The debates are raging, whether the city was adequately prepared for the Mighty Blizzard of ’22. The County says one thing. The City says the other. And no one really knows what, or who, to believe.
To get a clearer perspective of the preparedness, the response, and the overall cleanup, Mayor Byron W. Brown has announced that the City will be working with the New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service (NYU Wagner), to determine how the City performed. NYU Wagner – considered one of the premiere higher education institutions for public policy in the nation – will study the scenario (throughout the region), before writing up an “after-action report.”
“This storm was one of the strongest winter weather systems to ever hit a densely populated metropolis. With climate change and increasingly strong weather systems,” Mayor Brown said, “We know this is not the last. I am pleased to welcome NYU Wagner’s partnership with the City of Buffalo to analyze this winter weather event.”
The hope is that the objective report will help to guide the City, to create a better strategy and roadmap towards preparedness and response, if deemed necessary.
Dean Sherry Glied said, “The Wagner School and its Rudin Center for Transportation are pleased to partner with the City of Buffalo to learn from the experience of the recent blizzard, so that Buffalo, and other cold weather cities, can respond efficiently to the effects of increasingly intensive storm weather events on infrastructure and essential services.”
The study is being conducted in tandem with the City’s own internal reviews that will examine how a number of agencies handled the blizzard, including the Department of Public Works, Buffalo Police Department and law enforcement partners, Buffalo Fire Department, Buffalo Sewer Authority and other governmental entities, as well as local utility companies.
The report is expected to be completed, and delivered to the City of Buffalo, in the first quarter of 2023. Ultimately, the findings will not only help Buffalo, but other cities that face such winter storm conditions.
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