Public Employee Press

New coalition battles city budget cuts

Two days after city agencies submitted budget plans for 7.5 percent across-the-board cuts by 2010, DC 37 leaders stood on the steps of City Hall with hundreds of New Yorkers to protest the plan, which unfairly targets the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

DC 37 rallied Oct. 10 with a coalition of 50 unions, organizations and grassroots community groups to kick off the “One New York: Fighting for Fairness” campaign.

“We raise our voices and tell the city NO!” said DC 37 Associate Director Oliver Gray. “No cuts to the vital services that make New York great and no layoffs for the hard-working men and women who provide those services.”

Although Congress voted billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street bankers and brokers, coalition organizers said there is no such plan to help Flatbush Avenue, Fordham Road or 125th Street — the Main Streets of New York.

The Wall Street collapse and the nationwide recession will critically increase the needs of thousands of New Yorkers for food, shelter, medical care, heating assistance, childcare, legal services and AIDS services.

Don't cut services, jobs
But local lawmakers are being asked to approve budget reductions that would hobble services for seniors, youth, children, immigrants and the poor. The cuts — 2.5percent in fiscal year 2009, which ends June 30, and another 5 percent in 2010 — could signal a return to the filthy streets and rising crime of the fiscally starved 1970s.

The coalition called for legislators to support the local economy and community services citywide, and not punish the poor and the struggling middle class by chopping safety net services they increasingly rely on for survival.

“Trimming vital services to the bone and laying off city workers during a recession won’t help the economy,” said Gray. “If the city needs to cut spending, let them cut the bureaucratic fat in upper management.”

Though agency budgets were already pinched, the proposed 2.5 percent reduction in the current fiscal year would axe $10.3 million from the Health Dept., $4 million from the Dept. for the Aging, $6.2 million from Youth and Community Development and $7.8 million from Homeless Services. The Education Dept. would be slashed by $185 million, children’s services $20 million, senior services $4 million and social services $15 million.

The coalition pressed the mayor and City Council to protect vital social services, invest in people, public education and city services and balance the city budget by progressive revenue enhancements.

“Poor New Yorkers cannot carry this crisis on their backs — and we will not stand by as we become a city where seniors go without meals, children have no safe place to play after school, and working parents cannot afford childcare,” said Cynthia Williams, a parent leader of the Coalition for Educational Justice. “Cutting our way out of deficits this size is no way to protect our city’s future.”