Endorsing the National League of Cities' Hometown Security Day and urging the Congress and the President to act on homeland security funding.

WHEREAS, The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have changed life throughout the Nation, and robbed Americans of security; and

WHEREAS, The attacks have far reaching implications for all cities and towns and their first responders now on the front lines of hometown defense; and

WHEREAS, Cities have shouldered the full financial burden for hometown security defense at a cost of approximately $3 billion since September 2001; and

WHEREAS, At significant cost to local taxpayers across America, cities have met their many new hometown security challenges by updating their emergency plans to meet multiple new threats such as dirty bombs, biological and chemical weapons, taking on security duties at commercial airports, identifying and assessing their vulnerabilities, and improving collaboration, communication and information sharing within their regions and with state and federal government; and

WHEREAS, Cities cannot carry this new financial burden alone much longer and continue to maintain other essential local services without raising local taxes or cutting services; and

WHEREAS, A recent National League of Cities survey shows that, for the first time since 1 992, a majority of cities are less able to meet their financial needs because of a fall off in revenues due to the economic downturn and the surge in spending for hometown security; and

WHEREAS, Congress and the President have squandered a rare moment of bipartisan unity by failing to act decisively on federal homeland security and coordination and funding; now therefore

RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Endorses the National League of Cities’ Hometown Security Day, which will be October 22, 2002, to draw attention to the essential role of America’s cities and towns as the front line of homeland defense and the urgent need for a true federal-local partnership to carry out this new responsibility; and

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Council of the City of Philadelphia urges Congress and the President to work out their differences and pass a homeland security bill now to provide a federal framework for unified and coordinated responses to terrorism;

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Council of the City of Philadelphia urges Congress, with the full support of the President, to finalize immediately 2003 funding for homeland security, particularly the $3.5 billion promised for first responders and the $22 million per month reimbursement promised to cities and towns for providing local law enforcement at the nation’s commercial airports.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That Engrossed copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the Honorable Dick Cheney, President of the United States Senate, and the Honorable Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives as a sincere expression of the sentiments of this legislative body.

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