Politics & Government

Huizar to Seek Review of City's Windstorm Response

The Council member is expected to introduce a motion Wednesday to determine—and improve—L.A.'s disaster preparedness capabilities.

is scheduled to introduce a motion in the City Council Wednesday, asking certain departments at the center of repair and relief operations following last week’s "once-in-a-generation" windstorm to report on how they have responded to emergencies across Los Angeles.

The motion is aimed at gauging the government’s overall response to the November 30-December 1 calamity, which left more than 140,000 LADWP customers without electricity on the morning after the storm.

Northeast Los Angeles was hit particularly hard, with nearly approximatley 65,000 customers experience outages at points following the storm. In Highland Park alone, 14,700 were reported to be without power at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1 and nearly 3,00 were still without electricity on Saturday.

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Studying the response could provide valuable lessons about how the government should handle future disasters, including earthquakes, according to an advance copy of the motion that the Council member’s office provided to Patch.

Huizar’s motion, which is expected to be seconded by CD 11 Council member Bill Rosendahl, will require the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Bureau of Street Services, the Bureau of Sanitation, and the Emergency Management Department to account for their handling of the widespread damage and relief measures.

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If the motion is approved, the departments will also be required to present to the City Council the following:

• A short-term and long-term strategy for restoring essential public services.

• A timeline for removing storm-related debris such as tree limbs.

• A proposal for strategies to improve responses to natural disasters in the future.

 • A report, in conjunction with the City’s chief administrative officer (CAO), about the cost of cleaning up after the windstorm and providing the resources necessary to restore public services.

• Identify any potential impact that the windstorm might have made on other essential services.

The ability of departments to effectively communicate with their customers during prolonged disruption of essential services is one key reason behind the review that Huizar is expected to seek.


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