• The proposed location: 379 Paderewski Dr. Fillmore District

    The proposed cost: $4,894,400

    To be in use for 25 years

    $1.5M in the form of city bonds (loans taken from the city) and $3.3M through the budget (other bonds)

    379 Paderewski History:

    - was the site of the historic Plewacki Post, an American Legion post named after Adam Plewacki-the first resident of the City of Buffalo to die during WWI.

    - has been a community anchor providing vital support to the Broadway-Fillmore community since 1948, most recently as the Matt Urban Hope Center.

  • Would:

    - Include an indoor shooting range for BPD and police departments

    - Be very expensive. Construction will cost taxpayers around $5 million but we will have to pay to staff and equip the facility on a yearly basis

    - Be built and used without transparency between BPD, the city, and residents

    Would not:

    - Be a police precinct

    - Be cost efficient

    - Decrease crime in the area

  • 1. There will be no police training facility build in the city of Buffalo

    2. An end to contracts between BPD and exploitative and invasive companies that have caused harm to the Buffalo community and other communities locally and globally (ie. Dataminr, Axon)

    3. The city of Buffalo must allocate funds to the community rather than to the police budget.

    We hope that with enough community and council member support, our city can get what it desperately needs; more community funding; more community centers and resources.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Contact your councilmember

Call your council member and demand the common council stop this facility, or at least delay construction until they hear more community input.

Need your councilmember’s contact information? Scan or click on QR code below.

Pack the chambers September 2nd

Common council votes September 2rd, 1pm, at City Hall. They will vote on an amendment changing the zoning at 379 Paderewski in order to begin construction. Tell your councilmember to vote “no” on this zoning amendment! Then, show up to council chambers the day/time they vote to apply pressure!*

Date and time: September 2nd, 2pm

Location: City Hall (65 Niagara street), 13th floor

*Showing up lets common council know that we are watching their vote and pressures them to follow through on decisions the community wants. Common council regular and committee meetings are always open to the public to attend.

Fill out the Communities Not Cops Interest Form

Click or scan the QR code to fill out our interest form, or visit our Get Involved page!

Organize with your neighbors

Organize with your neighbors: talk to your neighbors about what safety looks like in your neighborhood and how you can best keep each other safe; spread awareness about the facility, talk about what you really need as a community!

CAMPAIGN UPDATES

There’s still time to win this campaign and stop this facility from being built, and a big part of that is through building our own collective power. Please keep an eye out for ongoing updates.

Zoning amendment // July, August, September 2025

On July 29th, Common council held a public meeting to review a zoning amendment placed for 379 Paderewski, to change the zoning of this plot from “residential” to “mixed use.” This zoning change would allow a gun range for police to be built at 379 Paderewski. See the blog post for more information about this meeting held July 29th.

The final vote on this zoning amendment will take place at city hall on September 3rd, 2025, at 1pm. We are encouraging Broadway-Fillmore and adjacent residents to attend this meeting to apply pressure on the Common Council to stop or delay this change until they allow greater, accessible input on the police training facility and gun range project.

Reminder: Common Council is on break during the month of August. This may delay any attempts to get connected with them during this month.

Common Council Public Meeting// Ongoing

As far as our ask of the council to host a public hearing regarding the facility, the city has not yet scheduled. The city has been using bureaucratic loopholes that have significantly delayed the process of getting a public meeting.

We continue to apply pressure on common council, as well as Fillmore district councilmember Nowakowski, to hear out residents in a way that is physically accessible and language accessible.

There may be a “Community Town Hall,” hosted in the Broadway-Fillmore area, that is language accessible at the end of August. We will keep you update.

City Budget Hearing // April 29, 2025

During the Buffalo City Budget Hearing on April 29th, dozens of Buffalo residents, including many Communities Not Cops campaign volunteers made their voices heard in the City Hall Council chambers. Buffalo residents spoke to the importance of investment in community including youth services, education, mental health, professionals educated in de-escalation and mental health, parks and green spaces, community centers, and more. Residents also spoke about the many reasons why we should not invest $5 million of our tax dollars into a new shooting range for the BPD.

Petition against start of construction // April 2025

In April 2025, we submitted 2,348 signatures in 17 days to repeal one of the bonds to start construction of the facility. Although we did not receive enough signatures to repeal this specific bond, we canvassed neighborhoods across the city, tabled at local events and spaces, and informed many people about the facility, most of whom did not know about the project.

Town Halls // April 2025

Two different town halls were hosted in April, one where we envisioned what Buffalo could look like with more funding to community services. At the second, we held a teach-in on the city budget and helped folks prepare to speak at the budget hearing. It was inspirational to see people come together and envision what we want in our city.