New Bedford officials asking for public’s help updating city’s hazard mitigation plan

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WLNE) — It’s almost time for the City of New Bedford to update its hazard mitigation plan.

On Monday, a meeting was held to learn what the city is working on and hear what issues residents are seeing in their neighborhoods.

Michele Paul, the Director of Resilience and Environmental Stewardship, said the city updates its plan every five years.

“So we really wanted to go into each neighborhood and find out what people in the neighborhoods and in the community are concerned about, what are the assets that they see that we need to protect, and what are the vulnerabilities they see that we need to enhance,” Paul explained.

The plan allows the city to apply for federal funding for infrastructure upgrades.

Paul said by holding these meetings in each ward of the city, they hope to learn what upgrades they can make to better avoid climate driven emergencies.

“We are focused on heavier precipitation, more prolonged heat, heat especially in the dense urban areas, so we really want to hear what people do to cope with different weather events, power outages, all of those thing,” said Paul.

Shawn Oliver, a City Councilor for Ward Three, was one of the few residents in attendance Monday night.

“More public engagement I think we would have a little bit more to and from as far as collaborating,” said Oliver.

Oliver said he plans to talk to the people of Ward Three about what issues they may be seeing in their neighborhoods and hopes more residents will attend to future meetings.

“Absolutely, we are always looking for different topics to speak on, this one is something that usually doesn’t get spoken about, or something that maybe we don’t think about it until it happens, when a particular street floods or we have a particular issue, it’s easy to bring up at that moment but having the ability like we do to plan, I think the more involved that we can get the community in that, we’ll be better prepared for if something were to happen,” said Shaw.

If residents can’t make a meeting, there’s a survey to express what type of climate driven issues you’re seeing in your neighborhood.

Upcoming meetings are scheduled for Monday, October 30, Thursday, November 2, and Monday, November 6, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.