Author name: Tarik Abdelazim

DON’T FALL FOR IT: KRAHAM’S DEAL WITH ANZAROOT WAS COSTLY, DUMB, AND RECKLESS When asked about his record on slumlords, Mayor Jared Kraham suddenly stands taller as he marches through his talking points on how he took down the city’s most notorious slumlord, Isaac Anzaroot: “I promised to hold bad landlords accountable” “We won’t tolerate […]

Part 4: Polished Public Relations Manager, but Poor Public Sector Manager: Kraham’s Executive Team in Shambles —- Everybody knows former Police Chief Joe Ziksuki. And many are familiar with the City’s Economic Development Director, Sarah Glose—hardworking, competent, and highly visible. But aside from those two, can you name another department head in Jared Kraham’s administration

Part 3: Administration of the Vacant Property Registration Program under Kraham has been a Tragic Disaster This is an article about how the Kraham administration has failed to effectively administer the Vacant Property Registration Program, which was passed 17 years ago with support from then Binghamton Fire Marshall Dan Eggleston, a great public servant and

PART 2: KRAHAM HAS BEEN SITTING ON NEARLY $2 MILLION OF FEDERAL RECOVERY FUNDS TO HELP THE HOMELESS If you haven’t noticed, Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Binghamton (across from Lost Dog Café) has been providing its grounds for homeless folks to pitch tents and its facilities for hygenic needs and to eat meals together.

A public budget can be an honest effort to balance financial reality with an administration’s values, or a magician’s hat that entertains the audience with theater and deception. Election year budgets are mostly the latter, and Kraham’s proposed budget uses the most common budget tricks and gimmicks to project a curated image that helps his

Part 1: Kraham Manufactures a Public Safety Crisis to Hide his Own Financial Mismanagement Crisis Every year, Binghamton is one of more than a thousand local governments that automatically receive multiple grants from US Housing and Urban Development to invest in low-income households and poor neighborhoods to support livable communities and housing justice. Binghamton receives

In July, Mayor Kraham requested City Council’s approval to use more than $360,000 of CDBG funds to purchase vehicles and equipment for the Binghamton Fire Department. Carrying out its due diligence, City Council was shocked to learn that the Kraham administration has at least $700,000 in unspent CDBG funds from prior years–despite the local affordable

At a special board meeting this Friday, September 29, of the Water Street Development Corporation (WSDC), a shell entity created by the Kraham administration to move forward the controversial Water Street Parking Garage project, two very important things happened. First, WSDC Board Member and former Mayor Rich David tore into the school board and local

As a resident and taxpayer, I submitted the following letter to Binghamton City Council to be read into the record during the Public Comment section of the July 26, 2023 City Council Business Meeting. July 26, 2023 Dear Council members, I think it’s appropriate we all reflect on the unanimous decision by the Binghamton City

There is a lot of confusion around a controversial downtown project planned for the old Boscovs parking ramp that involves two lego pieces: five floors of private luxury housing project built on top of five floors of a public parking garage. This article is meant to fight through some of the intentional fog created by