"All I can tell you is if you look at their worksheets, and it says that New York City doesn't have any high visibility national icons ... I mean, I don't have to list the Brooklyn Bridge, the United Nations, Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and the Stock Exchange," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in response to ABC News' questions.
The formula did not consider as landmarks or icons: The Empire State Building, The United Nations, The Statue of Liberty and others found on several terror target hit lists. It also left off notable landmarks, such as the New York Public Library, Times Square, City Hall and at least three of the nation's most renowned museums: The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan and The Museum of Natural History.
"I think the facts are clear," Bloomberg said. "What they've really done is taken what was supposed to be threat-based and just started to distribute it as normal pork."
Bloomberg has hit the nail on the head. Money that is supposed to be spent on security is instead being spent to curry votes and generally pander. Other effected cities include California which saw most of its major cities budgets slashed. Areas that saw an increase in spending was Louisville, KY. Kansas City, MO, St. Louis,MO, Charlotte, NC, Omaha, NB, and Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Now the money division may have been fair and a true analysis of what was needed for each city and state to have. However, it does seem suspicious that the the blue states such as California and New York took major hits while historically red states such as the above, saw some nice gains. Gains that can be used by politicians running for election to crow about how they are protecting the heartland for upcoming elections.
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