Meanwhile, in Niagara Falls

David Staba juxtaposes Mayor Brown’s disaster response in Buffalo to the day-to-day operation under Falls Mayor Vince Anello:

Whatever the reason for the disparity in savage storms, it’s a very fortuitous situation for Niagara Falls, given the mismanagement of the city’s Public Works Department by Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello and chums.

Turning the most basic of city services into an exercise in political gamesmanship, he’s steadily gutted the Forestry Department in a transparent effort to justify his mysterious attempt to borrow $100,000 to give to an as yet unnamed contractor.

Instead of temporarily moving workers into the Forestry Department, as is the custom at this time of year, when fewer are needed in the parks and golf course division, he’s demoting climbers and ordering men trained to use chainsaws to spread blacktop instead.

Crews in Buffalo worked around the clock through the weekend, clearing fallen trees and branches. Meanwhile, in Niagara Falls, winds dropped a tree across Niagara Avenue late Friday, blocking the street in the 1300 block. It was still there Sunday afternoon. Perhaps Anello and City Administrator Dan Bristol think that someone getting hurt, or worse, as a result of their inaction will convince the City Council to let His Dishonor have his way.

So, to sum up: In Buffalo, tons of wood and foliage were picked up and hauled away in a span of a few days, while in Niagara Falls, one tree was left to block a residential street to make some sort of point nobody outside City Hall could possibly fathom.

Also to sum up, Staba says it’s really lucky that the Falls is generally spared the big lake effect storms that Buffalo gets.