Advocacy in Action: Lobbying Mayor Sean Ryan

Richard Steinberg, Transportation Committee Chair

The idea of lobbying Mayor Ryan to support a Zero Emission Vehicle Ordinance for Buffalo (ZEV for Buffalo) was discussed in December of 2025. It’s not easy for individual community groups to arrange a meeting with the Mayor of Buffalo. We decided  to join organized labor and several environmental groups together, making a much larger coalition, with which the Mayor would want to engage.

Mayor Ryan received wide support in WNY from unions during his mayoral campaign. The Sierra Club Niagara Group has had a successful working relationship with the Mayor when he was a NYS Senator. Mayor Ryan appeared in the Sierra Club Webinar regarding fleet conversion for the Buffalo Public School buses.  Years ago, he supported the Sierra Club’s successful efforts in fleet conversion for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). NFTA now has 35 battery-powered electric buses!

One of our Niagara Group members has worked with CSEA (Civil Service Employees Union) for many years. CSEA was approached regarding, bringing our ZEV for Buffalo Ordinance to Mayor Ryan. The local CSEA President agreed to forward our ZEV for Buffalo Ordinance to their lobbyist for review. To move forward this will need approval of CSEA at the NYS level. Once that happens, the CESA lobbyist will be able to advocate for the ZEV for Buffalo Ordinance with Mayor Ryan and his staff.

Niagara Sierra Club has successfully engaged with other community groups who are interested in making their own proposals for the CSEA lobbyist to bring to Mayor Ryan.  These groups include:  The Partnership for the Public Good, PUSH Buffalo and the Clean Air Coalition. (The Interfaith Climate Justice Community decided to hold off on their own proposal and has signed onto the ZEV for Buffalo Ordinance.)

It’s uncertain if the CESA lobbyist will be able to get a meeting with the Mayor to advocate for our proposed ordinance. If the lobbyist is not successful in obtaining a meeting with the Mayor, at least we have built a large coalition which can try to reach the Mayor on its own. We will keep you informed of our success.

If you would like to assist us with this type of local advocacy effort, please contact Rick Steinberg at niagarasierra@gmail.com.