Local Mayors Plead Case With Sen. Kennedy
WASHINGTON– In an early-morning conference call Thursday, 17 Massachusetts mayors told Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy the same thing: Though cities and towns across the nation are expected to boost their homeland security efforts, their budgets just can’t keep up.
At a time when the federal Homeland Security Department classifies the risk of terrorist attacks at Level Orange, or high, the mayors spoke of laying off firefighters and police officers. Gloucester Mayor John Bell said his town has laid off 15 employees of the police and fire departments, and Springfield Mayor Michael Albano said his police force is down 76 officers and his fire department is down 57 people.
Kennedy said Brockton Mayor Jack Yunitz put it best when he said that first responders are “fighting for their jobs as they’re fighting to protect us.”
“We’ve been hearing about homeland security money for a long time,” Haverhill Mayor John Guerin told Kennedy and the other mayors, adding that his city could face a 20 percent cut in public safety services next year. “It makes no sense to have all kinds of homeland security money out there and I have five police officers on one shift.”
Kennedy responded to the mayors by saying, “It seemed that if we were going to provide $9 billion for foreign countries that we should have a similar commitment to our cities and towns.”
After listening to the concerns of the mayors, including Lawrence Mayor Michael J. Sullivan, Kennedy took to the Senate floor and pleaded with his colleagues to amend President Bush’s $74.7 million supplemental war budget to include more money for homeland security. Bush’s budget includes more than $9 billion for the State Department and for aid to foreign countries, Kennedy said, but only $3.8 billion was earmarked for homeland security programs. Kennedy said that is simply not enough.
“These first responders, when they signed up for their jobs, didn’t think they would be taking on the additional threat of terrorism,” he said in his Senate speech.
The Senate’s version of the supplemental budget, which came to the floor hours after the Kennedy-mayors conference call, would provide more money to help local and state governments meet their homeland security costs. It includes $105 million to help vaccinate first responders against smallpox, and with shots costing $85 apiece, Kennedy said, the money would cover vaccinations for 1.23 million people. Health departments in Massachusetts are slated to get $2 million to vaccinate its first responders, Kennedy said.
Pittsfield Mayor Sara Hathoway said during the conference call that additional homeland security funds are desperately needed to prepare the community for the possibility of a large-scale disaster and to make residents feel safe.
“The communities want to see some reassurance that there is a new response level, a set of resources to address this changed world we live in,” she said.
The mayors also talked to Kennedy about sites in their communities that could be potential targets for terrorist attacks, such as nuclear power plants and major waterways. The need for protection at the local level has never been greater, and the mayors said they wanted to see some of the federal dollars that Bush promised to cities and towns after Sept. 11.
“As the president prepares for post-war problems, he shouldn’t forget post-war America and what’s going to happen here,” said North Adams Mayor John Barrett III.
“It seems we can always find money to help foreign countries,” Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said. “We need money for domestic issues.”
Fixing up a local armory to house a regional training center for firefighters and emergency personnel tops Guerin’s list of steps to improve the security of Haverhill and surrounding towns. He said that police and firefighters are training constantly, with an increased focus on disaster alerts.
“You never know where terrorism is going to strike,” he said. “We may not be a prime target on anyone’s radar screen, but when the security alert goes up, cities go to work.”
“If disaster does strike in whatever form,” Guerin added, “we need to make sure we’re able to respond to it.”
Published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in Massachusetts.
