Empire Page - Hudson Views

Low Pay, Long Hours, No Tenure, Money Taken Away, Who’ll Teach?? Bloomberg, Black Killing Morale

2011-02-19T20:51:09Z

Most teachers love what they do. It certainly isn’t about the money. They get into teaching because they want to help children and despite bureaucratic hurles, administrative obstacles and other frustrations, most teachers maintain their enthusiasm and commitment to helping kids. Their hours are long, many spend hours outside class preparing for classes and grading papers and their pay is low, teachers are lucky to make middle class incomes. One benefit they do get is through tenure they get to build a career and some protection on the job. While I believe that there needs to be some reform to tenure so that it will be easier to discipline teachers who are not doing their job well, the simplistic move by Mayor Bloomberg and his business allies to get rid of it is wrongheaded. They say getting rid of tenure will keep good young teachers in the schools. The question they should be asking is without some protection, why would a young person get into teaching and more to the point stick with it? While in this down economy we have seen more young people become teachers it was not too long ago that the DOE had to create the Teaching Fellows program to make up for a shortage of teachers. When the economy recovers who says many of these young teachers will not go for better paying jobs, particularly if they can’t build tenure.

Now it is easy to blame teachers for education failures as Bloomberg and his school chancellors have a habit of doing. They are on the front lines and have the most direct interaction with students and to be sure teachers to bare a share of the responsibility for the system’s failures. However, the Bloomberg Administration and the DOE never take their share of responsibility. It is easy to say fire teachers, but what about the top-heavy bureaucracy and overpaid consultants that are supposed to be guiding the ship. The administration not only wants to hide them from responsibility but is taking money from the schools to pay them. Instead of rewarding the schools that saved money and ran a tight ship, the DOE wants to take half those savings and put them right back into the system. Education money should go to the students. Teachers and principals many times dig into their own pockets pay for supplies. The money should not go for the staff at Tweed.

So, teachers are not paid enough, they work long hours, their tenure is threatened and now money is being out of the schools. The question remains who’ll teach??

Lessons To Be Learned From Nassau County

2011-01-31T03:11:57Z

In many ways it was surprising news that Nassau County’s finances got taken over by the Nassau Interim Finance Authority. Here was one of the most propserous counties in New York State. A large proportion of high income residents who provided a strong tax base and enjoyed good county services. If there is a definition of comfortable, it can be found in Nassau County. How then did the County end up in such dire straits. Yes, there had been a culture of cronyism and some corruption but that does not explain it. It seems the County Executive wanted to maintain services and cut taxes and the numbers didn’t add up. While tyring to do this is that people like the services government provides so it is politically not very popular to cut them. There are also a lot of services people need so it is morally wrong to cut them. However, the supply-side economic argument goes that cutting taxes will lead to increased economic activity and more revenue. In the case of Nassau County it did not and now the County is completely underwater financially. So what are the lessons to be learned here.

From Albany to Washington, you hear the continued tax cap and cut refrain. Governor Cuomo wants to cap property taxes and get rid of the recently enacted millionaire’s tax surcharge, depriving state and local governments of billions of dollars. The problem is property taxes help pay for good public education which people want and need. To make up for this shortfall, local governments are going to have to weigh cutting other services that people want and need like nice parks, sanitation and snow removal and other things that make cities and towns desirable places to live. By getting rid of the “millionaire’s tax,” Governor Cuomo is attempting to close a $10 Billion budget gap solely by cutting services. Not only are no taxes being raised, but he wants to cut an existing tax surcharge. I admire his desire to make government smarter and more accountable, however there will be a lot of painful cuts that no amount of smart government can hide. Mayor Bloomberg pointed out that 20,000 New York City teachers could be at risk.

The Nassau experiment shows that it is difficult and wrong to continuously cut services that people want and need. The cuts do not always happen and when you cut taxes too, the numbers just don’t add up. In fact it isn’t just liberals opposing the property tax cap, many localities see the problems they will face through either reduced services or increased fees they will have to charge their residents. So when you hear people saying cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes, look to Nassau, this simplistic solution can have disastorous results.

Good Moves by Silver and Bloomberg

2011-01-12T19:00:39Z

With all the news being made by the blizzard and Governon Cuomo’s State of the State, there were a few stories that were hidden but should be noted.

First was the story that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is looking for some way to link the issue of stronger rent regulations to the capping of property taxes. He argues that both have to do with keeping homes affordable. Like the property tax cap, bills to strengthen rent regulations seem to die in the legislature, in this case the State Senate. A package of bills sponsored by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal that would end vacancy decontrol and provide other measures to help tenants has been passed by the Assembly. Having some way to link these bills to the property tax cap, gives some added strength to these bills and a shot at passing the Senate. Now the Speaker will be attacked in many quarters as being an obstacle to progress and this is unfair. He is giving voice to those members of the Assembly (and the Senate) that care about these issues. The Speaker should work productively with the Governor and the Senate Majority to move an agenda forward. However, if he can make pro-tenant bills part of this agenda, then all the better.

The second story was that Mayor Bloomberg was cancelling some high-priced consultant contracts with the Department of Education. Many of these computer consultants were making $400,000 per year or more. Public Employee Unions had long argued that these jobs could be done just as well by public employees at a significant saving. So it is interesting to note that one of the consultants took a City job at $131,000 per year. So kudos to Mayor Bloomberg for tightening the belts of consultants at last.

Bloomberg’s Fuzzy Math, Arrogance Could Be Bad For New York

2010-11-07T18:03:02Z

Mayor Bloomberg is sounding off again. The Mayor who believes he is always right and smarter than everyone else is insulting others even when chinks in his armor are beginning to show. The Mayor’s signature accomplishment is supposed to be the improvement in the schools. Now the evidence shows that this improvement was overhyped. What many who have gone through school know as grade inflation has been applied to the school system. The Mayor and Chancellor Klein promoted improved test scores in time for the Mayor’s re-election in 2009 but it appears those scores were partly due to an easier test and ones that were nearly the same year after year so test prep was easier. The fuzzy math belies much of the progress the Mayor has made in the schools, where the curriculum has changed to focus on test prep. The Mayor who pledged to be accountable on education has yet to take responsibility for this. New Yorkers lost our chance to hold him accountable at the polls, but still need to do so. In fact he keeps spreading his gospel across the country. Other fuzzy math includes some crime statistics where it was recently shown that while major crimes have gone down, some minor classes of crimes have gone up but are not counted in crime statistics. Finally, the financial wizard Mayor cannot seem to get himself out of the CityTime contract which has ballooned to nearly one billion dollars.

All of this comes at a time when the Mayor lobbed personal insults at some of the new Members of Congress, about their intelligence and lack of international knowledge, saying they may not have passports. While I may agree that some the new Republicans are wrong on a lot of points, picking a fight right now is bad for the City. Especially when it appears that two of those that won in New York while they may need some policy education have done significant international travelling. While the Mayor is travelling the world and country and hoping to start a new third party, it seems things are not as he wants to make them seem in New York. His false arrogance can only make things worse. Perhaps he should admit some misjudgements at home and fix things here, before insulting others. Making the most money does not always make you right, a little humility and reflection would help us all.

Correction

2010-09-21T00:52:21Z

A slight correction to my earlier post, Krugman used the words “The Angry Rich”

Populism (real and fake) carried the day in Tuesday’s elections

2010-09-21T00:47:50Z

In analyzing the election results this past Tuesday, both in New York and around the country, the one trend to be seen, was that when groups of people rallied behind a candidate that candidate one. This could be called the return of populism, but in many races the result was not for the people. Some of the populism, ended up in results where if the candidates get elected in November it will consolidate the rule of the elites. In many cases it was fake populism to rile people up to work against their best interests. There were cases, particularly in some New York races, where the will of the people elected someone who will fight for them.

In the race for Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman united the progressive coalition. Made up of liberals, minorities, good government groups, unions and others of the same ilk, this coalition made a cause of Eric’s campaign. In a race with four men against one woman, this coalition of support made Eric stand out from the crowd. Eric’s progressive record and years of activism and work as a reformer, made him the candidate of choice of this coalition. The group of supporters and their passion for Eric’s campaign grew as the campaign went along and led him to victory. Somebody at the victory party told me she had never received more emails from friends as she did on behalf of Eric. Other populist victories in New York, included the people finally saying they had enough of Pedro Espada and HiramMonserratte. The people want elected officials who will work in the people’s interest, not their own self-interest.

On the other hand there is Carl Paladino. Riding the Tea Party wave, he has railed against taxes and government spending. However, instead of arguing for tax cuts for the low and middle class he wants regressive tax cuts that prmarily benefit the wealthy. Meanwhile he would cut 20% of government services that the majority of people need. Paul Krugman called this the “Rage of the Rich” in today’s New York Times. He has got the people believing they are part of a populist movement, when in the end the policies he will enact if elected will mostly benefit those in the highest income brackets. This is the same on the national level, where the Tea Partiers have rallied as a popular movement to preserve the Bush Tax Cuts that benefit the upper 2% of the populations. Instead of populism this is popular manipulation, particularly when you read that the Tea Party Express was started by a Republican Political Consultant.

Why I support Park51

2010-08-22T15:55:50Z

While a number of better locations could have been chosen, for the site of the Park51 Mosque and Islamic Community Center, now that this site was chosen and went through community review, I believe it should be built for the following reasons.

1) It was Approved by the Local Community Board: Much noise has been made about site for Park51, which is very close to Ground Zero. While I empathize with those who lost loved ones during the terrorist attacks and understand their sensitivity, what should not be underestimated is that the proposal was approved by the local Community Board, made up of neighbors that live near the site. Many of them were in the neighborhood during the attacks and had to live with aftermath for months and years later. They had to evacuate their homes and many lost family members and neighbors. If this Community Board can approve Park51 then its wishes must also be respected.

2) Support Pro-American Muslims: By all accounts, the people sponsoring Park51 are Muslims that have integrated themselves into our society. They are moderates and pro-American. In fact, the Imam for the proposed Mosque is currently on a State Department-sponsored tour of the Middle East to promote pro-American views of Islam. It is precisely these types of Muslims that must be encouraged to practice their faith freely and become the face of Islam in America. If we choose to alienate, these Moderate Muslims then their radical brethren will use this as a recruiting tool to stir up hatred of America.

3) It’s More Than Just a Mosque: Park51 will be both a Mosque and Community Center, similar to many of the Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) that populate our towns and are positive community forces. In fact, published reports say that Jews involved in JCC work were consulted by the sponsors of Park51. Many sports, arts and educational activities not associated with religion will take place there. Hopefully, as JCCs are, the Park51 Community Center will be open to people of all faiths allowing for better ethnic and religious understanding.

4) Location: While I cannot pretend to understand the feelings of 9/11 survivors and families and do not wish to undervalue their sensitivities and believe the selection of this site was not the wisest decision, however I would like to point out some positives of the site. First New York is a multiethnic city where people of all faiths mix well together. Having Park51 in the middle of a commercial center of New York, will encourage this mixing of people. The continuing isolation of Muslims, will only lead to more radicalization. It is only by encouraging them to be part of what is right about our society that we can encourage progressive Muslim leadership. Also, at this site Park51 will be under scrutiny that will help ensure radicalization does not spread there. If through the efforts of Governor Paterson and others another acceptable site can be found that would be good solution. However, let us be sure that it is a site that encouages the integration of Muslims, not isolation.

Finally, let me just state that we cannot be afraid of people because they are different than us. Some the stereotyping and irrational fear that has taken place over the Park51 debate shows our worst, not better nature.

Authority Oversight

2010-08-18T02:45:34Z

The Governor’s Commission issued a report that elected officials should stay out of the business operations of “public” authorities. The problem with this is that unaccountable authorities waste money and answer to no one. There is no accountability. Perhaps it is time to end their independence and make them accountable to public officials and the public. Governor Paterson’s creation of an Authority Budget Office is a good first step. If the office does tough strong audits of authority expenditures this would shed a lot of light on the subject and probably save billions in public funds. If that as seen as too much interference with Authority operations, then too bad it is good for the State.

MTA: Where's The Reform?

2010-08-12T02:03:00Z

I am a bit delayed in this, but the MTA's new plan to reduce its deficit seems to rely on the old cut services and raise fares model. I have not seen anywhere, anything on structural reform of how the MTA does business. What is being done to stop cost overruns and police consultants. These draconian service cuts which will hurt everyday New Yorkers should not be allowed to stand. There is obviously a structural deficit which the MTA cannot cure. Yes State Aid is needed but it seems to only a band aid for the MTA's pains. If you go to an MTA budget hearing ask them about what they are doing to reform their business practices to save money instead of doing it on the back of the people that need their services.

BTW: Kudos to my friend Greg Soumas for calling Mayor Bloomberg out on his manipulation of the Charter Revision Process.

Is AG Race Taking Shape?

2010-07-24T18:09:31Z

As the Democratic Primary for AttorneyÂ General heads into the home stretch it seems that the winnowing out of the candidates. By virtue of being the only woman in a fiver person race and having some institutional support and a strong base on Long Island, Kathleen Rice has always been seen as one of the leading contenders. Though a new question for her campaign is whether she his running â€œRose Gardenâ€ strategy as she skipped the recent debate sponsored by City Hall newspaper. The question has always been which of the four men running would be main competition. Eric Schneiderman has begun to show the widespread support to be the one. He has solidified his support in his high turnout Upper Westside and Northern Manhattan District as well as getting support with wide range of leaders in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party from throughout. A suprising show of strength for his campaign has been the support he is getting in the Northern and Western New York. Leaders in many of the big upstate cities such as Buffalo are supporting him and in a trend I noticed at the State Convention is getting support in a number of rural upstate counties. This could be a winning combination. The amount of his money that Sean Coffey is spending on his campaign and his self-proclaimed outsider status could also make him a contender. It is hard to see Richard Brodsky or Eric Dinallo having a big enough base or making the necessary leap in support outisde of it to seriously challenge Rice.

Paterson Admires Christie??

2010-07-20T02:55:56Z

Read in the paper recently that Governor Paterson expressed his admiration for New Jersey Governor Christie for getting his agenda through the legislature. One reason for the admiration is that Paterson is trying to do much of Christie is doing in New Jersey (property tax cap, cutting jobs, no increase in taxes on the wealthy). Yes, in many ways, the Paterson agenda is a Republican agenda. However Christie is a Republican and the people of New Jersey knew what to expect when they elected him and to his credit, Christie has stuck to his ideals.Â He also promised a blunt style that would butt heads with many legislators and he has delivered, even many New Jerseyites who donâ€™t like his agenda see him as breath of fresh air.

The problem Paterson is having is that how he is acting as Governor is the opposite of how he has acted in public career. He has always been a progressive with strong ideals for social justice and a belief in having government work to help those in need. He also is someone that everyone liked and would pragmatically with others to get things done. His troubles stem from the 180 degree shift both in his substance and in his style. While there is no doubt that drastic action needs to be done to solveÂ New Yorkâ€™sÂ economic problems to do so in a way that at least seems to favor the wealthy over the less fortunate contradicts Governor Patersonâ€™s past record. The legislature definitely needs to be whipped into shape but for the Governor to be making personal, sniping comments about his former colleagues is against his character.Â This goes back to one of my political maxims, be true to yourself and you will be successful. If David Paterson had remained true to his ideals and his personality he might be running for re-election today. Some of Governor Christieâ€™s early success has been due to his consistency.

Outside of the limelight we can see some of the potential that David Paterson has as Governor. He has been quietly going about the business of governing the State and doing many ofÂ the things that improve the lives of New Yorkers. It is too bad that his own frailties denied him the chance to reach his full potential.Â He should admire Christie and learn some lessons from him.

Some Good Financial Thoughts

2010-07-01T03:28:27Z

Some interesting thoughts I heard recently on the state of New Yorkâ€™s financial situation. The first was by City Comptroller John Liu. When asked why we cannot pass extra taxes for the wealthy he responded that the only reason people give is that the wealthy would leave New York. However, he continued that there are a number of reasons people would leave New York, high crime, bad education, dirty streets, bad public transportation, and a lack of affordable housingÂ just to name a few. These services are what makes New York livable and without them the wealthy and many others would leave. All of these are paid for by taxpayer dollars sometimes you need to raise taxes to pay for them. As the response to the disaster in the Gulf shows, people want their government there to provide services. However in many cases people donâ€™t make the connection between these services and the taxes we need to pay for them. This is where the whole tax-cutting movement of the past 30 years and the anti-government tea party movement comes in.Â Yes, we cannot just tax and spend but targeted tax increases to those who can most afford to pay them to pay for essential services cannot be ruled out.

Second is that I saw something in the paper that I have been wondering about concerning the size of the growth of the City and State budget. In the mid-1990â€²s when I worked for the City Council the City budget was around $30 billion and the State budget was around $60 billion. Now less than 15 years later these numbers have doubled. How did we get there? Since this is greater growth than the rate of inflation you cannot just blame employee salaries. Did we just open more and more programs (under the fiscally conservative Giuliani and Bloomberg?) or have a boom in big capital projects that we still need to pay off? Are there a lot of rich consultants and contractors out there due tot the Cityâ€™s and Stateâ€™s largess? How is it also that the same programs (libraries, senior centers) that help the poorest of our society always seem to be on the chopping block? The answer to these questions may explain the shape we are in. Anyway, Iâ€™d like to know.

The Recession Has Hit NY â€“ Shared Sacrifice For All

2010-06-07T00:52:18Z

After a delay of around a year, the full impact of the recession is hitting New York. Federal stimulus money and some kind of time delay might have blunted the blow for a while but it is clear now there is big budget trouble. I have always been of the opinion that national economic trends take a year to hit New York.Â For years everybody has gotten what they wanted as the budget grew bigger, unions got raises, business leaders got tax breaks and the good times kept rolling. Now the party is over and it is time for everyone to take a hit. Shared benefits needs to lead to shared sacrifice.

I am a Federal employee and our raise this year was less than half what we normally receive. However our union understood that in tough economic times we cannot get what we did in the past. The usual protests we raise to get what we deserve were absent. We knew that we had to sacrifice like millions of other Americans were doing. We were fortunate to have our jobs and any raise at all.Â We also knew that the President was looking at all ideas to right the economic ship this meant raising revenue (taxes and fees) and in an important issue to us looking at the cost-effectiveness of the massive privitization the government had undergone over the previous 8 years. Re-examining privately contracted duties could both save government jobs and save the taxpayers money. The President has been looking at shared sacrifice and we as employees understood that.

This is not happening in New York State or City. The Governor is asking the unions to forego at least part of their agreed-upon 4% increase (for the record more than twice what I got this year) to help solve the budget deficit. The unions intrangience on this issue led theÂ Governor to institute furloughs, that wereÂ later overturned byÂ the courts, and nowÂ significant layoffs ofÂ State employees threatened in January.Â The unions need to realize that getting a 4% raise now is unrealistic and they need to do their share to help the Stateâ€™s economy. However, they should not be the only ones sacrificing. All options should be on the table including raising revenue. Options like the stock transfer tax, which would a few pennies onÂ every shares traded, should get serious consideration. This tax would mostly effect those that can most afford to pay it and would only be a minisculeÂ addition to the cost of doing business in New York State. Those against the tax say it would drive the financial industry out of New York State and that all trades would be cleared out of state to avoid the tax. This is highly debateable and shoud be examined before ditching the idea. Also, like President Obama, the Governor should look at private contractors who are doing duties usually done by public sector workers to make sure we are gettingÂ a good bang for the buck.Â Other ideas would be to rein in the out of control and un-monitored expenses of quasi-public authorities. TheseÂ are just some ofÂ the ideasÂ to willÂ show that all are sharing in sacrificeÂ that need to be in discussion before balancing the budget on the backs of public sector workers and the poor. The current,and future, Governor have to think in this way.

New York City also targets public sector workers, particularly teachers, Â in balancing the budget. Massive teacher layoffs are threatened just when our kids need them most. However at the same time the Department of Education increases salaries of a number of educrats.Â It is a basic truism that teachers are underpaid for the importance of the work that they do and while there needs to be some reform in union work rules to blame all education problems on teachers while heaping outsize salary increases on educrats is unfair.

In short be ready New York to feel the brunt of economic hard times. If sacrifice is not shared fairly then the only choice would be to drastically cut the services we all depend on whether it is education, health care, transportation or housing.

Forthrightness From The MTA??

2010-04-25T17:28:47Z

Yes, itâ€™s hard to believe, but MTA President Jay Walder is actually speaking honestly about the MTAâ€™s problems. As the MTA is making its budget requests and unveiling its new capital plan, President Walder is actually admitting the authority must change the way it does business.

Instead of just l0oking for the usual legislative handout and fare increase to solve the MTAâ€™s budget woes President Walder is speaking about significant management and contracting reforms. He seems to acknowledge that much of the MTAâ€™s budget woes come from how the MTA manages its money instead of just how much money it gets.Â The news that he is looking into cancelling $40 million worth of contracts should be a welcome relief to straphangers. This blog has pointed out how much cost overruns have cost the MTA and without real contracting reform their will be no way to solve the MTAâ€™s structural deficit problems. For too long taxpayers and ratepayers have been made to pay the price for the MTAâ€™s mismanagement.

The capital plan also has a hopeful change of direction. Instead focusing its funds on a few big ticket items, the Walder-led MTA is looking to spread out the funds so that stations with needed repairs get it. Many stations are falling apart and are not getting the care they need causing a crisis in many communities.

The MTAâ€™s track record is such that one cannot fully trust the implementations of good intentions. However, Jay Walderâ€™s words are to be applauded and it is up to the legislature to make sure they are followed up with actions. Any future state aid should be contingent on reviews that show that the MTAâ€™s new direction is being implemented.

Homeless Shelter Rents â€“ Immoral and Nonsensical

2010-04-16T23:00:42Z

The most obvious thing about Mayor Bloombergâ€™s proposal to charge homeless people rent to live in City shelters is that it is immoral. The idea that the poorest among us that have lost their homes will need to pay for temporary shelter if they are lucky enough to get a job is just wrong. This is no way to help someone get that first step towards independence. People starting over have a number of issues to surmount need all the support they can get not the cold realities of the real world. The whole purpose of these shelters is to help people get ready for the world outside not to just thrust them into it.

Secondly the policy makes no sense. If people are supposed to be encouraged to find work, why penalize them by taking away some of their paycheck by charging them rent. Part of what people learn in shelters is money management, but there are many ways to do this without taking their meager earnings from them. Also, in order to move to an apartment people need to save for a security deposit and the first monthâ€™s rent. By taking their money from them the City will be slowing their rate of savings and their eventual transition to inedependent living. In many ways charging rent in shelters will perpetuate homlessness instead of helping to end it.

This policy is another example of when Mayor Bloombergâ€™s view from the top government is wrongheaded. This seems to symbolize a view many in the upper classes have that many homeless people are homeless by choice and in the case of this policy they should pay for the privilege of living in City shelters.Â As someone who works with many homeless service organizations I know this is far from the truth. People in shelters want to get out of them and City policy should be geared to encouraging them in this direction, not the opposite. The State Legislature can stop this policy and needs to do so now.