Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Perhaps looking for a better way and improvement on snow clearing efforts within the city of Buffalo, city lawmakers are seeking answers from public works officials following last week's significant snowstorm that left more than a foot and half of snow on city streets, and residents waiting days for snow to be cleared.
North District Councilman Joe Golombek says he's not looking to point fingers about what happened; he just wants to know how to clear snow better next storm.
"We had some problems, and I understand what some of the problems were, but it took longer to get to the snow than we usually do," says Golombek, noting the record snowfall amount for January 17th. "In certain parts, it was 72 hours later that we were getting snow plows down the street, and I want to know what the problems were," notes Golombek.
Cars parked on streets is arguably the major problem in allowing plows access to streets and Golombek notes, in his district, cars were parked on both sides of streets, and says some of those cars belonged to new Americans. "To their credit, community police officers knocked on their doors, told them they have to move their cars, get their kids to shovel them out," without ticketing them adds Golombek.
Councilman Rasheed Wyatt is also looking for perspective following the frustration of the recent storm. "We don't want to point fingers and lay blame. The residents don't want to hear excuses, they want to hear a plan," says Wyatt. He says it's appropriate to review the snow removal plan the council approved in November.
Councilman David Rivera is looking to empty parking lots in offering a solution for getting cars off city side streets. "I believe there are parking lots in the city of Buffalo and ramp lots the city owns that can allow people to park in, so we need more room for people to park their cars in," says Rivera. He says the city should look at using facilities with large lots to help clear side streets of cars. "If we're able to work with D'Youville, Kleinhans and churches to open those lots, that can help our crews clear the snow," suggests Rivera.
Public Works Commissioner Mike Finn tells WBEN he's aware of the challenges involved in last week's storm. "Both the volume of the snow and the parking challenges the city faces in getting the snow wiped out curb to curb, so we're working on that," says Finn. "We're continuing to work on that and potential ideas for future events like this."
Finn says he's heard ideas from both lawmakers and residents and he's open to learning about them during the council's community development committee meeting. As for Rivera's idea of opening up more lots for parking after storms, "the city does have a number of smaller lots compared to Kleinhans set up as snow emergency lots. Those are utilized and mentioned in our snow removal plan."
The committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.
