

FEDS: CITY PLAN IS DISASTROUS
Jersey City flunked 14 benchmarks and received poor grades
in
every other area reviewed in a recent U.S. Department of
Homeland Security report card assessing the city's ability - or
inability - to respond to catastrophic disasters, The Jersey Journal
has learned.
The new information presents an even more dismal picture of the
city's emergency management capability than was first reported last
week in The Jersey Journal.
In addition, according to a letter obtained by the Journal, the city's
former Office of Emergency Management coordinator resigned
because City Hall refused to make improvements in the wake of the
damning report. The administration had previously told the newspaper it
was just a coincidence the
coordinator resigned soon after the federal report was released.
|
The city continues to refuse to release the report, citing orders
from Homeland Security, but the The Department of Homeland Security, reeling from Hurricane Katrina, last year conducted a massive review of emergency response plans in the nation's 75 biggest cities, including Jersey City. In addition to the full nationwide report released last month, each city was also given an individual report card.
Jersey City's emergency response plan was not considered "sufficient" in any of the federal review's 45 benchmarks, according to an April 17 letter written by former OEM Coordinator Steven McGill to Mayor Jerramiah Healy. The city received the lowest grade possible from the feds in 14 of the benchmarks, and the city received a grade of "partially sufficient" in the 31 other areas, according to the letter. The federal review took aim at Jersey City's apparent failure to have a proper plan in place for mass evacuations - especially those with special needs - and the city's apparent lack of planning to get patients out of the city's health care facilities, according to a summary of the results obtained by the Journal. In fact, the summary shows the city does not even have a prerecorded message to play if a disaster were to happen. "I feel due to these insufficiencies which are supported by the Peer Review Team this city is not sufficiently prepared to respond to a catastrophic event within its boundaries," wrote McGill, a captain in the Jersey City Fire Department, in his letter to Healy about the federal report. McGill resigned from his position shortly after the report came out in March and was replaced by Sgt. Walter Kierce of the Jersey City Police Department. When reached by phone, McGill would only confirm that he sent the letters to Healy and that the summary of the report was accurate. A number of city officials have suggested that McGill, who came on board in May 2004, had resigned from his post as coordinator because of an upcoming marriage, but the letters indicate that McGill left because his requests for more support went unheard. "My office has continually advised and updated members of your administration on the insufficient staffing level and the basic requirements of this office. Unfortunately, this office remains improperly staffed and isn't even assigned a Deputy Coordinator," McGill wrote. JARRETT RENSHAW can be reached at jrenshaw@jjournal.com. ______________________________________
|