Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
First published in Newsday.
Newsday’s editorial board frequently meets with people in public life: school superintendents, state and local elected officials, law-enforcement agents. And one question that comes up all the time is how to reduce the cost of public services.
It was an issue back when the only urgency was New York’s position as No.1 or No.2 in the nation with the highest combined state and local tax burden – a “distinction” New York trades from year to year with New Jersey. Now, as the Great Recession has tightened the screws on public budgets everywhere, the question is more pointed: Which will it be, raise taxes or cut services?
Elected officials, candidates and community leaders usually don’t want to choose between these unpopular alternatives. Sometimes they try a dodge: “Cut waste, fraud and abuse!” Hard to argue with that. No one ever campaigns for more inefficiency, dishonesty and corruption.
The other dodge – or at least that’s how I thought of it until recently – was, “Cut unfunded mandates!” (more…)
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Budget, David Paterson, Education, New York, Politics, Right-sizing, suburbs
Posted in Andrew Cuomo, Budget, Consumer Confidence, David Paterson, Economy, Education, NY politics, New York, Politics, Right-sizing | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Regarding the column by Anne Michaud, “Keep school budget talk out of the classroom” [Opinion, Dec. 8], I agree that children need to feel secure in school. Their focus needs to be on learning.
A major part of that learning should, in my opinion, be relating knowledge to reality. What good are the three Rs if we don’t see the issues that are facing us daily?
We live in a society that has a small percentage of people voting in general and school elections. This lack of response leads to lack of control over the direction our country takes and sometimes even to corruption in government.
It is imperative that our children learn to be good citizens and participate in our democracy. If this means bringing up budget concerns to students old enough to understand, then they should be mentioned. An open discussion talking about the whole process and not focusing just on layoffs, would be in order. This hopefully would bring students to begin thinking about mundane issues that our society faces on a daily basis. Opening their young minds would undoubtedly lead to a more involved electorate later on.
Steve Tuck, Huntington
(more…)
Tags: Education, Family, identity, job loss, Middle Class, parenting, Politics, Readers respond, Right-sizing, Shame, social effects, suburbs, Unemployment
Posted in Budget, Children, Economy, Education, Family, Long Island life, Middle Class, NY politics, New York, Readers respond, Right-sizing, Shame, Social problems, Unemployment, Youth, job churn | Comments Off
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
First published in Newsday.
Recently, I was driving my seventh-grader to one of her many events, when she began explaining LIFO to me. She told me that the youngest teachers were usually the ones to lose their jobs when there are budget cuts: “last in, first out.”
I don’t consider this information a seventh-grader should be thinking about – except perhaps when learning labor history in the classroom. She said that her teachers, and others, have been talking about the politics of school budgets.
It may seem a little soon, given that budgets won’t be up for a public vote until May. But people are thinking ahead since this time around will be different. New York schools will be budgeting to stay under the 2 percent property tax cap passed earlier this year. (more…)
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Education, Family, job loss, Middle Class, New York, parenting, Politics, social effects, Youth
Posted in Andrew Cuomo, Budget, Children, Education, Long Island life, Middle Class, NY politics, Politics, Unemployment | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
First published in Newsday
Another pair of elected officials indicted in Albany. For New Yorkers, this registers as something less than earth-rocking. Even as federal prosecutors allege “a broad-based bribery racket” involving state legislators — State Sen. Carl Kruger and Assemb. William Boyland Jr., two Brooklyn Democrats — our indignation is lukewarm.
We’re almost accustomed to corruption. After all, the count is now at 19 state legislators removed or resigned amid scandal since 2000 — Sens. Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens) and Pedro Espada (D-Bronx), Assemb. Tony Seminerio (D-Queens), Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Rensselaer). All gone.
Here’s another thing these recent headliners have in common: They’re all men. And that makes some people wonder: Are women in public office more honest?
That’s certainly the perception and is often the case, says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. (more…)
Tags: New York, Politics
Posted in Culture, NY politics, New York, Politics | Comments Off
