TEANECK, New Jersey (WABC) — As the big dig continues from last weekend’s historic blizzard, the mayor of one New Jersey town is using a drone to check out complaints about unplowed streets, but it’s not without some road bumps.
Sidewalks in Teaneck are passable, bus stops are shoveled, and RoadCam 7 shows side streets are clear, but residents say a day or two ago, the only thing clear was their frustration.
Teaneck Mayor Mark Schwartz says he got an earful from constituents bombarding his office with complaints, but at first, he wasn’t sure why. Then a bird’s eye view from above showed him why.
He’s been using his own personal drone to survey the town’s 105 miles of road. He then diverts its 15 plows to problem spots.
“The actual purpose of the drone was to pinpoint complaints,” Schwartz said. “Unfortunately, there was such a large volume of issues that the drone shows. No, you didn’t just miss Edgewood you did you didn’t just miss Sherman Avenue you missed entire areas or under siege by the snow.”
The mayor says the town now takes both residents’ complaints and the drone, to piece together a fuller picture of spots crews missed, and it’s been working.
The mayor says after he bought his personal drone, the police department bought its own commercial drone. But the problem is during a major storm, officers are out on the streets, occupied and unable to launch a drone.
So, for the foreseeable future, the mayor says he will remain Teaneck’s personal snow-spotting drone operator.
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