Last week I wrote about concerns raised a San Francisco Chronicle investigation regarding the City's ability to fight major fires following an earthquake. Shortly after the investigative article was published, Naomi Kelly, the City Administrator for San Francisco, submitted a letter to the editor of the Chronicle responding to the concerns raised by the investigation.
Mrs. Kelly made it clear that improving and upgrading the firefighting infrastructure in San Francisco was a very clear priority for the city and that, far from ignoring the problem, City officials are actively engaged in solving the problem. Mrs. Kelly pointed out that the City maintains an earthquake safety and emergency response program to fund repairs and improvements to the City's response capabilities, including the emergency firefighting water supply system and other earthquake safety related infrastructure.As chair of the Capital Planning Committee, Mrs. Kelly helps to oversee this work.
in 2010, voters overwhelming passed a $20 million bond to provide funding for improvements to the emergency firefighting water supply system, public safety buildings, and to the neighborhood fire stations.
Mrs. Kelly further noted that voters in San Francisco will get a chance in June to vote on the second phase of these improvements. The City has proposed a $400 million earthquake safety and emergency response bond for inclusion on the June 2, 2014 ballot.
While are still much work to do to improve San Francisco's response infrastructure, it is heartening to know what San Francisco officials are well aware of the problem and are in fact doing something about.
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