City of Buffalo, NY Powers of the City

The city of Buffalo shall have all powers heretofore or hereafter conferred upon it by the constitution and the laws of the state of New York or pursuant to any other lawful authority. Those powers shall include the following:

(1)

To take, purchase, hold, lease, exchange, sell and convey real and personal property within and without the limits of the city for any municipal or public purpose or object.

(2)

To take by gift, grant, bequest and devise and to hold and administer real and personal property within and without the limits of the city, absolutely or in trust, for any public or municipal purpose, including the erection of statues and monuments, upon such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the grantor or donor and accepted by the city.

(3)

To take by eminent domain real property for any municipal or public purpose or object.

(4)

To take by eminent domain lands and property within the city or easements in such land and property owned or occupied by corporations or persons having the right of eminent domain and held or used for public purposes by such corporations or persons, but only such right, title or interest in such lands or property as may be necessary for the purposes of sewers, waterworks, canals, basins, slips, rivers, creeks and other public water improvements. Any work or improvement pursuant to the power granted under subdivision twelve of this section shall be deemed to be a public water improvement.

(5)

To take by eminent domain more land and property than is needed for actual construction in the laying out, widening, extending or relocating parks, public places, highways or streets when the council deems such taking necessary for the public interest and for the complete public enjoyment of such parks, public places, highways or streets; provided, however, that the additional land and property so authorized to be taken shall be no more than sufficient to form suitable building sites abutting on such park, public place, highway or street. After so much of the land and property has been appropriated for such park, public place, highway or street as in the discretion of the council is needed for the actual construction thereof, the remainder may be sold or leased by the city subject to any restrictions deemed necessary for public benefit.

(6)

To take in fee by eminent domain for public streets, alleys and squares the land situate within the boundaries of any of the public streets, alleys, and squares of the city which have been or shall have been used as such for more than ten years.

(7)

To lay out, establish, construct, maintain, light, improve and to enlarge, alter and discontinue and close to public travel, in whole or in part, streets, alleys, highways, and squares, and to regulate and control the acquisition, care, management and use thereof, and to remove therefrom all encroachments, obstructions and projections; to ascertain, establish and settle the boundaries thereof, and to establish and alter the grades thereof; to construct and maintain therein water mains and to construct and maintain, or permit the construction and maintenance therein of, gas mains and conduits; to divide the same into roadways and sidewalks, and to construct and maintain, or cause to be constructed and maintained, pavements and sidewalks, and to cause the same to be cleansed, and to construct and to maintain therein signs, standards and structures for the convenience and regulation of traffic.

(8)

To lay out, establish, construct, maintain, improve, alter and discontinue sewers and drainage systems and sewage disposal plants.

(9)

To lay out, establish, construct, maintain, light, improve, embellish, and to enlarge, alter and discontinue, in whole or in part, parks, parkways, park approaches and public grounds, and to regulate and control the acquisition, care, management and use thereof, and to remove therefrom all encroachments, obstructions and projections; to ascertain, establish and settle the boundaries thereof; to construct and maintain therein water mains and to construct and maintain, or permit the construction and maintenance therein of, gas mains and conduits; provided, however, that special state legislative authorization is required to discontinue public parkland; to construct and maintain roadways and sidewalks therein and to cause the same to be cleansed, and to construct and to maintain therein signs, standards and structures for the convenience and regulation of traffic.

(10)

To compel the owner or occupant of premises to construct, repair, maintain and cleanse, including the removal of snow or ice thereon, the sidewalks in front of his premises, to keep in repair driveways into his premises, to remove unlawful encroachments or obstructions or dangerous conditions in front of his premises, to lay water, sewer and gas service pipes from the main pipes to and beyond the curbline in front of his premises, to make safe or repair or tear down unsafe or dangerous structures upon his premises and to abate nuisances thereon, and if he fails to do so, as required by ordinance, to authorize the city to do the same and to recover the expense either by action or by local assessment on the premises, made, levied and collected as other local assessments under this act, in addition to any fine or penalty imposed for his failure to comply with such ordinance.

(11)

To lay out, establish, construct, maintain, improve, and to enlarge, alter and discontinue and close to public travel, in whole or in part, canals, basins, slips, and other public waters and to regulate and control the acquisition, care, management, navigation and use thereof, and to remove therefrom all encroachments, obstructions and projections, and to ascertain, establish and settle the boundaries thereof; to construct and maintain public wharves and docks along the public waters of said city and to require abutting owners along the public waters to construct and maintain retaining walls or other similar structures.

(12)

To widen, straighten, enlarge, clear from obstruction, dredge, deepen, embank and dyke the Buffalo river, Cazenovia creek, Black Rock harbor, the lake, basins, slips in the city, and to put and maintain in navigable condition all said waters in said city, except Cazenovia creek, and to construct new drainage channels to abate floods and prevent the overflow of the waters of the said Buffalo river and Cazenovia creek or either of them.

(13)

To establish, construct, and maintain, operate, alter and discontinue bridges, tunnels and ferries and approaches thereto.

(14)

To construct, maintain, operate and regulate the use of buildings and other structures for any public or municipal purpose.

(15)

To lay out, establish, construct, maintain, operate, alter and discontinue, and to regulate the use of markets, playgrounds and public places.

(16)

To construct and operate waterworks, paving, lighting, heating and power plants for the city and to purchase, construct, maintain and regulate works to provide the city and its inhabitants with light.

(17)

The city of Buffalo is hereby authorized and empowered to sell and dispose, outside the city, the surplus waters not required for the city and its inhabitants, produced by its waterworks system and plant, to any city, town, village or water district within the county of Erie, or to any part or district thereof, or to any of the inhabitants thereof, including any waterworks corporation conducting its water-works or a part thereof in any such city, town or village, under such terms and conditions as may be agreed to between the city of Buffalo and any such cities, towns, villages, districts, persons or corporations. Such agreement may be made for a period not exceeding five years and may thereafter be renewed for like periods.

(18)

To alter and to manage and regulate the existing systems of pensions in the police and fire departments; to authorize the mayor to offer a reward for the apprehensions of the perpetrators of crime committed within the city to be paid upon the conviction of such persons.

(19)

To regulate and license occupations and businesses.

(20)

To raise money to defray the cost of carrying on the city government and for the doing of any of the things authorized herein or by law, by general taxation, by local assessment or as otherwise provided by the local finance law.

(21)

To have all powers conferred on the city, its common council, officers, departments, boards, commissions and other agencies by this act, or by special act of the legislature of the state not repealed by this act, or by general law not inconsistent with this act; and the enumeration of specific powers in the preceding subdivisions of this section shall not operate to restrict the general grant of power contained in this subdivision or to exclude other powers comprehended in such general grant.

(22)

To do all things necessary to carry into effect the powers granted to it and the duties imposed upon it.