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Editorial
Editorial Archives
Friday, January 14, 2005; Page 15
D.C. Told to Foot the Bill
D.C. city officials and Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton are on the rampage right now and for very good reasons. The Bush Administration has refused to reimburse the District for the costs of the Presidential Inaugural on January 20. Instead, the District has been told to use $11.9 million from its Homeland Security grants which really should be used to protect District residents in case of a terrorist attack.
The District’s Homeland Security Fund has received $240 million in grants over the past three years because it is a place of high risk. Mayor Williams has explained that the funds have already been earmarked for security needs. Yet, the cost the city will have to bear for the Inaugural, according to Williams, will total $17.3 million.
It is good that congressional representatives from the region are sympathetic to the District’s plight with the Administration. They are aware that District residents are at greater risk of a terrorism attack than any nearby jurisdiction, and residents are less prepared to handle such an attack if one should occur.
The District’s medical infrastructure, for one, is inadequate to handle a large scale medical crisis and its evacuation plan still leaves much to be desired. Yet, the Administration feels it can demand that the District should not be reimbursed for its expenses related to the four-day inauguration which include overtime for D.C. police officers and police from other jurisdictions, construction of reviewing stands, and a variety of other public works, health, transportation and emergency services.
If New York City and Boston were able to receive $50 million from Congress to cover security costs during both national political conventions, why doesn’t the Administration believe the District is worthy of, as well?
They say, you get what you pay for, and if the District was not concerned about its image as a world class city, it should give the Bush administration exactly what it pays for the Inaugural celebration this year. |
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