Grants will fund bulletproof glass for new facility
City Hall on Tuesday accepted more than $400,000 to protect Santa Monica against possible terrorist attacks.
Most of the money will be used to purchase better supplies and protective equipment for local firefighters and police, as well as for search and rescue teams, and those that respond to hazardous materials.
About $75,000 will be spent to install bulletproof windows on the perimeter of the third and fourth floors of the new Public Safety Facility. The first two floors of the building, which will house all of Santa Monica’s fire and police personnel, already are equipped with bullet-proof glass.
The top floors were originally slated to receive the bullet-proof glass but the funding for those windows was taken away because of City Hall’s budget deficit.
Besides the $75,000 in bullet-proof glass, City Hall will split the remainder of the $418,029 in grants in three categories. The first is for chemical-resistant coveralls and air-filtering cartridges so fire and police officials can spend extended periods of time in contaminated areas.
Urban search and rescue teams, which are called into action when buildings collapse, or during earthquakes and serious traffic accidents, also will receive money to upgrade the tools and equipment they use.
And Santa Monica’s hazardous materials response team will be given funding for more sophisticated detection equipment used to locate hazardous material leaks or possible biological outbreaks.
All of the grants are federal and don’t require any matching funds from City Hall. The state distributes the grants to counties throughout California based on their size and potential for a terrorist attack. Cities then apply for funding from the county.
Santa Monica Fire Department Fire Marshal Jim Hone, who oversaw the grant application process, said City Hall was among the first to receive the grants because it already had designated hazardous materials and urban search and rescue teams in place.
“We were very successful,” he said. “We were able to move up to the front of the line because of the programs we’ve established since the 1980s.”
Los Angeles County has received $38.8 million in federal grants this year alone, said Bob Garrott, the assistant manager of the Los Angeles County of Emergency Management, which distributes the grants to the 88 cities in LA County.
Sheryl Tankersley, spokeswoman for the California Homeland Security’s Office of Emergency Services, said money from the federal government isn’t sent only to cities. She said the state also gives funding to the California Highway Patrol, the Governor’s Office and other public agencies.
In the past year, Tankersley said the federal government has allocated nearly $300 million to her department.
Hone said Santa Monica received another federal grant for $26,400 earlier this year and last year was awarded $148,000 from the Fire Act Grant, which was established in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. That money was used to buy a fire safety trailer, which teaches children how to respond in case of a fire.
The grants that were accepted Tuesday require City Hall to spend the money first and then send in their receipts for reimbursement.
“It doesn’t cost us anything at the end but we have to purchase the equipment up front,” Hone said Tuesday. “If we approve it tonight, tomorrow the fax machines will be flying.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 27, 2003. Read the original PDF.