Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "I disagree."
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown pushed back on WBEN on Wednesday against a report that exposes a disastrous lack of coordination among the local, state and federal response to the Christmas blizzard.
The investigation by USA TODAY Network New York spanned hundreds of government emails, reams of dispatch data, and included dozens of interviews.
It cited numerous failures including what it called an emergency management breakdown from a lack of communication.
"Not everything is reflected in emails," said Mayor Brown. "There were numerous phone calls. There were text messages. There were a variety of different ways that we were communicating during the storm. Identifying a lack of email communication does not tell the while story."
In fact, Brown said there was constant communication between the city, county and state.
"Sometimes it was minute by minute. It was called a once in a generation storm. It was called that because of the incredible severity of the storm," he added.
The takeaway for the mayor is the need to continue to work to be prepared as other storms will be coming in the future.
The city has made new investments by purchasing new equipment, and has changed procedures to be prepared for the next storm. "With global warming," the Mayor said, "I know some people don't believe that it is real, but it is real, and we know that we'll be hit with other storms in the future."
Asked further about city-county communication during the storm, the Mayor was asked about his communication with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
"I had conversations directly with the county executive. I had conversations directly with the governor. I felt that the communication loop that we had was very good. I was comfortable with the level of communication. But even more than that," he said, "the level of communication between our staffs, people who were out in the field, people who were requesting and providing equipment and assistance, that communication was seamless and that was the most important communication that needed to take place during the storm."
In the seven months since the crippling blizzard, the city has had several discussions about adding an Emergency Manager. Brown said a search process is underway for that position. In addition, the city has a search process underway for a Fleet Manager. In the meantime, the Fire Commissioner is currently identified as the Emergency Manager.
