LANSING – A Reader’s Digest magazine study which ranked Detroit last among 10 cities vulnerable to terrorist attacks was the basis for state Republican Party criticism of the Granholm administration’s failure to improve protection for the state’s largest city since 9-11 – Granholm administration officials labeled the ranking inaccurate and unfair.

The magazine article gave Detroit a ranking of 27 (out of a possible 100 points) on 11 criteria, with eight of those considered not meeting an adequate standard. Las Vegas had the next lowest score at 42, while Miami, New York and Washington shared the top ranking at 81.

Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis said the numbers show the city is not prepared for a terrorist attack and that the city has been left in “such disrepair,?? he said, that ?the safety and security of our citizens is at stake. With our state already suffering unprecedented job loss, we now find out that this administration is failing the most fundamental task of Government: the safety of its citizens.”

But Kriste Etue, the state’s director of homeland security and emergency management, said the magazine contacted no one from the state in assessing what has been done, and said great strides have been taken to protect the city. And she said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ranked the state in the upper 15 percent of grant applicants in 2006 in justifying awarding of federal funds.

And Liz Boyd, spokesperson for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, accused the Republican Party of using the article to “politicize homeland security.”

Etue also said that if the article faults the number of police officers and assets the state has to deal with attacks, that indicates areas that should be funded by the Bush administration.

Federal homeland security grants were cut this year by 20 percent to $46.9 million for the state, though the Detroit area was one of the few jurisdictions to see an increase, going up 8.8 percent to $18.6 million.

“When you look at where we were in 1999 and where we are now, people would be shocked at how much progress we’ve made,” she said. “Do we have a lot to do? Absolutely. But to say we are not prepared, that’s not fair and it’s not accurate.?

Among the areas where the city did not meet the standard set by the magazine were crisis communications so first responders can communicate, having at least 500 hospital beds per 100,000 residents and all five criteria for emergency readiness, including number of first responders and search and rescue capability.

But Etue said interoperable communications has been established and was put to its first test during this year’s Super Bowl in Detroit and that the state developed its own search and rescue system, which is a federal obligation but had not been implemented. She and Boyd also said many issues have been addressed on a regional basis, such as medical needs, by developing modular hospitals and developing biomedical defense regions.

“We’ve tried to structure Michigan in the very best capacity we can,” Ms. Boyd said. “This is perhaps irresponsible journalism and politics at worst by the Michigan Republican Party.”

The magazine said in conducting its study it analyzed public data, consulted with federal and local emergency workers, and contacted the mayors’ offices to gauge the readiness of these cities to meet both natural and man-made disasters.

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