By Lina Garcia
October 7, 2002

Mayors Send Strong Message to Congress: Fund Cities Now or Homeland Security Could be Threatened

By Lina Garcia

On Thursday, September 26, the U.S. Conference of Mayors held a capitol hill press conference as part of "Mayors Lobby Day" with approximately 50 mayors, 40 police and fire chiefs from around the nation, and New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to urge the Bush Administration and members of Congress to support direct homeland security funding for America's cities.

Conference President Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino told the crowd of more than ten television cameras and two dozen other reporters that mayors need the federal government to be their partners in sharing the financial responsibility. "When you call 911, you don-t reach the White House or the Congress, but you reach local police, firefighters, and EMS workers," said Mayor Menino. "These dedicated people are our first responders, but they are coming up last when Washington funds homeland security. We need direct homeland security funding and we need it now."

A recent study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that cities expect to spend more than $2.6 billion by the end of 2002 on security costs unanticipated before the September 11th attack. Cities across the country have yet to receive direct financial assistance from Washington for homeland security.

President Bush has proposed $3.5 billion for first responders, but would funnel the money through the states. Mayors strongly prefer the homeland security block grant proposal, sponsored by New York Senator Hillary Clinton and nine other Senators, which would provide the resources directly to cities.

Sen. Clinton joined the mayors in their plea and said, "Despite all the rhetoric on homeland security, very little money for cities has come out of Washington." She added, "We need an approach that would send money back to the cities as a homeland security block grant, modeled after the Community Development Block Grant program. Under the legislation that I-ve sponsored, most of the money would go directly to cities."

Conference Vice President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James Garner also sent a message to Congress and the administration that in order to further guard cities against a future disaster, the time to act is now. "We cannot afford to wait any longer. Washington must realize that local law enforcement officers are the troops that defend U.S. cities everyday."

On behalf of local law enforcement agencies Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver said police aren-t getting enough assistance from the federal government. "We-re really angry and frustrated," Oliver said. "One year and some days after 9-11 and we-re still holding the bag. We don-t have the equipment that we need, we don-t have the technology that we need," he added.