MAJOR CITIES LEFT SHORTCHANGED FORMULA FOR SECURITY FUNDING DRAWS FIRE.

Byline: Michele R. Marcucci, Sean Holstege and Troy Anderson Staff Writers

Alpine County boasts two gas stations, one bar, 1,208 souls and not a single terrorist target. Tucked against the Nevada state line and cut off in winter by the snowed-in Carson Pass, it's California's least populous county. Yet, it has gotten $218.20 per person in anti-terror grants since the 9-11 attacks

Los Angeles County teems with nearly 10 million people and is home to nearly a third of the state's potential terrorist targets. That includes California's top target, Los Angeles International Airport, site of a thwarted 1999 bomb plot, and various Hollywood landmarks, studios and theme parks. Yet, Los Angeles County has gotten only $8.14 per person.

So for every anti-terrorism dollar targetless Alpine County got per person, Los Angeles got 3 1/2 cents to prevent and respond to attacks on any of its 180 threatened sites, a newspaper analysis found.

That's because the state replicated a widely criticized federal funding formula that steers millions to isolated rural areas and leaves target-rich communities high and dry.

``I suppose you could argue that any place is a potential terrorist target,'' said John Miller, terrorism czar for the Los Angeles Police Department.

``But when you look at Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C., we don't have to think so hard about how to spend this money. And as security increases in New York and Washington as the election nears, we become a more likely target.''

Across the state, law enforcement officials worry that the way homeland security money is being allocated leaves prime targets vulnerable.

``Every dollar spent in Sierra County is one less dollar spent protecting the Golden Gate Bridge,'' said Sierra County Sheriff Lee Adams III, whose county got $79.52 per person, 10 times the state average.

Political formula

Congress set up the federal grant program to distribute 40 percent of the grant money equally among states, without regard to risk. Lawmakers used a formula that had proved politically salable for paving highways and favored rural states.

Wyoming, with a 2000 population of 493,782, got $35.31 per person in 2003 alone, while California got just $4.68 to protect each of its 33.9 million residents, according to one report.

``The biggest pot of money goes out without any thought to risk or threat. For a typical federal program, that would be sad. For a program dealing with (something) as important as homeland security, it's dangerous,'' said Tim Ransdell, who studied the funding formula for the Public Policy Institute of California.

Amy Zegart, a terrorism expert and assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Affairs, said the ``crazy'' federal funding formula distributes an equal amount of money to each state regardless of population or vulnerability to terrorist attack.

``If you look at the per capita spending from the federal government on homeland security items, California ranks near the bottom of the list in terms of the national distribution of dollars per capita,'' Zegart said.

``Whereas, if you look at sparsely populated states like Wyoming and Alaska, they got the best in funding. It's pure pork barrel politics that is responsible for a funding scheme that could only be concocted in Washington. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the funding formula doesn't make sense.''

Zegart said the reality is that some places rank far higher on Osama bin Laden's target list, but those places were not given funding priority.

``And California is at the top of bin Laden's target list,'' she said.

California complained loudly about the federal formula. But state officials used an almost identical method to dole money to the state's 58 counties.

Each county got an equal portion of the grant off the top, and the remaining cash was divided up based on population, not risk.

State officials earmarked $8.5 million for the 15 counties with no targets and $56 million for the 49 counties that don't have any of the top 50.

Urban counties generally fared poorly. Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties got less than $5 per person in grant funds versus $79.52 per person in Sierra County and $32.16 in Modoc County.

San Francisco, which received an additional grant for big cities, got $45.74 per person. But San Diego County only got $8.23 per person.

Other Bay Area counties also got fewer dollars per target than many other California counties.

While Los Angeles County got an average of $348,162 for each of its 180 targets, Riverside County got $947,120 for each of its 15 targets. Ventura County got $408,987 for each of its eight targets, San Bernardino County got $396,999 for each of its 20 targets and Orange County came in at the low end with $255,193 for each of its 52 targets.

Local decisions

``Congress has been discussing targeting the money for areas where terrorism is most likely, instead of spreading the money all over the country,'' Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said. ``They need to focus on places like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco and Miami, places if you were a terrorist you'd attack.

``Los Angeles is certainly a highly discussed target. I'm sure there are other parts of the United States that have similar target zones, but we are the Western United State's No. 1 target.

``I think the priority now should be a (two-part) funding system where perhaps half of all the federal money that is allocated for homeland security goes to the major target communities and the rest is divided among the minor target communities.''

State Office of Homeland Security Deputy Director Michael Levy defended the state's formula, saying locals, and not the state, would best decide how the money should be spent.

``The money was to get to first responders, the people on the backs of trucks and in patrol cars. That was the intent and it's been pretty successful,'' said Levy, who runs the state's grant process. ``Our job as a state entity is to get as much money for California as possible. We don't want to put any restrictions on it.''

Pasadena Police Department Chief Bernard K. Melekian said he's happy with the help the federal government has given him to protect the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade.

``What I think is important is not how they choose to divide the money up, but that they maximize local discretion in the spending, and emphasize regional partnerships as much as possible,'' Melekian said. ``If they do those two things, the rest of it will take care of itself.''

Californians also rely heavily on neighbors pitching in. Most cities can't sustain the extraordinary manpower and equipment needed for huge fires, earthquakes and other disasters, so they call for mutual aid.

Targetless counties sent firefighters to Los Angeles County's giant wildfires last year and to the East Bay Hills fire that destroyed more than 3,000 Oakland and Berkeley homes in 1991.

Alpine County has no paid firefighters and for the better part uses hand-me-down firetrucks and gear. It chases every federal grant.

The Department of Homeland Security cash bought a heavy rescue truck and two Jaws of Life extrication tools, plus a dozen self-contained breathing systems and a refiller for their oxygen tanks - all needed for tourist car wrecks and burning mountain homes, or helping a nearby county.

``I doubt the terrorists are going to drop a bomb on us,'' said Markleeville volunteer fire chief Wayne Thomson. ``But it could happen to our neighbors and have a tremendous impact on us and our ability to deliver services.''

Those arguments made sense in Sacramento, said former state homeland security chief George Vinson.

``They were saying good things (like), 'Where did they find these al-Qaida cells? In places like eastern Oregon, with 50 sheriffs and 150 cows.'

``I said, 'You're damned right.' Who am I to say no?'' Vinson said.

``But it comes down a little to politics. How do you tell volunteer firefighters they don't get anything?''

But emergency officials in some urban counties questioned the state's reasoning. They said they are being shortchanged.

``This is a new science and frankly a new politic,'' Miller said. ``Wherever there is a representative who has to sign off on a vote on where the money is spent, there is going to be an aspect of me-tooish: I want my piece of the pie, no matter how far-fetched or unlikely it is that terrorists are going to plot to attack Oshkosh.''

The greatest threat

Los Angeles County Fire Department Deputy Chief Gil Herrera agreed that most of the money should be directed to the urban areas.

``Where the threat is most likely, that is where the money should be spent,'' said Herrera.

The county Fire Department has applied for $15 million in grants and has purchased about 3,000 protective suits, gas masks and radiation detection devices, and has ordered a Metropolitan Incident Response Vehicle to carry the equipment. It will be outfitted with equipment to detect bioterrorist microbes and poisonous chemicals and include decontamination apparatuses.

Ed Broomfield, the grant administrator in the county's Office of Emergency Management, said even if all the agencies in the county spent the more than $223 million allocated to them it would still not be enough to protect targets in the county from terrorists.

``Are we getting a lot of money?'' Broomfield asked rhetorically. ``Yes. But are we getting enough to take care of our needs? No. We have the biggest port in the country and the second-busiest airport. That by itself dictates a lot.

``We have special events like the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl that everyone in the world has heard of. We have the Academy Awards, which many Arab leaders have listed as a decadent event. There is a lot of exposure and a lot of events in Los Angeles and it's going to take a tremendous amount of money to pay for it.''

In Congress, Rep. Chris Cox, R-Newport Beach, head of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, has authored a bill to change the way the money is distributed. The bill, which has run through several House committees, would require the Department of Homeland Security to award grant dollars based on risk.

Cox decried California's formula for awarding grants, saying it's unfair for small, rural counties like Alpine to be treated the same way as San Francisco or Los Angeles.

``The answer is not to deprive Alpine County of the equipment and training need to protect the 1,200 Californians that live there, but to make sure it's part of a regional effort that shares responsibility,'' he said.

Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Valerie Smith said her agency is shifting more money to urban areas. She said it has asked Congress for more money for its big-city grant program in an effort to better deal with the risks they face.

``We are committed to getting the money to the areas that need it. We are certainly looking at ways to improve the distribution process,'' Smith said.

Michele R. Marcucci and Sean Holstege are reporters for the Oakland Tribune. Troy Anderson is a reporter for the Daily News.

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

11 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color) Though LAX was the target of a thwarted bomb plot in 1999, Los Angeles County receives only $8.14 per capita in anti-terror funds while Alpine County pulls in $218.20 per capita.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) Los Angeles Airport

(3 -- color) Port of Oakland 

(4 -- color) Port of Long Beach

(5 -- color) Golden Gate Bridge

(6 -- color) Disneyland, Anaheim

(7 -- color) Port of Los Angeles 

(8 -- color) BART, Alameda Co.

(9 -- color) San Francisco Airport

(10 -- color) Bay Bridge, Oakland, SF

(11 -- color) Port of San Diego 

Map:

Anti-terror money spread thin

JOSH RUTHNICK - Staff