Legislator Kevin Hardwick

06/03/2020

Erie County Department of Public Works

Erie County Department of Public Works

Harlem district will have crews out for tree clean up on Love Rd. And Colvin Blvd.

05/29/2020

Legislator Kevin Hardwick

This week, I visited several senior living facilities across the 4th Legislative District including Marigold Senior Apartments and Isleview in Grand Island along with Ken-Ton Presbyterian Village and Brighton Park in Tonawanda with Councilman William Conrad. We delivered much needed PPE for their residents in conjunction with Erie County Senior Services.

Protecting ourselves and the most vulnerable will continue to keep Erie County's COVID-19 hospital admission rate and death toll declining. I'm happy to do my part.

05/29/2020

This week, I visited several senior living facilities across the 4th Legislative District including Marigold Senior Apartments and Isleview in Grand Island along with Ken-Ton Presbyterian Village and Brighton Park in Tonawanda with Councilman William Conrad. We delivered much needed PPE for their residents in conjunction with Erie County Senior Services.

Protecting ourselves and the most vulnerable will continue to keep Erie County's COVID-19 hospital admission rate and death toll declining. I'm happy to do my part.

This week, I visited several senior living facilities across the 4th Legislative District including Marigold Senior Apartments and Isleview in Grand Island along with Ken-Ton Presbyterian Village and Brighton Park in Tonawanda with Councilman William Conrad. We delivered much needed PPE for their residents in conjunction with Erie County Senior Services.

Protecting ourselves and the most vulnerable will continue to keep Erie County's COVID-19 hospital admission rate and death toll declining. I'm happy to do my part.

05/26/2020

City of Tonawanda police officer shot multiple times; suspect in custody

For the past 31 years my family and I have been fortunate to have been served by the City Of Tonawanda Police Department. They are the best in the business and enjoy a special, wonderful relationship with the people of our city. Today we appreciate them even more. We stand by them and pray for the recovery, both physical and emotional, of all officers involved in this morning’s terrible shooting.

Law enforcement were found on Kohler St. and Bouck St. along Morgan St. in the City of Tonawanda.

05/20/2020

Antibody testing made available across Erie County

Antibody testing is now available through the Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) for those interested. Please call 858-2929 to schedule an appointment.

Erie County is starting to move aggressively into antibody testing of residents.

05/01/2020

If you are an Erie County business in need of assistance at this time, please consider the loan program that Erie County Industrial Development Agency (ECIDA) is offering. For more information, call (716) 856-6525, ext. 219 or visit their website at www.ecidany.com.

04/22/2020

GET A LIBRARY CARD | www.buffalolib.org

Did you know that you can sign up for a library card online? Our libraries offer a wealth of digital resources that can be accessed with only your free library card from the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library - Central Library. If you don't have one, you can sign up at this link:

HOW TO APPLY Applications are available at all B&ECPL libraries. Printable Library Card Applications. Available in multiple languages! Online Application

04/22/2020

County Legislator Lisa Chimera

This week is library week! During this time of crisis, our libraries are so important - please visit the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library - Central Library digitally for all of their amazing resources at www.buffalolib.org.

04/20/2020

Face shield production ramping up at a local company

Thank you to Innosek for their innovative, resourceful solution to help combat our PPE shortage in Western New York!

As a City of Tonawanda resident myself, I'm grateful that our small, local businesses are finding ways to help during this tough time.

A manufacturing company in the City of Tonawanda is ramping up production of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and first responders with

04/16/2020

I was happy to help deliver meals in the City of Tonawanda earlier today with Mayor Rick Davis and the Berrafato Organization. Together, we were able to "feed" 71 seniors in body and mind with delicious food and books from Project Flight and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library - Central Library.

Anyone wishing to be added to the meal distribution should contact the mayor's office at (716) 695-8645.

04/11/2020

U.S. Census Bureau

U.S. Census Bureau

No matter where you live, the #2020Census is your chance to shape your community's future.

04/10/2020

Councilman William Conrad

Please take caution Town of Tonawanda we have numerous novice riders who need to know our etiquette when riding and some veterans too! Using verbal communication like “on your left “ when passing on our #railstotrails is a great example . Thank you Town of Tonawanda Youth, Parks & Recreation

04/01/2020

Erie County, NY

Today is Census Day! Give yourself a break from all the #coronavirus news—take a few minutes to fill-out your #2020Census form online. It's easy, quick, and will ensure your community is accurately counted and funded.

Go to: 2020census.gov

U.S. Census Bureau

03/25/2020

During this tough time, it's important to have easy access to valuable community resources that Erie County and other organizations are providing. I hope you find this useful, and as always, you can contact me via email at [email protected].

03/24/2020

Mark Poloncarz

Mark Poloncarz

NOW: I give a #COVID19 update, Erie County’s response and answer your questions

03/24/2020

Ken-Ton Cares Food Distribution Sign-up For Tuesday, March 24th, 2020

In this time of need and crisis, our community is ready and willing to serve those who need it most. Please consider filling out this form if you are suffering from any lack of nutritional support:

https://forms.gle/3rWbkF2cgDzCCriS6

Also, the Ken-Ton Closet and Ken-Ton Cares Facebook group are excellent resources for our Kenmore-Tonawanda community. My sincere thanks goes out to the dedicated volunteers who are doing this work day in and day out. Our community is better because of you, and I know we will all get through this together.

Ken-Ton Cares is an emergency response food pantry to answer food insecurities during COVID-19 shutdowns. Because we this is our first distribution, we can only help a limited number of families at this time. Priority is given to those that cannot afford food and have a true emergency. There are fam...

03/23/2020

Councilman William Conrad

The Town of Tonawanda Youth, Parks & Recreation will be holding a blood drive with ConnectLife in the Town of Tonawanda. If you are able to, please consider donating. Joe Emminger Mark Campanella Sr. Shannon Patch Town of Tonawanda Councilman Carl Szarek

03/13/2020

Erie County Legislature Democratic Caucus

Erie County Legislature Democratic Caucus

Yesterday, our Caucus heard from Dr. Gale Burstein from Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) regarding the COVID-19 health risk to our community. While we currently have no confirmed cases, we advise following the guidelines established and publicized yesterday by County Executive Mark Poloncarz.

They include:
- practicing social distancing
- limiting large public gatherings
- staying home when you feel ill
- reporting suspicious symptoms to a medical professional

Please visit www.erie.gov/covid19 for more information.

01/31/2020

Yesterday, I visited St. Stephen School - Grand Island, NY to thank the students for contributing their artwork to my "Valentine's for Veterans" program. I know how appreciative everyone is for the hand-crafted cards they make every year, and it's nice to share that with the students.

01/31/2020

Erie County 9-year-old recognized for work in helping homeless

Erie County 9-year-old recognized for work in helping homeless

Nyla started Warm Hugs for the Homeless to collect things such as coats, hats and gloves at businesses and schools to donate to those in need.

01/30/2020

County Legislator Lisa Chimera

Legislator Kevin Hardwick and I were so honored to present Nyla Moore of Edison Elementary School with an award certificate to recognize her outstanding work collecting warm clothing for the homeless.

Nyla is true inspiration as is her entire family. Thank you to The Salvation Army of Buffalo, NY and Paula's Donuts for your support of Nyla and her very important mission!

01/30/2020

Did you know Erie County Senior Services has a "Dine and Go" program with several area restaurants? Senior citizens can use vouchers to order off a selected menu for breakfast and lunch. I stopped at Billygans Cafe in the City of Tonawanda this morning and visited with the owner, Bill and Nancy.

You can find more information on this program or apply at the restaurant itself. Visit www.erie.gov/seniorservices for additional information on other offerings.

01/07/2020

There's a rabies clinic coming up! Make sure you visit the Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) website for the most up to date information.

12/18/2019

It was a pleasure to meet the Brighton Place Library ukulele group and listen to their Christmas concert. Securing $10,000 in Erie County's budget for this organization was one of my priorities this year, and I'm glad it was a successful effort. Check out their page for additional program offerings year-round.

12/10/2019

What the $1.8 billion Erie County budget really tells us

As an Erie County Legislator representing Grand Island and the Tonawandas, I have worked hard to secure tens of millions of dollars of county road funding for my district. This has had a huge impact. The county roads in the Town of Tonawanda are the best in the system and those on Grand Island are getting there. Those of us who live in the City of Tonawanda, however, have not derived any benefit from this additional road funding. That is because there are no county roads in the City of Tonawanda. The same is true for the Cities of Buffalo and Lackawanna. This has always struck me as unfair, since we in the City of Tonawanda pay the same county tax rate as those in other municipalities and do not get the same benefit. In effect, City of Tonawanda taxpayers are subsidizing the road expenses for residents of Clarence and the other towns.

This past spring when it came time to allocate the surplus funds from the previous year’s budget, I saw an opportunity to address this inequity. I proposed giving $600,000 of the surplus to the 3 cities ($300,000 for Buffalo and $150,000 each to Tonawanda and Lackawanna). The money would be provided to the cities to make up for the fact that they were not getting road funding. It was not a lot of money, certainly nowhere near what we were spending on county roads in the towns. But it was a start. I was able to convince my colleagues on the County Legislature of the proposal’s merits and it was adopted. The City of Tonawanda is using its $150,000 for a handicapped accessible playground in Niawanda Park and municipal dock repairs.

More recently, I saw an opportunity to further these “urban initiatives” as we worked on the county’s 2020 Budget. I proposed setting aside a million dollars for the cities to compensate them for the lack of county roads. Half was earmarked for the City of Buffalo and the other half was to be split evenly by the other two cities. Some legislators spoke against the funding for the cities during the debate on the floor of the Legislature prior to the budget vote. But I spoke in favor of its inclusion in the budget and was able to convince enough of my colleagues to also support it. As a result, the City of Tonawanda will receive a quarter million dollars in the county budget next year to address critical needs. Together with the $150,000 from the spring, this is $400,000 that they will not have to raise in city property taxes. As long as I am the County Legislator for the 4th District, I will continue to fight for more funding to improve the county roads on Grand Island and in the Town of Tonawanda. At the same time, I will insist that the needs of the City of Tonawanda are not overlooked.

Here are some key takeaways from Erie County's recently passed budget.

12/09/2019

American Legion Band to present Christmas concert | Ken-Ton Bee

Don't miss the Christmas Concert from the American Legion Band! It will be at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15, in Cardinal O’Hara High School’s Performing Arts Center at 39 O’Hara Road in Tonawanda.

The American Legion Band of the Tonawandas will present a special Christmas concert for the community at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, in Cardinal O'Hara High School's Performing Arts Center, 3

12/05/2019

Hardwick, Chimera help secure easement for Solar Liberty | Ken-Ton Bee

We should all be looking for ways to invest in cleaner energy alternatives. I'm proud to have this project in Tonawanda which will also save money on utility expenses for residents.

With a 7-3 vote, the Erie County Legislature has approved an emergency easement for the Solar Liberty project, allowing for power to be provided to the solar farm being built on a former Town of Tonaw

11/18/2019

Reminder - there is a HEAP outreach tomorrow at the City of Tonawanda Senior Center located at 35 Main St. On Wednesday, there will be one at the Grand Island Golden Age Center. Visit the social services website at www.erie.gov/heap to find out more about application requirements.

11/05/2019

Legislator Kevin Hardwick

10/17/2019

Today in the Government Affairs Committee meeting, we heard from concerned representatives of Citizen Science Community Resources about their funding issues over the settlement reached with Tonawanda Coke.

While the money is not a county issue, the pollution that Tonawanda Coke released into our community effects many residents in my district, and I hope this is the beginning of a fruitful dialogue about how we heal from the damage they caused.

10/08/2019

Join me tonight for an important conversation about crime and what we can do to prevent it in our community.

Childcare will be provided, and Crisis Services will have information available for anyone in need.

10/08/2019

Legislator Kevin Hardwick's cover photo

09/25/2019

Erie County Legislature passes resolution condemning acts of hate speech | Ken-Ton Bee

After attending a meeting of local governmental officials during the summer concerning the incidents, Hardwick, a resident of the City of Tonawanda, said he felt compelled to act.

“There is no place in our community for hate and division,” Hardwick said. “Tonawanda has been my home for over 30 years, the place where I’ve raised my children, and we do not tolerate racism in any form.”

The Erie County Legislature has passed a resolution condemning recent occurrences of hate speech in Western New York communities, five of which have taken place in the Tonawandas. The resolution, whic

09/19/2019

In the Government Affairs committee today,we discussed Western Region Off Track Betting which, as I noted, provides valuable funding to Erie County. However, as the Legislature, oversight is a vital function of our jobs, and I expect answers to the questions that were asked.

I appreciate the testimony of our appointee, and I look forward to continued dialogue.

09/16/2019

Over 3000 workers, many from the town of Tonawanda, rely on good paying union jobs at the GM Powertrain plant. The hardworking UAW employees deserve as much, and I am proud to support them in demanding it.