Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Through the first few weeks of his tenure as Mayor of Buffalo, Sean Ryan has been pleased with the Department of Public Works and partnerships with local contractors in efforts to keep city streets cleared of snow.
According to Ryan, the city has plowed 1,200 miles of streets so far during this latest winter storm, and brought in 150 contractors with high lifts and dump trucks to work on the secondary roads.
"The city itself has over 27 pieces out, contractors have 153 out," Ryan noted on Monday. "We've got about two-thirds of the side streets done, and we anticipating having the other 1/3 done by the end of [Monday] evening."
Ryan says preparations for this winter season came shortly after the November general election, where he met with deputy mayor Ben Swanekamp and Public Works commissioner Nolan Skipper to identify areas that were holding they city back.
One of the areas that were holding us back is we didn't have enough mechanics to fix the plows, so we made sure we concentrated on the down periods right after I took office to make sure we had those mechanics working, to get as many pieces of equipment as possible. We also renewed efforts to talk to the snow plow drivers to let them know how important they are, and how necessary they are," Ryan explained. "'You come to work, it makes the city function.' The drivers have responded, they worked on holidays, they're working on Sundays. They're coming in to do the job because they feel a renewed sense of purpose as the city is putting together a real comprehensive strategy, and they want to be part of the game of making the city function. So I can't tell you how proud I am of the DPW leadership, but also the rank and file, how they've really responded to the changes that we've put in place. And the results are clear. We're clearing the streets faster than ever."
Through the first few weeks of his tenure, Ryan notes how differently the city's Department of Public Works has been conducting itself with keeping the streets clear of snow.
"We doubled down on getting more pieces of equipment on the road. As you know, the equipment is old, it's in bad shape. But the mechanics have been working a lot of hours to make sure our equipment is going. It's been going for about two weeks now, and so our drivers are rising to the occasion, they're doing a lot of long nights," Ryan explained. "Mechanics are working as fast as possible to get the equipment back on the street when it breaks down. We're really far behind on buying modern snowplows, that's going to take us a little while to catch up."
In anticipation of this weekend's winter storm to impact Western New York and the City of Buffalo, Ryan made sure crews pre-positioned pieces of heavy equipment throughout the city.
"We planned ahead with our outside contractors days in advance, so you're going to be ready if this snow comes, and they were ready. And we also had a strategy of keeping the main roads open no matter what," Ryan said. "In the past, they would wait until the snow was over, but we kept the mains open throughout."
The city has worked around the clock to push the snow and clear the streets, while private contractors have helped out with dump trucks and high lifts to help clear out the snow.
"On the commercial corridors, where we're first concentrating on, we're actually pulling the snow out of there. So you can park on the commercial corridors right next to the curb, and the snow is not impeding people's ability to park, get out of their cars and go about their activities of daily living," Ryan said. "We really made a push to make it so the city could be open for business this morning, and City Hall is open for business this morning."
Ryan says contracting with private contractors was done quickly with the use of the City of Buffalo's fund that is supposed to be used for weather emergencies. While he understands the city's fiscal problems and concerns, it doesn't mean the city can stop functioning.
"As we're digging out from the storm, we're also digging out from our fiscal crisis, making sure we can use the resources available to the best degree. Because we're not going back to this, 'Well, you get a big snowfall. It's going to take us days to clear side streets.' We're not going back there. Every city resident deserves to have their streets plowed, and we're going to continue those efforts," Ryan exclaimed. "As I said several times, we deserve good services in the City of Buffalo. That's what we endeavor to deliver, and we're on our way with our response to this storm. But really, it's been snowing for a few weeks, and we've kept on top of it."
As for the results, Ryan will let city residents rate the storm effectiveness.
"I know in comparison to any point in the last several years, we have more pieces of city equipment and more city crews on the street. And we also had a comprehensive and pretty seamless program to get the private contractors out there on the streets, and they're all over the City of Buffalo," Ryan said.
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