Gregory B. Olma, fifth district County Legislator, a critic
of wasteful government programs, is the founder and a director of one of the most waste
fill government programs in Buffalo.
The East Buffalo Community
Ownership Project EBCOP has
received more than $900,000 in
taxpayer's money over the last
eight years to establish
homeownership in the Fillmore
district, yet has not succeeded in
producing a single new
homeowner.
"The fact is that Greg Olma's EBCOP has squandered all the
money that it received while accomplishing absolutely nothing,"
said William Wilkins who is leading a coalition of community ac-
tivists to call for an end to
EBCOP's funding.
After a housing study commissioned by the city gave EBCOP
a scathing review, city hall may
shut the non-productive program
down. Council President James
Pitts thinks the program is prob-
ably doomed. "Based upon the
housing study, I think (EBCOP)
is going to be eliminated," said
Pitts. "EBCOP's purpose was
very innovative. But the result
has been a disaster."
EBCOP'S Story
In 1988, amidst great fanfare,
Fillmore Councilman David
Franczyk and his then legislative
assistant, Gregory B. Olma, an-
nounced that they had obtained
$330,000, for a new housing pro-
gram, founded by and under the
direction of Olma. In one of
Franczyk's campaign fliers in
1989, he boasts, "this
program....will promote home
ownership and drive slumlords
out of Fillmore." The program
had a unique twist: a buyer of an
EBCOP property would only
own the home, but not the land it
sat on. The land itself would remain the property of EBCOP. In
this way, Olma explained how the
organization can control who can
buy and sell these properties for
the good of the neighborhood."
Surprisingly, after 12 years, the project has met none of its
goals and worse has become a
slumlord itself adding to the de-
cay and blight of the district.
Many of the EBCOP houses are
vacant and boarded. Some, such
as 42 Peck and 909 Sycamore,
have been vacant for more than
six years, adding to the blighted
look of their neighborhoods.
Olma admitted that the program has not been successful
thus far, but expressed hope that
they might soon procure its first
purchaser.
But Pitts isn't buying it. He
indicated that the program's real
weakness was its management. "Good people and sound man-
agement were lacking. I don't
believe (EBCOP) is savable."
Olma, however, rebuts that the
sole problem with EBCOP is that
it did not get enough money and
only needs more city funding and
time to make it a successful program.
Pitts disagreed. "It's absolutely not true. I think the city
has been kind allowing the program to exist without any pro-
duction. If Mr. Olma feels that
way, he should provide more
county funding."
But has EBCOP been entirely
unsuccessful?
To date, EBCOP has purchased 10 properties, paying
about $115,000 for them. Most
of the properties were purchased
in 1993. There has not been a
new purchase in more than five
years.
In addition to the purchase
money, EBCOP received from
Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency,
another $200,000 was obtained
to rehabilitate the ten properties,
most of which were badly in dis-
repair at the time they were purchased.
Housing Study Rates EBCOP Performance
A recent housing study commissioned by the city of Buffalo
notes EBCOP'S overall "poor
performance record."
Olma indicated EBCOP was
misunderstood and that the spe-
cial nature of the EBCOP program required unique evaluation.
"I told them what to look at,
but they didn't," Olma said.
The Human Service Development Corp, of Coming, New
York, the consultants hired by the
city to conduct the study, noting
the poor condition of many of
EBCOP'S properties in spite of
the large amount of tax money
spent to repair them, wrote: "The
organization has struggled with
construction management."
The so called "struggle" may
be an understatement indeed.
Hundreds of thousands were
spent to repair EBCOP houses.
But instead of improving the
properties, amazingly most
EBCOP properties went from
bad to worse.
EBCOP Rescues Bank At Taxpayer Expense
One property, which was donated to EBCOP by M&T bank,
actually had to be demolished at
taxpayer's expense, after Olma
insisted on EBCOP'S taking the
property, off M&T'S hands.
After EBCOP paid to demolish the property, at a cost of
around $12,000, the vacant lot
was sold to the next door neigh-
bor for around $1,000.
"There was just a total lack
of concern on Olma's part. He
wanted to do a political favor for
a friend at M&T, and then stuck
it to the taxpayer's when the
property had to be demolished,"
said Steve Godzisz who was the
neighbor who bought the lot.
"We had M&T before housing
court a dozen times on this der-
elict property and they were
squirming. Then one day Olma
shows up in court and says
EBCOP is buying it and will fix
it. A few months later, it was
demolished, and, instead of
M&T footing the bill, the taxpayers of Buffalo did."
Other questionable purchases
also have surfaced. Thomas
Everage, one of the leading appraisers in Buffalo, was asked to
appraise the EBCOP properties
and found that the total value of
all EBCOP homes was only
$64,000.
"Most of the homes EBCOP
owns are vacant. Several are
boarded up. Some will probably
have to be demolished," aid
Everage, who has been appraising property in Buffalo for more
than 25 years.
That $64,000 appraised figure, compared to the $330,000
Olma's EBCOP has invested,
means EBCOP has likely lost
taxpayers more than $266,000,
on the properties alone. But
much more tax money has been
spent.
Most of the Tax Money Went to Salaries
The loss of taxpayer monies
that was directly lost in purchases
and poorly performed rehabilitation is only a part of the taxpay-
ers' burden in the category of
waste. Besides the cost of the
properties, every year taxpayers
provided funding for employees
of EBCOP. More than $600,000
was paid to several administra-
tive employees, who were hired
to sell and manage the ten prop-
erties.
Amazingly, according to political observers, these employ-
ees were also some of the same
people who helped Olma and
Franczyk during their election
campaigns.
"It is a classic case of waste
and fraud," said Bill Wilkins, a
political observer. "Imagine
spending 60 to 90k per year to
oversee the sales of some ten
properties and never selling one
of them. Yet year in and year out, Olma's boys drew their salaries."
Pitts agrees, "based on
EBCOP's performance there is
no justification for it to continue
at taxpayer expense."
Olma is running for re-election
as fifth district County Legisla-
tor and faces a stiff challenge
from Village of Sloan Mayor Ken
Pokorsky. The fifth legislative
district includes parts of Fillmore
and Lovejoy Buffalo Council districts, including the Schiller Park
area, as well as Pine Ridge, and
other areas along Broadway in
Cheektowaga as far east as
Union, as well as the Village of
Sloan .
