County emergency services are severely understaffed. Is the loss of Urban Shield funding the reason?
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COUNTY NEWS
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
—DISASTER WAITING—The Alameda County Office of Emergency Services (OES) are severely understaffed.
—Representatives from OES told the Board of Supervisors Public Protection Committee on Thursday that their ability to respond to natural and man-made emergencies will be hindered without additional help.
—Alameda County OES has a staff of just four individuals. By contrast, similarly sized Santa Clara County has 17 emergency personnel.
—Alameda County OES urged the committee to allocate additional funding to fill 16 new positions, including an emergency manager and assistant, in addition to 14 emergency services coordinators.
—The cost of the expenditure is estimated to be $2.9 million a year.
—The Public Protection Committee, made up of Supervisors Nate Miley and Elisa Márquez, said they will direct the county administrator to include the OES’ funding request in its ongoing budget discussions.
—OES is by no means alone when it comes to understaffed departments in Alameda County. The problem is pervasive across the county.
—Supervisor Miley asserted the Board of Supervisors’ decision in 2019 to forego a federal grant that funded Urban Shield, a controversial emergency preparedness training program held in Alameda County, contributed to the low staffing levels at OES.
—“It’s important for folks to realize the unintended consequences of us losing the UASI (Urban Areas Security Initiative) grant,” said Miley, who voted against proposals in 2019 that essentially defunded and ended the Urban Shield program.
—The $5.5 million federal grant previously allocated to Alameda County now goes to San Francisco.
—Along with the grant came eight senior-level staff that were lost to Alameda County.
—“When that portion of the grant went away, those positions went away.” said Brentt Blaser, Alameda County’s emergency manager.
—UNINTENDED INTEL—Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley said the trio of pro-Palestine protests that snarled Bay Area traffic on April 15 provided wrongdoers with a roadmap to one day damage the entire region.
—“It really pissed me off when those misguided protesters blocked traffic on the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge,” Miley said at Thursday’s Board of Supervisors Public Protection Committee.
—“What they did is they demonstrated how you can tie up law enforcement resources,” while another group bent on destruction could attack another area in the region. Watch Miley’s comment below:
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