As the powers-that-be in Western New York begin the process of potentially identifying a solution to the Buffalo Bills’ stadium needs, one politician insists that the public deserves a seat at the table. Or at least a spot in the room.
Per the Buffalo News, New York Assemblyman Michael P. Kearns believes the state’s Open Meetings Law applies to the sessions.
Those opposed to open meetings cite the importance of discretion and strategy.
“We’ll be dealing with potential sites for a stadium, and don’t want to forecast that because it could lead to land speculation and possibly hike prices,” Deputy County Executive Richard M. Tobe told the Buffalo News.
Kearns nevertheless plans to introduce legislation aimed at ensuring the meetings are open. If he’s right that the law already contemplates that the meetings will be open, he wouldn’t need new legislation; he’d merely need a lawyer.
Regardless, it’s another twist for a process that could go a long way toward determining whether the Bills wind up in a new city. The local urgency could be enough to ensure that, one way or another, the meetings will proceed in secrecy so that a plan can be formed and executed in the most efficient and effective way possible.