TO: PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND FROM: Raymond Riordan
STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: CITY OF SAN JOSÉ DISASTER DATE: May 4, 2022
RESILIENCY ANNUAL REPORT
Approved Date
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the annual report on the City of San José’s community resiliency in responding to disasters.
OUTCOME
The purpose of this annual report from the City Manager’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is to inform the Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support Committee of the City’s efforts to build community resiliency in responding to disasters. The following report acknowledges the work of the City during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic as we transition into recovery. The report also captures City departments’ resilience accomplishments over the past year and goals/projects for the upcoming year.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The following report captures how the City promoted disaster resilience by investing in our most vulnerable, promoting inclusion, supporting businesses, and promoting public health. By answering the question: “What resources and support did the City provide?”, we addressed the broader question of how the City created more resilient individuals, communities, and businesses. Similarly, the report captures how the City promoted workplace safety and invested in infrastructure improvements and developments to address the broader question of how the City continues to create and build resiliency within its own organization.
During this past year, City staff initiated a multitude of projects and activities that enhanced our City’s resiliency. A number of these efforts centered around COVID-19, but it is important to note that many actions built City resiliency in ways unrelated to the pandemic. As the City comes out of the pandemic, it will continue to support the COVID-19 recovery efforts while further building the City’s resilience to a broader range of hazards (e.g., earthquakes, wildfires, flooding, etc.) This is evident in the projects/goals for the upcoming year.
COUNCIL AGENDA: 5/19/2022
ITEM: (d)1.
5/11/2022
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
BACKGROUND
Resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, businesses, institutions, and governments to adapt to changing conditions and to prepare for, withstand, and rapidly recover from disruptions to everyday life, such as hazard events.1
On March 28, 2017, the City Council unanimously approved the Mayor’s March 2017 Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2017-20182 which outlined the need to establish efforts on Community Resilience. At the May 17, 2018 Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support Committee, OEM reported on the progress of community resilience efforts for the first time. A Disaster Resiliency Annual Report has been completed each year since then.
In May and June of 2021, the Administration and City Council finalized the planning and budgetary resources to transition the organization from COVID-19 Emergency Response—with a fully activated Emergency Operations Center (EOC)—to the beginning of Community and Economic Recovery. Yet, due to the unexpected and unplanned local emergence of the Delta variant in July 2021, the City again reactivated the EOC. 3 From August 2021 to February 2022,
the EOC has focused on our local response to the Delta and Omicron variants. Effective February 25, 2022, the EOC operations were reduced. All ongoing recovery operations were shifted back to the appropriate departments as part of the City Enterprise Priority COVID-19 Pandemic: Community and Economic Recovery led by Deputy City Managers, Rosalynn Hughey and Rob Lloyd.4
ANALYSIS
The analysis covers accomplishments made from May 2021-May 2022, and then documents goals/projects for May 2022-May 2023. Please note that the information provided for May 2022- May 2023 does not yet take into account the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023 budget, which has direction around resilience and will result in a more comprehensive resilience strategy being developed.
Accomplishments and future goals/projects are grouped into five (5) themes:
• Serving and investing in our most vulnerable
• Promoting inclusion
1 Federal Emergency Management Agency: https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_planningresilient-communities_fact-sheet.pdf 2 Mayor’s March Budget Message:
https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=10636394&GUID=9E42A321-DCA7-46C5-8977- C625CE29B20E
3 Information Memorandum: COVID-19 Delta Variant Status Update:
https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/Components/News/News/3193/5167 4 Effective February 25, 2022, the City of San José is Reducing Emergency Operations Center Activities:
https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/82561
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
• Supporting businesses
• Promoting public health and workplace safety
• Infrastructure improvements and developments
Accomplishments from May 2021-May 2022
• Serving and Investing in Our Most Vulnerable
o From May 2021 to March 2022, the food distribution program provided over 106 million meals, the San José Conservation Corps provided over 175,000 service hours to Second Harvest Food Bank, and approximately $32.1 million of funding was distributed to partners. During this time, the City collaborated with about 20 partners as part of its food distribution efforts.
o In May 2021, San José Community Energy (SJCE) introduced the GreenValue product and the SJ Cares program to offer a higher percentage of renewables at a lower cost. These efforts support San José’s lowest-income residential customers, who are disproportionately burdened by high energy bills. Offering customers renewable energy at discounted rates increase the use of renewable energy sources among all rate classes and brings San José closer to its 2030 carbon neutrality goal.
o Between May and June 2021, the Vaccination Task Force wound down the phone banking efforts that originally started in January 2021. The phone bankers spoke a variety of non-English languages including Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese. o From July 2021 to October 2021, the Emergency Public Information Office (EPIO) Recovery Team used the Wireless Emergency Alert system to send out 11 targeted text messages to residents within specific census tracts to notify them of vaccination sites and vaccination events in their area. Focus areas included Alviso, Buena Vista, and the areas surrounding the Roosevelt, Mayfair, Evergreen, and Great Oaks Community Centers.
o In September 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission approved SJCE’s application to administer a single-family residential energy efficiency program.
This program will provide high-efficiency appliance discounts to middle-income residents and residents living in disadvantaged communities. SJCE received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission for the full amount of eligible funding (approximately $5.1 million) to administer the single-family residential and commercial energy efficiency programs over three years. o During the summer and fall, SJCE helped customers prepare for Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Public Safety Power Shutoff events and the increasing frequency of extreme heat by sharing tips on social media and in email newsletters. Tips included preparing emergency kits and plans, and finding backup power sources at public cooling centers. SJCE continued to promote the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center’s portable battery program to medical baseline customers living in high threat areas.
o Solar Access is a SJCE program that enables customers who rent their homes and cannot install solar or who cannot afford solar or whose home is unsuitable for solar, to benefit from utility-scale solar power. The program offers low-income
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
customers enrolled in California Alternative Rate for Energy (CARE) and the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) living in San José’s disadvantaged communities with 100% solar energy at a 20% discount. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the program in April 2021. In November 2021, SJCE began taking applications and enrolling customers and worked with local community-based organizations to ensure Spanish and Vietnamese-speaking residents are aware of the program. More than 40% of the 700 program applicants speak Vietnamese or Spanish, and more than 600 residents are enrolled in the program and receiving the monthly energy bill discount. SJCE is currently working to reach program capacity of approximately 800 customers. o Overnight Warming Locations (OWLs) operated by HomeFirst opened at Evergreen Branch Library and Leininger Community Center. These nightly shelters provided case management and basic needs assistance for unhoused residents. They were in operation from late December 2021 – April 30, 2022. o Eviction Help Centers were opened at City Hall and the Franklin-McKinley School District office to connect tenants and landlords with rent relief funds, legal services, and other resources. The Eviction Help Centers were opened in August 2021, and staff continues to support residents with their rental assistance applications and make direct referrals to legal aid services, Court Self-Help, and the Homelessness Prevention System. As of late April 2022, the Eviction Help Centers assisted at least 1,500 households at risk of eviction. o In early 2021 the City installed outdoor Wi-Fi networks at 24 community centers, parks, and libraries. Those outdoor networks have logged 204,500 sessions between January and March of 2022. Residents responding to a survey have reported the value of the outdoor networks and disclosed that they have provided critical support, ranging from homework support and school work to accessing mental health treatment from the confidentiality of a vehicle when that privacy was not available at home.
o In FY 2021-2022, the City provided between 3,200-3,600 hotspots to schools to distribute to students in need and circulated 4,700 hotspots to the general public through the San José Public Library. These devices were in high demand; hotspots were often 95-100% checked out across the system. Similarly, the Library also provided a combination of 735 Chromebooks, iPads, and laptops to the public for at-home checkout. These devices routinely maintained an 85% checkout rate.
o The Vaccination Task Force hired vaccination support staff in a concerted effort to increase bilingual capability. The Task Force itself was comprised of members of different races and ethnicities, including Asian, Latinx, Black/African Ancestry, and White. A third of its members spoke another language other than English.
o Census tracts are uniquely numbered subdivisions within a county, generally designed to remain relatively permanent over time in order to compare data from decade to decade. For the purposes of identifying low vaccination rates in the City of San José, the Vaccination Task Force utilized Census data from the Santa Clara
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
County Open Data Portal.
5 Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the data
illustrated that people from specific racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as under-resourced and marginalized communities within certain Census tracts, experienced lower vaccination rates. With this information, the Vaccination Task Force hyper-focused its outreach and communications to ensure that these groups with a higher risk of COVID-19 received the same level of attention, care, and access to vaccinations.
▪ Of the 46 priority tracts identified, all are 40%+ Latinx, 38 are majority Latinx, and 12 are 70%+ Latinx.
▪ 72% of residents in the priority tracts speak another language besides English.
▪ The average median income of the priority tracts is $25,691, compared to $109,593 in San José as a whole, suggesting that these are among the lowest income tracts in the City.
▪ 12.7% of residents in the priority tracts are below the poverty line, compared to 8.7% of San José residents.
▪ The priority tracts were distributed throughout the City, with a disproportionate number in District 3 (Downtown) and District 5 (East Side).
o The City identified priority census tracts within the City that had lower vaccination rates compared to other areas, with a disproportionate number located in East San José neighborhoods. With this information, the Vaccination Task Force collaborated with Santa Clara County Public Health and other partner providers including Safeway, Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI), and Bay Area Community Health to plan and organize vaccination events at community centers, libraries, and parks located within or close to the areas with lower vaccination rates.
o The BeautifySJ Team collected 10 million pounds of trash and debris throughout the City. In addition, the team’s Anti-Graffiti Program worked collaboratively with the Office of Cultural Affairs to place murals in areas most impacted by graffiti. The BeautifySJ Team continued program operations while onboarding new staff as the team grew from 16.5 full-time employees to 67.5 full-time employees.
o The EPIO Recovery Team had two direct mail pieces. They delivered 151,000 postcards in four languages with COVID-19 vaccination and rental assistance information to priority census tracts identified as the most affected by the pandemic. They also delivered 151,000 postcards in four languages with COVID19 vaccination, testing, and prevention messaging; and worked with the San José Public Library to provide information about SJ Access - digital access resources to residents, to priority census tracts identified as the most affected by the pandemic.
5 COVID-19 Vaccination among County Residents by Census Tract, County of Santa Clara Open Data Portal:
https://data.sccgov.org/COVID-19/COVID-19-Vaccination-among-County-Residents-by-Cen/qx2e-7jz2
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
o The EPIO Recovery Team partnered with City departments and community organizations to reach the most vulnerable communities. Their efforts included working through the San José Public Library to distribute 66,000 flyers about 5+ year old vaccine eligibility to San José elementary schools; partnering with Children's Discovery Museum with a promotion of 200 passes, which encouraged 238 people to receive their vaccination in one day; and partnering with the Santa Clara County Office of Education to create a multilingual doublesided coloring sheet for kids with helpful tips for parents to prepare their child for vaccination.
o The EPIO Recovery Team distributed 20,000 Preparedness Kits that included a reusable bag, a facemask, hand sanitizer, and vaccine information in four languages at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, grocery stores, farmacias (local pharmacies), and San José Public Library in the City’s priority zip codes and census tracts.
o Keeping a pulse on the community and ground-truthing is key to addressing misperceptions and rumors. The EPIO Team made a concerted effort to visit point-of-service locations in the affected zip codes to hear first-hand the conversations taking place in the community regarding COVID-19. This included listening and observing conversations and interactions at grocery stores, nail salons, restaurants, etc.
• Promoting Inclusion
o The Resilience Corps program, funded with American Rescue Plan resources, was launched in July 2021 and as of April 2022 has served 205 young adults (ages 18- 35). Program participants were provided with various long-term paid employment opportunities (up to 8 months) related to environmental stewardship, learning loss mitigation, and small business marketing support. Over 85% of the participants were from low resource census tracts and approximately 93% are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. All participants were paid a living wage and with the initial phase ending in May 2022, the program to date featured an 89% retention rate.
o Radio remains the most effective way to reach our non-English speakers. The EPIO Recovery Team focused on three different radio stations to reach the City’s diverse Spanish-speaking audience, including youth, parents, grandparents, and guardians who have agency over those ages 5+. In addition, the team ran television advertisements for the Spanish-speaking community. From October to December 2021, the team ran more than 500 radio spots with over 1 million impressions. From February to April 2022, the team ran more than 100 radio and television spots with more than 500,000 impressions.
o The Digital Inclusion Fund grant program managed by California Emerging Technology Fund has produced significant outcomes for residents. The first grant round resulted in 3,215 adoptions of broadband, and another 926 adoptions are set to be achieved in the second grant round which closes June 30, 2022. On April 19,
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
2022, the City Council approved the award of the third round of grants, which aims to provide 2,150 adoptions of broadband.
• Supporting Businesses
o In February 2021, the City received approval for a $1.1 million grant to provide additional technical support resources to support small businesses and manufacturers in targeted areas of the City. These areas were chosen because they were most impacted by COVID-19 at the time of the grant, which included significant portions of Downtown, central, and East San José. Two staff positions dedicated to these areas have been hired and are working within nonprofits Manufacture: San José and the San José Downtown Association. They provide business outreach and service referrals for small businesses and manufacturers. o The Office of Cultural Affairs completed 107 FY 2021-2022 grants to nonprofit art and culture organizations.
6 The grant portfolio includes three large grant
programs: Operating Grants (which provide partial support to San José arts organizations with professional staff and year-round programming); Festival, Parade, and Celebration Grants (which provide partial support for community events held in San José and organized by nonprofit organizations); and take pART Grants (which provide partial support for publicly accessible San José arts activities by San José organizations).
o After two years, the number of special events and attendees climbed back towards pre-pandemic levels. Calendar year 2019 saw 97 events in Downtown San José, bringing in more than two million attendees. From March 2020 through June 15, 2021, state and county restrictions allowed only nine events, which brought in about 640,000 attendees. From June 2021 to March 2022, staff facilitated 46 events, which brought 1.6 million people back to public outdoor spaces. o Beginning in mid-2021, the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs business development staff began regular walks in key commercial corridors and shopping centers to talk to small business owners about economic conditions, hear their concerns, and connect them to available resources or services. These walks helped staff to get beyond official economic statistics to better understand what is happening on the ground. They also allowed staff to explain programs and services in a one-on-one setting and in the business staff’s own language. As of March 2022, staff conducted business walks in every Council district.
o The Storefront Activation Grants program assisted small business owners in filling vacant storefronts. In 2021, Council approved the allocation of an additional $200,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for this program. The current program included three grant types: up to $15,000 for vacant storefronts; up to $10,000 for exterior improvements; and up to $25,000 for parklet conversions.
6 Community and Economic Development Committee Memorandum on “City Roadmap: Small Business Recovery” (March 28, 2022): https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=10665742&GUID=7854EFAB-C635-4AAB8B0D-BF36D91557A2
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
o In September 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission approved San José Community Energy’s application to administer a commercial energy efficiency program. This program targets small and medium businesses and provides discounts on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning upgrades and equipment. o In February 2022, the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs hired three staff members in the business development team. Two staff were hired to focus primarily on small business assistance, while one staff member will also focus on administrative support and program management. These hires have brought additional Spanish and Mandarin language capacity to the team. The addition of a Vietnamese-speaking business outreach staff member is in progress. o The San José Career Center opened a new location at 1608 Las Plumas Ave in East San José on March 24, 2022. This center’s offerings included meetings with career advisors, workshops and occupational skills trainings, job fairs, and other activities designed to advance job seekers’ competitiveness and help employers meet their talent needs.
o The Small Business Recovery Grants program funded grants of up to $15,000 to help businesses struggling with outstanding rent or utility debt. Staff contracted with the Enterprise Foundation to launch the program and process the applications. When the program launched in April 2022, priority was given to businesses that did not receive previous government COVID-19-related relief. o The City continued to offer a grant program to offset the costs associated with hiring a Certified Access Specialist. These professionals helped business owners identify accessibility improvements necessary for complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
o The City continued to offer webinars on a monthly schedule that focused on issues such as crime prevention, taxes, Small Business Administration loans, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, and marketing. These webinars were provided with simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Mandarin. • Promoting Public Health and Workplace Safety
o Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, 206 Flash Reports have been distributed to the community in multiple languages. The Flash Report is a tool utilized to communicate immediate information about emergencies affecting San José residents; resources available to the community during an emergency; and vital updates from federal, state, County and City that may affect residents. o Since May 2021, the City provided over 100 vaccination events in direct partnerships with providers. Between October 2021 and March 2022, the vaccination clinic at Emma Prusch Farm Park delivered nearly 10,000 vaccinations. By far, this was one of the most successful City/County vaccination partnerships, particularly as it served an area that was in most need. o Since May 2021, the Vaccination Task Force partnered with over 40 organizations to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations; conduct COVID-19-related education and outreach, as well as offer additional wrap-around services such as food and housing assistance. The Vaccination Task Force, through provider
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
partnerships, supported the delivery of over 43,000 vaccinations in the City of San José.
o At the peak of the vaccination effort in June 2021, the City of San José provided 148 Vaccine Champions to support the County’s effort.
o The EPIO Recovery Team posted information about vaccination clinics, testing sites; booster eligibility; Federal, State, and County relevant guidelines and updates related to COVID-19; mask mandate ordinances; large event policies during the pandemic; and new information about variants. From July 2021- April 2022, the Team’s social media platforms (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Nextdoor) received a total of 2.3 million impressions with 67,670 engagements and 2,900 shares.
o The City regularly monitored COVID-19 data throughout the pandemic, utilizing resources from the local (Santa Clara County Public Health Department), state (California Department of Public Health), and federal (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) levels.
o The City participated in the Community Stakeholder’s Working Group, which met on a monthly basis. This group was organized by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and included nearly 200 members representing different sectors of the County, including government, non-profit, healthcare providers, faith-based, and education.
o City vaccination support to the County included, but was not limited to:
▪ Communications and outreach activities that amplified vaccination-related education and information through digital and social media posts, as well as traditional door-knocking and flyering in the neighborhoods. ▪ Providing access to City-owned buildings and facilities for mobile vaccination clinics. These included events held at parks, libraries, and community centers, specifically within neighborhoods that have lower vaccination rates.
▪ San José Fire Department medical personnel provided mutual aid to the County through staffing the first responder clinic at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds; participated in the County’s in-home vaccination program; and provided additional injectors at several community mobile vaccination clinics.
o In an effort for the City to continue to keep its workforce safe, and for ease of accessibility, the City organized a series of employee booster clinics with Safeway, Bay Area Community Health, and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. These clinics were held at the San José Police Department, Central Service Yard, and San José City Hall.
o The City established and enhanced its partnership and relationship with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department through professional and personal connections and networking. This allowed for a two-way exchange of timely and relevant information between the City and County, which proved successful in ensuring that under-represented and marginalized neighborhoods were provided the information and resources (e.g., vaccinations) needed.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
o The EPIO Recovery Team implemented the social media influencer campaign to amplify crucial vaccine site and safety information through trusted and wellknown messengers such as artists, gamers, foodies, fashionistas, bloggers, authors, and more.
• Infrastructure Improvements and Developments
o In FY 2021-2022, Department of Transportation worked with partners to plant over 250 trees in the public right of way, piloting the “pocket forest” concept, leading to the forestation of largely vacant plots of land with substantial additional tree plantings which will result in long-term canopy expansion. o In the summer of 2021, SJCE promoted OhmConnect, a Bay Area-based energy demand response provider, to its customers and helped the City win OhmConnect’s California City Energy Challenge. OhmConnect’s free program pays California residential customers to decrease their electricity usage a few hours per week during “OhmHours.”
7 The amount the customers earn is based on
the amount of energy they save (i.e., by unplugging or not using devices). The compensation multiplies with each smart, energy-saving device the customer connects. More than 1,500 SJCE customers enrolled in OhmConnect in 2021.
This type of demand response program helps improve grid reliability as it reduces energy use during times of peak demand, and it helps mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from electricity.
o The City’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program application was approved by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The phase 1 grant for the Soft Story Retrofit Program was awarded in September 2021. The program will help preserve housing stock in the City and reduce the displacement of residents during a seismic event. o The Cogeneration Facility Project at the Regional Wastewater Facility was commissioned in 2021 and included four engine generators with the capacity to produce enough energy to cover the Regional Wastewater Facility’s average baseload energy needs. This project helped make the Regional Wastewater Facility more resilient in case of a power grid failure, planned PG&E shutdowns, and other emergency conditions, such as earthquakes or flooding. The Environmental Services Department anticipates issuing the Notice of Completion/Acceptance for this project in May 2022.
o Three Community Wi-Fi networks were operational in the attendance areas of James Lick, Overfelt, and Yerba Buena high schools. The James Lick network was originally installed in 2017. Equipment was upgraded in March 2022 to ensure a continued high-functioning network. The three existing networks provided sustained service, with over 3 million sessions logged across the three networks areas from January through March 2022. As of March 2022, Community Wi-Fi was added as a service to San José 311, which allowed 7 OhmConnect determines when OhmHours occur and provides the customer with 24 hours’ advance notice.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
residents to provide feedback on their individual experiences with accessing Community Wi-Fi in their neighborhoods.
o SJCE contracted a qualified third-party implementer for an expected program launch in mid to late-May 2022. This program will decrease the amount of energy necessary to power appliances and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems thereby decreasing the burden of electricity on the transmission and distribution grid, reduce the likelihood of a power shutdown or outage during extreme heat events, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector (in addition to saving customers money).
o The City continued work on the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project, which aims to decrease flood risk for tidal flooding resulting from extreme storm events combined with high tides and sea-level rise. As the Shoreline Project advanced towards construction, close coordination occurred between the Environmental Services Department, project partners, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
o Measure T and other investments in transportation infrastructure reduced deferred maintenance infrastructure backlog by more than $100 million, $31.5 million of which is directly attributable to pavement maintenance, Americans with Disabilities Act ramp repairs and replacements, and bridge preventive maintenance work.
o The Environmental Services Department is leading the ongoing $2.1 Billion, 30- year Capital Improvement Program at the San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility to rehabilitate the treatment plant. Drought Resilience projects included developing more resilient local water sources, recycled water, an Advanced Water Purification treatment plant, engagement with the Water District and other private sector parties, etc. The department also worked on SeaLevel Rise projects to reduce risk of flooding in residential communities and threats to San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility.
Goals/Projects for May 2022-May 2023
• Serving and Investing in Our Most Vulnerable
o In January 2022, the Federal Communications Commission awarded the City $3.6 million in Emergency Connectivity Funds, which will be used to fund devices for youth through June 2023. The Library has received 2,700 additional filtered hotspots for youth, which will be available for checkout starting in May 2022.
Staff expects to support approximately 8,000 hotspots for the public in FY 2022- 2023. Through the Emergency Connectivity Funds, the Library is preparing to receive 1,500 additional Chromebooks. These new filtered Chromebooks will be available for checkout in late May 2022.
o The Vaccination Task Force includes members from different races and ethnicities, including Asian, Latino, Black/African Ancestry, and White; with a third of its members able to speak another language other than English. o The Vaccination Task Force will maintain communications with the Council offices to ensure service and resource equity as the City shifts from pandemic
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
emergency response toward community and economic recovery, endemic response, and emergency preparedness.
o The BeautifySJ Team will continue to iterate, learn, and refine the Encampment Management strategy. It will increase community engagement with neighborhoods most impacted by blight (i.e., graffiti, litter/trash, dumping), launch a City-wide blight reduction and beautification outreach and education campaign to engage residents, and use technology to better manage intake and workflow processes related to the encampment trash program. • Promoting Inclusion
o Phase 2 of the Resilience Corps program will commence Spring 2022.
Approximately 275 young adults will be placed into similar long-term paid work experience programs related to environmental stewardship and learning loss mitigation pathways. Multilingual recruitment strategies and outreach efforts will continue to focus on low resource census tracts. Phase 2 funding derives from the newly launched State CaliforniaforAll initiative, itself funded with American Rescue Plan resources. Phase 2 is set to run through March 2024. o SJCE is examining a pilot transportation electrification model that seeks to develop electric vehicle fast-charging hubs in strategic locations, primarily utilizing City-owned parking assets in disadvantaged communities that are not currently served by the private sector. An objective of the program is to scale electric vehicle charging in these neighborhoods to drive electric vehicle adoption and address equity issues as well as incentivize electric vehicle charging in the middle of the day when renewable power is abundant to further reduce transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions.
o The Library’s efforts to increase community awareness, enhance user experiences, and connect residents to ongoing connectivity solutions through the Affordable Connectivity Program is ongoing.
• Supporting Businesses
o Business development staff is heading up an effort to revamp the current BusinessOwnerSpace program, which is dedicated to assisting businesses with issues ranging from training to business formation to getting a loan. The goal is to make the program more accessible, inclusive, and effective. The project should be completed by the end of 2022.
o The Office of Cultural Affairs solicited applications from nonprofit art and culture organizations for the FY 2022-2023 cycle.
o The EPIO Recovery Team is working with the City’s Housing Department; Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs; the Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services; and the San José Public Library on collaborative recovery communications as these departments have recovery initiatives. In partnership with the Recovery Task Force Team, the EPIO Recovery Team will assist with amplifying messages and ensuring the community
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
and small businesses are aware of the variety of recovery resources available to them.
• Promoting Public Health and Workplace Safety
o The City’s Vaccination Task Force will continue to monitor the case rates, deaths, hospitalizations, etc. and be ready to scale up or down as needed, particularly if or when spikes or surges happen. The Task Force will be ready to support the County when needed and if requested.
o The EPIO Recovery Team is preparing message strategy, partner collaboration, and tactics when ages five and under become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. • Infrastructure Improvements and Developments
o In December 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission created the Emergency Load Reduction Program residential pilot to help avoid rotating power outages during peak summer electricity usage periods. PG&E set up a three-year pilot program, and SJCE elected to participate for one year between the months of May and October 2022. Starting on May 1, 2022, PG&E will automatically enroll 150,000 residential SJCE customers into the program. At the end of the first year, SJCE will evaluate the impacts of the state’s Emergency Load Reduction Program residential pilot to consider future participation as well as the development of alternative residential demand response programs.
o Between May 2022 and December 2022, the Environmental Services Department has the design-builder for the new Cogeneration Facility under contract for transition services to provide support to Environmental Services Department Operations and Maintenance staff since the engine generators are new pieces of equipment.
o The construction of three additional Community Wi-Fi networks in the Independence, Andrew P. Hill, and Oak Grove high school attendance areas is underway and is projected to be available for use by July 2023. The Mt. Pleasant and Silver Creek high school attendance area networks are entering the final design phase and will be available from late 2022 to early 2023. o Departments of Transportation and Public Works collaborated with PG&E on the conversion of up to 27,000 streetlights from conventional lamps which must be replaced frequently, to Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology which can last 10 years or longer. PG&E anticipates completing the conversions in the first quarter of FY 2022-2023. At the completion of this work, all City streetlights will be upgraded to the longer-lasting LED technology.
o The City has taken a critical step to combat the dramatic decline in San José’s tree canopy by adopting the Community Forest Management Plan and associated work plan. Staff are working through the budget process to establish regular maintenance for the 50,000+ City trees; plant 1,000+ trees per year; and build organizational capacity to tackle policy issues that may be preventing the optimal level of mature canopy preservation in the City. A priority on the growth and
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
maintenance of the community forest will be in neighborhoods with the sparsest tree canopy.
o The Department of Transportation is in the process of establishing a master tree inventory agreement with a vendor which will result in the first-ever parks tree inventory and an update to City-owned street trees inventory. The data collected through this work will allow staff to make efficient decisions in the maintenance of trees and mitigate potential safety concerns.
o The Department of Transportation is establishing a Community Forest Advisory Committee to explore further improvements to processes within the City with voices from City departments, other governmental and non-governmental organizations, and members of the community.
o The Environmental Services Department will continue with the Regional Wastewater Facility’s Flood Protection Project, which will protect the facility from flooding by rivers.
o Planning, Building and Code Enforcement will move forward with work around the Soft Story Retrofit Program. A consultant will be secured to create the soft story inventory and retrofit measures, create the City-wide ordinance, and help identify funding mechanisms for affected property owners. o The California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project (CALeVIP) is a California Energy Commission project designed to help fund the installation of electric vehicle charging equipment throughout the state. To move San José toward an electrified future, the California Energy Commission partnered with SJCE and other Community Choice Aggregations in the Peninsula Silicon Valley Partnership8to invest $14 million in new electric vehicle chargers for businesses, apartments and condos, and in public locations to aid with accelerated electric vehicle adoption in San José. This investment will result in approximately 1,400 Level 2 charging ports and 100 Direct Current Fast Charging ports installed over the next few years, doubling the current level of charging infrastructure throughout the City. The CALeVIP project launched in December 2020. o SJCE is seeking federal and state funding to develop locally sited solar + storage microgrids in an effort to build local resiliency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The initial focus is on municipal critical facilities including City community centers that provide critical social services, including cooling during extreme heat events and reliable power for cell phone communication services. o SJCE is considering utilizing power purchase agreements as a potential method to enable more solar + storage at critical facilities. Under this model, SJCE would partner with Public Works and other City departments to identify sites that would benefit from the resiliency of solar + storage and then prepare a request for proposal to obtain bids from developers to install these projects and own and operate them. SJCE would purchase the power from these projects and incorporate supply into our portfolio. The site would obtain resiliency benefits in 8 The Peninsula Silicon Valley Partnership includes the City of Palo Alto, Peninsula Clean Energy, Silicon Valley Power, and Silicon Valley Clean Energy.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
that solar + storage to provide some power in the event of an outage with no additional cost to the department to fund those projects. o SJCE is interested in seeking federal funding to support more transportation electrification initiatives with the City’s Department of Transportation and Climate Smart team, namely the $14 billion President Biden allocated to electric vehicle station acquisitions in the Federal Investment Infrastructure and Jobs Act.
Federal funds could be used to offer rebates for more publicly accessible chargers, explore vehicle-grid integration with car chargers, consider electric vehicle demand response strategies, and support fleet electrification in San José to help meet the City’s 2030 Carbon Neutral goal.
CONCLUSION
The City has made strides in resilience across multiple departments this past year, including providing millions of meals, offering discounted rates on renewable energy, launching the Resilience Corps, and opening the San José Career Center in East San José. All this and more was achieved while continuing to provide residents with COVID-19 information/resources and build up the City infrastructure. The City of San José was the recipient of the 2021 California Emergency Services Association Gold Award for its extensive efforts to combat COVID-19 and integrate resources for the City’s resiliency efforts.
As the City comes out of the pandemic and takes time to learn the lessons from our COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, we will need to continue preparing for the broader range of hazards that our City is likely to face.
EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
Staff will return to the Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support Committee annually with an update on the progress of the City’s community resilience.
CLIMATE SMART SAN JOSE
The recommendation in this memo aligns with one or more Climate Smart San José energy, water, or mobility goals.
PUBLIC OUTREACH
The memo will be posted for this May 19, 2022 Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support Committee Meeting.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE May 4, 2022
Subject: City of San José Disaster Resiliency Annual Report
COORDINATION
This memorandum has been coordinated with the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services; Vaccination Task Force; San José Community Energy; San José Public Library; Emergency Public Information Office; Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs; Department of Transportation; Environmental Services Department; Planning, Building and Code Enforcement Department; Housing Department; City Attorney’s Office; and the Budget Office.
COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION/INPUT
No commission recommendation or input is associated with this action.
CEQA
Not a Project, File No. PP17-009, Staff Reports, Assessments, Annual Reports, and Informational Memos that involve no approvals of any City action. /s/
RAYMOND RIORDAN
Director of Emergency Management
For questions, please contact Raymond Riordan, Director of the City Manager’s Office of Emergency Management, at 408-794-7050.