December 18, 2019 | From City of New Orleans
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: CITY RESPONSE ON CYBER SECURITY, CITY OPERATIONS
NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans continues to update residents on the cyber-security incident that occurred Dec. 13. City Hall continues operations this week with normal business hours. The City remains actively involved in the recovery efforts related to the incident, and individual agencies and departments continue to be impacted in various ways, as detailed below. The Emergency Operations Center will remain activated to facilitate interagency response throughout this cyber-security incident.
Regular nola.gov services remain down; however, a temporary webpage has been deployed to allow residents to make 3-1-1 requests for service; pay sales, use, and parking taxes; and pay parking and camera tickets. Please scroll all the way down the webpage to find the available services.
The City asks residents and vendors for their patience and understanding as the Information Technology & Innovation (ITI) team works to restore all operations to normal. The ITI team this week welcomed increased support from volunteers (including technicians) from the Louisiana National Guard, with more support expected later in the week.
Also, the City has activated its freeze plan again tonight to provide additional shelter for homeless residents. Call NOPD at 504-821-2222 to report someone in need of shelter. Shelter details and parameters can be found in a separate news release here.
NOTE: Departments and sections that have new information are notated with an asterisk (" * ").
Emergency Services
New Orleans Police Department
The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) continues normal operations. Communications through the Orleans Parish Communications District are effective and efficient. The department is documenting incidents manually. Body-worn cameras and in-car camera footage continue to record and plans are in place to ensure the preservation of footage. Temporarily, NOPD will not be able to process public records requests.
New Orleans Fire Department
The New Orleans Fire Department emergency response is not affected, and firefighters are responding as normal to all calls.
New Orleans Emergency Medical Services
New Orleans Emergency Medical Services (EMS) response operations have not been impacted. There may be a delay for non-emergency business matters. Residents are asked to call 3-1-1 for non-emergency requests until department phone lines are restored. EMS-related business emails can be sent to noems.public@gmail.com.
Real-Time Crime Center
The City's public safety cameras are functional and are recording.
Orleans Parish Communication District
The Orleans Parish Communication District (OPCD) system has remained operational throughout this event. Citizens who wish to submit NOLA-311 requests online should do so at www.nola311.org until the incident is resolved. OPCD continues to work closely with other City of New Orleans public safety agencies to offer assistance where needed.
Facilities & City Services
New Orleans Recreation Development Commission
All facilities and programs will open and operate as usual. Residents will need to manually sign in when visiting NORD facilities.
Courts
Juvenile Court is open. Municipal and Traffic Court reopened today; however, any resident who has a court notice to appear from Dec. 13 to Jan. 1, 2020, SHOULD NOT appear. The Court will send a notice with a new date to appear. Also, the District Attorney's Office, Criminal District Court, and the Sheriff’s Office will operate as normal.
Sanitation
There is no anticipated impact to the Department of Sanitation operations. Enforcement Rangers will track violations manually on paper records.
Public Works Maintenance and Inspection
The City will continue to clean catch basins and address potholes. Reports will be made manually.
Taxes & Revenue
Monthly sales tax payments are due on Friday, Dec. 20. Since the City's systems are down, taxpayers have the option of filing tax forms at Parish EFile or Sales Tax Online. The Department of Revenue will service taxpayers in person at City Hall and will accept payments by cashier or personal check and money order. This can be done in person or by mail. City Hall employees will be paid on time.
* New Orleans Health Department
Offices will be open as usual. The department will be answering phones for resident issues and accommodating walk-ins for questions and immunization records. There will be limited connectivity and difficulty accessing files and data. Healthcare for the Homeless will begin seeing patients Thursday for medical appointments or to pick up dentures. No dental exams will be provided until electronic medical records can be accessed. All patients will be considered walk-ins because we are unable to see appointment schedules. They will have all regular sites fully staffed and will be using paper records to perform basic assessments and reschedule patient appointments as needed when individuals arrive. WIC will be fully staffed and fully operational. Thanks to help from ITI and OPCD, they were able to get computers to issue vouchers. Other programs will have limited connectivity and inability to access files and data.
JOB1
Orientation (WIOA) and classes (STRIVE & LaJET) will occur as normal. No computerized job search will be available, so job seekers can view printed job leads displayed on job boards.
Neighborhood Engagement Office
Neighborhood Liaisons will continue to address cases by working with City departments by phone. All updates can be provided by residents over the phone at 504-658-4980. Neighborhood Engagement will update residents with pertinent information via NextDoor and other available digital outlets. Neighborhood Engagement will continue to coordinate future CleanUpNOLA events over the phone with partners and begin sorting submitted community impact grant applications.
Permits
Safety and Permits
The Department of Safety and Permits will be scheduling inspections manually while services are down. Community members should use the following phone numbers Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or call 3-1-1 24/7 to schedule inspections:
- Taxis, school buses and other ground transportation — 504-658-7170
- Building inspections — 504-658-7130
- Electrical inspections — 504-658-7145
- Mechanical inspections — 504-658-7153
Until further notice, all payments must be made by check or money order made out to The City of New Orleans. All applications, documents, and records must be submitted in paper form.
City Planning Commission
The City Planning Commission will be able to accept all types of applications, filed manually on paper as normal. Timely review of new and pending applications may be delayed.
Historic Districts Landmark Commission
The New Orleans and Central Business District Historic District Landmarks Commission will hold their regularly scheduled commission meetings on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. CBD will be held at 10 a.m. and New Orleans will be held at 1:30 p.m., both in the City Council Chamber, 1300 Perdido St. Anyone who submitted an application to the HDLC in the past 30 days should contact the HDLC at 504-658-7040 so that we may ensure your application, if necessary, is placed on the agenda. Applicants can also monitor the Facebook page for updates regarding upcoming meetings and changes in application and review processes going forward.
Vieux Carre Commission
VCC is asking that applicants come to City Hall to apply for permits manually and provide physical copies of all plans and specifications. Telephones are functioning, so please call staff for status reports on pending applications and to schedule any necessary meetings or site visits. Staff does not have access to electronic calendars so any reminders of previously scheduled appointments is appreciated.
Film Permits
Film permitting will be coordinated through location managers on behalf of productions via phone and evaluated for conditional approval by the Film New Orleans office and pertinent City offices.
Parking Permits & Towing
Parking enforcement officials will fully support field enforcement operations, support boot returns and assisted releases, and will accept payments at the Claiborne Auto Pound Cashiering Office. Towing will be able to execute normal operations. The Department of Public Works traffic team will not be able to review or approve permits in the digital permitting system. Field operations will be tracked manually on paper. Parking officials will be unable to issue residential permit parking decals.
Parks and Parkways Rental Permits
The Department of Parks and Parkways can receive in-person rental requests at our office located at 2829 Gentilly Blvd. between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. However, the department cannot confirm new park rentals for Armstrong Park, Jackson Square, Washington Square, Brechtel Park and Palmer Park until the system is available. Joe Bartholomew golf course is open but cannot book advance tee times. The department will accommodate golfers on a first come, first served basis.
City Council
The last regular New Orleans City Council meeting of the year is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 19, at 10 a.m. The agenda for the meeting is available HERE. The Council intends to take action only on items that are on deadline, as well as the consent agenda. Due to the technology situation that the City is facing, live streaming of the meeting on the Internet will not be available, but the meeting will be broadcast as always on PEG access, COX cable channel 6. Once full technology service is restored, the meeting will be archived on the Council's Internet website.
# # #