Following the winter storm, Austin City Council moves forward on plans to make communities more prepared for the next major emergency through the use of so called Resilience Hubs.
These would be buildings capable of being used as emergency shelters, evacuation centers, or even used to help distribute disaster relief in times of need. The Council has ordered City Manager Spencer Cronk to come back in June, with a plan to create six such hub pilot programs by the end of 2022. “And, provide us by June, with a plan for how we will roll out Resilience Hubs within walking distance of every neighborhood in this city,” said Councilmember Kathie Tovo.
Also taking a major lesson from the winter storm and the ensuing water outages, City leaders also want the hubs to have back up generator and water storage capabilities.
