Jim Alger Proposes Emergency Communication Program

Neighborhood Council President and California State Assembly Candidate Jim Alger (D-Northridge) will officially unveil an ambitious community based emergency response system that utilizes the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council System at an emergency preparedness event Monday night at the Marvin Braude Center in Van Nuys.

Dubbed L.E.A.R.R.S. (Los Angeles Emergency Amateur Radio Response System), Alger noted its simplicity.

"As I have personally witnessed, in an emergency communications can break down very rapidly and when that happens people die" Alger said. "In Los Angeles we know that one day it will be us, we must be prepared. If nothing else, Katrina has taught us that. It isn't often a solution is right at our fingertips and yet in this case it is."

Alger flew his own aircraft to the devastated Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina struck and was impressed at the reliability of the Amateur Radio System.

"Government systems broke down. It was a systematic failure on all levels, what didn't break down was Ham Radio. It simply can't break down because each station is independent. We were able to evacuate countless people and get in much needed supplies because of a communication system that existed, but wasn't even organized. Just average people volunteering. Imagine how prepared we could be if we were organized."

The LEARRS system plans to tie each participating Neighborhood Council into each other through a network of Amateur Radio Operators. Commonly referred to as "Ham" radio, it is often relied on by the Red Cross, Local, State and Federal agencies and even the military.

"When a real emergency hits, communities are cut off from the outside world" said Susi White, an Amateur Radio Operator who has been working with Alger to design the LEARRS system "By creating a network of independent communication stations across the city, that break will be minimal."

"The City of Los Angeles developed Neighborhood Councils to empower the people, what is more empowering that the ability of a community to effectively communicate its needs in a time of crisis?" Alger asked.

The plan calls for each Neighborhood Council to have at least one trained Ham Operator, an Emergency Communication Station (which is about the size of a large briefcase), and a pre-determined "Emergency Communication and Evacuation Site" usually a local ball field. The Emergency Communications Stations will have the ability to communicate their immediate needs with other stations locally and around the globe in the event of disaster.