Last week’s back-to-back lake-effect winter storms offered the first true test of whether local governments – and local residents – learned anything from the calamities of the 2022 Christmas week blizzard.
The short answer is yes. In fact, on some of the days the wind and snowstorms raged, Erie County received fewer calls to 911 than on an ordinary day, according to Benjamin Swanekamp, chief of staff for County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
The analysis reports, created by department heads, recount how administrators struggled to meet public needs in the face of overwhelming demands during the Christmas week blizzard.
Not everyone was happy with how everything played out. Some residents complained about the “dictatorship” of imposed, widespread driving bans.
But on balance, there were clear signs that the local governments worked better, and worked better together. No lives were lost due to local leaders failing to act.
The response to last week’s storm can’t offer an apples-to-apples comparison the blizzard, which occurred at the height of the busiest holiday period of the year and offered sustained and widespread whiteout conditions that kept road and rescue crews paralyzed for many hours.
But preparations made for this winter were evident. Here…
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