October 18, 2004

It is a topic on the minds and in the budgets of every city nationwide — homeland security. And for those larger, urban communities, planning for homeland security has become a considerable part of the chief executive's job.

As part of Thomas Anton/ Frederick Lippitt Conference, "Homeland Security in Urban America," held in late September at Brown University, Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell and Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline weighed in, with a panel of academic experts on terrorism, about how the September 11 attacks have affected cities in their wake.

Noting that it is essential that we "integrate hometown security with homeland security," Campbell said the federal government is "headed in the wrong direction," saying that the federal government expects us to conduct the work of homeland security but "has not given us the resources to carry it out."

"Now, along with strengthening our schools and neighborhoods, reducing crime and keeping residents safe, and creating economic opportunities for everyone, municipal governments have been required to make Homeland Security a priority," said Cicilline.

He said that in the last year and a half, Providence — "with not nearly enough resources" — has reinforced the city's emergency preparedness system, created an Emergency Control Board and Emergency Operation Center, took part in exercises at the Newport Naval War College, created a medical management response system, and created the first municipal director of Homeland Security in Rhode Island.

Both mayors said that their first responders — Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Services - "serve us from the frontlines," and that it is well past time that the state and federal governments provide cities with the funds, support and training they need to do their jobs responsibly. Both decried the absence of coordination among agencies — in passing critically needed funds to the cities.

"The entire challenge of homeland security lies in our ability to secure the necessary resources," Cicilline said.

Brown Survey

The Conference came on the heels of a survey by Professor Darrell West of Brown University's Taubman Center on Public Policy and the John Hazen White, Sr. Public Opinion Laboratory, and Marion Orr, professor of political science, urban studies, and public policy. In the survey issued last week, results indicated that while attacks are the subject of many public discussions and headline daily news, few area residents were concerned about an act of terrorism occurring in Providence, but "forty five percent say they are more careful about their surroundings when the federal government raises its official terrorism threat alert, and sixty percent claim they are willing for the city of Providence to reallocate some of its existing funds to protect the city against a terrorist attack."

"As a result of the attacks, nine percent said they are less likely to trust their neighbors and forty-one percent say they try to watch out for people who look or act like terrorists. Forty-eight percent say at the thought of terrorism makes them very angry, while 14 percent say it makes them very anxious," according to the survey.

Role of the USCM

At the Conference, both mayors spoke of the increasing role the US Conference of Mayors has had in raising the visibility of this discussion, releasing three reports in recent months, on assessing the flow of federal homeland security money through the states to the cities. Cicilline said the third report of the US Conference of Mayors showed that more than half (52 percent) of the 231 cities surveyed were still left empty-handed, and have not yet been notified that they will receive money from state block grants from the largest homeland security program, designed to assist all first-responder departments.

The mayors agreed that over the course of the studies improvements were made but there were still too many cities not receiving funding and not receiving notification of same. As important was the necessity to improve communications — operability — among city agencies and federal, regional and state entities responding to disasters. The apparent weaknesses were detailed, the mayors said, in one of the reports released at the annual conference, and is the subject of concern about first responders nationwide. Cicilline said, "the most glaring statistic is the lack of funding at the local, state and federal levels, with 75 percent of cities reporting they have not received federal funds for interoperable communications."

Campbell agreed with Cicilline about the inadequacy of funding for protection of our railways and our ports.

Other panelists who took part in the daylong conference included Professor Peter Eisinger of Wayne State University, Professor Susan Clarke of University of Colorado at Boulder, and Professor Hank Savitch of University of Louisville.

As part of the homeland security discussion, both mayors asserted that keeping cities strong, keeps them safe. "While we spend billions of dollars on the war in Iraq, we-re neglecting to allocate resources for essential public services right here in metros throughout America," Cicilline added.

"It is important for us to remember that poverty and terrorism are intimately linked. Poverty creates the circumstances — the despair and hopelessness — that make such violence possible," Cicilline concluded.