Here’s another one that’s slipped through the imminent threat/CitiStat firewall.

Fix Buffalo posts about this house at 70 Riley Street:

Today I’m asking you for help. Please take a moment and call the Mayor’s Call and Resolution Center at 716-851-4890 or complete the form available from that link. Or if you prefer, contact Councilman Brian Davis who represents the Ellicott District where 70 Riley Street is located. He can be reached at 716-851-4980. In either case please let them know that 70 Riley Street is clearly beyond repair and should be demolished immediately.

Then go back and let him know in comments that you’ve called/complained.

Artvoice reports on the City Comptroller’s preliminary audit of the Mayor’s Impact Team, members of which were caught on video working on a supervisor’s home’s landscaping one day:

What we have found in our preliminary review of the Mayor’s Impact Team is a lack of controls across the board that in effect condones an environment where incidents like the one that allegedly occurred on April 25 can take place. Let me cite a few examples.

A spot check on May 13 at the Impact Team’s headquarters in Shoshone Park found time sheets that had been signed twice for the day, even though the workday was not yet complete. Also at Shoshone Park we discovered poor inventory controls with a lack of proper marking and reliance mostly on the memory of one employee.

We also found areas of concern regarding fuel, a costly item in the current economic environment. Four employees have access to the Fuelmaster system but gas cans can be filled for mowers and gas-powered equipment with no odometer readings, using instead the reading from the truck carrying the equipment. If a gas container can be filled, so can an unregistered vehicle, or at least topped off. Tighter controls are obviously needed.

As to the day in question, April 25, according to MIT officials, members of the Impact Team were absent without leave that afternoon when the work on the private residence took place. The sign-out sheets for that day indicate that two employees including the crew chief, who approved the time sheet, signed out at noon. Another worked signed in and out and later crossed his name out altogether.

After the fact, a slip requesting a day off for that employee appeared in Public Works offices, signed by the crew chief. There are no records to account for the use of city vehicles or equipment.

Read the whole post here.