Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz today corrected a recently-published newspaper editorial that inaccurately claimed the City of Buffalo rejected county assistance in responding to the Christmas Blizzard of 2022. A Buffalo News editorial published on Monday January 30 incorrectly stated, “To hear Poloncarz tell it, he offered the county’s help in clearing city streets but got the cold shoulder”, prompting the County Executive’s clarification today.

“I want to be clear that I never said the City of Buffalo rejected our help during the blizzard, and the fact that this piece of misinformation is somehow in the public sphere undermines the growing cooperative relationship between Erie County and the City of Buffalo. In fact, the City gladly accepted our help during the blizzard and our administrations are now working even more closely to align our response and better serve our constituents for the next one,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “Erie County stands ready to assist in any future disaster just as we have in the past. Misinformation damages public trust, erodes faith in government and enables the spread of even more egregious distortions, so it must be confronted and addressed. We are working collaboratively to improve and strengthen storm response, and reporting that accurately and fairly better serves our community.”

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