BUFFALO, N.Y. — Another storm, another story about frustration in the City of Buffalo.
The ice storm that blanketed Buffalo and Western New York has left its mark, well after it ended.
"I'm not happy," North District Common Council member Joseph Golombek Jr. said. "My streets in Black Rock, Riverside, West Hertel, Grant, and Amherst neighborhoods in North Buffalo are still like this."
As of 6 p.m. Friday, dozens of side streets in Buffalo still have a thick layer of ice covering them.
"I want them to get out here, I don't care if they need to do overtime," Golombek said. "I don't care what they have to do, but they have to get out here, and they have to address it because somebody's going to get hurt."
According to the city's official snow plow map, much of the city has had at least one pass since Thursday afternoon. There are, however, stretches of North Buffalo that have gone 24 hours without a salt truck going down them.
"We've been following the GPS system all day long, it is functional." Buffalo DPW commissioner Nate Marton told 2 On Your Side. "What the public is seeing is accurate."
Golombek said the problems need to get addressed, particularly with three storms crippling neighborhoods for several days this winter season.
"Do they have enough equipment? Do they have enough machinery? Do they have enough employees?" Golombek said. "Because what is going on is unacceptable."
Commissioner Marton, however, had a more positive opinion on his departments efforts in recent days.
"I think overall, we've handled things well," Marton said. "There's always room to handle things a little bit better."
2 On Your Side asked DPW commissioner Marton if the department has enough resources to properly maintain streets during and after storms.
"That's something we're evaluating," Marton said. "I've been here three and a half months now, and it's something I've been looking at."
Councilman Golombek told WGRZ that he's committed to finding out the source of the problems impacting the department during storms.
"I'll make a commitment right now that in the month of May, we will be sitting down addressing the city budget," Golombek said. "If there aren't enough plows, if there aren't enough employees, this will be a priority."
WGRZ crews did observe multiple plows in the North Buffalo area while gathering elements for this story.
The simple matter, according to commissioner Marton, is that this is an ice event and it's not as simple to remove with plow or front loader.
"It's about salters," Marton said. "Plows are just not able to dig into it, you really got to kind of dig in and under."
Marton also said that assigning a fleet of front loaders would take a "really significant effort" on all city streets.
"Salting is really the best method at this point in time, from from the city's perspective," Marton said.
One North Buffalo resident told WGRZ that it felt like the city didn't care about their side street neighborhoods. The resident continued to walk down an ice-covered Ramsdell Avenue, toward Elmwood, because sidewalks were also not clear.
"I feel for those residents, that's certainly not the case," Marton said. "To hear that someone thinks that we're prioritizing or not prioritizing them, is impactful."
As for what the council specifically can or should do, WGRZ asked Golombek if a special commission should be established to address the scenarios that have played out in recent months after storms.
"I don't think we necessarily need a commission," Golombek said. "I wasn't a big fan of this fleet commissioner position, maybe we need that."
Golombek said he only voted for the fleet manager position so that the administration would allow the council approve the emergency manager position they desired.
"Maybe we do need to have somebody that can take a look at all of the different fleets in the city of Buffalo, the water authority, sewer authority, police, fire, etc.," Golombek said. "Maybe that's part of the problem."
Commissioner Marton says crews will continue cleanup efforts around the clock, throughout the weekend.