June 1, 2006
The Biggest Loser: NYC Gets Stiffed on Anti-Terror Money
The Department of Homeland Security cut the yearly antiterrorism budget for the "Urban Area Security Initiative" and New York and DC got the shaft, with their funds cut by 40%. New York City, which had received $207.6 million last year, will now get $124.5 million (DC went from $77.5 million to $46.5 million), while cities like Omaha, Louisville, Atlanta, and Jacksonville are getting more; ost notably, Jersey City/Newark got a 44% increase in funds, for a total of $34 million (probably for port security). Naturally, NY State politicians freaked out, with Representative Peter King calling this "a knife in the back to New York" and fuming, "They have cut $80 million in funding to NYC. Meanwhile, they gave a $21 million limousine contract to the company that was driving pimps and prostitutes around." Now, Gothamist understands that the overall budget was cut and the cities that had been getting lots of money before would take a hit. And, naturally, it's important to make sure cities like Chicago and LA gets the aid they need. But Omaha?
And the most absurd (because it's so galling and insane) part of this whole dance is explained in the NY Times:
New York officials were given a one-page tally that explained, in part, how the region's risk-based standing was calculated. The document said the region had no "national monuments or icons," four banking or financial firms with assets of over $8 billion, 28 chemical or hazardous material sites, as well as nearly 7,000 other possible important, high-risk targets, like hospitals or major office buildings, a tally that some city officials said had major omissions or errors.Yeah, and the feds have no problem with pointing to Ground Zero and making that the reason why we're fighting a gazillion dollar war abroad. The Daily News shows what's considered a landmark in the cities that got more funding, such as Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium and Louisville's Churchill Downs race track."It's outrageous that these bean counters don't think the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge are national monuments or icons," said Jordon Barowitz, a spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg.
Some people were upset when Gothamist called Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff a dumbass last July. Well, the Daily News wants him fired!
Senator Charles Schumer said, "I don't think the president should come back to New York and stand in solidarity with us without changing this formula." Well, we doubt many people want the president here anyway, though, but check out this YouTube vide.
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I think it's safe to say that MOST upper-level folks in the Bush Adminstration are dumb-asses, and much worse.
Why is anyone surprised by this?
This makes me sick. Politics continues to fall to new lows under this "administration" and places like Omaha will continue to vote Republican because "they got their terror money." This makes about as much sense as taking away relief money from New Orleans and awarding it to Omaha, but whatever. Fuck Bush and his cronies.
It looks like the Feds finally figured out that New York politicians won't stop pissing away money until they stop giving them money to piss away. Big deal. Politicians should have to make do with what they have just like everyone else. I don't, and won't, feel less safe because of this. Will you?
The Iraq Conflict is costing around or more then 10 Billion dollars a Month. So why do they find it necessary to pour truckloads of money into this god forsaken war and not at least shell out an extra $80 Million for NYC? Its chump change compared to how much they’re spending on Iraq! Do you know ONE F-22 Raptor costs more then the amount they cut from the city’s funding?? Is the govt THAT strapped for cash?
Idiots. All of them.
somewhere in the midwest, a governor feasts on new pork.
Bush is awesome. We deserve to get our funding cut cause it's good for America. If you are against the cuts then you are against freedom and Anti-American.
New York has no "national monuments or icons"???????????????????????????
We have the most recognizable monuments and icons in the US and some of the most in the world!!!!
WTFBBQ!!?
Perhaps you guys at Gothamist could spend some time doing some analysis and investigating. Maybe you could find out what they are spending the money on in Omaha. If they are protecting the nation's food supply and the rail network I would consider that a good thing. Regardless of the size of their airport they still need bomb detection equipment. It may get used less than at JFK or Newark but don't forget that Mohamed Atta started his journey in Maine. Do I think New York is getting screwed? Probably.
Funds for Security are just like every other thing in Washington: People want it even if they don't need it as much as other municipalities. Despite assurances that this would not happen, everyone figured it would.
Let's remember that these are the same morons who similarly cut anti-terror funding for Las Vegas area, based on the reasoning that Las Vegas had no military installations (Nevada is like one giant military installation), no convention centers (I guess not counting the convention facilities at every single hotel in the city, plus 3 giant standalone centers), and limited shopping centers. I mean, honestly, it's like they're just making it up as they go along.
He's the decider! He decides what's best!
WASHINGTON, In a not-too-distant-future--After vowing to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast after last year's Hurricane Katrina, Department of Homeland Security officials on Wednesday announced 2006 hurricane prevention grants that slashed money for New Orleans and Miami 40%, while other cities including Omaha and Louisville, KY, got a surge of new dollars.
i can't beleive they said that we have no "national monuments or icons" - tell that to all the tourists that visit. absurd. seriously.
Right, because I'm sure when the terrorists strike again it will be at the Jefferson Memorial and not, say, the Empire State Building.
Oh, Jen, you missed your chance to use the title, "Department of Homeland Security to New Yorkers: Drop Dead."
Pork barrel politics at it's worst...!
Seriously, we can't count on the Federal government for shit. We need to take care of ourselves. Anything we get from them is a bonus - they're a bunch of greedy bastards who all have anti-NYC biases.
There are things we could do to better secure our city. Some of those things might be painful (like higher taxes, voluntary patrol teams, funding drives, etc.), but if we had no other way to make it happen then you know we'd all go for it. We don't want to see a repeat of 9/11 ever again.
The only thing I can add is that we should find any way possible to stick it to the Fed Govt and their elected members, just to show them what we really think about their performance over the past couple of years. All excuses for things like social security, energy policy, disaster response, and security efforts... and no progress whatsoever. Hold them responsible for their duties, and make sure we don't keep making the same mistakes over and over.
that's what you get for voting for bloomberg.
you mess with the bull, you're going to get the horns.
there really is no "national monuments" here, just your statute of lib and that useless ellis island.
where they spawned second generation racists living in Long island.
Volunteer patrols? Ha! As if you could get a self absorbed New Yorker to look after their fellow man. And if you could there would be a surveillance state protest on Saturday.
Can you give one good reason why a terrorist would favor the Empire State Building over the Jefferson Memorial? Or the Capitol? Or the Mall of America? Or a chemical plant or oil refinery? I guess in your New York-is-the-center-of-the-universe mind there are no othe possibilites.
It's time for NYC to secede from this self-interested, anti-urban, unthinking country. The US of A-holes. Not only do we already give a lot more money in taxes than we get back, but then they shortchange us the money we need to protect ourselves. Watch what'll happen if there is another terrorist attack on NYC: people in Omaha, Louisville and everywhere else will hold candlelight vigils and say "We're all New Yorkers now," but then when money is apportioned for security, they'll want it all for themselves yet again. If we ask for our reasonable share, their internal John Rocker comes out and they wonder why they should bother to protect a city full of immigrants, queers, and liberals.
The mentality of this government and the people who elected it is perfectly summed up in a blog post I saw a few weeks ago that railed against people in NYC for saying it was "too soon" for United 93. These conservative jerks asserted that it was important to portray the heroism of the passengers on that flight because people "have forgotten about 9/11," and it called New Yorkers liberals and wimps. Meanwhile, we never have forgotten about 9/11. We live with it every damn day, because we were the ones who got attacked and who are in the biggest danger of getting attacked again. They're happy to use New York as a prop for their convention and their maudlin 9/11 tributes, but they don't live with the reality of that day's aftermath or the fear we all feel in the back of our minds every time we're on the subway or near Times Square or walking across one of the bridges.
Fuck this country. I'm proud to be a New Yorker, but not to be an American.
And as for Tightwad (you can always count on some malicious, ill-informed conservatives [that's redundant of course] commenting on Gothamist posts): the money isn't "for politicians." As the NYT article detailed, among other things, it's for police overtime for officers guarding all of the monuments and potential targets we do have. And that is needed. And as for the monument/icon thing, the entire island of Manhattan is an icon! How is that not obvious.
Manhattan is not a national icon,
it's a shithole, worse in the summer.
go ahead and secede, might as well fall into the river for all we care.
get your buddy rudy to get the funds back, it's hurting him too.
I'm sorry southernpryde, but I don't think your Trailer Park is next on the terrorist hit list. No more money for you. Manhattan is much more important. Not because its an icon in itself, but being one of the World's top Media and Financial centers might be the tipping point.
Though they might hit your local 7/11. Rednecks can't live without their Dr Pepper Big Gulps.
what part of media and financial centers equal national monument?
please stop with the NYC is the capital of the US shit.
it is not and I'm glad your funds were cut.
where do you think you get your food from?
your water?
your power?
Why the ESB over the Jefferson Memorial? That's easy. Why did terrorists pick the WTC over the Washington Monument? Because terrorists believe they are waging a war, so they strike what they consider strategic targets: centers of business, defense, and government. (The WTC, the Pentagon, and either the White House or the Capitol Building, depending on where flight 93 was supposed to hit.) This is the same strategy a nation might take in a war, only with people flying suicide missions rather than pilots flying fighter jets.
If all the terrorists wanted to do was create more terror they could have easily blown up a mailbox or a shopping mall and killed a few people by now. But their goal is to create mass hysteria. Blowing up no more than 50 - 100 tourists at a monument wouldn't create the same effect as knocking down a building in the economic capital of the U.S. and killing thousands.
That's not the result of "center of the universe" thinking, it's the result of what we've seen. If terrorists wanted to blow up a house in Omaha, they could have done it by now. Unfortunately, they have a much longer outlook than we do.
Washington and New York will remain high targets as long as our government and business headquarters (or symbols of those headquarters, such as the NYSE) remain in those cities.
It seems less about New York being the center of the universe and more about cities like Omaha saying, "Hey! Where's my pork?"
#22 -- get out of your mom's basement in Bayonne already. Your ridiculous comments about the country as a whole and the people who live outside New York City (which you probably just mean to be Manhattan) highlights your intolerance for anyone's views but your own.
As for NY's terror funding, I agree it seems a little low. But let's remember that the Statue of Liberty is already protected by the feds (the state and city pay nothing and do nothing to maintain or protect this monument) and the waters around Manhattan are filled with a lot more Coast Guard personnel now then pre-9/11. That should help with the Brooklyn Bridge, one would think.
The better arguments are Times Square, the Empire State Building, Wall Street, etc.
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said that "I'm going to do everything I can to make them very sorry they made this decision." And Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) made the brilliant observation that "We lost almost 3,000 people that day...yet Washington is blind to what happened." I guess he's right, if you interpret the largest reorganization of government since World War Two as evidence of blindness to that awful day's events.
One NYC newspaper's coverage of the funding cuts accused DHS of focusing on "unlikely terror targets like Kentucky and Wyoming." Ummmm, anyone remember a little place called Dalles, Oregon? Or maybe Birmingham, Alabama? How about Oklahoma City -- does that ring a bell?
Another NYC newspaper's article described allocations to other cities as "money to guard nothing." Nice attitude. Real nice.
My suggestion? Take the money out of the unbelievably hubristic $billion-plus that New Yorkers want to spend on their 9/11 memorial. That's right, "billion." With a "b." As compared to the $29 million spent on the Oklahoma City memorial (168 Americans killed), the $182 million spent on the WWII memorial (400,000 Americans dead), or the $4.2 million for the Vietnam War memorial and the $6 million for the Korean War memorial (56,000 and 54,000 Americans dead, respectively). (Source: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/05/20/memorial/print.html)
What's that you say? A billion is a wee bit over the top? Heck no, it's not excessive! How dare you question whether our tragedy is the tragediest tragedy ever! And the terrorist threat against us remains the terroristiest-threatiest ever! We're New York, dammit! Waaaaah!
To paraphrase Herbert Morrison's 1937 reporting of the Hindenburg crash: "Oh, the hyperbole."
In no way do I mean to downplay the terrible losses suffered on 9/11 -- indeed, I was one of the federal responders that day and am well aware of the awful consequences of the attacks. Nor do I intend to understate the very significant threats that face NYC. But folks, a little perspective is sorely needed.
Is it any wonder nobody likes New Yorkers when they come off like a whinier, more self-absorbed bunch of babies than the Miami Cubans (which until now I frankly didn't know was possible)?
in a slight defense of omaha, the money is probably being spent on the offutt air force base (SAC headquarters)...
When New York City secedes where should we send the bill for things like the FAA, FDA, CDC, NIH, CIA, SEC, etc. etc. Or do you plan to build your own agencies? And since New York barely has a port left shall we tack on some taxes before we export goods to the city?
WTC memorial money is mostly coming from private donations and state money, not the federal budget. So you are comparing apples and oranges. Less money to the WTC memorial will not necessarily translate into more money for NYC security.
Who gives a good goddamn if people think New Yorkers are self-absorbed assholes? We ARE assholes! And we're proud of it.
We're glad to be an island away from the rest of the god-forsaken USA. To them, they might say we "whine," but au contraire. We "demand," while you call it whining.
Observe a visiting backwoods Midwesterner ordering a slice and a drink and he receives the wrong order, compared to a New Yorker who receives a wrong order, and you tell me which one whines and which one fucking DEMANDS his shit. And that's just pizza, kids.
are you sure no public funds at all is going into the WTC memorial?
where does the LMDC get it's funding?
how long did it take the OK city memorial to be built?
I rest my case.
You don't think attacking a port or a shopping mall or anything else that isn't in Manhattan can't have an economic impact? If people stop going to the mall I think you would see an economic slow down. I guess Amazon and Fed Ex would have an uptick in business. Or one shoulder launched missile attack would probably put a dent in the travel industry. And that's not just me saying that. Chuck "Fear Monger" Schumer says it all the time. I'm glad you're not an intelligence analyst.
no federal funds are being used. there is, however, a combination of city, state, and private funds that are being used.
Considering the rape job Wall Street gives the rest of the country I think it only fair New York pays more in taxes than it gets back.
Obviously an attack at a shopping mall would have an economic and psychological impact, but think about what the US bombs (or tries to bomb) when it fights a war: ministries of defense, finance, communication, etc.
We make a mistake when we simply characterize the people we are fighting as terrorists. Al Qaeda believes it is fighting a war against the US and therefore will bomb strategic targets. If all they wanted to do was terrorize and put dents in the economy, don't you think they would have bombed a mall by now? That's not to say it won't happen, but we're more likely to see big targets get hit. The WTC was hit twice, after all.
It's not a Manhattan-centric view. It's a strategic target-centric view. Ports in Newark, Long Beach, Houston, Miami, etc. should be secured. Nuclear plants in New Hampshire should be secured. The Hoover Dam should be secured. It's about spending our money wisely, which the federal government clearly can't do. Those potential targets need more money than an office building in Milwaukee.
Hadenough, I couldn't agree with you more. I've always considered my nationality to be New Yorker. It staggers me, whenever the leave the city, how free people feel to tell me how much they hate the city, while I am too polite to tell them that I would rather shoot myself than live in Kneecap, Iowa. One asshole even told me how much "nicer" New York was after 9/11, and asked if I didn't like it better now.
Secession sounds better and better.
Of course, I meant, "whenever I leave the city..." Sorry.
I don't understand....Gothamist is a website about New York! It's read by New Yorkers and people who might not live here, but still love New York. Why is there even a debate on this comment board? Shouldn't we all be on the same side? Sheeeeeesh.
The Gothamist crybabies are at it again: they snivel and whine when security is increased, then they snivel and whine when security is decreased. One minute they cry about living in a police state, the next minute they are convinced we're all about to die. It must be difficult living in a state of perpetual adolescence.
you're all crazy. every last one of you.
The funding formula should be very simple - NYC gets what it needs period. Why the hell does the NYPD have their own anti-terrorist intel divison? Because the feds are sure as hell not going to protect us since they are worried about asses - covering their own and kissing others.
Nola: it must be difficult living in a state of liberals. (New York)
on the bright side, maybe the city won't be able to afford those "important announcements - from the new york city police department. if you see something suspicious ..." that plague every subway ride. that will be a relief