Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - With just under a week to go until Election Day, the three candidates running to be the first newly elected Mayor of Buffalo in two decades joined WBEN to give make one last impression on voters.
As the cold air arrives, the Buffalo Common Council is waiting on an update on where things stand with the city's preparations for the winter months from the Mayor's Office.
We asked the candidates what a snow plan would look like if they were in office:
Independent Candidate Michael Gainer
"For the most part, it's preparation, making sure our equipment is ready to go, making sure we have the salt on hand that we need to. Then just early and often. Particularly on the main roads where we could keep emergency routes clear and open and safe."
"Then also being proactive in making sure we have a thorough emergency plan in place and to actually have a Commissioner of Emergency Response so that when we're hit with emergencies we have a plan in place, we know what the protocol is."
Republican Candidate James Gardner
"The City of Buffalo right now has an equipment problem when it comes to snow removal. In the current budget book it only lists that the city only has 25 snow plows to plow 1,600 lane miles in the city. For a comparison, the Town of West Seneca has 240 lane miles and they have 16 snow plows."
"What I look forward to is the morning after the election setting up a transition team to really prioritize this problem"
Democrat Candidate Sean Ryan
"I'm going to be inheriting the snow plan that eventually is submitted by the Acting Mayor. What I do know is that at any given day, 30% of the city's snow removal equipment isn't functioning, and that means we're shorthanded."
"I've talked to the snowplow drivers. They are frustrated. They think there's better ways to do it, but they don't think the management is listening to them."