March 3, 2003

In newspapers, television interviews, and other public forums across the country, mayors continue to make the case for federal homeland security funding. Here are some examples.

• A recent story on ABC's "World News Tonight" that highlighted the high cost of homeland security for America's cities featured an interview with Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell. Cleveland has already spent more than $8 million annually since 9/11 in additional homeland security costs — much of it to equip and train firefighters to handle chemical, biological, and nuclear attacks. According to the report, "Preparing for the worst has come at a high price for this city, millions, so far, with little federal help."
• Long Beach Mayor Beverly O-Neill, appearing in an NBC News In Depth segment, said cities are facing homeland security costs, on the rise with the recent national alert, without sufficient help from the federal government. She told NBC News that the Long Beach-Los Angeles port, the world's third busiest is "a vulnerable spot...a spot where what happens here affects the United States and the economy of the United States."
• In an op-ed piece published in The Washington Post on February 17, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley made a strong case for greater federal investment in homeland security. "Well-equipped and well-trained fire, police and health workers are our best protection against terrorism; but we cannot expect to fund a robust and effective homeland defense with local property tax revenue and the proceeds of fire hall bingos," wrote Mayor O'Malley.
• San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown told CNN's "Late Edition" on February 16, "We-re as ready as any city could possibly be... [but] homeland security, while it's a great concept...we are assuming the burden and the costs of implementing it, and that's not fair."
• Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, also appearing on CNN, said, "We-re as ready as we can be...We-re taking every precaution we can. Obviously it's costing us a lot of money and a lot of resources...I think the frustration that many of the mayors are feeling is that we feel that this has been an unfunded federal mandate. People are expecting us to provide this kind of protection for our citizens, and we seem to be stuck in a political quagmire in Washington...This is a war, as has been indicated by the president and others, this is a war on two fronts and we need to make sure we have resources on this front to do what we need to do."
• Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "I think you hear from all of my fellow mayors, we-re doing the best that we can with what we have. But our federal government has yet to really join us in helping us either with funding or forcing the resources forward to protect our ports, to protect our rails, to protect all of those other pieces of critical transportation infrastructure that make our economy go, that also focus on cities...the federal government is paying next to nothing to help us with this. In Baltimore we-ve spent almost $12 million on homeland security. The federal government's helped to the tune of under $1 million, and most of those were dollars that were appropriated before September 11th."
• In his annual address to business leaders, Boston Mayor and Conference President Thomas Menino said the federal government is abandoning America's cities by slashing aid while simultaneously thrusting upon municipalities responsibilities that once fell under the purview of the federal government. "On a hundred different fronts, Washington has retreated from obligations incurred and funding promised," said Mayor Menino, referring to the $3.5 billion in new funding for first responders pledged by the federal government more than one year ago.