City by city, terror war goes local

In Charleston, S.C., all water-utility workers - including private plumbers laying pipe for the city - now have to carry special ID cards.

In Tampa, Fla., fans attending Buccaneer football games are searched for a variety of contraband, including banners with sticks and diaper bags.

As part of a new "biosurveillance" regimen in Baltimore, city officials daily monitor absentee rates in schools, on the lookout for spikes that might suggest a bacteria attack.

From Savannah to Sacramento, American cities are now in a perpetual state of Code Red, preparing for - and hoping to prevent - a possible terrorist attack.

Gone are many of the usual issues that dominate urban agendas - crime, homelessness, the need for a tougher pooper-scooper law. Instead, cities are focused on one issue, security, perhaps more than at any time in American history.

The three-alarm attention is certainly understandable. Until Sept. 11, most cities had some kind of emergency-response plans in place. But they were often for hurricanes or industrial accidents or some other more conventional calamity. Few, if any, were prepared for the kind of biological, chemical, or other evil deed that terrorists might devise. Consequently, cities are rushing to fill in gaps in readiness: training doctors, streamlining communication between health workers and police, stockpiling antibiotics and vaccines, buying gas masks and moon suits.

"If you watched what happened in Washington, D.C., last week, even the nation's capital can't make sure that the city's postal workers are safe," says Cameron Whitman, a policy director at the National League of Cities (NLC). "That's partly because nobody's really ready."

At the same time, if the World Trade Center attacks reinforced one lesson, it's that cities are the first line of defense and response in most any disaster.

"If we waited for advice from Washington on self-defense, we'd all still be singing 'God Save the Queen,' " says Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. "We just went ahead with the smart people we have here and did what was the only responsible thing to do."

So are others. According to a recent NLC survey, 90 percent of cities with a population greater than 100,000 have updated or revised their emergency-response plans since Sept. 11. Seventy-four percent have increased security around public-water supplies, 76 percent are seeking additional antiterrorism training, and 68 percent have conducted emergency exercises.

Nor is the vigilance just going on in big cities. Hopewell, Va., pop. 20,000, plans to run training exercises this week to prepare for any disaster that might befall a local chemical plant. In Clarksburg, W.Va., the airport doesn't have a gate. But two armed National Guardsmen now stand sentry at the airfield.

"It's not just New York City and Washington, D.C.," says Michael Reinemer of the NLC. "It's smaller towns that probably need to think in ways they never have before."

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