Honolulu awaits word of anti-terror funding
The downside is that money goes to cities Homeland Security views as vulnerable
By Lara Jakes Jordan
Associated Press
WASHINGTON » In the annual competition for counterterror funding, the Homeland Security Department wants Honolulu and 45 other cities receiving money this year to consider the other side of the coin: The aid means the government thinks they are terror targets.
Major urban areas will find out today how much they will share of a $740 million anti-terror grant. Three of them -- Memphis, Tenn., and Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- qualified for the list of eligible cities this year after being passed over in 2005.
Eleven others, including San Diego, Sacramento and Las Vegas, might be booted in 2007 based on a new Homeland Security formula the department says is based on intelligence and law enforcement data about terror threats and the possible consequences in each city.
"It's kind of a negative thing if you're presumed to be a bigger target, but we already knew that," Orlando Police Lt. Timothy Fisk, the city's homeland security adviser, said yesterday.
The home of Disney World and other amusement parks, Orlando is asking for $28 million from Homeland Security.
The city "has always accepted it's a high-risk area, just because of the nature of what we have around here, with all the theme parks," Fisk said. "There are several things we know we have to do to better prepare ourselves and get the area ready for any event that may happen -- whether it's man-made or a natural disaster."
The funding is part of an overall $1.7 billion Homeland Security grant program to prevent and respond to terror attacks and, to a lesser extent, other catastrophic disasters like hurricanes. The money generally pays for training and equipment for emergency first responders, and large cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago usually get the biggest cut.
Under the program, each state and U.S. territory gets some funding, this year totaling $550 million. Another $450 million will go to state public safety projects and medical responders, and to help citizens prepare for disasters.
The grants for cities make up the largest chunk of the funding, and they usually end up angering many local officials who feel their residents are slighted by not enough money -- or no money at all.
Tracy A. Henke, Homeland Security's assistant secretary for grants and training programs, said the new formula will make sure the money follows the areas with the highest threats.
"The list isn't something (to) strive to be on," she told reporters in a briefing last week.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman calls his community "the safest city in the world." But he's frustrated that the city, with its booming tourist population, might be ineligible for the funds in 2007.
Las Vegas is one of 11 urban areas -- including San Diego, Sacramento, Oklahoma City, Tampa, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La. -- that faced a lesser risk than the other communities on the list and could be removed next year, according to Homeland Security.
"The truth of the matter is, we could always make ourselves safer," Goodman said. Though he said he's never heard "any reliable or credible threat" against Las Vegas, Goodman said the city might be knocked off next year because its huge tourist population wasn't factored into Homeland Security's decision.
"What we want to do is keep on being the safest place," said Goodman, adding that Las Vegas applied for $50 million from the cities' funding this year. "And that takes money."
Money is scarce. The $740 million for cities is down from $855 million Congress provided for the cities' counterterror efforts last year.
Divvying up the anti-terror funding pie
Forty-six cities and their surrounding suburbs will win Homeland Security Department counterterror grants from a $740 million program this year. The funding amounts for the cities will be announced today.
Three of the cities on this year's list didn't make the cut last year but are now considered high-risk terror targets by the Homeland Security Department. They are: Memphis, Tenn., and Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Fla.
Eleven of the cities may not qualify in 2007. They are: Baton Rouge, La.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Las Vegas; Louisville, Ky.; Oklahoma City; Omaha, Neb.; Phoenix; Sacramento, Calif.; San Diego; Tampa, Fla.; and Toledo, Ohio.
The rest of the cities to receive the funding include:
California: Anaheim/Santa Ana; Los Angeles; San Francisco/Oakland
Colorado: Denver
District of Columbia: The National Capital Region, including Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs
Florida: Jacksonville; Miami
Georgia: Atlanta
Hawaii: Honolulu
Illinois: Chicago
Indiana: Indianapolis
Louisiana: New Orleans
Massachusetts: Boston
Maryland: Baltimore
Michigan: Detroit
Minnesota: Minneapolis/St. Paul
Missouri: Kansas City; St. Louis
North Carolina: Charlotte
New Jersey: Jersey City/Newark
New York: New York City
Ohio: Cincinnati; Cleveland; Columbus
Oregon: Portland
Pennsylvania: Philadelphia; Pittsburgh
Texas: Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington; Houston; San Antonio
Washington: Seattle
Wisconsin: Milwaukee
Source: Homeland Security Department
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Honolulu put past grants to use
City officials hope they can continue to make key upgrades
New radios for the fire department; chemical protection suits for police, fire and paramedics; improvements in security for the city's water supply, sewage treatment plants and other key infrastructure -- those are some of the ways Honolulu is spending the $6.45 million it received this year under a Department of Homeland Security grant for cities at high risk for terrorism.
City officials today may hear how much they will receive in the next round of federal anti-terrorism funding.
Honolulu has applied for $33 million in competitive anti-terrorism grants from the Urban Area Security Initiative and other Homeland Security programs, although it's unlikely that the city will get the full amount.
The city has received the grants in two of the last three years. Last year, Honolulu received no money under the UASI program. But in the previous year, Honolulu received $6.87 million.
"It's a good thing and a bad thing," Ben Dimond, Honolulu's homeland security grant coordinator, said of being selected for funding. "We've made the case that we are a target. It's a dual-edge sword."
The counties and the state coordinate their requests. They received a total of about $23 million for this fiscal year.
The grants also pay for anti-terrorism training exercises and for some administrative costs. The grants are based on fighting terrorism, but some of the equipment, training and other uses of the money help the city prepare for and can be used in natural disasters like a hurricane, Dimond said.
About $5 million of the first year's grant went to upgrading the fire department's radios to the 800 megahertz system that the police department uses, Diamond said.
Now, should the city come under a terrorist attack or suffer a natural disaster, the police and fire departments will be able to talk with each other instead of being on separate, incompatible radio channels.