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'You say next time will be different, we will see' | One year later, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb reflects on MLK Day severe snow storm

It was a snow storm nobody was ready for. It left the city of Cleveland paralyzed.

CLEVELAND — The weather Northeast Ohio experienced on this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Day wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. Warmer than usual to be sure, but nothing like the winter storm that slammed the region last year.

It was a snow storm nobody was ready for. It left the city of Cleveland paralyzed.

Cleveland resident Victor Rosa remembers that day well, "I didn't see not one truck from the city here in the area it was very poor service."

For at least two weeks this part of town never saw a plow.  While Cleveland's new mayor acknowledged there was a problem.

Recently Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said this to 3News' own Russ Mitchell, "That first snow storm we experienced in January we had back-to-back snowstorms at nearly 15 inches of snow."

So far this year, the city has not been tested. Only 9.2 inches of snow has fallen. The average is 26.2 inches and for the month of January, we have been nine degrees above average on the temperature gauge.

Even so, according to Bibb history will not repeat itself under his watch.

"I think those snow storms really laid bare the work we had to do of really modernizing how we do the basics."

The trucks now have GPS tracking and there are more on the street. But Victor Rosa says he is just going to wait and see and pass judgement on the city later.

"We have to see it's different. When you say next time will be different, when we haven't had a substantial snowfall, we will see when the snow falls. Then come back and talk to me."

Talk to me he says, when the snow falls like it did last year.

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