Posted on 12/04/2003 9:14:57 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
City taxpayers could be socked with millions more in Democratic National Convention costs as the bill for security soars past $40 million - a pricetag shocker just now being revealed. Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has repeatedly declined to discuss how much the four-day party next July will cost taxpayers, last night acknowledged that security costs are spiking. The security price tag for the convention was originally sold to the public at a hefty $10 million. Factoring in federal reimbursements, the city will face a $5 million additional cost on security alone as Menino faces decreasing state aid and new salary demands from city unions - some of whom have threatened to picket the Democrats' Boston bash. ``We've learned from our initial planning that $10 million isn't sufficient,'' said Menino's spokesman Seth Gitell. ``They're still in the middle of the planning process so I don't think we can put a dollar amount on it right now.'' The $40 million estimate was included in a letter drafted by New York congressmen seeking federal security aid for both Boston's Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention to be held in New York City next fall. The New York letter is significant because the Boston officials have repeatedly refused to discuss security costs. One longtime city watchdog believes City Hall deliberately lowballed the security pricetag to win support for the event. ``I'm not surprised,'' said Joe Slavet, former chief of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. ``By definition people understate budgets in order to get them through.'' Boston is seeking - and expected to receive - $25 million from the federal government to defray the cost of making sure the first national political convention since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks doesn't become a new target. But the city could still be on the hook for some $15 million - $5 million over budget - to cover security enhancements, equipment and police overtime, a price tag inflated by the convention's designation as a National Security Special Event, a status which puts the Secret Service in charge. The security plan won't be finalized until next summer, said Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, in town today to give 500 national and international media representatives a tour of the FleetCenter and taste of the convention. ``Our security plan will be done a week before the convention is open - and then it will change again,'' McAuliffe said. But big decisions - like whether to shutter Interstate 93 during the four-day event - will be made early next year, said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the convention chairman, also in Boston for the media tour. Menino's own letter on the need for federal convention aid doesn't include any cost estimate for security. And even the city council, which will ultimately have to sign the check, has been kept in the dark about the magnitude of city funds being pledged to the event. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said publicly he expects to spend $65 million on Republican convention security. The price tags of other convention items could also be on the way up. For instance, McAuliffe would like to create a media center in the garage under the FleetCenter, but turning the rugged ramps into office space - including filtered air and toilets - is expected to cost $10 million. Boston 2004, the mayoral-run host committee, budgeted less than $6 million for media space. Boston 2004, in the midst of raising some $50 million for the convention, might be able to cover some of the additional security costs privately but fundraising is already lagging - hampered in part by disputes between Boston 2004 and the Democratic National Committee. Sources say officials from Boston 2004, who raised $20 million in 2002 but only $7 million this year, have had trouble nailing down pledges because they don't have any convention-related perks to offer big donors. McAuliffe said Boston 2004 should promise donors the sky. ``I'm going to make sure that the host committee gets whatever they want,'' he said, before adding that those details might not be nailed down until next summer.
Why would the terrorists attack their friends?
Oh, they would never do that!!
This is totally unnecessary! The Terrorists would never target a Democratic Convention - that would be like biting the hand that feeds them. The Democreeps have nothing to worry about in that regard. Terrorists love anti-american democreeps who support them!
Surely, Democraps don't do things like that, promise you everything and deliver nothing.
I think that it was shipped off to America Coming Together, the Clintons' new organization.
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