[Mpls] R.T. v. Sharon on emergency preparedness

[Dyna Sluyter]

Title: R.T. v. Sharon on emergency preparedness

       

        I am writing this not to favor a particular candidate, but to push both of them to come up with better plans for emergency preparedness. I like both R.T. and Sharon and will be happy to see either elected, however I would encourage both of them to engage in constructive debate on this issue.

        Despite considerable provocation, I have yet to see R.T. address this issue. R.T., terrorism isn't going to go away anytime soon, and we still have the usual floods, tornados, and blizzards to deal with. So I'd like to see you and your campaign use their talents to come up with some creative responses to potential future crisis.

        Sharon and her administration have made some contributions to our high state of emergency preparedness. First off under Sharon's watch the cities fleet, shops, etc. has been updated. When a terrorist flies into the side of a skyscraper, you want fire trucks that start and a state of the art shop to make sure they do. Sharon and her administrations response on the 11th did the city proud. Within minutes the cities facilities were secured. Police officers were held over and polkice reserves and CSOs were called to duty until the threat had eased. Sharon's campaign was the first to suggest a suspension of campaigning on the 11th partly to insure that campaign volunteers would be available if they were called to duty.  Even now, two weeks later, Minneapolis police keep 24 hour a day guard on our water supply.

        To facilitate the discussion and allow more folks to contribute their ideas. I'm going to throw out a few scenarios and invite suggestions to how the city should respond. Have at it!

1. A supertanker is blown up by terrorists. All other oil tankers quickly put into port and unload, and refuse to take to the seas again. 60% of our fuel is imported.

2. Terrorists are thwarted in an attempt to take control of a nuclear power plant just upriver from Minneapolis. The power company wants to keep the plant operating.

3. The heartland has seen 3 100 year or greater floods in the last 8 years. The 100 year flood plain clearly needs to be recalculated...  After a winter of heavy snows their is a rapid melt and torrential rains.     NOA says the flood will match but go no higher than 1965's record. But a concerned citizen like me sends the mayor an e-mail of an unpublicized Corp of Engineers study that predicts much worse. The Corp study takes into account the effects of man made structures in the flood plain and used the Corp's model of the river valley. Snow removal has already cut deeply into the cities budget reserves... what would you do?

4. What appears to be a small nuclear weapon has been detonated in the air above the upper peninsula of Michigan. The area of the blast is pretty remote, and their appears to be little loss of life. But almost every computer has gone dead, and many radios are not functioning. Strangely enough, the older equipment seems to have survived better, and the only reliable communications are between a few amateur radio operators with ancient tube type radios. What happened? What would you do?

        Let's see some creative solutions...

                Dyna Sluyter from Hawthorne, an alternative terrorist target if they miss Phillips (humor)   

--
Dyna Sluyter

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