NYC mayoral hopeful Fernando Ferrer recently issued a plan for mass transit security, blaming Mayor Bloomberg for not pushing the MTA harder on the issue during his term.  "The London terrorist attacks were a wake-up call for many," said Ferrer. "But we should've already been wide awake,” said Ferrer.

Ferrer called for more electronic surveillance in the subway system, a permanently higher level of police presence in the transit system and better coordination among government agencies.  He said the MTA’s halting moves toward stronger security and the NYPD’s recent bag search policy amounted to a series of ad hoc measures “implemented after each new scare.”

Ferrer said he would integrate transit workers into counter-terrorism security training. Transit union officials in NY have charged that the MTA has not adequately prepared them for emergency situations.

Bloomberg’s campaign told reporters that NYPD chief Ray Kelly had ample counter-terrorism experience and was better positioned than Ferrer to keep New Yorkers safe. Bloomberg spokespeople pointed out that the mayor does not control the MTA, but only appoints a minority of its board members.

Ferrer also charged that Mayor Bloomberg has been largely absent from the fight in Washington to have homeland security funding allocated according to need rather than evenly distributed among the states.  Another Democratic candidate, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, said this week that Mayor Bloomberg wasn’t doing enough to get federal funding for the rising costs of subway bag searches, but the mayor claimed his administration was doing all it could to get every security dollar possible from Washington.v