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Council member Restler's concerns about assisting displaced constituents
1:46:48
ยท
3 min
Council Member Lincoln Restler expresses concerns about the challenges in contacting and supporting constituents displaced by fires. He emphasizes the need for better mechanisms to facilitate communication between council offices and affected residents.
- Restler highlights the difficulty in providing timely assistance, especially for fires occurring at odd hours
- He suggests the need for a standard protocol to share contact information of displaced residents with council offices
- Restler emphasizes the role of council members in navigating city agencies and bureaucracy on behalf of affected constituents
Lincoln Restler
1:46:48
Thank you very much chair, always good to see you.
1:46:52
Just a couple questions.
1:46:55
Think in the spirit of some of these bills especially, I want to just recognize the leadership of council member Gutierrez and in in leading on a really smart and important package here.
1:47:07
When we have fires in our district, it's incredibly challenging to get in contact with the constituents who are impacted, provide support, and engage.
1:47:17
And I just wonder deputy commissioner Santiago, if you have advice for us or others on what's the what recommendations would you share with our offices for how we can provide the best assistance in real time to constituents who are displaced by fire?
AnnMarie Santiago
1:47:38
That is a good question, council member, that I have to admit that I have not given much thought to previously.
1:47:44
Certainly something we can go back and think about in terms of what support council members can provide.
1:47:51
I know that at major events, many of you actually show up at the event and offer, you know, the services that your your office has available for your constituents.
1:48:03
We can't all be everywhere for every fire, and that's really the challenge.
Lincoln Restler
1:48:08
Yeah.
1:48:08
You know, I think that's exactly it.
1:48:10
I I I'm always council member Sanchez has had chair Sanchez, excuse me, has had a number of tragedies in her district over these three plus years in office.
1:48:19
And how she has shown up on the ground day after day for people who have been impacted has been really inspiring.
1:48:25
And I think a model for what council leadership should look like, council representation, I should say, should look like.
1:48:31
But it is hard to be in all places at all times, and when fires occur at 03:00 in the morning, sometimes we don't even know about it until people have already been relocated.
1:48:41
And it's, you know, sometimes people take advantage of Red Cross services and there's opportunities for connections there, But, you know, we have abilities to set up GoFundMe's to maximize resources and support and and from our communities.
1:48:56
We may even have housing solutions that we can help identify if we are in direct communication and contact.
1:49:01
And it's I don't it's like very much catch as catch can, and we don't have a good mechanism for facilitating those referrals or relationships so that we can step in and then championing the needs of our constituents who have been impacted.
1:49:16
And and I think, you know, we all wish we could be Pierina Sanchez.
1:49:21
But I think that council members really do wanna step in in those moments of crisis, you know, as well as and effectively as she does has done to be there.
1:49:29
And I think if there were ways that agencies could really set us up to gave create those warm handoffs for us, I don't know if others wanna jump in here to help.
1:49:38
I I read you know, I I know that you think about the world, deputy commissioner Santiago, from the perspective of tenants and you know making sure that they have access to the resources and support that they need.
1:49:47
But if others want to jump in with any suggestions for what we could or should do or how you can create a better how you can better activate council members to support constituents in need, I would welcome any suggestions that you all would like to share or if you'd like to come back to us.