Can't swing a dead cat without hitting a news story about our Philadelphia's sorry state of emergency preparedness (also here and a Daily News editorial here) .
I'm not one for playing up on people's fears in order to win an election, so I'd hope that none of our Magnificent Six try to play the old "vote for me or the city won't be prepared for terrorists armed with swarms of killer bees riding tsunamis" card. If they choose to comment at all, they can say some variation of:
"Given the emergencies that have arisen due to both the forces of nature and the dark hearts of those who would do us harm, it's clear that municipalities nationwide need to take more steps to ensure the safety and survival of their citizens. No candidate for mayor can guarantee that we can prevent all such occurrences - especially natural disasters - but we can all agree that as mayor, each of us would insure that everyone responsible for public safety in this city and the surrounding counties will be organized, united and prepared."
If he or she really wants to impress, this fictional enlightened candidate can cite the lessons learned from other big city mayors who have taken steps to make sure their cities can survive both the incident itself and the inevitable bungling by the federal government.
Click on "Continue Reading" to see how preparedness would begin to improve if the next mayor would just work on being a better neighbor.
In the context of this mayor's race, the most important point brought up in any of the articles is from the Inquirer story:
Lacks a comprehensive evacuation strategy with neighboring counties, cities and states.
According to the report, solving this deficiency doesn't require any outside funding but it starts with the mayor:
The report said the city needs to do more to incorporate neighboring counties, cities and states into its emergency strategy. Emergency managers from the city and surrounding counties meet on a regular basis. But one of the lessons of New Orleans was the need for better coordination at the top - mayor to governor, as well as governor to governor.
That is not happening locally.
Ten months after Katrina, the report noted that Philadelphia's highest officials had not met with their local, county and state counterparts to discuss emergency preparedness efforts. The review recommends an ongoing forum for top officials.
"Meeting to discuss emergency management would foster mutual understanding, potentially save resources, and greatly reduce the response time during a disaster," the report said.
Asked why this hadn't happened yet, Ramos said, "The candid answer is, it has not become a normal thing to do."
Clearly, Ramos listened to my radio feature from way back at the beginning of this project. So now, not only is this disconnect with the suburban counties getting in the way of economic development, it could also result in lots of death. Wonderful.
Regionalism, baby! It's a wonderful thing.
[UPDATE from 7/14/06: Apparently, the Inquirer Editorial Board agrees.]
(The picture to the right, by the way, is of the Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge, which you can get instead of the Lifesaving Merit Badge if your too much of a wuss to go into the pool - like me. However, judging from recent the recent decision of the local BSA Council to continue summer camping at an island in the middle of the Delaware despite being flooded out twice in two years, they might not be the best example.)