News from STATE SENATOR

Liz Krueger

New York State Senate, 26th District

 

COMMUNITY BULLETIN – September 2005

 

Message from Liz . . .

I am outraged by the fact that our government, the government of the world’s only remaining superpower, and the richest country on the globe, should have failed so miserably in meeting its most basic obligations to its people – to protect their lives in the face of a disaster.  The grossly inadequate response by all levels of government to Hurricane Katrina is a national disgrace, and must be a wake up call to all Americans as to the extent to which our nation’s safety net has deteriorated.  That the victims of this failure are largely poor, and largely people of color, only highlights the extent to which we have failed as a nation to address the impacts of poverty and inequality in this country.  And while questions of responsibility and blame no doubt need to be addressed, the real question we need to be asking is what are we going to do about it – what are we going to do to ensure that government officials have both the resources and the understanding necessary to prevent the next natural disaster from becoming a man-made disaster, as has so clearly happened in Louisiana and Mississippi.

 

The costs of our failure are clear in images of abandoned bodies in the streets of New Orleans, and they need to wake us up to the greater realities of what is happening in this country, not just in New Orleans but here in New York State as well.  The great divide between rich and poor is growing at an ever-increasing pace, at the same time that services to address the needs of the poor and provide them the skills they need to escape poverty are deteriorating.  Furthermore, New York City is at the epicenter of this increasingly divided society.  This weekend as we all grieved over the events of New Orleans, the New York Times published an analysis of 2000 census data that shows that the richest 20% of Manhattan residents now earn 52 times what the lowest fifth make ($365,826 to $7,047) – a ratio similar to Namibia (see attached story).  Furthermore, this ratio has more than doubled since 1980 when the richest fifth of Manhattanites made 21 times the poorest fifth.  Nor is this divide confined to New York City, as other data shows that throughout the state, incomes are becoming increasingly polarized, as the number of families earning between $35,000 and $150,000 has declined by 50,000 from 2000 to 2003, while the percentages of both the poor and the wealthy have increased. 

 

Just as with the failure of our social safety net in New Orleans, the results of this increasing polarization is literally deadly, with mortality rates two times higher in Manhattan’s poor neighborhoods, and infant mortality rates more than three times higher than the Upper East Side and other wealthier areas of the city.  Furthermore, as our society splits along economic lines, we lose cohesion and a sense of shared responsibility and aspirations, which undermines support for programs that can provide opportunities for social mobility.  I am deeply concerned about the long-term impact on our city if this trend continues, and believe we must more seriously examine how the policy choices we are making impact this growing economic divide. 

 

While there are global economic factors that contribute to this growing inequality, particularly in an economic center such as Manhattan, there are many ways in which the specific policy choices we make can either exacerbate or mediate these effects. In this and future bulletins I will be arguing for making policy choices at all levels of government that will reverse the growing inequality in our city, state and nation.

 

One particularly outrageous proposal that is still being floated at the federal level is the elimination of the estate tax.  Some members of Congress have been quite insistent that the timetable for voting on estate tax repeal not be delayed by the situation in New Orleans, though it is clear that we really need the $30 billion raised through this tax at this moment in time, particularly given that the cost of dealing with the disaster in New Orleans is already estimated at over $100 billion.  Because the estate tax falls only on the richest two percent of Americans, it is by far the most progressive tax we have, and eliminating it would only increase the disparity between rich and poor.  Congress must say no to this proposal, as a first small step toward recognizing that we must begin to address inequality rather than accepting it as inevitable.

 

One final point on taxes.  Many argue that high taxes are the cause of the declining middle class, but this argument flies in the face of all the demographic data.  In fact the decline of the middle class corresponds with the long-term decline in tax rates.  This should not be a surprise since the major beneficiaries of these tax cuts have been the wealthy.  Furthermore because these tax cuts undermine funding for education, job training and other programs that can provide entry to the middle class, they also reduce the possibilities for social mobility for the poor.  Until we recognize these realities we will not be able to begin to address growing economic inequality in Manhattan, New York, and the United States.

 

Of course, there are many other government policies that can alleviate or exacerbate economic inequality.  In upcoming bulletins I will discuss some of these issues, in an effort to encourage a broader conversation about what we should be doing to address this critical problem.

 

 

Community Spotlight

 

Information for Parents as School Begins:

Hopefully all has gone well with getting your kids off to school.  However, if you have questions or need assistance, there are a number of places you can turn.  Here are some useful phone numbers and websites to help you navigate the back to school process:

 

·         Region 9 Learning Support Center: 212-356-7500 

·         Region 9 Student Placement Office: 917-339-1758,-1754, -1703 

·         Department of School Zoning: 212-374-5426

·         InsideSchools.org is a great website for finding out information about specific schools and Department of Education policies, as well as for identifying a wide variety of resources for parents.

·         If you are looking for an afterschool program for your child, you can see what’s available in your area by going to the Partnership for Afterschool Education website at http://www.nonprofitmaps.org/netmaps/pase/paseMap.asp and indicating the type of program you are looking for.

 

Bellevue Child Care Center Offers Child Care 24 Hours A Day:
For parents who work nontraditional work hours, finding child care can be extremely difficult.  The Bellevue Child Care Center, which operates at Bellevue Hospital, offers child care 24 hours a day.  If you would like more information on their programs, call them at (212) 679-2393.
 
Opposing Efforts to Close the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Manhattan:

I urge you to join me at a hearing on the proposed closure of the Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital in Manhattan, located at 23rd Street and First Avenue.  I am strongly opposed to the closure of this facility, which is regarded as one of the best VA Hospitals in the country.  In addition, this location has allowed the VA Hospital to develop strong professional and academic relationships with surrounding institutions, particularly NYU Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital Center and their physicians to the benefit of VA patients.  Particularly at this time when we are asking soldiers to make such great sacrifices, we should not be cutting services to them when they return.  We allocate billions of dollars to the war effort, distribute reams of yellow ribbons and then hide the goal of hoping to realize millions of dollars from real-estate deals involving the Manhattan VA Hospital behind the veil of consolidating services for veterans. The veterans who have served our country and the enlisted men and women currently risking their lives in the Middle East deserve an honestly constructed plan to provide easily accessible, consistently high quality medical care—close to 500 of these recently wounded presently receive care at the Manhattan VA Hospital, with more expected each month. Returning wounded soldiers deserve the best health care we can provide and them must not be asked to shoulder additional burdens.  The hearing will take place on Monday, September 19, 2005.  The meeting will be held at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, 811 Seventh Ave at 53rd Street, from 8:30AM to 9:00PM, with opportunities for public comment from approximately 1:00PM. At 6:30PM.

 

Spotlight on Policy

 

Voting Machines

 

We are now in the heart of election season, and if New York State is to comply with the requirements of the Help America Vote Act, this will be the last election using the old lever machines that New York City has used for over 40 years.  However, since the state legislature passed legislation allowing each individual county to choose what kind of machine to use, it is still unclear what will take the old machines’ place.  We are left with the unfortunate situation wherein the Legislature punted difficult decisions to the county election commissioners.  I hope that the counties will show greater wisdom than the Legislature by adopting optical scanning technology, which studies have shown to be the most reliable voting technology currently available.

 

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA), a federal law that was passed in response to the 2000 Bush-Gore fiasco in Florida, requires all states to upgrade their election procedures by January 2006.  This includes updating voting machines, registration processes, and poll worker training to ensure fair elections at all levels.  Since New York has complied with the HAVA mandate, the state will receive close to $235 million in federal funding.  New York was the last state in the union to complete their HAVA legislation.  The package of legislation had languished in the Legislature for two years, but the body had no choice but to act now for fear of losing out on crucial federal dollars.

 

An initial step that county boards of election will have to take is to dispose of their aging lever-action machines that made their world debut at a demonstration in Lockport, NY in 1892.  Concurrently, the counties will have to choose between purchasing optical scanning voting machines, DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) systems, or some other voting technology.

 

A recent Johns Hopkins University report demonstrated how easily DRE machines could be manipulated without detection.  It was for this very reason that I introduced legislation that required all voting machines to have a voter-verified paper trail.  Voters would be able to visually confirm their vote by reviewing a printout under glass.  Additionally, it is critical that we acquire voting machines that have technology to make voting accessible for the disabled as well as for New Yorkers with limited proficiency in English.

 

In the final analysis, paper ballots marked on precinct-counted optical scanners are the most reliable, user friendly and cost-effective of the computer-based technologies available and they can be accompanied with various language options and ballot marking devices for people with disabilities. These machines are used in close to half of the counties across America and have the smallest occurrence of errors among all voting machines. Finally, Optical scanners cost half of what DRE machines cost and this will be welcomed by constituents and taxpayers.

 

One advantage of being “late adopters” of new voting technology is we can learn from the mistakes of others.  Miami-Dade County in Florida where the County Board of Elections was so dissatisfied with their three-year old, $24.5 million DRE machines that he has formally recommended switching to optical scanners. Maryland, and California have also reported significant problems with DRE’s.

 

While many elected officials have not been particularly straightforward about their position on the voting machine question, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has become an outspoken advocate for paperless elections.  Bloomberg was quoted recently in several New York City publications as being in support of technology without a paper trail.  It is unfortunate that Mayor Bloomberg is under the delusion that paperless voting technology is safe and sound.  The voter-verified paper trail is the only assurance that voters have that their vote was counted, and counted correctly.

 

We have an excellent opportunity to repair an aspect of the democratic process in which New Yorkers and many Americans have lost confidence.  If we can increase public confidence in elections, it will restore faith in the process and provide the support that will strengthen public policy initiatives, but if we fail to adopt a reliable voting system we will undermine support for our political system.  It is of the highest importance that county election commissioners recognize that New Yorkers deserve the best voting system available and the data clearly points to optical scanners a that system.