New York City dodged a giant bullet when a terrorist bomb maker – bent on death and destruction – parked his SUV loaded with explosives in the heart of Times Square on Saturday evening, May 1. His home-made device of propane tanks, fireworks and fertilizer failed to detonate properly and was spotted smoldering by two alert veteran street vendors.
Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old naturalized citizen, was removed from a Dubai-bound airliner at JFK airport only 53 hours later. He confessed to the plot to kill as many innocent tourists and theatergoers as possible.
New York is a target!
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly were in Washington last week lobbying for more cash to help guard the city. Bloomberg told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that "Since 1990, there have been more than 20 terrorist plots – or actual attacks – against our city."
New York is a target!
Earlier this month, the feds informed New York that they would be receiving about $200 million from the pool of $2.7 billion being spread around the country by the Homeland Security Department. That makes New York’s share of the terror funds a mere 7.2 percent.
That is simply not enough for the number one terrorist target in the United States, the city that has had 20 plots or attacks against it in the past 20 years.
New York is a target!
Kelly told Congress we need 3,000 more cameras on our streets along with 96 fixed license plate readers that would stream images around the clock to a base on lower Broadway. He wants permanent license plate scanners at the bridges and tunnels leading into Manhattan too.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has 4,313 cameras installed in the subways – about 2,300 are working and another 2,000 will go on line over the next year or so.
Bloomberg was about to slash 892 cops from his 2011 budget, but he has restored the $55 million to the police department budget.
Security costs our city hundreds of millions of dollars annually and that burden should not fall on the taxpayers of New York City or New York State alone. It must be shared by the nation.
Tell our State Senators how you feel: Charles Schumer at https://schumer.senate.gov or his New York office at 212-486-4430 and Kirsten Gillibrand at https://gillibrand.gov or her New York office at 212-688-6262.
