No new taxes for rich New Yorkers
Billionaire mayor tells poor to tighten belts
By Greg Butterfield
New York
Most media coverage of New York's new mayor, Michael
Bloomberg, has focused on his policy of "openness." True, it's
a sharp contrast to the stance of former mayor and fellow
Republican Rudolph Giuliani who shut out Black and Latino
politicians, labor unions and community leaders from City Hall
for eight years.
But Bloomberg's first "State of the City" address Jan.
30--and his budget proposal to be released Feb. 13--are potent
reminders that City Hall's agenda is still to rob from the poor
and the working class, and give to the rich.
Bloomberg said New York faced a budget deficit of $4 billion
in the coming year. On Feb. 8, City Hall raised that estimate
to $4.5 billion.
Part of the deficit has to do with the recession and the
disruption caused by the 9/11 disaster. Another big
chunk--unmentioned in polite City Hall circles--comes from
Giuliani's generous tax breaks and incentives to big
business.
To close the gap, Bloomberg told heads of city agencies to
plan for budget cuts of at least 20 percent. The only
exceptions were the fire department, city schools--and the New
York Police Department, which can continue to hire more
cops.
Bloomberg said the workforce employed by the city--250,000,
down about 50,000 from a decade ago--is too big. He was careful
not to mention layoffs. Earlier he said most job cuts would
come through attrition.
Many city workers remember that Giuliani said the same thing
before ramming through big layoffs and forced "buyouts" in the
mid-1990s.
In early January the mayor told "The Today Show" he was
considering "adjusting pensions" of city workers. That means
withholding workers' salaries for a week or more and paying it
when they retire.
Lee Saunders, administrator of the largest municipal
workers' union, District Council 37, said he was "troubled" by
Bloomberg's remarks. (New York Times, Jan. 31)
Poor told to 'sacrifice'
All of the belt-tightening rhetoric was cloaked in
post-Sept. 11 garb. New York must pull together. Everyone must
sacrifice.
But one group is exempt from pulling the belt tighter.
Bloomberg ruled out raising taxes on big corporations and their
wealthy owners, who prospered during the 1990s Wall Street boom
and will be the main beneficiaries of the $20-billion federal
aid package promised by George W. Bush.
Bloomberg himself is a billionaire, and owns 72 percent of
the privately held Bloomberg LLC media company. He spent $75
million to win last year's mayoral election.
More than 100,000 New Yorkers lost their jobs during the
last four months of 2001. But the layoffs didn't start with
9/11. Like the rest of the country, New York started to feel
the pinch of the capitalist recession early last year.
Some 38,000 New Yorkers lost their welfare benefits on Nov.
30, 2001, as the federal five-year lifetime limit kicked in.
Nearly 14,000 more will lose their benefits at the end of
February.
In December the New York Times reported that 1 million
people in the metropolitan area now rely on food banks and
charities on a regular basis just to eat.
Thousands of workfare workers have toiled in the city's
so-called Work Experience Program. City officials promised they
would be first in line for real city jobs that opened up: a
real paycheck, benefits, a union.
These New Yorkers, and the millions who are just one or two
paychecks away from their predicament, are the ones Bloomberg
is asking to "sacrifice."
Attack on public schools
Bloomberg spent much of his "State of the City" talk
attacking the public school system.
He repeated Giuliani's demand that the city's 32 local,
elected school boards be abolished and the Board of Education
put directly under the mayor's control. The mayor already
selects the schools chancellor and appoints some board members.
Bloomberg needs the state government's approval to abolish the
current system.
The teachers' union and parent/community groups recognized
long ago that this scheme had more to do with encouraging
privatization than with improving schools. It would mean
surrendering important gains won by the Black and Latino
communities in the 1960s to have a say in running the
schools.
These groups say the city schools' big gest problem is gross
underfunding compared with upstate, suburban and predominately
white schools.
New York City teachers are currently negotiating for a
contract. Gov. George Pataki, who is running for re-election
this year and hopes to win the union's backing, offered to sell
$204 million worth of state bonds to give teachers a raise.
Bloomberg has all but rejected the idea--indicating he plans to
continue Giuliani's fight to break the union. (New York Times,
Jan. 25)
"No parent has ever come up to me and said, 'I want you make
sure that the mayor is in charge of the public school system,"
said Bill Perkins, a City Council member from Harlem. (Newsday,
Jan. 31)
On Jan. 31, 15 City Council members responded to Bloomberg's
speech by pointing out modest measures that could help close
the budget gap without draconian budget cuts.
According to their "Common Sense Economic Stimulus Plan,"
the city has access to at least $769 million in unspent state
and federal money, the City Limits Weekly Web site
reported.
They also suggested helping the poorest city residents apply
for state and federal assistance they are eligible for, like
food stamps. Under Giuliani, official policy was to discourage
potential recipients from applying for any kind of help.
Reprinted from the Feb. 21, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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