NY Daily News- N.Y. eyes bucking risk-fund formula

Wednesday January 04, 2006

From NY Daily News:

N.Y. eyes bucking risk-fund formula
BY MICHAEL McAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006

WASHINGTON - The good news for New York is the feds say they'll finally dish out more homeland security money based on risk. The bad news is we'll be competing with towns prone to natural disaster.

Under a new method for doling out so-called Urban Area Security Initiative grants, Department of Homeland Security officials said yesterday that some communities facing threats from nature, like New Orleans, could apply for the $765 million fund.

Some New York legislators who long have fought for greater risk-based funding reacted with cautious optimism, but some trashed any steps that moved away from fighting terrorism.

"The concern I have is that there may be uses for this money for things other than terrorism," said Rep. Vito Fossella (R-S.I.).

"There's a reason there's a police officer sitting outside the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel watching for a terrorist attack, not sitting at the beach watching for a hurricane," he said. "You're essentially going to take money away from New York City."

Overall, the high-threat program represents about a third of the Department of Homeland Security's anti-terror grants and this year will cover 95 cities in 35 regions.

Long Island Rep. Pete King, the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said New York will be better off because along with more risk assessment by the feds, cities will have to make arguments for why they need money.

"It's a step in the right direction," he said. "The more we can make it based on risk and make it competitive, it's better for New York."

Mayor Bloomberg said that's because "it is relatively easy for us to justify" security needs.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the new grants were "not a popularity contest, not party favors ... but a funding program that is dedicated to a risk-based set of priorities."

With David Saltonstall

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