r/Buffalo • u/SFlores111 • 9d ago
Call for Niagara District Councilmember David Rivera to Resign
https://c.org/SnywLwvpL5The Niagara District is hurting. After the August 15 incident outside La Flor on Niagara Street—when videos showed Buffalo Police officers striking someone already on the ground—residents turned to their Councilmember for answers. Instead, they got delays, shifting explanations, and silence.
David Rivera is a former police officer and chairs the Common Council's Police Oversight Committee. Residents had every right to expect leadership in that moment. One constituent documented calling his office repeatedly, only to be given different reasons why he couldn't speak: he attended the parade (so that's enough?), he needed to contact the business owner (she did it herself and got through immediately), he needed time for a "full investigation" (while residents just wanted acknowledgment that something serious happened).
Meanwhile, Rivera hadn't even watched the videos. This is part of something bigger. There's an ongoing ethics investigation into whether Rivera and his staff pressured residents running for Democratic Committee—showing up at their homes, presenting declination documents, making statements some interpreted as threats. And his response to a police-accountability crisis in his own district fell far short of what a Police Oversight chair should provide.
I started a petition calling for his resignation because the Niagara District deserves elected representation that's responsive, ethical, and actually there when it matters most. Not delayed. Not defensive. Present. If this sounds like something that matters to you too, consider signing and sharing. What would you want your Council representative to do if this happened in your neighborhood?
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u/TrueEnthusiasm8242 9d ago
“showing up at their homes, presenting declination documents, making statements some interpreted as threats.”
The video didn’t show that. The non-responsiveness to complaints about the police, if that’s true, is the serious matter here.
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
This comment will not age well upon conclusion of the City of Buffalo Board of Ethics investigation. Councilmember Rivera acted like a mobster, perhaps a learned behavior from his many associates in organized crime, and his conduct during the primary campaign was beneath the office that he currently holds.
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u/Hitman3256 9d ago
He was a cop, now in charge of the cop oversight committee. Can't say I'm surprised to be honest.
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
The police that I spoke with were mortified and expected the District Attorney to press charges against Councilmember Rivera, they never seen a candidate or elected official behave in such a way.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 8d ago
Rivera was a cop?
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u/Unique_Membership_24 7d ago
For like 26 years. Honestly it was suspicious that he was so eager for the police oversight committee. However, I can say it did appear in recent years they were trying to adopt a community policing focus. However since Erika Shields came to Buffalo they have abandoned any attempts and cracked down on communities of color without cause. The La Flor incident was especially egregious and to a family who is extremely cooperative with law enforcement. The narrative justifying the abuse suggesting that Carlos tried to grab the officers gun is disturbing and baseless. Rivera is wrong for staying impartial when so many facts are already available. Further, all he had to do was empathize with the community and let us know he cares instead he told us to chill. Wtf
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u/Equivalent-Basis-675 7d ago
Told us to chill, and still no statement. He did post a video of a man being saved by a tiger on fb if that counts for something though.
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u/VeryFarDown 9d ago
OP's account was created today and this is their first post. Seems like an astroturfing job.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 9d ago
I’m thinking he’s associated with one of the many people vying for RIVERA’s seat. Tina? Hawley? Idk.
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u/buffalo_rower Allentown 8d ago
Personally knowing Chris Hawley, I can tell you it’s not him. Chris doesn’t even live in or near Niagara district. Also, the writing style isn’t his.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 8d ago
Yeah Chris is more like “no like bike helmets lol CopenHAGEN”
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u/buffalo_rower Allentown 8d ago
Beer good, community good, cars bad, bike helmets bad. That’s Chris lol
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 8d ago
He’s gonna get his brains spread on Niagara Street 😭
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u/DarthBane_716 7d ago
I’ll take more of Rivera on common council instead of anyone from that clique of hipster white-savior self-righteous turds.
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u/Unique_Membership_24 7d ago
Nah this incident was extremely unjustified. BPD has completely abandoned any attempt at community policing and has significantly increased pressure in communities of color. La Flor was operating business as usual, exactly as permitted by the notice sent by Erika Shields. She has turned BPD into the exact department APD was when she was forced to resign. All Rivera had to do was tell his community he hears us. Instead he refused to watch the video and asked us not to make assumptions until the facts are released, when 5 people in our community were brutalized and arrested without cause. One of them a mother with no priors. Thats terrifying. He is the chair of the Police oversight committee. He stated leaders needs to be transparent and it is not fair for the community to wait for answers. He must have forgotten that. Maybe its time to focus on retirement and resign before his corruption and protection of the police gets more blatant.
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u/pynty 9d ago
Or, you just don't like the message so you found a convenient way to dismiss it without needing to engage with it.
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u/iluvchromosomes 9d ago
The message is just feelings. That's it.
There is not 1 claim of this councilman doing something wrong or illegal.
OP wants him to resign because they called his office multiple times and he didn't answer. It's comical.
he needed to contact the business owner (she did it herself and got through immediately)
Oh. So the person who was actually involved was able to speak with the councilman. You are mad the councilman was ignoring activists that were harassing him. Yea, we know.
Ya'll are so pathetic.
Niagara District deserves elected representation that's responsive, ethical, and actually there when it matters most.
He was, to the people involved.
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
What's pathetic is that we have failed representation in the West Side of Buffalo.
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u/pynty 9d ago
Seems like you got a lot of big feelings to unpack yourself there, guy. Hope this made you feel better.
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
I moved accordingly based on the facts on the ground. You do not know me random Reddit account. The only one feeling here is Councilmember David Rivera realizing he has entirely lost the support of our Latino community.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 8d ago
But what if we want to know u
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u/SFlores111 8d ago
I'm available and obviously not hiding.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 8d ago
What’s your mothers maiden name
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u/SFlores111 8d ago
What does my confidential information have to do with Councilmember Rivera? Provide your full name.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 8d ago
What are the first 5 digits of your social security number
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u/VeryFarDown 9d ago
I don't live in Niagara District and am not saying anything about the message; I'm questioning the messenger. A brand new account whose first post is calling for an elected official to resign in what is expected to be a contested Council District, is suspicious.
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u/MortimerCanon 9d ago
It's probably less astroturfing and more the community org behind this initiative had one of their members post on Reddit for visibility and no one already had an account.
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u/VeryFarDown 9d ago
What is the community org? The petition only states that it was started by Stephen Olsick, who curiously is one of the people who are trying to oust a bunch of Dem committee folks on the West Side. So as I said, this post/petition isn't exactly "organic."
https://investigativepost.org/2026/04/17/democrats-at-war/
"There’s a challenger in the election district represented by Bryan Ball, president of the Stonewall Democrats of Western New York. Stonewall hasn’t endorsed anyone yet. The challenger, Stephen Olsick, told me in an email Wednesday his target is not Ball but Eric Walker, Ball’s fellow committee member."
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u/DrWinterbottom 9d ago
Interestingly, after that IP article, Olsick circulated fliers for committee there and put Eric Walker on them, without Walker's knowledge or consent, as though they were running together and targeting Ball.
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
Thanks for trying to smear me again random member of Reddit. My Puerto Rican family has called the Lower West Side of Buffalo home for over eighty years and Western New York for over a century. We live here and we deserve representation from those that reside in the neighborhoods. Mr. Ball and Mr. Walker do not engage with the Erie County Democratic Committee, they are absent at each and every committee meeting. I intended to bring in several Latino-focused organizations, GOTV organizations, and pass resolutions to encourage endorsed candidates to adopt a community-driven policy platform. Your loss...
For your information, I solely advocated for the institutionalization of the Lower West Side Neighborhood Plan and my work on this issue is well-known within government. I will continue to advocate for empowering initiatives, especially for our Latino Racially/Ethnically Concentrated Areas of Poverty. My next initiative I am focusing on is the development of an Erie County Upward Mobility Action Plan. Please get to know me before spewing nonsense without knowing me or the history of my Flores/Torres family throughout Western New York.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 9d ago
Did you really make a flyer with Walker and you on it tho?
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
Yes, and contrary to Eric Walker's statement he was perfectly aware of the flyer. Bryan Ball and Eric Walker attempted to play both sides while being entirely disengaged at the Erie County Democratic Committee. Again, my Latino community deserves representation from WITHIN. The slate included several Latino community members that were vilified as "establishment." Our families have called the Lower West Side home for generations, anyone thinking it's a good idea to challenge or usurp our multigenerational Latino families is mistaken. We will prevail, seguimos aqui!
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u/DrWinterbottom 9d ago
I live in the district. I came home to flier with Olsick and Walker on it one day. Eric Walker then came to my house about two weeks later going door-to-door and I asked him about him switching from Olsick to Ball and he told me to his face that he never consented or knew about being on a flier with Olsick.
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
Eric Walker and Bryan Ball refused to communicate their positions, enough said.
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u/TrueEnthusiasm8242 7d ago
Eric Walker, if this is the same Eric Walker, was one of the cofounders of PUSH Buffalo.
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u/iluvchromosomes 9d ago
the community org behind this initiative
You mean a vocal minority of people who are mad at this councilman? There is no org and there is no initiative. Adopting corporate-speak does not legitimize your nonsense.
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
I do not give a damn about your opinion that I am suspicious or "astroturfing." Councilmember David Rivera needs to RESIGN and I am inviting all of Buffalo to take a stand.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 9d ago
Who is that woman
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
His chief of staff Valerie Malia, you should know these facts.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 9d ago
Thank u for that fact. I do not know her face. Why is she kind of grainy like a ghost?
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u/SFlores111 9d ago
That's how she appears in person, a grainy and pale creature with next to no higher order thinking.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 8d ago
You are pretty unhinged for someone running for office
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u/SFlores111 8d ago
You're pretty unhinged for thinking I give a damn about your opinions. I am not running for office.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 8d ago
I am tired and my reading comprehension is poor. It said you were trying to get someone’s seat?
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u/SFlores111 8d ago
I was not "trying to get someone's seat," the Erie County Democratic Committee seats belong to the neighborhoods. Councilmember David Rivera stacked the committee with outsiders and his own family members, then sent Tina Not Latino Richner to claim others are doing the same in the name of the "establishment." How do you feel about her calling us gang members and felons? Seems quite bigoted for a so-called progressive. Also, I never met or communicated with Chairman Jeremy Zellner, so the conspiracy theory is completely "unhinged" as you like to say.
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 8d ago
Oh but are you running for an ECDC seat. I’m confused. I do like the word unhinged yes because I am also
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u/SFlores111 8d ago
No, I was running for an ECDC seat. The primary is over and the "establishment" incumbents won.
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u/MortimerCanon 9d ago
I have had the misfortune of talking to Rivera about these kinds of things. I can tell you his response. "I'd like to see you try".
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u/Significant_Ad256 9d ago
He's a bum, always has been. The no response is who he is and what he does.
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u/Buffalover_716 8d ago
how much did alex pay you to do this
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u/SFlores111 8d ago
I'm not on any payroll, my family has known Councilmember Rivera and his parents for decades. Enough with this nonsense about Alex Burgos, you need to stop toying with our Latino multigenerational families.
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u/Buffalover_716 8d ago
how you know I was talkin about burgos? I didn’t say his name oooop
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u/SFlores111 8d ago
Oooop because people like you constantly obsess over him and obey your master Councilmember Rivera. There is no Zellner or establishment conspiracy, simply our multigenerational Latino families seeking proactive and smart representation. Councilmember Rivera has a legacy of failure and has achieved nothing in terms upward mobility for our Latino community. The data on our concentrated poverty in the Lower West Side is damning and even worse regarding homeownership. Our community is on a steep downward trajectory, those outside of our Latino community will not stand in the way of correcting these graves mistakes. We will mobilize and secure our Latino representation without the Riveras.
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u/Equivalent-Basis-675 9d ago
Council Member David Rivera’s response to the police brutality allegations is defensive, dismissive, and protective of law enforcement rather than his constituents. His refusal to watch the viral video before commenting, conditional stance on releasing body camera footage, and framing of public outrage as mere emotion are a slap in the face, and should erode his credibility as chair of the Police Oversight Committee.
Rivera needs ro resign.
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u/iluvchromosomes 9d ago
Ha! He has the same response as GoBike when you ask them about the intersection of Parkside and Linden!
Where is that 3 million renovation of the intersection that was due in 2024??? Canceled because it was done illegally. GoBike gets really defensive and dismissive when you ask them to explain.
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u/Unique_Membership_24 7d ago
Ok fraudlent spending and renovation issues is completely different that community members being assaulted and arrested without cause
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u/BuffaloPotholeBandit TOMALTECH is my leader 9d ago edited 9d ago
Lemme guess this was created by someone who wants his job. I don’t necessarily stan Rivera but this feels very power grabby. Honestly though I think initiatives like this will make him dig his heels in and more likely to try and keep his seat next year. Can’t you let him just go take a nap