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security

New York has been on the front lines of the security debate, both because its security concerns are arguably the nation's greatest , and because many of those most affected by restrictions in civil liberties are immigrants living in cities. This was illustrated last years when large numbers of New York's immigrants - mainly Pakistanis - for fear of a program which required males from 24 Muslim countries and North Korea to register with the federal government.

The federal Department of Homeland Security, created in 2002 as a way to defend against terrorism, has been giving out grant money to states and cities for their own anti-terror efforts. New York officials are now unanimous in saying that the department's grant program has turned into a way for politicians to push pork towards their own districts, leaving New York City without the resources it needs to protect itself.

Currently, much of the funding is given out without regard to the threat level that a certain area is under. A portion of the money is given out evenly to every state; another portion by population. A set amount of money is reserved for high risk areas, but as more areas are deemed high risk, the proportion of this money that New York receives has dropped dramatically. New York has spent large sums on transforming its own police department into a counter-terrorism force, but the state gets less funding per-capita than almost any other.

Local emergency responders, the federal system for allocating anti-terror money, and the national system of intelligence were all criticized by an independent federal panel whose job was to investigate the 9/11 attacks on Washington and New York. The 9/11 Commission, as it was commonly called, operated from 2003 through August 2004, when it released a book-length report on its findings (in pdf format).

The commission found fault with the city's emergency response system largely because it felt that the various rescue agencies are incapable of working together in major emergencies . But it saved its harshest criticism for the federal intelligence agencies. The commission's major recommendation was to create a cabinet level intelligence czar, who would have wide control over the operations and budgets of the various intelligence agencies .

For more, see the Security section in Rebuilding

Next Page: Health and Environment

Health and Environment


healthenvi

How the collapse of the Twin Towers will impact the long term health of New Yorkers is probably the most open-ended question remaining three years after the attack.

Within a week of 9/11, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that lower Manhattan residents were not at risk from the dust created by the collapse of the Twin Towers. Residents and businesses were told to clean dust from their apartments and wash ash-covered clothing separately, but rescue workers at the site were the only ones facing a real health risk.

In a report (in pdf format) issued last summer, the agency acknowledged that the White House's Council on Environmental Quality had "influenced, through the collaboration process, the information that EPA communicated to the public through its early press releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones."

The agency has received widespread criticism for these reassurances, and its subsequent cleanup in lower Manhattan.

Partially in response to this criticism, the Environmental Protection Agency established a panel to examine its own performance after 9/11, and look for unmet health needs that stem from the attack. It has started meeting, and over the next two years will develop a list of non-binding recommendations for the agency.

The city introduced a health registry to track the health of those who may have been affected by the disease. It has attracted over 50,000 people, whose health will be monitored, but not offered medical care.

These efforts have been met with various levels of cynicism - especially from those who have gotten sick.

A study published earlier this year referred to the collapse of the Twin Towers as the "largest acute environmental disaster that has ever befallen New York City." Still, the extent to which the disaster will affect the health of New Yorkers remains uncertain.

""The problem we have now is we don't know the long term, lifetime, health consequences. We just don't know, " said Paul Lioy of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute.

The major health problems that have been linked to 9/11 are respiratory diseases like asthma, with some cases proving to be chronic. Nasal and sinus problems and gastrointestinal problems have also been tied to the attack. While no link to cancer has yet been found, and studies have found little danger of people developing cancer due to exposure to dust from the towers, some rescue workers who have developed the disease since 9/11 attribute their illnesses to the attacks.

New Yorkers also continue to suffer emotionally. A significant number of people developed post-traumatic stress disorder and depression after the attacks, and one Brooklyn hospital even saw a distinct rise in heart attacks, which its researchers attributed to post 9/11 stress.

Emotional problems have been on the decline since about six months after the attack, said Dr. Spencer Eth, director of the department of psychology at St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Center. The center has seen about 50,000 patients due to 9/11.

But over the last week, with the stress of the Republican National Convention, St. Vincent's has had to expand its hours to deal with increasing numbers of patients. Many thought they had recovered emotionally from 9/11, only to have their symptoms return.

"Right now, the conditions are there for the people to have that kind of flashback. Susceptible people will," said Eth. "The weather is warm and there are all these heavily armed people patrolling the streets."

A similar spike occurred after the crash of the Staten Island Ferry last year. Eth believes that these instances indicate a sensitivity that is part of a permanent shift in the psyche of New Yorkers.

"If you talk to people in Florida who have been through hurricanes, when the wind starts blowing, they get nervous; that lasts for years and years and years. People in southern California go on alert when they sense an earthquake, when the ground trembles a little bit," he said. "I think people in New York have been sensitized in the same way."

Federal Aid


FederalAidGulliani

ITEM PAYS FOR TOTAL
Emergency Response emergency transportation projects, aid to individuals etc. $6.3 billion
Economic Development Tax benefits for businesses, residential grant program, etc. $4.4 billion
Long Term Rebuilding Memorial at Ground Zero, Transportation Projects, etc. $9.7 billion

 


Independent Budget Office Estimate of where aid money will go.

Soon after the attacks, President George Bush promised $21 billion in aid to help clean up and rebuild New York City. These funds were designed to come through a variety of channel s to achieve several goals. In a recent study, the city's Independent Budget Office outlined (in pdf format) where this aid was intended to go.

New York has received over half of this $20 billion. But some worry that the city is in danger of never getting the entire amount.

Because a lot of this money is tied to long-term projects, it will not be actually received for five to ten years. The Independent Budget Office believes that "the Bush Administration and Congress are now in the process of making good on the initial promise of $20 billion in aid"; the city comptroller's office, on the other hand, believes that over a quarter of the money promised may never show up. In a recent report (in pdf format), the comptroller decries the lack of any way to track the promised cash. (see chart, below right)

Of the $21 billion, there is about $870 million left in discretionary funding. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation formally controls the money, but different groups have very different ideas of how this money should be spent. Governor Pataki has supported using the funds to build a rail link between lower Manhattan, JFK airport, and the Long Island Rail Road. Community groups would like to see the money directed towards housing and local economic development, which they feel have gotten the short shrift with previous spending.

Next Page: Security



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