2009 “Innovation and Exemplary Practice in Earthquake Risk Reduction” Awards

The 2009 “Innovation and Exemplary Practice in Earthquake Risk Reduction” Awards were given during the December 2nd Holiday Party for the chapter.   This year’s award recipients represent best practice examples of putting the science and engineering of earthquakes to work and demonstrate valuable contributions of our various disciplines and pursuits. They both embody the spirit of EERI.

The Honorable Jean Quan, Councilmember and Susan Piper, Policy Analyst in the City of Oakland

The City of Oakland, under the leadership of Councilwoman Jean Quan and Policy Analyst Susan Piper, has repeatedly demonstrated exemplary practices that improve earthquake safety.

Most recently, the City collaborated with volunteers from EERI and SEAONC to inventory older apartment buildings that are most likely to have soft stories such that they may be vulnerable to collapse in earthquakes. The survey found 1,400 buildings that may have soft stories in the City. These buildings have more than 24,000 housing units. In July 2009, Oakland enacted a mandatory seismic screening ordinance for these buildings and is now considering next steps to more effectively manage and reduce this risk.

Oakland also enacted an innovative Homeowner’s Voluntary Seismic Safety Incentive Ordinance. As of September 2009, 369 homeowners have taken out building permits for seismic retrofits as a result of this new law. The ordinance enables Oakland to lower fees and provide up to $5,000 per home to help owners dramatically offset the costs of the retrofits. Oakland is financing this program despite difficult economic conditions with a $500,000 allocation from its Real Estate Property Transfer Taxes.

The Northern California Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute would like to recognize and draw attention to the extraordinary efforts lead by Councilwoman Jean Quan and Policy Analyst Susan Piper in the City of Oakland since they provide excellent examples for other cities and counties in Northern California to follow.

San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association (SPUR)

SPUR was formed in 1959 to promote the revitalization of San Francisco. Throughout the 1960s, SPUR worked to build support for land use, transportation, and investment strategies that could support growth and urban economic vitality. Since 2004, SPUR has focused their attention on disaster planning through the concept of a “resilient city.”

As part of this concept, SPUR has established a policy where they have set out clear goals for disaster recovery, recommended policy steps including retrofitting the most vulnerable structures, upgrading the building code to insure new buildings are built better, and forming a lifelines council to help coordinate upgrades to critical utility systems. SPUR has established a “Before the Disaster” task force to focus on what should be done now before the disaster to allow a quick recovery following the next disaster. SPUR has been developing strategies to rebuild the City over not just the days and weeks following a disaster but also over the months and years following a disaster. SPUR has recommended several steps towards creating a culture of preparedness, including strengthening the City’s Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) program.

Chris Poland is co-chair of the Disaster Planning Committee and SPUR Board member has been a force behind SPUR’s disaster planning programs. Sarah Karlinsky is SPUR’s Deputy Director.  The Northern California Chapter of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute would like to recognize SPUR for its leadership in preparing San Francisco for the next big earthquake.

2009 Nominating Committee:  Ivan Wong, Keith Knudsen, Marguerite Bello, and Fred Turner

New Board Members Elected

On Wednesday November 18th, 2009 elections were held to select new members for the board of directors.  There were 5 open positions: president-elect, secretary-treasurer, and three director positions.   The list of directors is summarized in the table below.  The newly elected members are show in bold.

Congratulations to the new board members and thank you to the out-going directors for their tenure of service to the Chapter.

EERI NC Board Elections – Votes Due Nov 18, 2009

It is time to vote for new EERI NC Board Members!  Thank you in advance for casting your vote in this election.  Election results will be announced by email on Thursday, November 19.

Download the OFFICIAL BALLOT & CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES (pdf file 27KB)  and submit via the voting instructions below.

CURRENT BOARD MEMBERSHIP STATUS

The following table summarizes the current and future Board positions.

CANDIDATES

The Board would like to thank the Nominating Committee of Ron Mayes, Chair, Laura Samant, Laurie Johnson, and Alan Kropp for proposing the following excellent slate of candidates for the Chapter’s consideration.

For the Office of President-Elect:

• Janiele Maffei

For the Office of Secretary-Treasurer:

• Heidi Faison

For the Office of Director:

• Chris Barkley
• Ayse Hortacsu
• Keith Kelson
• Lelio Mejia
• Justin Moresco
• Marko Schotanus
• Sahar Safaie had to withdraw from the election due to personal reasons

VOTING INSTRUCTIONS

Please cast your vote for the five open positions on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Chapter of EERI. Please return your ballot in one of the following four ways prior to the closing of the polls at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, November 18, 2009:

1. Return your ballot by E-Mail to:
norcalchaptervote@eeri.org
Your ballot must be received by 5:00 PM, Wednesday, November 18, 2009. Your vote will be recorded and any e-mail identifiers will be separated from your ballot, so it will be anonymous to the tellers.  There are two ways to send an email vote: either print the ballot, scan it, and attach it, or simply type the names of your chosen candidates into your email.

2. Return your ballot by Facsimile to the EERI office at:
(510) 451-5411
Your ballot must be received by 5:00 PM, Wednesday, November 18, 2009. Your vote will be recorded and any fax identifiers will be separated from your ballot, so it will be anonymous to the tellers.

3. Return your ballot by US Mail to the EERI office at:
EERI
499 14th Street, Suite 320
Oakland, CA 94612-1934
The ballot must be received by Wednesday, November 18, 2009. Place your ballot in a plain, unmarked and sealed envelope, and place that envelope into a second envelope with your name and signature on the back.

4. Complete your ballot in person at the Chapter meeting and place it to the ballot box prior to 6:30 PM.  The November Chapter meeting will be held on:
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
SGH Office
The Landmark at One Market, 6th Floor
San Francisco, CA
(Adjacent to Embarcadero BART Station)

If you wish to cast your vote for a write in candidate, please mark the box and enter the person’s name in the space provided.

Questions?
If you have questions, please contact your Chapter Secretary, Kate Stillwell at (650) 303-7906 or stillwellkate@yahoo.com.

Under Construction

The EERI-NC website is currently under construction.  Please check back for updates!