From MSNBC to the phone calls streaming into tens of thousands of local cells, Mayor Toni Harp was the calm face and voice of the blizzard about to bear down on New Haven.
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Harp prepares to go live on MSNBC.
She said the city is in a better position to meet the demands of the expected heavy snowfall than in the past. She got to tell that to a national audience early Monday afternoon.
Historic storms like Monday’s Winter Storm Juno test a city’s leader. They also put her out front in communicating with the people. Showing no signs of stress, Harp slid comfortably into the role as the winds picked up.
With the snow falling quickly on the Green, Harp arrived around 2:30 at the Church Street studios of NBC30 for a national live remote, fielding questions from MSNBC about what the city is doing in preparation for a storm projected to dump two to three feet of snow.
Her message: “Go home and be safe.” Widespread power outages were expected once the blizzard hits at around 10 p.m. Harp said shelters would be ready to receive anyone who is without power longer than 24 hours.
She urged people to take the storm seriously and heed the parking and travel directives from the city along with those issued by the state, while telling the nation that the city has the equipment it needs to have a better response than it did two years ago.
“Was that OK,” she said. Everyone assured her she did just fine, even her fielding of unexpected questions about Hartford. Later that night she’d have a turn on CNN.
The mayor hustled back to City Hall to prepare to send a message to the 29,147 people signed up for city “Everbridge” phone alerts on the storm. The Everbridge notification system is expected to provide the most up-to-date information from the city. Her message went out immediately after she recorded it at around 3:30 p.m. and was slated to go back out at 6 p.m., which is around the time that most people are expected to be home. (Click on the video at the top of the story to watch her record the message.)
During a series of snowstorms in 2013, Harp at first left the recording of the messages to emergency management chief Rick Fontana. Then she heard from citizens that they wanted to hear directly from her.
“What we [also] learned last time was that we had to simplify and clarify our message,” she said. “And that’s what we’ve done.” She said she the city has almost everything it needs to face the storm.
When Emergency Operations Director Rick Fontana sought to update her on the status of the storm, she asked with a chuckle if the updated forecast called for less snow. “No, it’s actually for more,” Fontana responded. Harp and aide Andrea Scott prepared to hunker down to field phone calls from the public before heading over to the Emergency Operations Center for the second meeting that day of emergency staffers.
“I’ll be here,” Harp said.
She and numerous staffers prepared to hunker down at City Hall overnight rather than go home. The forecasters are calling it a “historic” “life-threatening” storm, so it’s all hands on deck.