We, the undersigned residents, voters, and community members, call upon Niagara District Councilmember David A. Rivera to resign from the Buffalo Common Council.

This request is not made lightly.

Public office is a public trust. Residents deserve representation that is responsive, ethical, transparent, and accountable, particularly during moments when their community is frightened, angry, and demanding answers.

For many Niagara District residents, recent events are no longer about one disagreement or one controversy.

They represent a cumulative loss of confidence in our representation.

The August 15 Incident on Niagara Street

Following the Puerto Rican and Hispanic Day Parade on August 15, disturbing videos circulated showing confrontations between Buffalo Police officers and community members outside La Flor on Niagara Street.

One widely circulated video appears to show a man already on the ground being struck in the face by law enforcement.

This occurred after one of the most important annual cultural celebrations for Buffalo’s Puerto Rican and Hispanic community, in the heart of the Niagara District.

Councilmember Rivera represents this neighborhood. He is a former Buffalo Police officer and serves as Chair of the Buffalo Common Council’s Police Oversight Committee.

Residents expected leadership.

Instead, many residents believe they received delay, confusion, and inadequate communication.

Constituents Tried to Get Answers

One Niagara District constituent publicly documented a series of calls she says she personally made to Councilmember Rivera’s office seeking answers.

According to her account, when she initially contacted the office several days after the incident, the staff member she spoke with asked her to explain what had occurred.

The constituent says she explained the disturbing videos, the growing fear and anger throughout the community, and the fact that residents were asking why their Councilmember had not publicly addressed what happened.

She says Rivera’s office later called her back and informed her that Councilmember Rivera had attended the parade.

She responded that attending the parade did not answer the community’s concerns about what happened afterward.

The constituent says she subsequently contacted the office again and was initially told that Councilmember Rivera could not make a statement until he had spoken with the owner of La Flor, and that his office had unsuccessfully attempted to reach the business.

The constituent then publicly reported that she personally called La Flor and was immediately able to speak with a manager.

She later reported speaking directly with community chef Pedro DeJesus, who she says told her that neither he nor his family had heard from Councilmember Rivera despite attempts to make contact.

After relaying that information back to Rivera’s office, the constituent says she was then given a different explanation: that Councilmember Rivera had a meeting scheduled with another La Flor owner later in the week and would not make a statement until he had completed what staff described as a full investigation.

The constituent repeatedly told Rivera’s office that residents were not asking the Councilmember to prejudge an investigation.

They were asking their elected representative to acknowledge that something serious had happened, reassure frightened constituents that he was paying attention, and commit to transparency and accountability.

The constituent later publicly reported that Councilmember Rivera acknowledged that he had not watched the circulating videos while simultaneously asking residents not to reach conclusions until all of the facts had been investigated.

These accounts should be independently reviewed and verified where appropriate. But they help explain why frustration within the Niagara District has grown so significantly.

Residents should not have to make repeated phone calls, track down affected businesses themselves, document shifting explanations, and create widespread public pressure simply to receive basic communication from their elected representative. 

Accountability Cannot Depend on Convenience

What makes this particularly troubling is Councilmember Rivera’s own previous position on police transparency.

During another Buffalo Police controversy, Rivera publicly criticized what he described as a “veil of silence” from the Police Department and argued that lengthy delays in obtaining answers undermine public trust.

Residents are entitled to ask why that same urgency was not immediately visible when disturbing police conduct was captured on video in his own district, following a celebration deeply important to Buffalo’s Latino community.

The Chair of Police Oversight should not need days of constituent pressure before engaging with a serious police-accountability issue.

Leadership does not require determining guilt before speaking.

Leadership can simply mean saying:

We see you.

We hear you.

We are concerned.

The evidence will be preserved.

The facts will be reviewed.

And our community deserves answers.

Questions About Police Oversight

Councilmember Rivera also voted in April 2026 to confirm Erika Shields as Buffalo Police Commissioner in a narrow 5-4 Common Council vote. During the first months of Shields’ tenure, Buffalo experienced a violent Fourth of July period in which 11 people were shot across six incidents, and body-camera footage later showed Deputy Commissioner Craig Macy pushing a woman to the ground during an incident on Chippewa Street. These incidents have generated legitimate questions about police leadership, accountability, and the effectiveness of Common Council oversight.

That vote does not make Rivera personally responsible for every subsequent act of the Buffalo Police Department.

But as someone who voted to confirm the Commissioner and currently chairs Police Oversight, he has a responsibility to provide meaningful oversight when serious concerns arise.

Police oversight cannot simply be a committee title.

It has to mean something when residents actually need it. Furthermore, in 2025, Erie County Democrats ultimately did not field a candidate against Republican Sheriff John Garcia because of Council Member David Rivera.

In subsequent reporting, ECDC Chair Jeremy Zellner said he had personally tried to recruit Councilmember David Rivera, a retired Buffalo police officer, to challenge Garcia, but Rivera declined to run. In 2026, under Sheriff Garcia's leadership, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a nearly blind Rohingya refugee, was released from Erie County custody to federal immigration authorities after his family posted bail. He was later dropped off alone at a closed Tim Hortons on Niagara Street, without his family being notified, and was found dead five days later. His death was ultimately ruled a homicide related to hypothermia, dehydration, and complications from a perforated ulcer.

An Ongoing Ethics Matter

These concerns come while Councilmember Rivera is also the subject of an ongoing City of Buffalo Board of Ethics matter involving serious allegations connected to Democratic Committee candidates in the Niagara District.

Multiple individuals have alleged that during the 2026 Democratic Committee petitioning period, Councilmember Rivera, in some instances accompanied by his Chief of Staff, Valerie Malia-Martin, approached residents who had become candidates for Democratic Committee and attempted to persuade them to withdraw.

Allegations include:

* appearing at candidates’ homes or workplaces regarding their political candidacies;

* presenting candidates with declination documents intended to remove them from committee races;

* pressuring residents to sign those documents;

* statements residents interpreted as threats of political or governmental consequences;

* alleged suggestions that constituent services or community assistance could be affected by political participation;

* alleged involvement of City staff or governmental resources in political activity; and

* interactions residents have described as coercive, intimidating, or deeply uncomfortable.

Several candidates ultimately signed declination documents that were filed with the Erie County Board of Elections. Other candidates refused.

Councilmember Rivera and Ms. Malia-Martin are entitled to due process.

These allegations have not been adjudicated, and this petition does not presume the outcome of the ethics process.

But residents are also entitled to consider whether the cumulative conduct surrounding their elected representation has damaged the public trust necessary to govern effectively.

This Is About Public Trust

No resident should believe that receiving assistance from their Council office requires political loyalty.

No resident should feel intimidated for running for political office or Democratic Committee.

No candidate should need permission from an incumbent political organization before asking their neighbors for their votes.

No City employee should use taxpayer-funded time or governmental resources for partisan political purposes.

No neighborhood business should feel abandoned during a crisis occurring immediately outside its doors.

And no frightened community should have to repeatedly demand that the Chair of Police Oversight acknowledge disturbing footage involving police officers in the district he represents.

The Niagara District belongs to its residents.

Political participation belongs to the people.

Public office belongs to the public.

Accountability cannot only matter when it is convenient.

Our Demand

Given the cumulative nature of these concerns, the ongoing ethics matter, the response to the August 15 incident, the accounts of constituents who personally sought assistance and answers from the Councilmember’s office, and the resulting loss of public confidence, we respectfully call upon Councilmember David A. Rivera to resign from the Buffalo Common Council.

We further call for:

* completion of the City of Buffalo Board of Ethics investigation independently and without political interference;

* preservation and review of all body-camera footage, surveillance footage, cellphone recordings, and other evidence relating to the August 15 incidents;

* meaningful and transparent Buffalo Police oversight;

* appropriate review of allegations involving City employees, constituent services, governmental resources, or political activity; and

* protections ensuring that every Buffalo resident can participate in civic and political life without intimidation or retaliation.

Residents should be able to challenge incumbents, run for office, support opposing candidates, criticize their government, operate businesses, celebrate their culture, and demand accountability without fear.

Whatever our individual political affiliations may be, those principles should unite us.

The Niagara District deserves responsive, ethical, transparent, and accountable leadership.

We have lost confidence in Councilmember David Rivera’s ability to provide that leadership.

For these reasons, we call upon him to resign.

Add your name if you believe the Niagara District deserves new leadership and renewed public trust.