Lazy-Lawfulness-6466 OP t1_j2ddksy wrote
It’s not fair to say people should not have been out and here’s why:
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People were not sufficiently warned. There’s warnings about severe snow storms a couple times a year in Buffalo. The messaging for this wasn’t drastically different. I’m a relatively informed person and from what I understood there was going to be an ice storm. I texted my manager the night before to ask him if we’d have to come in with a state of emergency declared. He didn’t know it had been declared. I’m signed up for the city wide alert system, which is used all the time for messaging about stuff like driving bans, trash pickup, parking, etc. No alert was sent out about this storm until after the blizzard had already started.
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Driving bans are common place in Buffalo. Employers generally do not see an upcoming snow storm as a valid reason for employees to miss a day of work. A driving ban makes it illegal to require employees to come in. This also keeps people off the roads because, without employees, businesses close. Officials say the driving ban awas enacted around 9:30 but I didn’t receive the alert on my phone until after 10. The city, state, and county keep saying people knew how bad this storm would be and blaming them for not being prepared. If this is true, why didn’t they enact the driving ban the night before rather than when people were already at work and on the roads? The blizzard hit very fast and people were stranded trying to get home.
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People were without heat or power in subzero temps. They left their homes to seek safety. The second leading cause of death for this was people who died in their homes.
Puzzleheaded-Food-31 t1_j2dwf7d wrote
I checked my text messages from last week after reading your second point. These were the warnings I received about the storm (summarized):
Thurs 12/22 9:38am - Garbage pickup canceled on Fri 12/26
Fri 12/23 8:42am - Garbage pickup canceled on Fri 12/26
8:52am - Blizzard warning now in effect, no garbage/recycling pickup today
9:40am - [text clarifying date is actually Fri 12/23]
10:03am - first travel ban
Then there’s one or two messages every day after that for the driving ban until it was lifted. A front loader made one pass down our street before dawn on Monday. Then nothing until yesterday. This is on the east side of buffalo.
Lazy-Lawfulness-6466 OP t1_j2dzwip wrote
Exactly. It’s worth noting garbage pickup is delayed all of the time so this isn’t exactly a dire warning.
beeraholikchik t1_j2eyo0o wrote
Not to mention that even if a business closed or gave employees the choice not to come in without repercussions, those employees lose money either way. That's a missed shift (or multiple) and they're most likely not going to catch a break on their rent, utilities, or other payments because of it.
Lazy-Lawfulness-6466 OP t1_j2ezc02 wrote
Right before the holiday. In one of the poorest cities in the country.
[deleted] t1_j2e7c1z wrote
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[deleted] t1_j2e8pt1 wrote
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shewy92 t1_j2e9cug wrote
>Maccarone was feeling anxious already, watching the notifications about closures of stores on Facebook, she told CNN.
But her mother wanted to go out and Alexander, 52, said she'd be right back and left without mentioning where she was headed. Maccarone, who had lived with Alexander since August, said she just assumed her mom was trying to get to the stores before they closed.
>"She's always felt like superwoman and invincible, so I'm assuming that she just thought she could handle the conditions," Maccarone said. "Can't really tell my mom anything, she's going to do what she wants to do. I'm assuming she just thought she was strong enough for it."
Some people though are 100% to blame for ignoring common sense
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