As a forward-looking city, we are already charting the path to recovery from the deep cliff we fell from last year. But charting that path takes planning and consensus. Last week, my colleagues on the council, along with city staff, worked our way through the current list of city priorities.
One of the biggest takeaways from our meeting was the sheer volume of work our city staff have accomplished this past year. Since the beginning of the pandemic last year, City staff have taken on a whole new set of responsibilities, which are still consuming City resources: food and necessities distribution, digital equity, rental assistance, emergency housing – construction and operation, sheltering and enhanced encampment services, childcare learning pods, workplace safety, Federal and State stimulus advocacy, employee health and wellness, drive to digital, encampment waste pickup, BeautifySJ, and most recently a vaccination task force. This was all on top of the policy work that was already in process! As you might imagine, much of the non-pandemic-related policy work was substantially delayed.
Read more in my March 2021 newsletter here: https://conta.cc/3rgoS8f