Reply With QuoteHe may test the waters, but I don't think the time would be right soon after his term as mayor. He needs to gradually shed his Republican clothing of convenience.
So, will Bloomberg run for president?
He may test the waters, but I don't think the time would be right soon after his term as mayor. He needs to gradually shed his Republican clothing of convenience.
We got a lot of support from all over the country, that's a fact.. But I am certain it wasn't from Mr. Phelps and likes of him..
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Bruce McCall is the author of "All Meat Looks Like South America."
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/20...L_GRAPHIC.html
Copyright 2006The New York Times Company
July 7, 2006
More Antiterror Funds for New York Area
By ERIC LIPTON
The New York City metropolitan area will receive $53.8 million in federal antiterrorism grants to protect its rail, bus and ferry systems, a 25 percent increase over last year, the Department of Homeland Security announced yesterday. The additional money may curtail some of the criticism of a 40 percent cut announced on May 31 in a separate, larger antiterrorism grant program. The new grant money — $47 million for rail, $5.5 million for bus systems and $1.3 million for ferry security — means the New York area will get nearly 44 percent of the total transit grants distributed this year. "The Department of Homeland Security is finally putting some of its money where its mouth is and seems to have realized that New York City's subways and buses remain under constant threat," Senator Charles E. Schumer said.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
U.S. Terror Targets: Petting Zoo and Flea Market?
From shareyourstate.com
NY TIMES
By ERIC LIPTON
July 12, 2006
WASHINGTON, July 11 — It reads like a tally of terrorist targets that a child might have written: Old MacDonald’s Petting Zoo, the Amish Country Popcorn factory, the Mule Day Parade, the Sweetwater Flea Market and an unspecified “Beach at End of a Street.”
But the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, in a report released Tuesday, found that the list was not child’s play: all these “unusual or out-of-place” sites “whose criticality is not readily apparent” are inexplicably included in the official federal antiterrorism database.
The National Asset Database, as it is known, is so flawed, the inspector general found, that as of January, Indiana, with 8,591 potential terrorist targets, had 50 percent more listed sites than New York (5,687) and more than twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most target-rich place in the nation.
The database is used by the Homeland Security Department to help divvy up the hundreds of millions of dollars in antiterrorism grants each year, including the program announced in May that cut money to New York City and Washington by 40 percent, while significantly increasing spending for cities including Louisville, Ky., and Omaha.
“We don’t find it embarrassing,” said the department’s deputy press secretary, Jarrod Agen. “The list is a valuable tool.”
But the audit says that lower-level department officials agreed that some older information in the inventory “was of low quality and that they had little faith in it.”
“The presence of large numbers of out-of-place assets taints the credibility of the data,” the report says.
In addition to the petting zoo, in Woodville, Ala., and the Mule Day Parade in Columbia, Tenn., the auditors questioned many entries, including “Nix’s Check Cashing,” “Mall at Sears,” “Ice Cream Parlor,” “Tackle Shop,” “Donut Shop,” “Anti-Cruelty Society” and “Bean Fest.”
Even people connected to some of those businesses or events are baffled at their inclusion as possible terrorist targets.
“Seems like someone has gone overboard,” said Larry Buss, who helps organize the Apple and Pork Festival in Clinton, Ill. “Their time could be spent better doing other things, like providing security for the country.”
Angela McNabb, manager of the Sweetwater Flea Market, which is 50 miles from Knoxville, Tenn., said: “I don’t know where they get their information. We are talking about a flea market here.”
New York City officials, who have questioned the rationale for the reduction in this year’s antiterrorism grants, were similarly blunt.
“Now we know why the Homeland Security grant formula came out as wacky as it was,” Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Tuesday. “This report is the smoking gun that thoroughly indicts the system.”
The source of the problems, the audit said, appears to be insufficient definitions or standards for inclusion provided to the states, which submit lists of locations for the National Asset Database.
New York, for example, lists only 2 percent of the nation’s banking and finance sector assets, which ranks it between North Dakota and Missouri. Washington State lists nearly twice as many national monuments and icons as the District of Columbia. Virginia lists 2,126 schools, while eight states or territories list none.
Montana, one of the least populous states in the nation, turned up with far more assets than big-population states including Massachusetts, North Carolina and New Jersey.
The inspector general questions whether many of the sites listed in whole categories — like the 1,305 casinos, 163 water parks, 159 cruise ships, 244 jails, 3,773 malls, 718 mortuaries and 571 nursing homes — should even be included in the tally.
But the report also notes that the list “may have too few assets in essential areas.” It apparently does not include many major business and finance operations or critical national telecommunications hubs.
The department does not release the list of 77,069 sites, but the report said that as of January it included 17,327 office buildings, malls, shopping centers and other commercial properties; 12,019 government facilities; 8,402 public health buildings; 7,889 power facilities; and 2,963 sites with chemical or hazardous materials.
George W. Foresman, under secretary for preparedness at the Homeland Security Department, said the audit misunderstood the purpose of the database, as it was an inventory or catalog of national assets, not a prioritized list of the most critical sites. “It provides the universe from which various lists of critical assets are produced,” Mr. Foresman’s written response to the audit says.
The inspector general recommends that the department review the list and determine which of the “extremely insignificant” assets that have been included should remain and provide better guidance to states on what to submit in the future.
Mr. Agen, the Homeland Security Department spokesman, said that he agreed that his agency should provide better directions for the states and that it would do so in the future.
“We are constantly making sure that our list of assets is the most accurate and most informative,” Mr. Agen said.
One business owner who learned from a reporter that a company named Amish Country Popcorn was on the list was at first puzzled. The businessman, Brian Lehman, said he owned the only operation in the country with that name.
“I am out in the middle of nowhere,” said Mr. Lehman, whose business in Berne, Ind., has five employees and grows and distributes popcorn. “We are nothing but a bunch of Amish buggies and tractors out here. No one would care.”
But on second thought, he came up with an explanation.
“Maybe because popcorn explodes?”
Copyright 2006The New York Times Company
Mayor Says City Risks Losing Grants for Security
By DIANE CARDWELL
Published: January 9, 2007
New York City stands to lose access to a $1 billion pool of federal homeland security money to finance improved communications between public safety agencies because its system does not meet federal guidelines, according to a letter that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg sent yesterday to Bush administration officials and Congressional leaders.
Last month, Mr. Bloomberg wrote, Congress approved the release of $1 billion for state and local grants to develop systems allowing radio communications between agencies on a dedicated frequency. New York has spent the past decade developing such a system for use in the 400 megahertz band of the spectrum, while federal regulations call for the systems to operate on the 700 megahertz band.
“Congress should not use that re-allocation to compel New York City and other localities to invest (or over-invest) in that particular portion of the spectrum,” wrote Mr. Bloomberg, who plans to testify on the matter today before the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
The letter also says that the Federal Communications Commission granted the city a waiver to use UHF Channel 16, at 482 megahertz to 488 megahertz, in 1995, and assigned the channel to the New York metropolitan area for public safety communications use three years ago.
“This spectrum has been invaluable, as it provides the most effective coverage and performance for police and firefighter communications in New York City’s dense in-building and underground urban environment,” Mr. Bloomberg wrote.
Russ Knocke, a homeland security spokesman, said the department shared Mr. Bloomberg’s view that each major city has its own singular challenges in achieving full communications ability between emergency response agencies. He added that homeland security officials anticipate “continuing to work closely” with the administration in addressing those challenges.
The city has been receiving mixed signals from the Department of Homeland Security on this year’s antiterror grants. Michael Chertoff, the department’s secretary, said last week that under one set of grants, the city would share $411 million with five other metropolitan areas considered at the highest risk for attack, while 39 other areas would compete for the remaining $336 million.
The financing is being closely watched by New York politicians who were outraged last year by the cuts to the grant. Mr. Chertoff has said that last year’s process was flawed and that he hoped to steer as much money as he could to the cities with the greatest needs.
But New York officials have expressed concern that too much of the overall $1.7 billion in antiterrorism grants will go to states based on politically driven formulas, and that New York is being linked to Newark and Jersey City, which could potentially diminish its share.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
Pols: NY stiffed again on terror funds
By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer
The city where a terrorist attack destroyed the World Trade Center towers has again been stiffed in the distribution of federal anti-terrorism funding, members of the state's congressional delegation complained Saturday.
The numbers are not official yet, but Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Peter King said the city is scheduled to receive about $134 million from an urban security grant program — an increase of about 8 percent from last year but still $73 million less than the city received two years ago.
"Why do they persist in giving money to places that need it a lot less than New York City?" said Schumer, a Democrat. "It's a disgrace. It's confounding. ... It's once again unfair to New York. Our needs are different than any other city."
Last year, New Yorkers complained long and loudly after the Department of Homeland Security slashed anti-terrorism funding for the city by $83 million. The nation's largest city lost 40 percent of its funding just five years after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, while federal money was increased in such places as Louisville, Ky., and Omaha, Neb.
"They still just don't get it," said King, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee. "New York is by far the No. 1 terrorist target in the country, and no one else is even a close second. That's the reality. I'm disappointed and angry."
Word of the $10 million increase over last year was particularly painful since it came around the same time as terrorist activity in Britain, which led New York City officials to heighten security, Schumer said.
Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, declined to comment, saying it was unclear when the anti-terrorism grants would be officially announced.
Both Schumer and King expressed hopes — and doubts — that the funding would be increased before the announcement.
"I doubt it, but hope springs eternal," King said. "We need to keep the pressure on."
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.
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