From a crawl to a standstill. . .
Tacomaness will be fairly quiet for the month of July, as I’m spending the month in the Netherlands as part of a UWT study abroad program. If you are at all interested in this little adventure of mine, i’ve created a blog called patat.interurban.net that i’ll be using to share photo’s and stories. I’m not bringing a computer, so it will largely depend on my ability to find one with a usb port for my camera.
I appreciate everyone stopping by and supporting Tacomaness. I encourage you all to keep reading and posting in the Tacomaness forums. If anyone has a serious interest in posting to the site, or moderating comments drop me a note. I’d be glad to have the help.
Government Disaster Response
On February 16th, UWT hosted a panel discussion on our region’s emergency preparedness with representatives from the City, County and State.
The overwhelming message was; nobody is coming!
Built into local and federal plans is an assumption that in the event of a major disaster we are on our own for 72 hours at a minimum and maybe as long as a week. I’m as guilty as anyone, you would think with all the tragic events of the past few years we would all have taken the basic steps like setting aside a weeks worth of food and water.
So now I have a goal for this weekend and I would encourage you to do the same. For a list of recommended supplies and tips you can visit he Pierce County web site.
http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/pc/abtus/ourorg/dem/pubed.htm
But what about your neighbors? What about the family next door that has a hard time putting food on the table on a nightly basis? How can we expect them to go out and buy a weeks worth of supplies? Jody Woodcock talked about some creative ways that neighborhoods can come together to support this common goal.
Check out this web site and get involved; Start your own Neighborhood Emergency Team with training and support from the County. Sponsor a neighborhood garage sale and use the proceeds to set aside essential supplies for your whole neighborhood.
Here are the complete details from the discussion:
Tacoma – Pierce county’s emergency preparedness.
Antionio Ginatta – Washington State Executive Policy Advisor
Dr. Federico Cruz-Uribe – Director of Health, Tacoma/Pierce County Health Department
Lt. David O’Dea – Tacoma Police Department
Deputy Chief Jeff Jensen – Tacoma Fire Department
Jody Woodcock – Pierce County Department of Emergency Management
Scenario: An event of national significance has occurred within the Pierce County region causing widespread devastation of critical magnitude.
Focus of Discussion: Each panelist will describe their entity’s responsibilities and duties, and the sequence of events as they would occur commencing at the City of Tacoma level through to the State of Washington’s involvement. Examples of resources, procedures, policies, and plans in place to date as they relate to life, safety and the protection of property will be discussed.
Government Leadership partnership with UTW
The most interesting aspect of my urban government and organizations class is that the program developed a partnership with the city to hosting a series of sessions that are open to the public. These sessions start in January with the last session on March 6th. These discussions are hosted in the keystone auditorium and will run on scheduled dates from 6:45 to 9 p.m.
. . . Read more!