So where were you three weeks ago tomorrow, when this season's worst (knock on igloo wall) snowstorm of the season hit? In some parts of town, folks who a week before had been out and about without a coat suddenly found themselves digging out from a couple of feet of snow. Or worse: stuck on a highway short on food, water, and gas.
I was almost in the middle of it. I had been scheduled to go to Rochester that Wednesday evening for a meeting. But that afternoon, having snowflakes hit the office windows horizontally (and audibly) was my first clue there was weather I didn't want to be in the middle of. And then getting a heads up from my friend David Steele about a unique architecture talk that evening (thanks, Steel!) sealed the deal and I decided to stay in town. If I had gone, I would have been stuck for a day with no way back, or stuck on the Thruway with hundreds of others.
The following weekend, after the driving bans had been lifted, I took an impromptu NFTA bus tour out to West Seneca and back to see the snowpacalypse for myself. I was amazed to find the snow piles higher than the bus windows in many places. At one point we were stopped for ten minutes while payloaders worked on a portion of Seneca Street just outside the city line.
But enough about me. Tomorrow, City Council is holding a meeting (post-mortem, if you will) about the storm response. Council would like to hear what you have to say about the recent Snowpocalypse and snow removal efforts in your neighborhood. There will be a recap of the storm, and a discussion of how to deal with future weather incidents.
A bright spot in the storm response was Western New York Americorps, now headquartered in the city neighborhood hardest hit by the storm. According to spokesperson Patrick Metzger:
During this last blast we received calls from Public Works Commissioner Steve Stepniak and Council Member Michael Kearns requesting our assistance and our crews cleared just short of 100 driveways and walkways for senior citizens in the Seneca Street community. We're working on a more formal plan for snow removal during emergencies. "Emergencies" being the most important word. Emergency snow removal would mean large blizzards with very heavy snow fall such as the recent immense storm.
At this point there's no plan to be doing "maintenance" or anything of that sort for the entirety of the winter, as it wouldn't be maximally efficient with the way our programs are structured.
Added to the efforts of County Clerk Kathy Hochul and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, with tomorrow's meeting elected officials at all levels of government will have convened key players to discuss storm response -- and put in place new plans and new procedures.
But as for me, I hope it's a good long while before we have to test them live.
Those invited to attend Wednesday's meeting are:
Meeting begins at 10AM in City Council Chambers
Buffalo City Hall, Floor 13
Members of the public are welcome to attend and will be given the opportunity to speak.
Please call 851-5169 with questions.
Written comments may be submitted to:
South District Councilman Michael P. Kearns
1401 City Hall
Buffalo, NY 14202
mkearns@city-buffalo.com
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I was almost in the middle of it. I had been scheduled to go to Rochester that Wednesday evening for a meeting. But that afternoon, having snowflakes hit the office windows horizontally (and audibly) was my first clue there was weather I didn't want to be in the middle of. And then getting a heads up from my friend David Steele about a unique architecture talk that evening (thanks, Steel!) sealed the deal and I decided to stay in town. If I had gone, I would have been stuck for a day with no way back, or stuck on the Thruway with hundreds of others.
The following weekend, after the driving bans had been lifted, I took an impromptu NFTA bus tour out to West Seneca and back to see the snowpacalypse for myself. I was amazed to find the snow piles higher than the bus windows in many places. At one point we were stopped for ten minutes while payloaders worked on a portion of Seneca Street just outside the city line.
But enough about me. Tomorrow, City Council is holding a meeting (post-mortem, if you will) about the storm response. Council would like to hear what you have to say about the recent Snowpocalypse and snow removal efforts in your neighborhood. There will be a recap of the storm, and a discussion of how to deal with future weather incidents.
A bright spot in the storm response was Western New York Americorps, now headquartered in the city neighborhood hardest hit by the storm. According to spokesperson Patrick Metzger:
During this last blast we received calls from Public Works Commissioner Steve Stepniak and Council Member Michael Kearns requesting our assistance and our crews cleared just short of 100 driveways and walkways for senior citizens in the Seneca Street community. We're working on a more formal plan for snow removal during emergencies. "Emergencies" being the most important word. Emergency snow removal would mean large blizzards with very heavy snow fall such as the recent immense storm.
At this point there's no plan to be doing "maintenance" or anything of that sort for the entirety of the winter, as it wouldn't be maximally efficient with the way our programs are structured.
Added to the efforts of County Clerk Kathy Hochul and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, with tomorrow's meeting elected officials at all levels of government will have convened key players to discuss storm response -- and put in place new plans and new procedures.
But as for me, I hope it's a good long while before we have to test them live.
Those invited to attend Wednesday's meeting are:
- Steve Stepniak, Commissioner--Department of Public Works (City of Buffalo)
- Kevin Helfer--Parking Division (City of Buffalo)
- Daniel Derenda, Commissioner--Buffalo Police Department
- Patrick Pascall, Chief -Buffalo Police Department--A District (South)
- Rajender Mehta, Director--MIS (management information systems) (City of Buffalo)
- Andrew SanFilippo, Comptroller--City of Buffalo
- Oswaldo Mestre, Director--Citizen Services (311) (City of Buffalo)
- Janet Penska, Commissioner--Administration, Finance, Policy and Urban Affairs (City of Buffalo)
- Tim Ball, Lawyer--Corporation Counsel (City of Buffalo)
- Donna Luh--NYS Thruway Authority
- Norm Polanski, Mayor--Lackawanna, NY
Meeting begins at 10AM in City Council Chambers
Buffalo City Hall, Floor 13
Members of the public are welcome to attend and will be given the opportunity to speak.
Please call 851-5169 with questions.
Written comments may be submitted to:
South District Councilman Michael P. Kearns
1401 City Hall
Buffalo, NY 14202
mkearns@city-buffalo.com
Nice of them to hold this when most of us have to work. I have already written Councilman Kearns with my input. Hopefully that will do what three different "trouble tickets" with the Mayor's 311 resolution center so far have been unable to accomplish.