacy turned out. Almost. Up to you; as a reader I find it frustrating, but I don't think the Good Article Criteria require either including or deleting. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 03:54, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • "During the New York state September primary elections for state office, The New York Times alleged that Brown was aiding Golisano's attempt to unseat Sam Hoyt in the New York State Assembly." This sentence could use some context.
  • "He was scheduled to appear on April 16 in Buffalo CIty Court on the charges." I presume from the rest of the paragraph that that's April 2007; has there been no update? Also, the I should be decapitalized.
    • I presume the story was kept quiet because I can not find out anything further even in the local Buffalo paper.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 06:29, 14 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
      • Same comment as for primary elections. My first reaction is that if nobody reported the results of the charges, the charges themselves may not be important enough to include. Again, though, your call. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 03:54, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I believe this article now meets the good article criterion on comprehensiveness. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 03:54, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Neutral[edit]

There are some issues here:

  • "He was considered to be an ineffective but amiable Mayor." This is sourced to an opinion column, in which the column's author indeed refers to him as ineffective and amiable, but that isn't nearly sufficient sourcing to state, as fact, that this was the prevailing opinion about him.
  • "...noted that the Buffalo economy would not benefit from a business designed to transfer money from local citizens to the Seneca Gaming Corporation." The word "noted" implies fact; given that it's an opinion being expressed here, I think a different word might be better - perhaps "suggested" or "argued"?
  • "The Republican Party nominee was the lightly-regarded Harrison R. Woolworth." I'm a little bit uneasy about calling him "lightly-regarded", though the single source provided does appear to support this. What about calling him something less subjective, like "politically inexperienced" or similar?
  • "He also made history by becoming the first minority member of the New York State Senate to represent a majority white district." "Made history" is something of a peacock term.
  • "...a wake up call for Brown who had been endorsed by the Party." This seems like editorializing.
  • "The program may have large benefits nonetheless because abandoned house costs the city an approximate average of $20,060 over five years in lost taxes, debris removal, inspections, and policing." The bit about having "large benefits nonetheless" sounds very much like editorializing; I think the facts could be included without that particular preface.
  • "...was both unusual and touching." Stating as fact that a gesture was "touching" is clear editorializing.

All neutrality issues addressed - it now passes this criterion. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 21:52, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Stable[edit]

One minor edit in the last eighteen days, no evidence of edit-warring at any time. Pass. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 15:26, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Illustrated, if possible, by images[edit]

Good image choices, all of them appropriately-licensed. Pass. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 15:26, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Election results[edit]

I just noticed Kirsten E. Gillibrand solved the minor party problem of New York State as follows. I will try to do something like this tonight for Brown:

Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct
2006 Kirsten E. Gillibrand 125,168 53% John E. Sweeney 110,554 47% *
Democratic 116,416 Republican 94,093
Working Families 8,752 Conservative 9,869
Independence 6,592
2008 Kirsten E. Gillibrand 193,651 62% Sandy Treadwell 118,031 38% *
Democratic 178,996 Republican 99,930
Working Families 14,655 Conservative 10,077
Independence 8,024

Rough attempt[edit]

Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct Conservative Votes Pct Right to Life Votes Pct
2000 NYSS 57th[1] Byron Brown 48,683 59.77% Bob Woolworth 12,542 15.40% Al Coppola 18,938 23.25% Anthony Murty 1,285 1.58%
Democratic 47,011 Republican 11,069 Conservative 13,501 Right to Life 1,285
Liberal 1,672 Independence 1,473 Green Party 3,385
Workers 2,052
2002 NYSS 60th[2] Byron Brown 43,260 65.14% Al Coppola 23,154 34.86%
Democratic 41,436 Republican 20,236
Liberal 1,824 Conservative 2,918
2004 NYSS 60th[3] Byron Brown 75,031 77.07% Al Coppola 22,328 22.93%
Democratic 65,609 Republican 22,328
Independence 3,736
Conservative 1,990
Workers 3,696
2005 Buffalo Mayor[4] Byron Brown 46,613 63.79% Kevin Helfer 19,853 27.17% Judith S. Einach 3,525 4.82% Charles J. Flynn 3,082 4.22%
Democratic 43,541 Republican 17,680 Green Party 3,525 Independence 3,082
Working Families 3,072 Conservative 2,173
  1. ^ "2000 New York State Senate" (PDF). New York State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
  2. ^ "2002 New York State Senate" (PDF). New York State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
  3. ^ "2004 New York State Senate" (PDF). New York State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
  4. ^ Results of the 2005 Buffalo mayoral election, Erie County Board of Elections (recieved upon request by email from the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, 2005 {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by TonyTheTiger (talk • contribs) 20:48, 27 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mayoral Election Results[edit]

I was unable to find official 2005 Mayoral Election Results. The text is an email that I received after making an online query following is somewhat WP:OR, but somewhat valid WP:PRIMARY:

Hello - Thank you for contacting the Buffalo and Erie County Library.

I searched the City of Buffalo webiste, the Erie County Board of Elections website, and the NY State Board of Elections website and was uable to find any official information on the 2005 Buffalo Mayoral Election results.

However, I contacted the Erie County Board of Elections and was told that the official election results can be mailed to you if you like. They were able to read the results to me over the phone, but were not able to electronically send them to me.

These are the results I was told over the phone:

Byron Brown: Democratic Party - 43,541 Working Families - 3,072

Kevin Helfer: Republican Party - 17,680 Conservative - 2,173

Total for Byron Brown - 46,613 Total for Kevin Helfer - 19,853

Other Candidates: Judith S. Einach - 3,525 Charles J. Flynn - 3,082


However, if you need a print copy of the official results, you can contact the Erie County Board of Elections Directly at: 134 West Eagle St. Buffalo, NY 14202 MAIN (716) 858-8891

I did find an article in the Buffalo News Archives; "Brown defeats Helfer 64% - 27% - Vote signals mandate from city voters," an article from November 9th, 2005. This does list some general numbers from the election, although I'm not sure they could be considered official.

The article is at the bottom of this email.

I hope this information is useful for you.

Thank You - Buffalo & Erie County Public Library

LK/SJL — Preceding unsigned comment added by TonyTheTiger (talk • contribs) 22:59, 28 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As I said on Tony's talk page, if the Board of Elections will send this information to anybody who asks, I think it's verifiable. Per WP:PRIMARY, no inferences or interpretations can be drawn from this data, but if we're just talking about including the information I'd say go for it (even if there's a little WP:IAR required). Though it still blows my mind that this information hasn't been covered by the news media or publishe%d online by the Board of Electors. Sarcasticidealist (talk) 23:08, 28 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I tried to verify the 99% that he the article says he received in 2009. I know he won big but if truly did get 99% being a voting resident I think I would remember it. Even though I have Excel 2010 Starter and tried twice; I was unable to obtain the information that is supposedly on the website. Makes me wonder if the Board making it difficult to obtain the information is to help it to fail to comply with freedom of information which is widespread in Erie County.1archie99 (talk) 23:18, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Just noticed that the article states he ran unopposed in 2009 yet in the graphs the Republican column has Kearns in it as 158 votes. Also Kearns is stated as having received 158 writein votes. Seems that correction and/or an explanation is needed. Cannot understand why the Board of Electors is run by the two major parties; this makes it inherently corrupt against anyone not affiliated with either of the two major parties.1archie99 (talk) 23:39, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Suit and Tie[edit]

The following text from former versions of the article has been contentious:

Brown attended Public School 134 in Hollis, where he went to class in a suit and tie on his first day of first grade. Brown continues to be what is referred to as a "suit-and-tie guy", for his habit of wearing suits.[1][url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:BNWB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10D0995C89AD4B80&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420]


The text of the original secondary source says : "The fresh-faced first-grader, outgoing, ambitious and well-mannered above all else, arrived at Public School 134 in Hollis, Queens, eager to make a statement.

He did it by showing up in a suit and tie, the only boy in his class to dress up for the first day of school.

To this day, Byron W. Brown is a suit-and-tie guy. Inside and outside. "[1][url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:BNWB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10D0995C89AD4B80&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420]


I have since notice more about Brown's fashion sense: "Mr. Brown, 42, a slight man who is always impeccably dressed"[2][url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00EEDD143EF93BA25753C1A9669C8B63]

It seems to me that his fashion sense is a bit more important than we noticed at first. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TonyTheTiger (talk • contribs) 01:33, 7 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm fine with a mention of his fashion sense (though I'm still not convinced it's warranted), but I think it should be something less oblique than "he's known as a suit and tie guy". Sarcasticidealist (talk) 04:32, 7 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
What would be acceptable language?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 06:56, 7 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Corruption allegations in the media[edit]

Brown is a fairly large political figure in the state with regular mentions in The New York Times for his various dealings. I find it hard to justify that there is no mention of these corruption allegations in the NYT, yet we insist on having a section in WP for them. I personally would prefer that for any of Browns political affairs that the bar for notability be set at a mention in the NYT.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 00:56, 11 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • This is ridiculous. The entire article for Byron Brown has been obviously written by someone either in his administration or by someone paid to glorify him. Saying that "only one source should be used" because it doesn't mention Brown's flaws and scandals is against Wikipedia's principals, and you should be ashamed for even attempting to do it. Of all the politicians that deserve a long and detailed Wikipedia entry, Brown is probably the least-deserving. He hasn't done anything for the city of Buffalo, and his City Hall has had more controversy than any mayoral administration in my lifetime. He sucks, I'm sorry. TheNewMinistry (talk) 14:51, 6 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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GA Reassessment[edit]

Byron Brown[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch • Watch article reassessment page • Most recent review
Result: Delisted. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 19:12, 22 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Article has been tagged as an advertisement since 2021. I share concerns about neutrality. There are elements that are too positive, but the article also has a controversy section,(WP:CSECTION).

  • Article uses a facebook post by Brown to talk about endorsements
  • Third paragraph of early career lists distinctions, which I believe needs culling
  • Last paragraph early elective experience is also bit too positive. Unclear why he was called James Bond..
  • Sentences like: " By January 2009 State of the City Address, Brown reported that crime had fallen 12% and homicide by 50% since he had taken office". As numbers can be cherrypicked, these should come from a secondary source. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 19:35, 15 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
  1. ^ a b Fairbanks, Phil (2005-10-02). "Two who would be mayor - An achiever since boyhood, Brown is disciplined, polished -- and 'sphinxlike'". The Buffalo News. Newsbank. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  2. ^ Hicks, Jonathan P. (2000-10-18). "To Be State Senator, He Must Beat the Incumbent, Again". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
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