BUFFALO, N.Y. — The December 2022 Blizzard, which took 46 lives in Erie County and paralyzed this region, still haunts local government leaders, especially at Buffalo City Hall.
So once again on Thursday, there was a focus on the city's storm response planning and pre-season preparations.
2 on Your Side heard Mayor Byron Brown explain some of the new recommendations of the Mayor's Storm Response Task Force.
Winter weather will be here soon and Mayor Brown's 29 member task force released their plan to help guide Buffalo City Hall to deal with the very cold and sometimes deadly reality of future blizzards and storms.
On Wednesday the Mayor said he is "more confident" in the response of the city and his department leaders and so Thursday he wanted to explain why.
Their list of recommendations includes designated shelters in community centers marked with blue lights in each of the nine city council districts.
But this panel seemingly rejected the City Council's idea for potential shelters in police stations and there was no mention of city school building shelters as had been discussed before the Council.
2 ON Your Side asked, "You're saying the community centers but are they gonna have enough - are they equipped with generators and things of that nature to help with the power?"
Brown replied "Yes we will have generators in all of the community centers that we will use as emergency shelters. We'll have cots and MRE. (Prepackaged Meals Ready To Eat ) We will pre-announce widely throughout the community where the emergency shelters are located."
Also, there is another mention of upgrades and additions to the city's snow fighting and emergency response fleets like the small UTV ambulance vehicle.
And then there is the use of the emergency IPAWS ( Integrated Public Alert and Warning System) alert system like amber alerts for cell phones. Brown says "We've been talking to county, state, and the federal government about the IPAWS system. We will have it. It will be ready for this upcoming winter."
Also again they are about to conduct more interviews for the position of city emergency services manager which the City Council feels is needed even as there is still resistance from the Mayor. "In the city of Buffalo for years the fire commissioner working with his deputies have provided emergency management.
Reporter; But was it adequate in this case- sir?
Brown: I feel it was adequate."
Brown added "I'm not going to say there were coordination problems."
This plan goes to the City Council before its November 1st storm plan deadline. It may get a chilly reception as some council members are not pleased they had no representative on the task force and some of the storm response ideas they discussed in council sessions were seemingly rejected.
Council members have also said they would like such storm planning to be done prior to April which is when they start to actually discuss the administration's funding requests like snow removal equipment in the proposed budget.