Lessons from the Politics of Snow

Again in 2014, the Politics Column dwelled on one other November storm that swept via our space, and like in latest days, was measured in toes and never inches. It examined the six consecutive days that then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo spent in Buffalo monitoring state and native snow-fighting efforts. Cuomo could have been at his gubernatorial greatest when taking command of catastrophe conditions. Donning his official governor jacket and conducting common briefings in entrance of Thruway plows (we nonetheless marvel why these automobiles weren’t on the market plowing), Cuomo saved Western New Yorkers knowledgeable whereas marshaling the huge powers of the state.

Now a brand new governor named Kathy Hochul wears the official jacket. She additionally stationed herself on the Thruway Authority’s Walden Avenue storage to ship the identical reassurances. Now state, county and native officers have typically obtained at the least passing grades for guiding the realm via a devastating snow dump that in locations measured nearly 7 toes.

Hochul will need to have taken notes at Cuomo’s facet throughout her lieutenant governor days. Now she notes the teachings discovered from earlier expertise.

“We’ve introduced … sources, folks, tools from everywhere in the State of New York,” Hochul stated throughout her Nov. 19 briefing. “And since we have been so pre-emptive on this strike, we have been capable of avert many tragedies. And we all know that from having gone via numerous snowstorms, not all of this magnitude, however many very critical prior to now.”

The outcomes have been clear. In 2014, 14 folks died within the massive November storm. Some froze to dying in stranded automobiles. In 2022, the realm misplaced solely three of its residents to coronary heart assaults. In 2014, tons of of motorists spent overnights and longer caught on an unplowed Thruway. In 2022, the Thruway closed, most Western New Yorkers heeded driving bans, and much fewer stranded automobiles resulted. Classes discovered from 2014 labored in 2022.

And at the same time as plows have been nonetheless attacking the mountains of snow in Hamburg and Orchard Park, the White Home responded on Monday with an emergency declaration that took weeks to acquire in 2014.

In one of many nation’s snowiest locales, politicians lastly appear to “get” the Politics of Snow. Many elderly-timers say then-Mayor Stan Makowski declined one other time period due to lingering and widespread outrage over metropolis response to the Blizzard of ’77 – the granddaddy of all Buffalo storms. A state senator named Jim Griffin made hay out of snow that election yr, promised higher outcomes, and received 4 phrases as mayor of Buffalo.

Cuomo acknowledged it. Now Hochul does too. As a Buffalo resident, it didn’t take a lot for her to know.

Ditto for County Government Mark Poloncarz. He directed Erie County’s battle in opposition to the 2014 onslaught, and perhaps as a lot as anybody, utilized the teachings of that yr to 2022.

This time, he notes, municipalities ordered driving bans even earlier than the primary flake fell – discouraging the stranded automobiles of earlier storms. They consulted Nationwide Climate Service specialists and higher coordinated with state and native responders, whereas non-public contractors have been on standby.

“Final time we had 14 deaths. A number of have been from cardiac arrests however folks died of their automobiles and in automobile accidents,” he stated final week. “This time we have been capable of keep away from accidents and other people of their automobiles as a result of we had an all-points bulletin on the market.

“Anyone driving house eight years in the past might need gotten caught,” he added. “That simply didn’t occur this time to a big diploma as a result of we bought the data on the market sooner.”

Not every part went easily. Huge vehicles diverted off the Thruway clogged parallel routes. And a few facet road residents have but to see a plow.

However Poloncarz is gearing as much as run for an unprecedented fourth time period as county govt subsequent yr. And it’s a certain guess a TV spot will characteristic the incumbent in official county govt jacket taking command in opposition to the Huge Lake-Impact Snowstorm of ’22. It’s all a part of the Politics of Snow.