NYC Gets Security Cash Boost -- and More Competition
By Michael McAuliffDaily News
December 8, 2009
Federal officials handed New York City a nice, healthy pot of homeland security cash today, but also added to competition for that money in the future by adding three urban areas to the list of most-threatened locales.
Out of about $2.5 billion being spread around the country to fight terrorism, the New York metro area is slated to get some $200 million, including $151,579,096 from the high-risk money pool. The state is getting another $130 million, a lot of which will also go to the city.
“New York will never get enough, but these are good numbers,” said Long Island GOP Rep. Pete King, praising the Obama administration.
But King, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, raised a red flag over boosting the number of so-called Tier 1 high-threat cities from seven to 10. With more locations included in the high-threat Urban Area Security Initiative grant program, that could mean more competition for federal dollars down the road.
“The question mark is, by expanding the list of Tier 1 cities, we will probably have to fight harder in the future,” King said. “We’ll have to be on our guard.
“New York, by far, is still the No. 1 target” of terrorists King said.
The program had been focused on New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, and Houston to ensure the cash didn’t get spread around the country as pork.
Added to the list are the metro areas around Dallas, Philadelphia, Newark, and Boston, while Seattle has been dropped.
Brooklyn Rep. Yvette Clarke, the only city member of the Homeland Security Committee, took heart that federal officials expanded the pot of money along with adding cities.
“Total funds available to Tier I cities have increased proportionally,” Clarke said, noting that 63% of the high-threat cash goes to the 10 cities.
“I will continue to work with DHS to ensure that New York City has all the available funding it needs to combat terrorism,” Clarke said.
A breakdown of most of the funding...
State Homeland Security Program $113,536,625
Urban Areas Security Initiative (New York City and Long Island) $151,579,096
Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant Program Allocations (NYC) $6,300,000
Port Security Grant Program Target Allocations (New York-New Jersey) $33,774,108
Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program Allocations (NYC) $3,570,000
Emergency Management Performance Grant Program Allocations $14,972,047