So I found this statement interesting;
Now more than two weeks after the historic weather event, all but a few trees remain to be picked up in city parks,
Not quite. I find it baffling that the city is still struggling with messaging. Earlier this week I rode my bike thru the affected areas along 41st street. While a majority of the bigger trees were picked up, small debris was still strewn all over the residential side streets. On Lincoln Avenue, directly North of the Auto parts store that was damaged, a large piece of the roof sat in a yard (approximately 10 x 30 FT in size).
On the bike trail between Spencer park and Yankton Trail, there were hundreds of trees down and massive piles of tree debris. But the bike trail was clear and clean.
Overall, Smith and others with COAD say operations were mostly smooth, with the city’s emergency operations guide working as it was intended. The document, created in 2012, outlines a chain of command and lays out what steps are to be taken during natural and man-made disasters.
This is also baffling to me. Throughout the article they talk about how they have been planning for this for 9 years and have timely meetings. So what happened with messaging and city assistance?
I think the volunteer efforts were FANTASTIC, but as I have stressed before, volunteers are one leg of the stool, the city, the state and federal government has to step in and help to. This was a major misstep by the city in the early stage of this (they of course stepped up later but never communicated that to the public, or maybe contractors just ignored the rules?).
I don’t know how you can say you have been planning for a tornado for 9 years, and after the event actually happens you tell citizens to call a private non-profit helpline for assistance because it’s not the city’s responsibility to pick up debris, but then do it anyway
That’s one heck of a 9 year plan!
I just hope it doesn’t take 9 years to fix it.
I guess it’s just human nature to CYA, and clearly that’s what the mayor & included department heads are doing about how the tornado aftermath has played out. But, clearly there was & continues to be considerable public confusion about the cleanup. This young, relatively newly-elected and politically/municipally inexperienced mayor + his equally lacking in urban management experience chosen inner circle, have been distracted by all the shiny stuff they couldn’t wait to get their hands on. Like, a new ultimate HQ for the Lord, God & Savior Director of Innovation & Technology Jason Residorfer, Harvard summer camp for the chosen few, and throwing taxpayer money at the sad State of affairs Theater.
Residents need local government to administer basic needs first & foremost. Walk before you run, boys & girls. Use that great internet marketing imagination of yours to sit in a meeting room…everyone close their eyes…and envision what local emergency “X†would look like. What are the myriad of considerations, questions, directions, actions and resources that will be affected, and how will you respond quickly, decisively and efficiently to best quickly aid & inform our citizens? Get all those details itemized, notated, cross referenced, collated and tabulated in a nice big 3-ring binder and put it in a fireproof safe . . . . at the ready when the need arises.
Ask every possible question of yourselves as to what your response will be to each type of widespread issue your community could face based on the experience of what scores of other communities have faced. Once there are no more “I don’t know†responses and you have a ‘bible’ at the ready for each situation, you have a high degree of confidence you have the most important basics and responsibilities of your elected position covered. THEN you can use your high tech bag of tricks on the shiny, sparkly things you hope to magically transform into resume bragging rights.
That metal on Lincoln Avenue that you speak of is something that my neighbor acquired as a result of the storm. It has now been there for almost three weeks. It is ‘Exhibit A’ of how there was no serious and/or thorough plan to clean up after the storm. This metal debris is on both sides of the “Red Line” and the fact that this has not been addressed by the city proves that they never had a serious and committed storm recovery plan.
The family that lives at that address with the metal debris speak English as a second language, so there may be some language barrier as to why that metal is still there, but the city should be proactive regardless in dealing with it.
I also emailed the city on Wednesday about all of the debris on Lincoln Avenue, between 41st and 39th Streets, – an Avenue which is perpendicular to the Advance Auto Parts store that more or less blew up due to the one of the tornadoes – this past Wednesday and they did come out the next day and do a thorough sweeping of the streets, which is most appreciative, but when you have a local government that established a “Red Line” and was also reported to have a mentality that they weren’t going to give any “Hand-outs” concerning this storm, and not to mention T.J.’s FB comments, where he was making fun of critics of the city – many I might add (critics, that is), who were most likely direct victims of the storm – then the city’s handling of this matter is very troubling.
Also, the city’s handling of this storm did not meet the standards established with the ice storm from April of 2013 and the failure of the city to meet that standard with an area much smaller than what encompassed the ice storm means to me that this city is presently not capable of handling any major storm with any true thoroughness and completion, which all citizens of Sioux Falls should find troubling giving the obvious climate changes that we are increasingly being asked to experience in our fine town; and the inability of the sirens to work for all citizens in this town is further proof as well and also a scary irony concerning the current attitude of our towns leadership in dealing with an issue or challenge like this.
The city’s overall handling of this storm proves that our city fathers and mothers are more interested in building things to impress, spending money on boondoggles and a “Chief Culture Officer,” than doing the boring but necessary duties and services which a local government is suppose to offer to its citizens, and especially in a time of need.
There is no such thing as a “private” nonprofit. That is not how 501c3s work. Further, nonprofits exist to deal with society’s most challenging issues, as most people understand government cannot be and do all. You call nonprofits one leg of the stool. That is correct….and leading storm clean up is the most appropriate role they can play in such instances.