Howie Hawkins, Green Party Candidate for Governor was just in town on Monday. The response was so great that he's coming back to kick off our petition drive to get our candidates on the ballot THIS Saturday from 6 - 10pm!
At the Riverbend shelter of Genesee Valley Park Howie Hawkins the Green Party candidate for Governor will meet supporters to launch his signature collection campaign. Come down to support a change in Albany. As we celebrate the kickoff of our statewide campaign, we'll have petitions for people to get signatures, campaign literature and do some fun petitioning training, guaranteed to be enjoyed by all!
Musicians, bring your instruments! Let's celebrate!
Light refreshments will be provided, but feel free to bring your own.
A map of the park is at: http://www.monroecounty.gov/Image/GeneseeValleyPark.pdf
Call Dave if you have any questions. 585-315-7687.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Fiscal Crisis Manufactured by Politicians for Bankers, Green Gov Candidate Says
Rochester NY — Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for New York Governor, said today that the major party politicians are manufacturing the state's fiscal deficit at the behest of the big financial firms that fund their parties.
“The state fiscal crisis is due to the politics, not economics, to money-drenched politicians, not impersonal market forces. New York State had the money from the Stock Transfer Tax but gave it back to Wall Street,” Hawkins said.
“Replacing the democratic model of publicly-elected school boards with the corporate CEO model of mayoral control is part of the same ginned up corporate agenda responsible for the politically motivated fiscal crisis. Mayoral control was initiated by corporations that want to tap public revenues, not a popular movement,” Hawkins added.
“While the corporate-sponsored think tanks and political parties portray the state budget deficit as a problem of excessive spending, it is really a revenue problem. Part of the revenue shortfall is due to the economic recession, which public spending cuts will only worsen by reducing consumption and investment. But the underlying cause is the long-term tax cuts given to wealthy New Yorkers in recent decades. The tax cuts were supposed to stimulate productive investment. Instead, the rich took their tax cut money and speculated in paper assets. Now we need to make them pay their fair share of taxes so we can direct that money to public needs and productive investments,” Hawkins explained.
The state collected $16 billion from the Stock Transfer Tax last year, but rebated it all back to brokers. The tax was instituted in 1909, but the state has been rebating it since 1981. The tax is less than 1/20th of 1 percent of the value of a trade.
“Instead of a $9 billion deficit, we would have a $7 billion surplus next year if we kept the Stock Transfer Tax. If New York went back to its more progressive income tax structure of the 1970s, 95% of us would get a tax cut and the state would still collect $8 billion more in taxes. With Wall Street handing out over $20 billion in 2009 cash bonuses, a 50% Bankers' Bonus Tax on cash bonuses over $50,000 would generate another $10 billion for the state treasury. With these three progressive tax reforms, the state would have about $34 billion more in revenues next year,” Hawkins said in summarizing his proposals to erase the state fiscal deficit and increase funding for jobs, schools, and environmental protection.
Hawkins noted that Democrat Andrew Cuomo and all of his Republican opponents have explicitly ruled out higher taxes on the rich while calling for a state spending cap and a freeze on state workers' pay and benefits.
“With Democrats like Cuomo, who needs Republicans? Cuomo's fiscal and economic policies, coupled to the federal freeze on all discretionary spending except the military, are a recipe for a vicious circle of depression, deflation, and debt. Cuts in public spending to reduce demand, the economy contracts, tax revenues decline further, and the deficit grows. Cuomo and the Democratic leadership have abandoned their New Deal legacy and gone back to Hoover's economics,” Hawkins said.
“Instead of taxing the rich up front for operating expenses, the state is borrowing money from them, paying interest on it, and cutting spending at their behest. The rich prefer a deflationary environment that yields higher real interest rates for the bonds they own, even if it means an economic depression for the rest of us,” Hawkins said.
“The basic issue in this campaign is whether state fiscal and economic policies will serve the people of New York, or the special interest of the bond market, the shadow government of big bankers. There is not enough economic surplus to keep bailing out bankers for their bad loans and provide decent public services. Something has to give. The bankers and their two corporate parties say public services have to be cut. The Green Party says the bankers have to pay their fair share of taxes,” Hawkins added.
Schools Need Full Funding, Not Mayoral Control
Turning to the local Rochester issue of mayoral control of public schools, which is already in effect in New York City and has been proposed by the mayor of Syracuse, Hawkins' home town, Hawkins said he opposed the bill before the state legislature for dissolving the Rochester school board and establishing mayoral control.
“Where did this demand for mayoral control come from? There are no petitions and demonstrations for it. There is no mass movement for it. This is coming from the corporate world. Accountable, elected, democratic bodies are an obstacle to their plans to siphon public revenues to their private coffers,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins noted that in every city where elected school boards have been replaced a top-down executive administration, whether by a state takeover as in Newark, Philadelphia, Oakland, St. Louis, and Detroit or by a mayoral takeover in New York City, Boston, Washington DC, and Chicago, major privatization of public school property and expansion of charter schools followed.
The Obama administration's Race to the Top education policy is an expansion of the No Child Left Behind program of the Bush administration, the legislation for which was crafted and had the support of many Democrats. Mayoral control is being pushed from the top as part of the Race to the Top high stakes testing program that sets up schools in poor communities for failure and then closure and replacement by charters, Hawkins said. US Education Secretary Arne Duncan is a strong proponent of mayoral control. He owed his tenure as CEO of Chicago schools to mayoral control. But his tenure was marked by autocratically implemented public school closings and charter expansion as part of a citywide gentrification plan labeled an education reform plan, Renaissance 2010, which was conceived by financial and real estate firms in the city's elite Commonwealth Club. The parent, teacher, and community resistance has been sustained and continues after Duncan's departure, according to Hawkins.
“Mayoral control has been disruptive in every city where it has taken effect. Instead of an elected school board with public meetings and hearings, you get an authoritarian system of management that leaves students, parents, teachers, and the community little avenue for redress of grievances than lawsuits and direct resistance,” Hawkins observed.
“One hundred years ago, progressive educational reform was about getting the schools out of the hands of mayors who were using them as patronage resources to hand out teaching and administrative jobs to incompetent hacks and contracts to campaign contributors. Now, instead of taxing the rich their fair share to pay for public education, the Democrats have adopted the conservative Republican position and want to control public education for the profits of hedge funds invested in union-and- accountability-free charter schools,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins cited media reports that Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo had a meeting in April with hedge fund managers who have been mobilizing to support charter schools. Much of the support from hedge funds for Cuomo is being organized by Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, who include the founders of funds like Anchorage Capital Partners with $8 billion under management, Greenlight Capital with $6.8 billion, and Pershing Square Capital Management with $5.5 billion.
Democrats for Education Reform advocate mayoral control as well as charter schools. The Issues page on their website says: “DFER supports the idea of holding mayors accountable for the successful operation of schools in cities where school boards are ineffective and schools are failing....Examples of successful mayoral control exist in New York City (Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein), Chicago (Mayor Richard Daily and then-CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan), and the District of Columbia (Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee).”
“What our schools need in order to close the achievement gap is full funding and greater parent, teacher, and community participation, not spending cuts, mayoral control, and attacks on teachers' unions, pay, and benefits. The best predictor by far of student performance is the income level of the students' families. But where schools have improved in poor communities, it has been where the community became engaged in their children's education. We need a bottom-up social movement, not top-down corporate management. We need equitable and adequate funding of all public schools, not the diversion of public funds to union-free, unaccountable charter schools. We need to eradicate poverty and reduce class inequalities, not use low student achievement in poor communities as a new profit center for private gain at public expense,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said that mayoral control of school districts has not resulted in higher student achievement. In New York City, parents complain about the lack of access school administrators to deal with problems since mayoral control took effect, he said. He also said Mayor Bloomberg was undermining his own claim that mayoral control would improve public schools by encouraging more charter schools that take money from the public schools he claims to be improving. Hawkins noted that State Senator Bill Perkins from Harlem had turned from advocate to opponent of charter schools after seeing underpaid teachers, overpaid administrators, the saturation of Harlem but not Westchester with charters coupled to either the closing of public schools in Harlem or to the segregation of charter from public school students whose schools are forced to share the same public school buildings.
Perkins has called for independent auditing of charter schools. Hawkins said that independent auditing was needed particularly in Albany, where charters are now straining to service debts for construction loans with rents that have tripled recently. Without audits, the public does not know how its public money is being used, a concern that is magnified by the conflicts of interest inherent in the often interlocking boards of charter schools and groups that organize and syndicate the loans.
Hawkins noted that mayoral control does not necessarily mean mayoral power. The state-appointed schools manager, Robert Bobb, in Detroit has run up against legal challenges and neighborhood resistance to his implement his foundation-funded plan to “replace, not reform” the public schools by shuttering 45 district schools next year, opening up 70 new charter schools by 2020, and handing control of what's left of public education to Mayor Dave Bing. Students, teachers, parents, alumni have vowed to pursue court injunctions and, if necessary, school takeovers for ongoing teach-ins to keep their community schools open.
“The state fiscal crisis is due to the politics, not economics, to money-drenched politicians, not impersonal market forces. New York State had the money from the Stock Transfer Tax but gave it back to Wall Street,” Hawkins said.
“Replacing the democratic model of publicly-elected school boards with the corporate CEO model of mayoral control is part of the same ginned up corporate agenda responsible for the politically motivated fiscal crisis. Mayoral control was initiated by corporations that want to tap public revenues, not a popular movement,” Hawkins added.
“While the corporate-sponsored think tanks and political parties portray the state budget deficit as a problem of excessive spending, it is really a revenue problem. Part of the revenue shortfall is due to the economic recession, which public spending cuts will only worsen by reducing consumption and investment. But the underlying cause is the long-term tax cuts given to wealthy New Yorkers in recent decades. The tax cuts were supposed to stimulate productive investment. Instead, the rich took their tax cut money and speculated in paper assets. Now we need to make them pay their fair share of taxes so we can direct that money to public needs and productive investments,” Hawkins explained.
The state collected $16 billion from the Stock Transfer Tax last year, but rebated it all back to brokers. The tax was instituted in 1909, but the state has been rebating it since 1981. The tax is less than 1/20th of 1 percent of the value of a trade.
“Instead of a $9 billion deficit, we would have a $7 billion surplus next year if we kept the Stock Transfer Tax. If New York went back to its more progressive income tax structure of the 1970s, 95% of us would get a tax cut and the state would still collect $8 billion more in taxes. With Wall Street handing out over $20 billion in 2009 cash bonuses, a 50% Bankers' Bonus Tax on cash bonuses over $50,000 would generate another $10 billion for the state treasury. With these three progressive tax reforms, the state would have about $34 billion more in revenues next year,” Hawkins said in summarizing his proposals to erase the state fiscal deficit and increase funding for jobs, schools, and environmental protection.
Hawkins noted that Democrat Andrew Cuomo and all of his Republican opponents have explicitly ruled out higher taxes on the rich while calling for a state spending cap and a freeze on state workers' pay and benefits.
“With Democrats like Cuomo, who needs Republicans? Cuomo's fiscal and economic policies, coupled to the federal freeze on all discretionary spending except the military, are a recipe for a vicious circle of depression, deflation, and debt. Cuts in public spending to reduce demand, the economy contracts, tax revenues decline further, and the deficit grows. Cuomo and the Democratic leadership have abandoned their New Deal legacy and gone back to Hoover's economics,” Hawkins said.
“Instead of taxing the rich up front for operating expenses, the state is borrowing money from them, paying interest on it, and cutting spending at their behest. The rich prefer a deflationary environment that yields higher real interest rates for the bonds they own, even if it means an economic depression for the rest of us,” Hawkins said.
“The basic issue in this campaign is whether state fiscal and economic policies will serve the people of New York, or the special interest of the bond market, the shadow government of big bankers. There is not enough economic surplus to keep bailing out bankers for their bad loans and provide decent public services. Something has to give. The bankers and their two corporate parties say public services have to be cut. The Green Party says the bankers have to pay their fair share of taxes,” Hawkins added.
Schools Need Full Funding, Not Mayoral Control
Turning to the local Rochester issue of mayoral control of public schools, which is already in effect in New York City and has been proposed by the mayor of Syracuse, Hawkins' home town, Hawkins said he opposed the bill before the state legislature for dissolving the Rochester school board and establishing mayoral control.
“Where did this demand for mayoral control come from? There are no petitions and demonstrations for it. There is no mass movement for it. This is coming from the corporate world. Accountable, elected, democratic bodies are an obstacle to their plans to siphon public revenues to their private coffers,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins noted that in every city where elected school boards have been replaced a top-down executive administration, whether by a state takeover as in Newark, Philadelphia, Oakland, St. Louis, and Detroit or by a mayoral takeover in New York City, Boston, Washington DC, and Chicago, major privatization of public school property and expansion of charter schools followed.
The Obama administration's Race to the Top education policy is an expansion of the No Child Left Behind program of the Bush administration, the legislation for which was crafted and had the support of many Democrats. Mayoral control is being pushed from the top as part of the Race to the Top high stakes testing program that sets up schools in poor communities for failure and then closure and replacement by charters, Hawkins said. US Education Secretary Arne Duncan is a strong proponent of mayoral control. He owed his tenure as CEO of Chicago schools to mayoral control. But his tenure was marked by autocratically implemented public school closings and charter expansion as part of a citywide gentrification plan labeled an education reform plan, Renaissance 2010, which was conceived by financial and real estate firms in the city's elite Commonwealth Club. The parent, teacher, and community resistance has been sustained and continues after Duncan's departure, according to Hawkins.
“Mayoral control has been disruptive in every city where it has taken effect. Instead of an elected school board with public meetings and hearings, you get an authoritarian system of management that leaves students, parents, teachers, and the community little avenue for redress of grievances than lawsuits and direct resistance,” Hawkins observed.
“One hundred years ago, progressive educational reform was about getting the schools out of the hands of mayors who were using them as patronage resources to hand out teaching and administrative jobs to incompetent hacks and contracts to campaign contributors. Now, instead of taxing the rich their fair share to pay for public education, the Democrats have adopted the conservative Republican position and want to control public education for the profits of hedge funds invested in union-and- accountability-free charter schools,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins cited media reports that Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo had a meeting in April with hedge fund managers who have been mobilizing to support charter schools. Much of the support from hedge funds for Cuomo is being organized by Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, who include the founders of funds like Anchorage Capital Partners with $8 billion under management, Greenlight Capital with $6.8 billion, and Pershing Square Capital Management with $5.5 billion.
Democrats for Education Reform advocate mayoral control as well as charter schools. The Issues page on their website says: “DFER supports the idea of holding mayors accountable for the successful operation of schools in cities where school boards are ineffective and schools are failing....Examples of successful mayoral control exist in New York City (Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein), Chicago (Mayor Richard Daily and then-CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan), and the District of Columbia (Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee).”
“What our schools need in order to close the achievement gap is full funding and greater parent, teacher, and community participation, not spending cuts, mayoral control, and attacks on teachers' unions, pay, and benefits. The best predictor by far of student performance is the income level of the students' families. But where schools have improved in poor communities, it has been where the community became engaged in their children's education. We need a bottom-up social movement, not top-down corporate management. We need equitable and adequate funding of all public schools, not the diversion of public funds to union-free, unaccountable charter schools. We need to eradicate poverty and reduce class inequalities, not use low student achievement in poor communities as a new profit center for private gain at public expense,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said that mayoral control of school districts has not resulted in higher student achievement. In New York City, parents complain about the lack of access school administrators to deal with problems since mayoral control took effect, he said. He also said Mayor Bloomberg was undermining his own claim that mayoral control would improve public schools by encouraging more charter schools that take money from the public schools he claims to be improving. Hawkins noted that State Senator Bill Perkins from Harlem had turned from advocate to opponent of charter schools after seeing underpaid teachers, overpaid administrators, the saturation of Harlem but not Westchester with charters coupled to either the closing of public schools in Harlem or to the segregation of charter from public school students whose schools are forced to share the same public school buildings.
Perkins has called for independent auditing of charter schools. Hawkins said that independent auditing was needed particularly in Albany, where charters are now straining to service debts for construction loans with rents that have tripled recently. Without audits, the public does not know how its public money is being used, a concern that is magnified by the conflicts of interest inherent in the often interlocking boards of charter schools and groups that organize and syndicate the loans.
Hawkins noted that mayoral control does not necessarily mean mayoral power. The state-appointed schools manager, Robert Bobb, in Detroit has run up against legal challenges and neighborhood resistance to his implement his foundation-funded plan to “replace, not reform” the public schools by shuttering 45 district schools next year, opening up 70 new charter schools by 2020, and handing control of what's left of public education to Mayor Dave Bing. Students, teachers, parents, alumni have vowed to pursue court injunctions and, if necessary, school takeovers for ongoing teach-ins to keep their community schools open.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Green Gubernatorial Candidate Tells NYS Senate To Vote NO on Mayoral Control
(Rochester, NY) Green Party candidate for Governor of New York, Howie Hawkins is calling for New York State Senators to vote down the bill to dissolve the Rochester Ctiy School District and give control of the schools to the Mayor.
“Mayoral control is touted as 'efficient' and absurdly 'accountable' when it is really just expedient for privatization and union-busting, with CEO autocracy replacing the democratic accountability of elected school boards,” according to Hawkins.
The Rochester Teachers Association, Monroe County Labor Federation, Coalition of Black Ministers, Conference of Big 5 School Districts and the Community Education Task Force, a coalition of local parent groups all oppose Mayoral Control of the RCSD.
Hawkins also added, “One hundred years ago, education reform was about getting the schools out of the hands of mayors who were using them as patronage resources to hand out teaching and administrative jobs to incompetent hacks and contracts to campaign contributors. Now, instead of taxing the rich their fair share to pay for public education, the Democrats and Republicans want to control public education for the profits of hedge funds invested in union-and- accountability-free charter schools.”
Green Party candidate for Mayor in 2009, Alex White added, "It is a tragedy that the only idea other parties have to improve our schools is to remove the democratic controls which we once fought so hard to get." White collected signatures to run against Mayor Duffy, who until re-election, was against Mayoral Control.
Hawkins will be holding a press conference in Rochester on Monday, June 28th at 11am in front of the Monroe County Social Services Building at 691 St. Paul Street. Hawkins will be discussing the current situation with the New York State Budget crisis. He will also be stopping in Williamson that afternoon to support the striking workers at the Motts plant. Hawkins, from Syracuse, works for UPS and is a union member.
Hawkins is running for Governor on the Green Party ticket which also includes Gloria Mattera for Lt. Governor, Julia Willebrand for Comptroller and both Cecile Lawrence and Colia Clark for US Senate. The Green Party does not accept corporate donations and is driven by its commitment to Social Justice, Nonviolence, Ecological Wisdom and Grassroots Democracy.
“Mayoral control is touted as 'efficient' and absurdly 'accountable' when it is really just expedient for privatization and union-busting, with CEO autocracy replacing the democratic accountability of elected school boards,” according to Hawkins.
The Rochester Teachers Association, Monroe County Labor Federation, Coalition of Black Ministers, Conference of Big 5 School Districts and the Community Education Task Force, a coalition of local parent groups all oppose Mayoral Control of the RCSD.
Hawkins also added, “One hundred years ago, education reform was about getting the schools out of the hands of mayors who were using them as patronage resources to hand out teaching and administrative jobs to incompetent hacks and contracts to campaign contributors. Now, instead of taxing the rich their fair share to pay for public education, the Democrats and Republicans want to control public education for the profits of hedge funds invested in union-and- accountability-free charter schools.”
Green Party candidate for Mayor in 2009, Alex White added, "It is a tragedy that the only idea other parties have to improve our schools is to remove the democratic controls which we once fought so hard to get." White collected signatures to run against Mayor Duffy, who until re-election, was against Mayoral Control.
Hawkins will be holding a press conference in Rochester on Monday, June 28th at 11am in front of the Monroe County Social Services Building at 691 St. Paul Street. Hawkins will be discussing the current situation with the New York State Budget crisis. He will also be stopping in Williamson that afternoon to support the striking workers at the Motts plant. Hawkins, from Syracuse, works for UPS and is a union member.
Hawkins is running for Governor on the Green Party ticket which also includes Gloria Mattera for Lt. Governor, Julia Willebrand for Comptroller and both Cecile Lawrence and Colia Clark for US Senate. The Green Party does not accept corporate donations and is driven by its commitment to Social Justice, Nonviolence, Ecological Wisdom and Grassroots Democracy.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Petition Meeting Today
For those of you interested, there is a petitioning meeting today (Tue) at 5:30pm at Boldo's Armory, 891 Monroe Avenue. We will be discussing the procedure and strategizing for how to get the petition signatures needed to get our candidates on the ballot. If you need info, or want to help but can't make the meeting, call Dave at 585-315-7687
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Platform Plank: Overhaul COMIDA
End Corporate Welfare And Create More Jobs By Overhauling COMIDA
Overview of Problem:
Governments at all levels have become increasingly involved in job creation with mixed results. Many rely on giving tax breaks and other incentives to start-up companies as well as existing companies to either expand or move to a certain locality. The Green Party of Monroe County sees many pitfalls in this method of attempting to create jobs:
Solution
Therefore, the Green Party of Monroe County Calls for a moratorium on tax breaks for corporations. We are not saying that COMIDA should be disbanded. Instead, GPoMC would like to see the County Legislature direct COMIDA to focus on creating a better business environment as outlined in number five above. It can easily do this by reducing energy costs, working with others to improve the Rochester City School District and improve local infrastructure. Specifically:
Overview of Problem:
Governments at all levels have become increasingly involved in job creation with mixed results. Many rely on giving tax breaks and other incentives to start-up companies as well as existing companies to either expand or move to a certain locality. The Green Party of Monroe County sees many pitfalls in this method of attempting to create jobs:
- Tax revenue lost from abatements means either individual citizens have to make up the difference in revenue and/or services need to be cut. (Usually the first services to go are those that help the poor which is a connecting issue to be discussed in another plank)
- Tax abatements, low-interest loans and other incentives given to one company automatically put competing companies at a disadvantage. The argument that they can apply for these incentives as well means the first problem expands exponentially.
- There are numerous anecdotes of companies creating jobs while competing firms contract in size, thus the overall job numbers remain equal in the locality while tax revenue is lost.
- In Monroe County, almost every company that receives help from COMIDA (County of Monroe Industrial Development Association) gives political contributions to the local Republican (and sometimes Democratic) Party. Even if there is no “quid pro quo” here, the perception of it is unacceptable.
- But the most important issue connected with these incentives is that local tax rates do not rank high on the list of priorities for companies in terms of expansion or relocating. More important are energy costs, infrastructure, quality of area schools and local quality of living.
Solution
Therefore, the Green Party of Monroe County Calls for a moratorium on tax breaks for corporations. We are not saying that COMIDA should be disbanded. Instead, GPoMC would like to see the County Legislature direct COMIDA to focus on creating a better business environment as outlined in number five above. It can easily do this by reducing energy costs, working with others to improve the Rochester City School District and improve local infrastructure. Specifically:
- COMIDA and the County Legislature should be helping businesses acquire currently existing Federal and State grants to help them acquire energy-saving technology as well as energy producing technology from solar, wind, hydro and thermal sources.
- COMIDA and the County Legislature should also be focusing on the expansion and creation of locally-owned companies that specialize in the installation of such energy technology. Efforts should also be focused on the creation and/or relocation of companies that manufacture this technology.
- The County should work in conjunction with local unions, the City of Rochester and the Rochester City School District to implement a program in at least one city high school that specialized in vocational training around the installation and creation of renewable energy technology. These programs should be available to suburban students as well. Note: to have students go through this program will require specialized focus on math, science and technology. Therefore, all parties involved should insist the State Department of Education grant waivers for these students for state Regents Exam Requirements. (See the GPoMC Education Plank of its platform)
- The County needs to work with the City of Rochester as well as state and federal governments to begin a light rail system in the county. This will reduce traffic, thus saving wear on our roads. This system should be added to the planned bus terminal at the Renaissance Center and could utilize the existing Aqueduct and subway tunnels downtown. Connected to this are joint measures that need to be taken to contain suburban sprawl – for the same reasons.
If this plan is fully implemented it will have the following anticipated consequences:
- County tax revenues will increase (thus restoring services to the community).
- Real factors that encourage business creation, expansion and relocation will increase.
- The local environment will improve due to the added reliance on renewable energy. This will improve the quality of life and reduce future health care costs.
- The focus on the new field of renewable energy will open an entire new industry in the area, creating an enormous number of jobs – particularly in manufacturing.
- The renewed emphasis on vocational education in the Rochester City School District will attract the students who have been dropping out doe to the over emphasis on standardized testing. Fewer dropouts means fewer kids on the street, thus reducing police, incarceration and welfare costs.
- Institution of a light rail system also reduces pollution, saves public money on road repairs and individuals’ money on car repairs and depreciation. It also uses resources we already have with the aqueduct and subway tunnels.
- The undue influence of financial contributions in local politics will be reduced by stopping COMIDA’s focusing on tax breaks and other incentives.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Cuomo & Duffy Reject Working Families Party
While the Green Party has always been a friend to labor, we have never had a "for profit arm" or charged dues to be a member. We are the true alternative to corporate politics.
Labor-backed party hurt by Cuomo's rejection
Posted: Jun 14th, 2010 | Nick Reisman • Gannett Albany bureau
ALBANY — Andrew Cuomo's rejection of the Working Families Party ballot line has called into question the viability of the labor-backed organization's future in electoral politics.
"Some political parties are more like social movements," said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic Party strategist. "Their time may just have passed."
Formed in 1998, the Working Families Party was meant to push mainstream Democrats to support left-leaning policy stances favored by unions.
The party normally grants its gubernatorial ballot line to a Democrat in New York, where candidates can run on multiple lines.
But now, as the party faces a federal investigation and lacks a big name to lead its ticket in the gubernatorial election, its spot on the ballot — and its ability to encourage a leftward tilt to Democrats — could be in danger.
A political party's gubernatorial candidate must receive 50,000 votes to automatically appear on the ballot in the following election.
Not meeting the threshold forces the party to petition its way back onto the ballot with 15,000 signatures. The party must also collect 100 signatures each in at least 15 congressional districts.
In a statement, Working Families Party Executive Director Dan Cantor left open the possibility that Cuomo would eventually take the line. Cuomo, the state's attorney general, is the Democrats' nominee for governor.
At its recent nominating convention, the Working Families Party endorsed Legal Aid lawyer Kenneth Schaeffer, a candidate widely seen as a placeholder.
"We're confident that we can get the 50,000 votes we need," said party spokesman Dan Levitan.
The party also maintains a large organizational structure and support from rank-and-file state lawmakers.
This year, however, things are particularly difficult for the Working Families Party. Its for-profit arm, Data and Field Services, is under investigation by the U.S. attorney's office for charging candidates lower-than-usual fees for its services during the 2009 New York City elections.
The party also has ties to the controversial community-organizing group ACORN and unions during a time when labor groups are experiencing declines in both membership and popularity among mainstream voters.
Cuomo's rejection of the party's line comes as he pledges to reduce government spending and waste. His selection of Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy as his running mate — Duffy has had some rocky relations with public-sector unions lately — also signals a move away from the Working Families philosophy.
He has the endorsement of the Independence Party, a third party that has backed both Republicans and Democrats. That party is under investigation for its work for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his 2009 re-election campaign.
Getting the needed signatures is no easy task, said Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for governor.
It takes about six weeks and hundreds of volunteers to collect the signatures — valuable time in an election season.
"We can spend those six weeks campaigning and not spend those six weeks explaining why we should be on the ballot," Hawkins said.
The last time the Green Party's gubernatorial candidate received more than 50,000 votes was in 1998, when Al Lewis — an actor best known for his role on the 1960s sitcom The Munsters — was the candidate.
The Green Party successfully petitioned its way on the ballot in 2002 — Stanley Aronowitz the candidate that year — and in 2006, when author Malachy McCourt ran.
Part of the problem for the WFP is that the party never cultivated itself as one that was independent of Democratic Party politics, Hawkins said.
"They're supposed to push the Democrats to the left," he said. "They never threaten to take their votes anywhere else. With Cuomo rejecting the line this year, the chickens are coming home to roost."
A party without a ballot line is toothless, said Robert Ward, deputy director at the Rockefeller Institute of Public Policy.
"Once you have that automatic ballot line, it's an asset you can use to advance your agenda, if you have one," Ward said. "Without it you're really reduced to the status of an interest group."
Read the rest of the article here
US Senate Candidate Cecile Lawrence on Hydrofracking
Ms. Lawrence is running against Kirsten Gillibrand.
Why Can't the Green Party Participate?
I love it how neither Democrats nor Republicans are being blamed here. It's the Green Party who dares to participate in the democratic process. Who's Un-American here?
What’s the Matter With Texas?
The following is an editorial, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Green Party of the United States or Green Party Watch.
This week it was revealed that:
a) a Republican consultant in Arizona arranged for…
b) a non-profit corporation in Missouri to pay $200,000 for…
c) a petitioning company “Free & Equal” to collect 92,000 signatures and…
d) give them as a gift to the Green Party of Texas to get a slate of candidates on the ballot.
Are Democrats pissed? You betcha. They are suing the Texas Green Party, Free & Equal, and “Take Initiative America” to delay the balloting of Green Party candidates until they can determine the source of the funding, and they are pointing fingers at Texas Governor Rick Perry.
The Green Party of Texas is cooperating by agreeing to delay submitting their slate of candidates until the courts rule on the matter. kat swift, State Coordinator of the Green Party of Texas, has been reported saying that they believe the petition drive was legal, but will wait for written assurance of that fact. swift also said that once the petition drive is determined to be legal, the Green Party of Texas will field a slate of candidates regardless of what individual funded the petition drive.
What’s at Stake
For the Democrats and Republicans, they both think that if there are Greens on the ballot in Texas it will “siphon votes” away from the Democratic candidate for Governor and consequently help Republican Governor Rick Perry. Rather than appeal to Green Voters, the Democrats are seeking to prevent Greens from appearing on the ballot.
For the Green Party, who hasn’t been able to surpass Texas’ incredibly high ballot access barrier since 2000, what’s at stake is ballot access not only this year but an all but guaranteed spot on the ballot in Texas in 2012, a Presidential Election year. This is due to the fact that in the State Comptroller’s race their is no Democrat, which will likely assure the Green Party of achieving the 5% necessary to carry ballot access over to 2012.
Also at stake for the Green Party of Texas is continued existence on the political map in Texas. If you aren’t on the ballot, you can’t stay on the ballot, and building the support a fledgling political party needs is even harder.
The Ballot Access Barrier
When two political parties write the rules that make ballot access easy for themselves, and extremely difficult for other political parties, it is not fair. Ballot Access should be equal for all, and in many states it is. In Texas, all political parties other than the Democrats and Republicans must obtain over 42,000 signatures from registered voters who did not vote in the most recent primary election. This is a huge barrier, and even the corporate press admits that it would take either a monumental grassroots effort or a significant amount of money to accomplish. The Green Party of Texas had neither.
A “Deal With the Devil”?
This is not the first time that Republicans have “conspired” to help Green Party candidates to surpass ballot access barriers that they themselves have created. Republicans are accused of financially assisting Ralph Nader’s Independent campaigns for President in 2004 and 2008, neither of which tipped the election, and most notably Pennsylvania Green Senate Candidate Carl Romanelli’s efforts to acquire over 66,000 signatures to get on the ballot, which was defeated in court.
Each time there is outrage that Greens would accept Republican money to surpass ballot access barriers set by Democrats, but no efforts by Democrats to establish fair and equal access to the ballot. For Democrats and Republicans it is all about winning, not “principles”, but for the Green Party it is only about having an opportunity to appear on the ballot and appeal to the electorate.
Does it matter if Greens get money from Republicans? Democratic candidates receive far more money from Republicans than Greens with no outrage. However Greens often campaign on “clean elections”, transparency in funding, and rejecting corporate money and influence. The Green Party of Texas is skirting the line between the darkness of anonymous funding of a “gift” of ballot access and their desire to compete at the ballot box on equal footing with the Democrats and Republicans.
Damage Control & Public Opinion
Some Greens are pissed off. They are worried about blow back from the story in Texas hurting their party building efforts in other parts of the country. They are concerned that for the Green Party of Texas to have a role in this scheme essentially condones the “dirty politics” that Greens abhor. Will negative press from this story hurt the campaigns of Whitney in Illinois or Stein in Massachusetts?
kat swift has been firm in her position that if the petition gathering was legal, the Texas Greens will report the 92,000 signatures as an “in kind contribution” and place their candidates on the ballot. Some Greens are using this story to point out the inequities in ballot access requirements for third parties, and defending the Texas Green Party. The argument goes that the Green Party also wants the Democrats to lose, to Greens, and if Republicans are willing to fund that (and also lose) so be it. If the Greens aren’t on the ballot in Texas, they can’t win or lose, they can’t even play.
Will this story gain any traction outside of Texas among the run of the mill voters who vote Green because they identify with the Green Party platform, or will it be an academic topic for politicos and wonks writing manifestos on Daily Kos? That remains to be seen.
The “Fuck You” Vote
Lets face it, many people dislike both the Democrats and the Republicans, and most of them don’t even vote. When they do, they are looking for the opportunity to cast a “fuck you” vote – they want to vote for anybody but a Democrat or Republican. In many places they will not have that opportunity. The so-called “Tea Party” movement is based on this principle, but it has been hi-jacked by Republicans to channel that anger into votes for Republicans. It might work, it might not.
The Green Party is the environmental, anti-war, social justice “fuck you” vote – giving voters who care about these issues, but see Democrats failing them, an option at the ballot box. The Green Party doesn’t endorse “environmentally friendly” Democrats or Republicans, the Green Party runs candidates against both the Democrats and Republicans to offer a true alternative to corporate politics in America.
Final Thoughts
kat swift and the Green Party of Texas were well aware of the ethical issues surrounding their only chance to get on the ballot in Texas. They considered the implications before the campaign began, weighed the pros and cons, and chose to proceed. They have made it clear that if the courts determine that the petition drive and its funding was illegal that they will not run candidates.
The Green Party of the United States is a confederation of State Green Parties, and both de-centralization and grassroots democracy are at the core of the party’s values. If Greens in Texas are concerned, they have avenues for expressing that, both within the Texas Green Party and at the ballot box. If Greens outside of Texas are concerned, they frankly just have to deal with it. Short of kicking the Texas Greens out of the Party, the only other alternative is a top down hierarchy that calls the shots across the nation which runs counter to the core values of the Green Party.
I have faith that the Texas Green Party knows the Texas political landscape better than the rest of us, and I will be following the story as it unfolds without judgment or bias.
This editorial reflects my personal opinion, not an official position of either the Green Party of the United States or Green Party Watch.
Platform Plank: Job Creation / Anti-Violence Plan
Job Creation Plan for Anti-Violence Initiative in the City of Rochester
Overview of Problem:
The type of jobs most community leaders talk about creating fall into two categories: service and biotech. The people we are trying to create employment for do not gravitate toward service jobs and these jobs rarely pay a living wage. Jobs in biotech are generally beyond the educational reach of these citizens. Therefore the type of jobs we advocate for would be “hands-on” employment: construction, manufacturing, artisan, etc.
This creates an additional problem as most of these jobs are market driven and there is argument that there are already enough people in some of these trades. There is also the additional problem of manufacturing jobs moving to other countries. We would need to discover a field in which demand is increasing (and will continue to increase) in which Rochester could become a leading city.
Solution
Therefore, the Green Party of Monroe County Calls for the City of Rochester to use resources it currently has, while looking for additional resources, to establish businesses that manufacture, sell and help provide funding for renewable energy sources for homes and businesses. The businesses created would:
If this plan is fully implemented it will have the following anticipated consequences:
Resources
Drutman, Lee & Charlie Cray, The People’s Business. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, Inc., 2004.
Fisher, Peter S. & Alan H. Peters, Industrial Incentives: Competition Among American States and Cities. Kalamazoo: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1998.
Hammer, Michael & James Champy, Reengineering the Corporation. New York: HarperCollins Publishing, Inc., 1993.
Leroy, Greg, The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, Inc., 2005.
Shuman, Michael H., Going Local. New York: Free Press, Inc., 1998.
Wilson, William Julius, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New
York: Vintage Publishing, 1997.
Energy Information Administration (EIA)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
http://www.nyserda.org/default.asp
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association
http://www.nesea.org/
RenewNY
http://www.renew-ny.com/
Rochester Solar Technologies
http://www.rochsolartech.com/
Solar Learning Center
http://www.solenergy.org/html/home/home.html
Sunwize
http://www.sunwize.com/
International Co-operative Alliance (ICA)
http://www.coop.org/
Mondragon Corporation Cooperative
http://www.mondragon.mcc.es/ing/index.asp
National Center for Employee Ownership
http://www.nceo.org/
Overview of Problem:
The type of jobs most community leaders talk about creating fall into two categories: service and biotech. The people we are trying to create employment for do not gravitate toward service jobs and these jobs rarely pay a living wage. Jobs in biotech are generally beyond the educational reach of these citizens. Therefore the type of jobs we advocate for would be “hands-on” employment: construction, manufacturing, artisan, etc.
This creates an additional problem as most of these jobs are market driven and there is argument that there are already enough people in some of these trades. There is also the additional problem of manufacturing jobs moving to other countries. We would need to discover a field in which demand is increasing (and will continue to increase) in which Rochester could become a leading city.
Solution
Therefore, the Green Party of Monroe County Calls for the City of Rochester to use resources it currently has, while looking for additional resources, to establish businesses that manufacture, sell and help provide funding for renewable energy sources for homes and businesses. The businesses created would:
- Be located in the City, preferably inhabiting already empty structures that are appropriately zoned.
- With the exception of the few necessary experts, all employees of these businesses should be current city residents, with an appropriate number of people hired from the constituency we are here to help.
- The business created must be locally owned.
- The Green Party would prefer to see these businesses be worker-owned. If this is not possible at this time, we expect the workplace to be unionized.
- Currently, the State is the only governmental agency that provides financial support to those who choose to use renewable energy. Part of this program would be to create institutions (private and/or public) that help secure funding for individuals, businesses and government agencies to purchase and implement renewable energy sources.
- Once established, the City should promote this effort to recruit businesses as opposed to tax breaks that hurt our community.
- The City should work in conjunction with local unions and the Rochester City School District to implement a program in at least one city high school that specialized in vocational training around the installation and creation of renewable energy technology.
If this plan is fully implemented it will have the following anticipated consequences:
- City tax revenues will increase (thus restoring services to the community).
- Real factors that encourage business creation, expansion and relocation will increase. (i.e. energy costs, infrastructure, living climate)
- The local environment will improve due to the added reliance on renewable energy. This will improve the quality of life and reduce future health care costs.
- The focus on the new field of renewable energy will open an entire new industry in the area, creating an enormous number of jobs – particularly in manufacturing.
- The renewed emphasis on vocational education in the Rochester City School District will attract the students who have been dropping out due to the over emphasis on standardized testing. Fewer dropouts mean fewer kids on the street, thus reducing police, incarceration and welfare costs.
- The demand for solar and wind has far outpaced supply. There is a huge need for the making of solar cells and wind turbines. From a business standpoint, this is a great opportunity.
- Success at this level will increase the number of privately owned businesses started in this field, creating competition, improving the technology and bringing down the costs of the products.
- Currently, almost all products created are done so in the western portion of the country. Rochester could become a national (or international) leader in the creation of renewable energy sources.
- Solar and wind power is already being successfully used by a small number of homeowners in this area. There is not a lot of publicity surrounding this therefore the market for such products is virtually untapped.
- The promotion of renewable energy will be an additional promotional tool in recruiting the creation and relocation of businesses to Rochester. Energy costs is one of the leading factors in business location.
- The field of renewable energy is perfect for a business-education link between these companies and Rochester Institute of Technology. RIT has already hosted several conferences on renewable energy.
- These businesses will be created with major assistance from the City of Rochester, but we emphasize that these will be privately owned companies.
- Within each business created there will obviously need to be people involved who have experience in running businesses, but the number of employees who come from the targeted constituency should be the maximum amount that can be maintained.
- As a generalization, the targeted constituency will need training in general job skills (i.e. the skills needed to have any job) as well as training in skill specifically related to this industry. Therefore we may need to employ the services of job coaches who are already at local agencies.
- We advocate worker-owned businesses to give our targeted constituency a bigger stake in the success of the company – therefore more control over their own success. There are numerous examples of successful worker-owned businesses already in operation and each uses it’s own unique structure and operating procedure. This is not new.
Resources
Drutman, Lee & Charlie Cray, The People’s Business. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, Inc., 2004.
Fisher, Peter S. & Alan H. Peters, Industrial Incentives: Competition Among American States and Cities. Kalamazoo: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1998.
Hammer, Michael & James Champy, Reengineering the Corporation. New York: HarperCollins Publishing, Inc., 1993.
Leroy, Greg, The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, Inc., 2005.
Shuman, Michael H., Going Local. New York: Free Press, Inc., 1998.
Wilson, William Julius, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New
York: Vintage Publishing, 1997.
Energy Information Administration (EIA)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
http://www.nyserda.org/default.asp
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association
http://www.nesea.org/
RenewNY
http://www.renew-ny.com/
Rochester Solar Technologies
http://www.rochsolartech.com/
Solar Learning Center
http://www.solenergy.org/html/home/home.html
Sunwize
http://www.sunwize.com/
International Co-operative Alliance (ICA)
http://www.coop.org/
Mondragon Corporation Cooperative
http://www.mondragon.mcc.es/ing/index.asp
National Center for Employee Ownership
http://www.nceo.org/
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Weekly GPoMC Update - June 13, 2010
Exciting new things are happening with the local Green Party! We hope you’re ready to jump back into the fray!
We’ve started making adjustments to our website and will continue to do so. There are new editorials, videos and ways you can interact. If you haven’t been there or not in a while, take a peek at http://www.gpomc.org .
This week there is Part 2 of Dave Atias’ response to a City Newspaper Op-Ed, a comment on Mayoral Control by Alex White and video of a press conference by Green Gubernatorial candidate, Howie Hawkins.
(see posts below)
*****************************************************************
Speaking of which, to get our entire slate on the ballot for November, we need to gather petition signatures. If everyone who reads this were able to get 10 signatures we would be in tremendous shape! Reply to this message, e-mail or call Dave if you’re willing. Remember, getting ballot status back will make it easier to run in elections next year, including for Mayor of Rochester!
We are already making a list of community events that we plan on petitioning at. You could join us at one of these or get signatures on your own. Do it with a friend or bring your child. Don’t just read about history, make history!
*****************************************************************
We want to spread the word about the Green Party in general and what a Green government in Rochester would do. One of the ways we would like to do this is by producing a series of online videos. If you would like to be involved with this project, on either or both sides of the camera, let us know. If you’re just interested in a video about your specific neighborhood or town, that’s OK, too. In fact, it’s awesome! Give us a holler.
******************************************************************
And while we’re on the topic of video, here are some videos of the Green candidates for statewide office:
Lt. Governor – Gloria Mattera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZbDK7X1ffw
Comptroller – Julia Willebrand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSKTzOujTaY
US Senate – Colia Clark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ptNbVcsa34
US Senate – Cecile Lawrence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUfkyfwPHck
******************************************************************
Are you already working on Progressive issues in the Monroe County area? Poverty, bike-friendly planning, brownfield cleanup, Mayoral Control, corporate welfare. Make your stance part of the Green Party's platform! Contact Dave by replying to this email or giving him a call to make your individual or group's work part of our platform.
Petitioning, campaigning, platform work. There's a lot going on for us Greens. Everyone is talking about throwing out the bums - let's replace them with some Greens!
Dave
585-315-7687
We’ve started making adjustments to our website and will continue to do so. There are new editorials, videos and ways you can interact. If you haven’t been there or not in a while, take a peek at http://www.gpomc.org .
This week there is Part 2 of Dave Atias’ response to a City Newspaper Op-Ed, a comment on Mayoral Control by Alex White and video of a press conference by Green Gubernatorial candidate, Howie Hawkins.
(see posts below)
*****************************************************************
Speaking of which, to get our entire slate on the ballot for November, we need to gather petition signatures. If everyone who reads this were able to get 10 signatures we would be in tremendous shape! Reply to this message, e-mail or call Dave if you’re willing. Remember, getting ballot status back will make it easier to run in elections next year, including for Mayor of Rochester!
We are already making a list of community events that we plan on petitioning at. You could join us at one of these or get signatures on your own. Do it with a friend or bring your child. Don’t just read about history, make history!
*****************************************************************
We want to spread the word about the Green Party in general and what a Green government in Rochester would do. One of the ways we would like to do this is by producing a series of online videos. If you would like to be involved with this project, on either or both sides of the camera, let us know. If you’re just interested in a video about your specific neighborhood or town, that’s OK, too. In fact, it’s awesome! Give us a holler.
******************************************************************
And while we’re on the topic of video, here are some videos of the Green candidates for statewide office:
Lt. Governor – Gloria Mattera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZbDK7X1ffw
Comptroller – Julia Willebrand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSKTzOujTaY
US Senate – Colia Clark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ptNbVcsa34
US Senate – Cecile Lawrence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUfkyfwPHck
******************************************************************
Are you already working on Progressive issues in the Monroe County area? Poverty, bike-friendly planning, brownfield cleanup, Mayoral Control, corporate welfare. Make your stance part of the Green Party's platform! Contact Dave by replying to this email or giving him a call to make your individual or group's work part of our platform.
Petitioning, campaigning, platform work. There's a lot going on for us Greens. Everyone is talking about throwing out the bums - let's replace them with some Greens!
Dave
585-315-7687
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Governor's Mayoral Control Bill
Download the Governor's bill that would give the Mayor of Rochester control of the Rochester City School District.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
How will Mayoral Control Help
There seems to be quite a disconnect between the theory of mayoral control and how it will improve schools. Yes we all want better schools, but how to do this is the problem. With a high free lunch rate, large non-English speaking population, many options for wealthy residents to leave the district, and lots expenses due to these Rochester's schools are going to have problems. So how will changing the ruling body of the district solve this? If it works anything like in other cities, mayoral control will privatize schools with small non-unionized charter schools, and create local schools which will hold the most needy students, creating a separate but not equal situation. Perhaps it will be better for a small number of students, but is this really enough of a fix? Trapped by poverty, with no good prospects, and no reason to believe education will make their lives better students have little hope. Devoid of hope why would students work hard and how can students succeed. After all the real problem is poverty and this has always been under mayoral control, but he has done little to fix this. Why would we expect better results for the schools?
Monday, June 07, 2010
Op-Ed Part 2: A Trickle-Up Economy
In the first part of my Op-Ed, I complained that there are too many in this town who believe that only trickle-down solutions will solve Rochester’s ills. If our leaders and people in the media believe anything different, they sure don’t make it known by their words and actions. Rather than just throw rhetoric or protest slogans at this ideology, I thought I would provide some fairly specific ideas on things our government should be doing to help Rochester help itself. (As usual, please feel free to comment, but be constructive or your post will just be deleted.)
As I mentioned in my previous post, there are too many people who do not have boots to have bootstraps to pull up. So what we need to do is provide the boots. This means jobs in the neighborhoods in which people live. In the poorest sections of Rochester, you are not going to get many businesses willing to (re) locate, so new businesses need to be developed. Our city and county governments need to provide opportunities for cooperatively run businesses to begin in poor areas. Notice, I did not say government-run. In fact, I’m saying just the opposite; the people who work in these businesses – all the people who work in them – will run them. I know this is contrary to what we are used to. There is supposed to be a hierarchy, right? Owner, administrator, workers. This is not set in stone and does not HAVE to be this way. Just a few examples are below, but there are countless others all over the world.
Government providing opportunities for worker-owned businesses is still a vague concept so let me give an example that is more specific. The growing, harvesting, selling, and cooking of food should be one of the main sources of job creation in our area. Everyone needs food and few in these geographical areas understand where it comes from or have access to food that is healthy and affordable.
The current city administration has made it a mission to tear down a lot of abandoned houses. That’s fine, but most of the lots are just left empty. These should be made into neighborhood, urban farms in which the people in these areas can work. Not possible? Don’t tell Earthworks in Detroit that. And I wouldn’t mention it to the Mill Creek folks in Philadelphia either. (and there’s more, but you get the point)
If these urban farms are created, it will have the following direct effects:
*people will be employed.
*local environments will be improved.
*people who do not have access to quality food will now have access.
*kids will finally have examples of potential careers that are obtainable.
Indirect effects will include:
*crime will go down in these neighborhoods.
*less need of police in these areas.
*sense of community will be enhanced.
*people will be healthier, thus less of a burden on our Medicare system.
*less burden on our social services network.
*more community, more hope equals less drug & alcohol use.
*kids will be better prepared to learn due to better nutrition.
*the production of food in this area will spur more business growth in the areas of selling such food as well as locally-owned restaurants.
Sounds like another tax and spend, liberal fantasy, doesn’t it? Not really. First of all, there really isn’t THAT much the government will need to provide that would cost a lot of money. The most expensive thing is the land, which the city, towns and county already have that in which property tax is not being collected on anyway. Once the businesses are up and running, taxes would be collected to some degree, though I would advocate at the very least tax breaks that corporate-based businesses get should be extended to these worker-owned businesses. Training in sustainable agriculture, access to materials and training in cooperative business practices is mainly what costs there would be. These would need to be paid for in part, but calling on the community to help with these will bring costs down. (I can go more on this at another time)
This will pay for itself in the end. What money is spent now will be made up in the lowering of costs for police and social services. It would also reduce the need for waste-of-money technology such as surveillance cameras that spy on our citizens.
[Updated] Our city government is a big fan of spending thousands of dollars and taking up a lot of time for studies on ideas. I believe that another study was just approved on the use of green space. Meanwhile, there are a number of non-profits and civic groups who could have just as easily been tapped to, not study feasibility, but to figure out a way to make this happen, period. And take a look at the Sector Presidents' Project Green Presentation. We may have something going in two or three years.
This really is not rocket science. It just takes open minds and a different type of leadership. I think the Greens have the vision and upcoming candidates to make this happen.
Part 3 of this Op-Ed will focus on another example of what trickle-up idea could be implemented.
-Dave Atias
As I mentioned in my previous post, there are too many people who do not have boots to have bootstraps to pull up. So what we need to do is provide the boots. This means jobs in the neighborhoods in which people live. In the poorest sections of Rochester, you are not going to get many businesses willing to (re) locate, so new businesses need to be developed. Our city and county governments need to provide opportunities for cooperatively run businesses to begin in poor areas. Notice, I did not say government-run. In fact, I’m saying just the opposite; the people who work in these businesses – all the people who work in them – will run them. I know this is contrary to what we are used to. There is supposed to be a hierarchy, right? Owner, administrator, workers. This is not set in stone and does not HAVE to be this way. Just a few examples are below, but there are countless others all over the world.
Government providing opportunities for worker-owned businesses is still a vague concept so let me give an example that is more specific. The growing, harvesting, selling, and cooking of food should be one of the main sources of job creation in our area. Everyone needs food and few in these geographical areas understand where it comes from or have access to food that is healthy and affordable.
The current city administration has made it a mission to tear down a lot of abandoned houses. That’s fine, but most of the lots are just left empty. These should be made into neighborhood, urban farms in which the people in these areas can work. Not possible? Don’t tell Earthworks in Detroit that. And I wouldn’t mention it to the Mill Creek folks in Philadelphia either. (and there’s more, but you get the point)
If these urban farms are created, it will have the following direct effects:
*people will be employed.
*local environments will be improved.
*people who do not have access to quality food will now have access.
*kids will finally have examples of potential careers that are obtainable.
Indirect effects will include:
*crime will go down in these neighborhoods.
*less need of police in these areas.
*sense of community will be enhanced.
*people will be healthier, thus less of a burden on our Medicare system.
*less burden on our social services network.
*more community, more hope equals less drug & alcohol use.
*kids will be better prepared to learn due to better nutrition.
*the production of food in this area will spur more business growth in the areas of selling such food as well as locally-owned restaurants.
Sounds like another tax and spend, liberal fantasy, doesn’t it? Not really. First of all, there really isn’t THAT much the government will need to provide that would cost a lot of money. The most expensive thing is the land, which the city, towns and county already have that in which property tax is not being collected on anyway. Once the businesses are up and running, taxes would be collected to some degree, though I would advocate at the very least tax breaks that corporate-based businesses get should be extended to these worker-owned businesses. Training in sustainable agriculture, access to materials and training in cooperative business practices is mainly what costs there would be. These would need to be paid for in part, but calling on the community to help with these will bring costs down. (I can go more on this at another time)
This will pay for itself in the end. What money is spent now will be made up in the lowering of costs for police and social services. It would also reduce the need for waste-of-money technology such as surveillance cameras that spy on our citizens.
[Updated] Our city government is a big fan of spending thousands of dollars and taking up a lot of time for studies on ideas. I believe that another study was just approved on the use of green space. Meanwhile, there are a number of non-profits and civic groups who could have just as easily been tapped to, not study feasibility, but to figure out a way to make this happen, period. And take a look at the Sector Presidents' Project Green Presentation. We may have something going in two or three years.
This really is not rocket science. It just takes open minds and a different type of leadership. I think the Greens have the vision and upcoming candidates to make this happen.
Part 3 of this Op-Ed will focus on another example of what trickle-up idea could be implemented.
-Dave Atias
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Wanted: Help to Produce Internet Videos on Rochester Issues
GPoMC is looking for someone who is interested in helping produce videos for the internet on Green Party positions on local issues: mayoral control, jobs, crime, etc. No experience necessary, though equipment would be helpful.
If you are interested, contact Dave at greenpmc34 (at) yahoo (dot) com, or give him a call at 585-315-7687.
Thanks!
If you are interested, contact Dave at greenpmc34 (at) yahoo (dot) com, or give him a call at 585-315-7687.
Thanks!
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Op-Ed: We DON'T Need Another Trickle-Down Mayor
At first, I was not sure what I wanted this to be about – either about a specific issue within City’s Urban Journal or the state of City Newspaper as a whole. Let’s start with the issue.
In the June 2-8, 2010 issue of City Newspaper, Mary Anna Towler suggested that Tom Richards, the city’s corporation counsel, be named Rochester’s interim mayor in the aftermath of Bob Duffy getting ready to leave town on Andrew Cuomo’s coattail. I will do my best to summarize her reasoning:
Downtown has been “slowly, but solidly” growing and Mr. Richards is a business-oriented person who has been involved with ongoing business negotiations. This is the main reason for him being mayor, and there is my issue.
We constantly hear from folks that the abject poverty in Rochester is a root cause of so many of our ills. Yet the people elected to represent us, to guide us through dealing with this issue, continue to focus on trickle-down solutions. I’m not saying that we should not be encouraging downtown growth, the biomed industry or other white-collar businesses. Heck, even a renewed focus on the growth of blue-collar businesses would be nice. But neither will deal with what is arguably our biggest problem; the thousands of untrained, uneducated adults in this city who have no prospects in leading a life that is not government-funded. You can throw money at them or you can treat them as criminals. Neither will alleviate what ails this city.
So I take exception to Ms. Towler’s assertion that a business person is the only one who can lead us out of the mire we are stuck in. While I do agree with her analysis of the make-up of our City Council having a strong neighborhood-service background, it has not translated into citizen-centered solutions. (Turning our streets into surveillance camera-drenched battlegrounds is not going to get anyone out of poverty.)
I do not know Mr. Richards and I am not critiquing his ability to be mayor. But what this city needs is a mayor, city council and school board that are willing to give people bootstraps to pull up who have never owned boots. If the government is going to be in the economic development business, it needs to develop an economy for those whose only participation in it is buying unhealthy food from corner stores, not just for those who want to build theaters and parking lots.
OK, that’s the complaint. Stay tuned for my solutions.
-Dave Atias
In the June 2-8, 2010 issue of City Newspaper, Mary Anna Towler suggested that Tom Richards, the city’s corporation counsel, be named Rochester’s interim mayor in the aftermath of Bob Duffy getting ready to leave town on Andrew Cuomo’s coattail. I will do my best to summarize her reasoning:
Downtown has been “slowly, but solidly” growing and Mr. Richards is a business-oriented person who has been involved with ongoing business negotiations. This is the main reason for him being mayor, and there is my issue.
We constantly hear from folks that the abject poverty in Rochester is a root cause of so many of our ills. Yet the people elected to represent us, to guide us through dealing with this issue, continue to focus on trickle-down solutions. I’m not saying that we should not be encouraging downtown growth, the biomed industry or other white-collar businesses. Heck, even a renewed focus on the growth of blue-collar businesses would be nice. But neither will deal with what is arguably our biggest problem; the thousands of untrained, uneducated adults in this city who have no prospects in leading a life that is not government-funded. You can throw money at them or you can treat them as criminals. Neither will alleviate what ails this city.
So I take exception to Ms. Towler’s assertion that a business person is the only one who can lead us out of the mire we are stuck in. While I do agree with her analysis of the make-up of our City Council having a strong neighborhood-service background, it has not translated into citizen-centered solutions. (Turning our streets into surveillance camera-drenched battlegrounds is not going to get anyone out of poverty.)
I do not know Mr. Richards and I am not critiquing his ability to be mayor. But what this city needs is a mayor, city council and school board that are willing to give people bootstraps to pull up who have never owned boots. If the government is going to be in the economic development business, it needs to develop an economy for those whose only participation in it is buying unhealthy food from corner stores, not just for those who want to build theaters and parking lots.
OK, that’s the complaint. Stay tuned for my solutions.
-Dave Atias
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)