David Franczyk

History

In 1994, Franczyk was both the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party nominee in a closely watched United States House of Representatives race for New York's 30th congressional district. He lost by a two to one margin to then one-term incumbent Republican Jack Quinn. Prior to this race, as a city councilman, he was an adversary of Mayor of Buffalo James D. Griffin. Franczyk is considered a notable Western New York Polish-American politician.

Common Council

In his present tenure in the Common Council, Franczyk is a member of the Finance and Civil Service Committees. Prior to his current term, Franczyk served as Fillmore District Councilmember, Chair of the City's Finance Committee, and President Pro-Tempore of the Common Council from 1986 through 2000. He has legislated on crime prevention, historic preservation, housing, economic development, and constituent service. He is an advocate of landmark preservation, and has also been involved in environmental preservation battles. He proposed the legislation that reduced the Buffalo Common Council from thirteen members to nine. Franczyk was preceded as Fillmore District Councilman by Stephen J. Godzisz, who had served from 1984-1985 and as Common Council President by James Pitts who began his term in 1994 under Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello. Franczyk continued under Masiello until Masiello was succeeded by Byron Brown.

Personal

Franczyk, a Western New York native, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the State University of New York College at Buffalo and a Master of Arts degree, also in History, from Niagara University. He also did graduate study at the City University of New York and at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design as a Loeb Fellow. He has served as the editor-in-chief of the Polish-American Journal.