APRIL 1, 2022 www.qns.com RIDGEWOOD TIMES
7
Councilwoman introduces legislation to improve emergency
communications for residents with limited English proficiency
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
In an effort to improve citywide disaster
communications, Councilwoman
Julie Won introduced two pieces of
legislation that would require the city to
provide emergency information in many
languages and create an infrastructure for
agencies to access community-integrated
translation services.
Intro 137 would require the city to
translate and disseminate any information
from emergency declarations from the
state and federal government and provide
emergency notifications where applicable
in designated citywide languages. Meanwhile,
Intro 136 would see public-facing
city agencies create comprehensive procurement
lists on community integrated
translation services to provide effective
services in languages outside of English.
“In our city, over 200 languages and
dialects are spoken and 1.8 million New
Yorkers have limited proficiency in English,”
Won said. “This reality must be reflected
in how our city government operates and
services the people of our city. Emergencies
require clear, quick and effective
communication, and it must be done in the
languages of our city or we are purposely
excluding almost 25% of New Yorkers who
are limited in their English proficiency. As
a first-generation immigrant and with English
as my second language, I am honored to
advocate on behalf of all immigrants to get
these bills passed to make language access
a pillar of New York City.”
Won explained that the lack of translation
services was made very clear during
the last two years with the COVID-19 pandemic
and the flooding from Hurricane
Ida last September, which took the lives
of some of her constituents in her District
26 including three members of a family,
including a 2-year-old child who died in
a basement apartment on 64th Street in
Woodside. Many of the flooding victims
across the borough had limited English
proficiency and may not have had access
to information about storm safety due to
the language barrier.
Last month, Attorney General Letitia
James called on the National Weather
Service and U.S. Commerce Department to
expand language accessibility for severe
weather alerts. Currently, warnings from
the NWS, which are issued in advance of
a severe weather event, are not accessible
in any language except for English and
Spanish.
“Languages should never be a barrier
to getting critical and lifesaving information,”
James said. “New York is home to
people from all around the world, and it is
our responsibility to protect and provide
for all of our communities regardless of
their primary language. To ensure the
safety of New Yorkers, I urged the federal
government to expand language accessibility
for severe weather warnings, and I
am grateful to Council member Won for
taking action at the city level to provide
multilingual emergency notices, expand
language accessibility and protect all our
communities.”
BY ETHAN STARK-MILLER
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
New York City will receive $188 million
in disaster and resilience relief funds from
the federal government to repair lingering
damage from last year’s Hurricane Ida and
prepare for the next storm, U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge announced
Thursday.
In a virtual HUD press conference to announce
the allocation, Mayor Eric Adams
welcomed the additional federal dollars.
“You understand that America’s cities
are America’s engines,” Adams said. “It’s
so important that we get the help that’s
needed on the ground in a real way. And
you’re doing that. And we need to be prepared
for future disasters. It’s an unprecedented
time and Mother Nature must be
matched with the nurturing of our federal
government.”
The funds come to the city as part of a
broader HUD allocation of $2.2 billion to
10 localities and 13 states earmarked for
relief and resiliency from 16 disasters that
occurred last year.
Adams attributed the devastation
caused by severe storms like Hurricane
Ida last year, and Hurricane Sandy nearly
a decade ago, to climate change.
“The climate catastrophe isn’t so far off
as we think it is,” the mayor said. “It is here
right now. It’s happening. We saw what
Sandy did to our city, and we saw what Ida
did as well. Ida had a devastating impact
on our city, really uprooting communities
and our infrastructure. And we know that
the people of color and low- to moderateincome
communities experience a disproportionate
impact from climate disasters.”
Ida caused severe flooding that heavily
damaged several apartments in East
Elmhurst Queens and put a section of the
Bronx’s Major Deegan Expressway under
several feet of water.
HUD emergency funds, Adams said,
were vital to the city’s immediate recovery
from Ida last year. They helped with providing
emergency shelters, evacuations
and repairs for homes and infrastructure
damaged in the storm.
Adams said he’s already identified several
areas where this new influx of federal
cash can best be used.
“Number one, it’s going to assist us in
paying some of the bills we approved
File photo
from Hurricane Ida,” Adams said. “We’re
looking at the infrastructure, workforce
development. We’re going to look at the
full list of items that HUD is going to allow
us to do, because we know the hurricane
set us back. Trust me, we could use every
dollar.”
Councilwoman Julie Won
Feds give city disaster relief cash infusion
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