City urged to repair streetlights for tournament
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When thousands of people visit Buffalo this week for the NCAA basketball tournament, their involvement in March Madness shouldn't have to include treks down dark streets lined with broken lights, a downtown business leader contends.
"There are lights out everywhere in the City of Buffalo," James T. Sandoro said. "There must be hundreds. I counted 35 in just one area [of downtown]."
Organizers estimate that the tournament, to be held Friday and next Sunday in HSBC Arena, will attract more than 12,000 out-of-town fans and pump about $5 million into the local economy.
Sandoro implored city officials to deal with what he described as an inexcusable number of burned-out streetlights, plus such other problems as parking. "We should have our best face on for [the tournament]," he said.
City officials insisted they were one step ahead of the games. An inspector began focusing on downtown streets last week, looking for broken streetlights, Public Works Commissioner Steven J. Stepniak said. A number of problems were red-flagged and will be resolved expeditiously, he added.
Roving crews from National Grid also supposedly cruise the city systematically in search of burned-out lights.
"Maybe we need to look at the system they're using and see if they're doing this adequately," Stepniak said.
National Grid spokesman Steve Brady insisted the utility is doing its job and has placed a special focus on downtown because of the NCAA tournament and the recent Powder Keg Festival.
"But it's just not practical to patrol every light, every night," he said.
Broken streetlights aren't the only problem that crews are tackling to spruce up Buffalo for the tournament. Public works crews began the season's street-sweeping ritual this week.
"When the snow melts, everything is noticeable," Stepniak said. "I call it winter grime."
A special focus will be placed on cleaning downtown streets in the days leading up to the NCAA games, said Henry Jackson, director of streets.
City Sanitation Director Paul Sullivan added that crews will be on the lookout for litter, illegal dumping and anything else that would mar the area's appearance.
Tournament organizers, meanwhile, have been working closely with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority and other entities on parking needs, said Susan M. Gonzalez, the city's coordinator of special events.
"The [organizing] committee has been working very hard to address issues that have occurred in the past," she said. "We've all learned from past tournaments."
As for the streetlights, Brady said he was not aware of any unusual circumstances that would have caused a large number to be out in the city.
"We always get a spike during the winter months. But as the weather starts to turn, we have better opportunities to patrol and make repairs," he said.
National Grid did not release specific data, but Brady said the company had not received an unusual spike in complaints. He encouraged people to report streetlight problems to the utility or the city.
e-mail: bmeyer@buffnews.com
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