Mayors seek security aid from Bush

Mayors from major cities will be looking for financial relief when President Bush meets with the U.S. Conference of Mayors Jan. 24.A survey of 192 cities found that mayors expected to spend more than $2.6 billion on additional security between Sept. 11, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2002. Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge told the group Jan. 23 that Bush will unveil several initiatives aimed at shoring up the capabilities of local police, rescue and firefighter as well as increasing cooperation between local governments and the federal government in areas such as information sharing.But Ridge said the administration would not provide retroactive funding for what cities have already spent."There will be some flexibility that can be used for things like overtime, but the funding is prospective," he said.Most of the funding that Bush wants to pass on to local governments will be for training and equipment, Ridge said. Other initiatives that will affect many cities include improving security at border crossings and at port cities.Ridge said border cities would benefit from a proposal to use more automated crossing technologies that, for example, would allow truckers to pre-qualify for quicker passage across a border.Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said since Sept. 11, it has not been unusual for lines to be eight miles long on the Canadian side of the border and three miles long on the U.S. side. Detroit has had to spend $3 million to deploy extra police at the border and likely will spend $11 million by the end of the year, he said.New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial said the Bush administration should model aid to the cities on programs such as the Community Development Block Grant and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant. Those programs allow the recipients to spend the money as they see best, he said. Morial also is the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors."We want block grants where the money comes directly to the city, not to the governor, not the legislature," he said. "We don't want to deal with another bureaucracy."Morial declined to comment on how much money the mayors want from the federal government. "We want to give the president a chance before we get into a war of numbers," he said.