Council urges comprehensive response to behavioral health and addiction on Broadway‑Fillmore

Councilmembers on July 8 asked city staff, the Erie County Health Department and law enforcement to work on a coordinated approach to behavioral health and addiction issues concentrated in the Broadway‑Fillmore area.

The discussion followed Item 65, which the council sent to Community Development. Councilmember Knowles, who said she lives between a needle exchange and a methadone clinic, described repeated patterns in which enforcement pushes people from one neighborhood to another without producing lasting treatment outcomes. “We're just moving it from Fireman's Park or the Lower West Side or downtown into now Broadway Fillmore,” she said, and called for a comprehensive, cross‑agency response that includes services rather than displacement.

Members asked that the police, public‑health agencies and community groups appear at Community Development to explain strategies for outreach, treatment, housing and sanitation, and to address how the city can support people who are living with addiction and serious mental‑health needs. The council emphasized attention to neighborhoods where concentrated services or enforcement actions have shifted the burden.

No ordinance or funding change was adopted at the meeting. The item was referred to Community Development so county health and city staff can be invited to present options and next steps.