Philly Nixed by DoJ

Think Progress has this story on how the City of Philadelphia was denied the $6M they requested to beef up their first responder equipment. The story via the Inky:

The Philadelphia Police Department learned Monday that it was turned down for a $6 million grant to wire the city's rail tunnels so police, firefighters and paramedics could use their radios underground.

Instead, 26 other cities will share $92.8 million from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Some of the grant recipients were obvious choices, like New York City ($6 million), Phoenix ($6 million), and Atlanta ($6 million).

Some were not: Pocatello ($1.9 million), Bismarck ($2.3 million), Davenport, Iowa ($2.2 million), and Las Cruces, N.M. ($981,360).

The full list of the twenty-six recipients here [14kb .pdf].

Philadelphia is the fifth largest city in America. Bigger than: Phoenix which recieved just under $6M, Atlanta which recieved $6M, Providence, RI which recieved $5.6M... the list goes on.

The Inky article notes:

Two years ago, the city purchased a $62 million radio system for all police, fire and paramedic units, as well as other city agencies. But the city did not have the money to wire tunnels with repeaters that could transmit messages underground.

Among the low-tech solutions: supplying police and fire units with different SEPTA radios that work underground.

Or relaying information in emergencies by yelling commands. "That's how they have to operate," [Councilman Frank] Rizzo said. "They literally have to have officers 50 feet apart, hollering back and forth."

Good to know that in the event of a large scale emergency, our first responders will still have their low-tech, low-range, analog amplification devices a.k.a. hands around the mouth to use underground. Thanks!

Comments

[Adam]

Here is a follow up to this article that I personally undertook.

I was extremely curious on the reasons such a large city would be denied funds of this sort. Before getting caught up in the conspiracy theorists, I decided to call the DOJ.

I left a message with the CUPS point of contact on Friday. By Monday morning she had forwarded it onto Gilbert Moore and he had called me back himself.

I spoke to him and, without being able to go into details of the grant requests, he said Philadelphia’s problem is that they petitioned money for a project that was not within the scope of the grant.

The grant was for money to interoperate first responder services between surrounding areas. As an example, if Philadelphia requested money to tie EMS systems into Camden County, Bucks County and Delaware County it would have been within scope. Asking money to run wires in the Septa tunnels was NOT within scope.

So, to put it bluntly (these are my words, not Mr. Moore's) Philadelphia screwed up because they didn't pay attention to the details. It is the equivalent of being mad you didn't get a student loan when you told the bank you were going to use it to buy a car.

So, if you want to be mad at anyone, get mad at the City Council who drafted the proposal. They dropped the ball for Philadelphia.