From the Bush Administration to the 9-11 Commission, there is an urgent and universally recognized need to change the broken formula through which Homeland Security grant money currently is allocated to our first responders.

One of the essential elements of government responsibility is to communicate effectively to the American people, especially in time of a potential terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

The sad fact is that the same terrorist scenarios, if they occurred in five different States, there could be five different sets of responses to the American people. We need, at a minimum, a level of coordination on communicating threats to the public.

In New York alone, there was an average of more than 300 campus fires per year between 1997 and 2000, with roughly 160 of them annually in dormitories.

And finally, let me just say it is a fact that not every city can dedicate resources to terrorism.

The issue for me is American competitiveness, and how do we best create a climate here that allows international capital to come to these shores to create jobs.

Those whose lives were lost on September 11 will remain in our thoughts and prayers forever.