More On The Differences Between Mr. Bloomberg & Me*

Our Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg is part of the problem and so far, even the advice of progressive thinker Andrea Batista Schlesigner (who started work for the Bloomberg campaign this past week) has not refocused him. Will falling poll numbers wake him?

Earlier this week Mr. Bloomberg -- in a move that marks him as a principled disciple of Mr. Bush -- refused to allow 13-14,000 (in my book a large number) of very low income New Yorkers access to food stamps unless they were enrolled in a NYC-run work experience project In my opionion, keeping food from these people is not just cruel (and it is cruel), it's dumb.

As reported in Julie Bosman's excellent NY Times article:

While cities and states are allowed under the stimulus provision to require participation in such workfare programs, advocates for the poor decried the policy as unwise and counterproductive, particularly as the recession swells the ranks of the jobless who need help buying groceries.

“They are wasting city funds to force people to do sometimes ‘make-work’ jobs in order to get fully funded federal benefits,” said Joel Berg, the executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

“Saying that in order to get a measly portion of food you have to work extra hours just doesn’t seem like a way to promote economic growth and promote self-sufficiency,” he added.

City Councilman Bill de Blasio, a Brooklyn Democrat and chairman of the General Welfare Committee, said in a statement on Tuesday, “Instead of putting hungry New Yorkers on a path out of poverty, the city is placing them in unpaid jobs before they can receive federal food aid they would be entitled to anyway.”(bold added by me)

Mr. Bloomberg has taken this position firmly for years. Linda Gibbs, who I think knows better, has defended it as did her HRA Commissioner Robert Doar by saying essentially -- Arbeit Macht Frie. "The mayor “believes in sending a message that work is the best way to escape poverty,” Mr. Doar explained without any sense of how that comes across. (You don't recognize the German phrase? You could look it up.)

State Senator Liz Kreuger, a long time advocate for lower income New Yorkers expressed the outrage that many of us close to these issues felt:

“I applaud the President and Congress for increasing Food Stamp benefits as part of their efforts to jump start our economy and help states like New York deal with our severe economic burdens,” said Senator Krueger. “As food prices soar and the economy plummets, we need to use every option available to maximize benefits and support hungry New Yorkers.” Food Stamp benefits are 100% federally funded and are the most successful economic stimulus program available — every $1 in Food Stamps translates into over $1.70 in economic activity in our local economy immediately.

However, under out-dated Federal rules, able bodied adults without children, who are willing to meet Food Stamp Program work requirements but cannot find sufficient employment or available training slots, cannot continue to receive food stamps for more than three months per year, unless the locality applies for a federal waiver. New York City does not currently use its option as a high unemployment jurisdiction to participate in this federal waiver program.

“It makes absolutely no sense for New York City to decline to participate in the federal waiver program,” said Senator Krueger. “The program costs the City no money and is a proven tool for stimulating economic growth. If New York City sticks to its outdated policy then New York’s hungry will continue to suffer and our economic crisis could very well be prolonged. Clearly in today’s economy it is unrealistic to expect every unemployed adult to find work within a three month period. These adults are not trying to avoid work, they just can’t find jobs in today’s economy.”

The Gotham Gazette carried her full statement and Richard Kim writing in The Nation Blog, "the Notion" under the headline Bloomberg: Wrong Mayor, Wrong City, Wrong Time concludes with a paragraph I commend to your attention:

I love NYC. (If I knew how to make a little heart sign in the last sentence, I would.) It's been my home for most of my life, and I'm convinced it needs a new mayor for a new moment. Not someone who represents the FIRE industries (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate), throws around lavish bonuses to his supporters and buys off the city's political elite with his foundation's cash. Right now, NYC needs a mayor for all of us--for the boroughs, for the poor, for the working class and the strivers and laborers and artists, musicians and writers who have made the Big Apple the best place on earth.

(Some of us who see the problem very close up, suspect that HRA is not really in condition to impose on the ground the cruel and irrational policy which Mr. Bloomberg espouses. A number of people who, in Mr. Bloomberg's paradise should be working for no pay, escape notice by an overwhelmed system.)

*The first column in this series, addressing what I take to be Mr. Bloomberg's racist police "stop and frisk policy," appears in The Daily Gotham which you may read if Liza ever gets the site back up & running. The Title is a joke for long-time leftists.

Solidarity Fornever? DisUnite-There? Updated

Have you have heard about the dispute which has broken into public view between the Bruce Raynor and John Wilhelm the leaders of Unite-Here?. The several-years old merger of clothing workers (UNITE) and hotel & restaurant workers (HERE) seems to be breaking a part in a way in which only employers will rejoice. Mr. Raynor and elected leaders from the Unite portion have begun suing to break up the merger (See also a Chicago Sun- Times article here) because, as I understand it, they control only a minority of the executive board of the merged union.

Update: I've reviewed a Unite-side prepared critique of Here organizing and spending. In general, it accuses Here of wild spending and failing to win members. That document was probably a source for Steven Greenhouse's NY Times article (first hotlink above) and Bruce Raynor's HuffPost post, below. It's a hell of a document. I will talk to Unite-side allies and reach out to Here. Also see, fyi, David Moberg's low-key report in The Nation .

As Juan Gonzales explains in the Daily News on Friday a big prize is the union-owned Amalgamated Bank profits from which finance Unite-Here. Mr. Raynor, it is said, has manipulated the Amalgamated Bank board to keep control of it – even if – as is expected, he loses control of the merged union at its convention in June.

I grew up in a leftist home and always strongly identified myself with the labor movement. I’ve been personally active helping to organize labor unions at places I’ve worked and on behalf of employee rights. I steadily answer the call of labor unions for their support. Therefore, I have the right and the standing to demand a better explanation than we’ve been getting from the leaders of Unite-Here about their dispute. I’ve known, liked and respected many people who’ve worked for both parts of the union (indeed, in the past, I’ve known both Mr. Raynor and Mr. Wilhelm slightly). But at present, it seems to me both union leaders are sabotaging their union. This stinks. Those of us who respond to the call of organized labor again and again deserve better than the explanations we've so far been given by these two. Of course, the participants don't think this is an ego-driven power struggle.

You can read some of Mr. Raynor’s thoughts about this in his recent Huff-post post and some about Mr. Wilhelm’s here . If this is more than a battle of egos I cannot see it.

Am I addicted to blogging?

So it appears. The group blog at which I have regularly posted, The Daily Gotham, (a largely leftish view of New York City politics and some culture) has been down for maintenance and upgrade. Impatient, and bored after revising some remarkably mindless, yet detailed, legal documents, I thought I'd try writing on my lonesome as well as with the posse. This way, when subjects well off the beaten track of The Daily Gotham came to pen or keyboard, I could post them here. My current plan, if it rises to that is to blog here and cross post the more political and or NYC items to the Daily Gotham. Other material (more literary junk, old testament musings) I'll keep here.