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Dear Council,
Request to Council:
1. Make Disaster Preparation a Council priority for 2020-2021. Qualified volunteers are available to work on needed action items, to minimize staff time.
2. Incorporate the CERT-based MPC Ready Organization into the City of Menlo Park. Low-risk possibilities include:
a. Task Force to craft crafting recommendations for a permanent home for MPC Ready. Task Force could report to a Council subcommittee.
b. MPC Ready “reports” to a new Mayor’s Office.
Rationale for Request
Residents are unprepared for major disasters such as a rupture in the Hayward fault. On May8, 2018, Council heard a presentation on the “Haywire Scenario” at a special study session. That meeting is well worth watching again. The most serious impacts will fall on the residents in Belle Haven due to their location near the Bay. However, all of Menlo Park could see impacts. Impacts could include major loss of life, major property damages, need for shelters to house people who cannot return to their homes, disrupted water and power supplies, and disrupted roadways which could also disrupt the ability of first responders to help. Commuters from the East Bay could also be trapped in Menlo Park. There are others.
Inadequate mitigation measures, despite known hazards, leaves the City open to possible litigation. The presentation from the USGS Specialist included mitigations that Menlo Park could take. I’m not sure of the status of those mitigations, but suspect that little (if anything) has been done. The known anticipated disruptions also require an authentic plan to address ahead of time. If the City does not do more, following a widespread disaster, it’s entirely possible that the City will be sued and the Council blamed.
Council has been discussing disaster preparedness for years. This shows that Council and the City know there is a need for disaster preparedness. For example, on Sep 24, 2019, Council held a joint meeting with the Town of Atherton. At this meeting, the former Police Chief Bertini said “the city is studying Atherton’s [A.D.A.P.T.] program and evaluating whether it’s feasible to do something similar in Menlo Park.” Again, these discussions – combined with inadequate action -- leaves the City open for post-disaster litigation.
Menlo Park now has a viable CERT-based volunteer-based program like A.D.A.P.T. Please see the attached fact sheet. We have made tangible progress since we launched Jan 25, 2020 and our trained and experienced volunteers can significantly help the City make needed progress in actually preparing residents.
Benefits of the MPC Ready volunteers
1. During the pandemic, we quickly mobilized. We helped people to Shelter in Place by providing tangible and emotional support. We made welfare checks, picked up and delivered groceries and gave other help, including walking dogs! We also provided important COVID-19 information and urged people to register for SMC Alert. We did this in a self-funded way.
2. We have helped build stronger neighborhoods, block-by-block, where neighbors know neighbors! This “intelligence” (safely secured by the block coordinators) can be invaluable following a major disaster. Our community-based volunteers can help the first responders with important information. We can also perform light search and rescue and/or help to calm people down. We believe that disaster preparedness starts with knowing the neighbors. Disaster preparation is a catalyst for improved overall quality of life in Menlo Park.
3. We can help Council and Staff to update the out-of-date Emergency Services Plan. We can help Staff to incorporate volunteer-based efforts and to provide valuable input, so that the plans are viable and effective following a widespread disaster. We can also help to communicate the plan to the residents. Current communication efforts need improving.
4. The City’s municipal code and your Safety Elemental all include the foundation for volunteer-based disaster preparedness efforts. The Safety Element, adopted May 13, 2013, has multiple goals related to public safety and Emergency Response Policies that we can help bring to fruition in tangible ways.
5. MPC Ready works to foster interjurisdictional cooperation and identification of shortfalls in emergency services in our area. We seek to work cooperatively with our local governmental bodies to help raise awareness of problems to the policy makers -- before a disaster. Council may not be fully aware of the very real difficulties that Council will face following a widespread disaster. Working out interjurisdictional shortfalls (ahead of time) will help.
6. We are also a possible volunteer base for the City of Menlo Park, MP Fire Protection District, and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services.
7. We foster synergy and collaboration across our “sister” organizations in neighboring cities. This will aid interjurisdictional cooperation across San Mateo County & with our neighbors in Palo Alto.
8. Disaster preparedness crosses many existing Council top priorities. In the interests of keeping this memo short, I will not list them all. Top ones include the ongoing response to COVID-19, global climate change, and plans to prepare an Environmental Justice Element. The good people in Belle Haven, the most vulnerable in the City, will face the most severe impacts from widespread disasters.
Warmly, Lynne Bramlett, Co-Chair, MPC Ready
