page_title: Byron Brown
section_title: Public relations
hierarchical_section_title: Byron Brown / Mayoralty / First term / Public relations
caption_attribution_description: English: Byron Brown, mayor of Buffalo, New York
context_page_description: Byron William Brown II is an American politician who is the 62nd and current mayor of Buffalo, New York, elected on November 8, 2005 and is the City's first African-American mayor. He previously served Western New York as a member of the New York State Senate and Buffalo Common Council. He was the first African-American politician elected to the New York State Senate to represent a district outside New York City and the first member of any minority race to represent a majority white New York State Senate district.
  Brown was born and raised in Queens, New York. He rose to elective office after serving in a variety of political roles. He began his political career performing as an aide to local representatives in several legislative bodies and later getting involved in a regional political organization. After several roles as a legislative aide, he was appointed to the Erie County cabinet-level Director of Equal Employment Opportunity post.
  As both a New York State Senator and Buffalo Mayor, he has been closely involved in the development of the three Seneca Nation casinos that have been planned and built in Western New York since 2002.
context_section_description: On June 13, 2008, upon the death of NBC News Washington Bureau Chief and Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert, who was a proud Buffalo native, Brown ordered that all flags on city property be lowered to half-staff in order to honor Russert's memory. Brown called Russert one of Buffalo's finest ambassadors, and his decision to lower the flags in honor of Russert, a civilian who never held elected office, was an unusual gesture that was described as breathtaking on Hardball with Chris Matthews by Tom Brokaw. He was joined by several other officials in recognizing Russert.  Chief among those was United States President George W. Bush who signed a bill that named a stretch of U.S. Route 20A that passes in front of Ralph Wilson Stadium (home stadium of the Buffalo Bills) Timothy J. Russert Highway.
  In a public relations controversy, Brown got caught in a fight against the movement to replace traditional lawns with front yard gardens. His office had issued an edict that a resident remove her landscape renovations. However, an e-mail campaign in defense of the resident caused the mayor to rethink his stance.
caption: Brown in 2008
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