Questions remain over the placement of seven high-level sex offenders in a West Seneca neighborhood. Assemblyman Michael Kearns filed an Article 78 in State Supreme Court in Buffalo Friday. The action seeks to compel the state Office of People with Developmental Disabilities to fully respond to a Freedom of Information Law request.
Kearns says he filed a formal request for the records in July and it wasn’t until this week that he received an incomplete response from the office. The South Buffalo Democrat says after several months, the office has only given what he calls "vague answers."
"Basically their tactic has been silence and delay," Kearns said Friday. "They said they still needed more time to answer many of the questions within the request from the FOIL. The neighbors have been more than fair. This has been going on for about nine months and I thought it was about time that we had some judicial review."
Kearns, whose district covers West Seneca, says he wants to know who made the decision to place the sex offenders in the housing at 510 and 526 Lydecker Road, and why they were placed there.
The state office tells WBFO News it has complied with Kearns's FOIL request and is awaiting further clarification from his office.
The neighborhood is adjacent to a park and Kearns says nearby residents have expressed concern for their safety.
