LA Daily News - Major cities left shortchanged

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Los Angeles Daily News

Formula for security funding draws fire

By Michele R. Marcucci
Sean Holstege and Troy Anderson
Staff Writers

(snip)

So for every anti-terrorism dollar targetless Alpine County got per person, Los Angeles got 3 cents to prevent and respond to attacks on any of its 180 threatened sites, a newspaper analysis found. That's because the state replicated a widely criticized federal funding formula that steers millions to isolated rural areas and leaves target-rich communities high and dry... "Every dollar spent in Sierra County is one less dollar spent protecting the Golden Gate Bridge," said Sierra County Sheriff Lee Adams III, whose county got $79.52 per person, 10 times the state average.

Political formula Congress set up the federal grant program to distribute 40 percent of the grant money equally among states, without regard to risk. Lawmakers used a formula that had proved politically salable for paving highways and favored rural states. Wyoming, with a 2000 population of 493,782, got $35.31 per person in 2003 alone, while California got just $4.68 to protect each of its 33.9 million residents, according to one report.

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"If you look at the per capita spending from the federal government on homeland security items, California ranks near the bottom of the list in terms of the national distribution of dollars per capita," Zegart said. "Whereas, if you look at sparsely populated states like Wyoming and Alaska, they got the best in funding. It's pure pork barrel politics that is responsible for a funding scheme that could only be concocted in Washington. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the funding formula doesn't make sense."

(snip)

California complained loudly about the federal formula. But state officials used an almost identical method to dole money to the state's 58 counties. Each county got an equal portion of the grant off the top, and the remaining cash was divided up based on population, not risk... San Francisco, which received an additional grant for big cities, got $45.74 per person. But San Diego County only got $8.23 per person.

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More..

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E20954%257E2384429,00.html?search=filter#

Michele R. Marcucci and Sean Holstege are reporters for the Oakland Tribune. Troy Anderson is a reporter for the Daily News.

Troy Anderson, [phone] [e-mail]

[acmavm]

1. So, how serious can they be about protecting high value targets?

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