On July 23rd, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee – chaired by Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr. – approved a package of nine bills regarding the City’s response to emergency situations, including any future storms like Hurricane Sandy.

The legislation discussed at the hearing will create fuel, traffic and shelter management plans for emergency situations, develop and implement a food and water access plan, create a community recovery plan, improve the methods by which homebound residents and people with special medical needs are tracked, rescued and evacuated, aid small businesses in recovering from future storms, and require the Commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management to review plans for responding to emergency conditions and potential incidents and report to the City Council. Vallone is a co-sponsor on five of the bills.

The Council has held roughly a dozen hearings since Hurricane Sandy and has received insights into the City’s response to the storm. With this knowledge, the Council was able to identify shortcomings in the City’s response and develop a list of recommendations on how it can better prepare for and respond to emergencies in the future.

Vallone has visited the Rockaways on several occasions over the past few weeks – including a tour of the beach with residents – and was outraged by the lack of measures taken to protect the community from future storms.

“Thousands of Queens residents lost everything during Hurricane Sandy – with some tragically paying the ultimate price – and we owe it to them to ensure that the City is better prepared to deal with our next emergency,” said Council Member Vallone. “These bills are a good first step, but a lot more work still has to be done to ensure we are safe before the next storm.”

(YWN Desk – NYC)