Haute 100: Mayor Lee Announce Haute New Citywide Resilience Strategy

San Francisco’s Mayor Edwin M. Lee has announced a citywide resilience strategy, in light of the 110^th anniversary of the 1906 great earthquake and fire.

In a statement, the Haute 100 lister said, “San Francisco has a history of solving our challenges through bold action. On the anniversary of the 1906 Great Earthquake and Fire, we remember our City’s past and look to the future. This new office will oversee the implementation of the resilience strategy and continue to work alongside City departments and work with our communities to ensure we are taking the steps necessary to make sure San Francisco rapidly recovers from any emergency.”

The new resilience program, Stronger Today, Stronger Tomorrow, was developed in partnership with the public, private, and nonprofit sector as well as local community leaders and stakeholders. The strategy is part of a grant from 100 Resilient Cities, which was pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation (100RC). One of the recommendations of the city’s resilient San Francisco is the launch of the new Office of Resilience and Recovery.

“Improving the City’s individual systems and structures will increase the City’s resilience overall,” said City Administrator Naomi Kelly. “That is why resilience must be a multi-pronged strategy focused on establishing a framework by which we can ensure that the decisions we make are based on an integrated approach that will yield multiple benefits today and tomorrow.”

The city’s new Chief Resilience Officer and Office of Resilience and Recovery Director Patrick Otellini said, “Disasters amplify our existing problems. This strategy is focused on minimizing the impacts of disasters by doing what we can now to actively plan for a robust and inclusive recovery. That means taking action now.”

Stronger Today, Stronger Tomorrow will include roughly 54 initiatives that will address issues such as:

• Creating a long-term disaster recovery plan that gets our residents back in their homes as quickly as possible after a disaster.
• Launching a regional design competition aimed at engaging our region to help address hazards like sea level rise and seismic events.
• Constructing a disaster-resilient waterfront by 2040.
• Continuing to seismically retrofit vulnerable buildings and create higher safety goals for our new buildings.
• Advancing citywide adaptation planning for sea level rise.

Photo via Facebook