What UASI Cities would be impacted by the proposed reduction to 25 cities on the list?
One recent news paper headline read:
Victory! New York to Receive Increase in Anti-Terrorism Funding
The story indicates that Representatives Nita Lowey and Steve Israel announced that an amendment has passed the House that would enable New York City to receive more anti-terrorism funding. Under the new amendment, the story reports, grant recipients of the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) would be limited to 25 of the highest-risk cities in the nation."I am pleased this amendment passed to ensure UASI grants benefit highest-risk cities and will work to ensure the Senate passes this provision and President Obama signs it into law," said Lowey.
Based on the 2010 allocations, which may change due to new risk calculation formulas, the following top UASI cities would appear to be safe. However, the impact of new risk formula is not yet understood. The two lists below are in order based on the 2010 allocations as announced almost a year ago...
- New York City
- Los Angeles/Long Beach
- National Capital Region
- Chicago
- Bay Area
- Houston
- Jersey City/Newark
- Dallas/Forth Worth
- Philadelphia
- Boston
- San Diego
- Atlanta
- Detroit
- Anaheim
- Seattle
- Miami
- Baltimore
- Phoenix
- St Louis
- Twin Cities
- Las Vegas
- Tampa
- Memphis
- Kansas City
- Norfolk
- Portland
- Indianapolis
- Denver
- Pittsburgh
- San Antonio
- Fort Lauderdale
- Buffalo
- New Orleans
- El Paso
- Jacksonville
- Riverside
- Cleveland
- Orlando
- Cincinnati
- Providence
- Honolulu
- Charlotte
- Tucson
- Oklahoma City
- Columbus
- Milwaukee
- Sacramento
- San Juan
- Baton Rouge
- Austin
- Salt Lake City
- Nashville
- Bridgeport
- Hartford
- Richmond
- Oxnard
- Rochester
- Toledo
- Louisville
- Tulsa
- Bakersfield
- Omaha
- Albany
- Syracuse
The final outcome of UASI will depend on the Senate and the final resolution of the Continuing Resolution and 2011 budget in conference committee. However the proposed changes will loom over the 2010 UASI award process and likely be a topic of discussion at the upcoming UASI & Homeland Security Conference.
One can anticipate that the various representatives of the 39 cities will be active participants in the ensuing national conversation on how best to protect high-risk cities.
Note: I tried to keep opinions out of this but any expressed or inferred are my own and no one else's.
Note that the funding bill now heads to the Senate, where it has no support from the Democratic majority. (All Democrats and three Republicans voted against the House bill.) President Obama could also veto the bill.
ReplyDeleteThe current Continuing Resolution runs out on March 4. If Congress and the White House are not able to come to an agreement on a spending bill, the government faces the possibility of being shut down. If grants are not appropriated soon, there may be little time left to implement the funding process before the fiscal year ends in September... meaning there could be no UASI cities in 2010.
I'm hearing that we should not take this too seriously until the Senate acts and then get to conference committee. The House was anxious to get the bill out so that we can have a budget and not shut down government. The budget details are certainly not set in stone yet.
ReplyDeleteBased on the approved 2012 budget, most people in the homeland security business are assuming that only the top 10 cities will remain in the program. Guidance is due out in February. These top 10 may be getting much less funding as the legislation set the minimum for UASIs at $100 million.
ReplyDelete