BUFFALO, N.Y. — A day after being released, City of Buffalo Common Council members weighed in with concerns about the city's new winter snow plan.
Tuesday was the first time council members had the chance to review and publicly comment on the plan put together by Mayor Byron Brown's administration.
Highlights from this year's plan include the Department of Public Works maintaining a snow removal fleet of three dozen plows and more than a dozen front loaders. The city is also expecting an additional four new snowplows before the end of the year. Buffalo plans to increase funding to hire private contractors by 350%, bringing the total to one million dollars.
After the incredibly rough and deadly winter last year in Buffalo, council members told 2 On Your Side they expected a lot out of this year's snow plan, and for the most part, those expectations were not met.
Council member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt, Brian Bollman, David Rivera, and Chris Scanlon pointed to the city having less snow removal equipment this year compared to last and there is only one newly created warming shelter for each district.
"Just first blush, the issue about the equipment if we have our normal winter May be okay but if we have a winter like we did last year what are we going to do? The issue about the warming centers my warming center like I mentioned on the floor does not have the generator or the cots and things that we were thinking we were going to get. Again the common council has been pushing for this all year long," said Council Member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt.
Henry-Louis Taylor Jr., the Director of the Center for Urban Studies at the University at Buffalo also weighed in on the plan and said he believes the shelter map still leaves out East Buffalo and Black Buffalonians.
"Equity tells us not everybody in every area of the city is going to be hit by this, these storms, potential storms in the same way. So, the city needs to know that in a given storm, how will we respond to areas that we know are likely to be hit harder than other locations and other areas?" said Taylor Jr.
The due date for this plan every year is November 1. It will now head to the Community Development Committee where some of the critiques being made by council members can be discussed and potentially added to the plan.
On Tuesday, Mayor Brown's office also announced the hiring of two positions that the council was eager to have before this winter season, an Emergency Services Manager and a Fleet Manager.
Thomas Luby was hired as the city's Emergency Services Manager. He comes to Buffalo with 30 years of experience in the New York City area serving in similar roles including as captain of the NYC Fire Department on 9/11.
“I am grateful to Mayor Brown for choosing me to serve as the City of Buffalo’s Emergency Services Manager. This is an exciting opportunity for me and my family and I believe my experience and training will enable me to hit the ground running," said Luby.
James Cross was hired as the city's Fleet Manager after a decade working as the Assistant Fleet Operations for AAA of Western and Central New York.
“I am excited to join the Brown Administration to manage the City’s fleet of vehicles. My first order of business will be to fully inventory and assess the City’s current vehicle fleet to help plan for the future needs of the fleet moving forward," said Cross.
In a statement, Mayor Brown spoke about new appointments saying, "I am confident that the city, in conjunction with our partners in county and state government, will be as ready as possible for anything mother nature throws our way."