Archive for April, 2008

BALCONY and the NYU Wagner Alumni Association Present:

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

How New York’s Political Scandals Impact Elections

A RETROSPECTIVE ON THE EVENTS WHICH CHANGED NYC GOVERNMENT IN THE 1980’S
FEATURING THE DOCUMENTARY “ON THE MERITS”

Wednesday April 30th
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The Puck Building
295 Lafayette Street, 2nd Fl., NYC

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION: EVENT

Cleveland E. Beckett, Jr., Maureen McManus, and the Directors of the Wagner Alumni Association invite you to:

HOW NEW YORK’S POLITICAL SCANDALS IMPACT ELECTIONS
A RETROSPECTIVE ON THE EVENTS WHICH CHANGED NYC GOVERNMENT IN THE 1980’S
FEATURING THE DOCUMENTARY “ON THE MERITS”

Wednesday April 30th
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The Puck Building
295 Lafayette Street, 2nd Fl., NYC

Moderator:
Dominic Carter, Political Anchor, New York 1

Panelists:
Arthur Cheliotes, President, CWA Local 1180
Wayne Barrett, Columnist, The Village Voice
William Cunningham, former Communications Director, Mayor Mike Bloomberg
Lou Gordon, Director BALCONY

Cleveland E. Beckett, Jr., Maureen McManus, and the Directors of the Wagner Alumni Association invite you to

Join the NYU Wagner Alumni Association and BALCONY, the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, for the 20th anniversary forum on the changing of the guard in mayoral politics. The evening will feature wine and cheese and a screening of “On the Merits: Patronage, Politics and the Civil Service in New York,” narrated by Ed Asner. The viewing of On the Merits, a 30 minute film produced by CWA Local 1180, will be followed by a retrospective discussion featuring the key players and observers in the final days of the Koch era.

TICKETS:

Regular: $40 for film/forum
Premium: $65 for film/forum and a copy of Dominic Carter’s “No Mamma’s Boy,”

All proceeds from the event will benefit the NYU Wagner Annual Fund.

Limited seating.

To reserve tickets online, please visit: wineparty

Co-Payments Soar for Drugs With High Prices

By Gina Kolata

Health insurance companies are rapidly adopting a new pricing system for very expensive drugs, asking patients to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for prescriptions for medications that may save their lives or slow the progress of serious diseases.

With the new pricing system, insurers abandoned the traditional arrangement that has patients pay a fixed amount, like $10, $20 or $30 for a prescription, no matter what the drug’s actual cost. Instead, they are charging patients a percentage of the cost of certain high-priced drugs, usually 20 to 33 percent, which can amount to thousands of dollars a month.

PEF members overwhelmingly ratify contract with state

The NY State Public Employees Federation (PEF) members overwhelmingly ratify contract with state.

ALBANY, NY — In a landslide vote of 34,758 to 1,214 –a 96.63 percent approval rating –members of the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) today approved a four-year contract with the state. It was the highest number of votes ever cast for a new contract.

The highlights of the agreement include a 3 percent salary increase retroactive to April 2, 2007, and a 3 percent raise retroactive to April 1, 2008. It also includes another 3 percent salary increase effective April 1, 2009 and a 4 percent raise effective April 1, 2010.

The votes were counted by the American Arbitration Association in New York City this afternoon where it was ratified overwhelmingly in every region of the state by between 93 and 98 percent. Nearly two-thirds of the members voted.

“This contract was extremely popular with our members as exemplified by the vote,” said PEF President Ken Brynien. “The contract addresses the needs of our members today and in the future. The state clearly recognizes the value of public employees and the services they provide.”

The new pact includes a health insurance package with additional benefits and modest co-pay increases, extension of educational programs, and cost-of-living increases for members who live in high-cost areas of the state.

The agreement was reached in nine months, as compared to the 19-month bargaining stretch it took to negotiate the previous agreement.

PEF is the state’s second-largest state-employee union, representing 58,000 professional, scientific and technical employees.

Governor says thanks for all you do

David Paterson returned some learning — with interest — to a convention hall full of educators Friday.

Quoting Plutarch, the new governor said, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited.”

Looking over the sea of delegates, the product of Hempstead public schools tried to recall when he learned that quote. “Seventh or eighth grade. I can’t remember.”

That drew laughs, as did a number of Paterson lines.

Paterson brings to the job “experience, intelligence, expertise and a special talent for simple humor as a means to an end,” said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi in introducing the Harlem native to the RA.

Whether quoting Plutarch and Al Shanker or drawing examples from education funding levels in a newly enacted state budget, Gov. Paterson, whose mother was a teacher in PS

116 in Jamaica, Queens, addressed an enthusiastic audience.

“Thank you for the way you have conducted yourselves in the classroom,” he said. “Thank you for all you have done for students …Thank you for all the time you contribute to education off the clock.”

Then the governor recited the names of his teachers, grade by grade, with a nod also to the support staff, cafeteria workers and bus drivers who contributed to his education.

In the budget, Paterson noted, there were agency cuts across the board, yet the state was able to make a record increase of 8.9 percent in education funding.

Next year, Paterson vowed, “We have to extend the same priority to higher ed.” The state should work to de-couple the higher ed funding system from state agency budgets, which took across-the-board cuts this year, Paterson said. Higher ed should have its own endowment fund so money will be there even in lean revenue years.

Education funding takes priority, Paterson argued, because of the need to fulfill potential. He used as an example a Puerto Rican girl who may today be living in the South Bronx. Maybe, said Paterson, the cure for cancer is “stuck in her brain,” and it’s up to public schools to “give her the skills and training to go out and change the world.”

The governor took note of the political discourse about accountability in recent weeks. Paterson opposed the tenure changes proposed by New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein “because of its restrictiveness … it doesn’t recognize what is really the inheritance of a teacher when they come to a classroom” — the backgrounds of the students.

“Children cannot be standardized,” he said. “Teachers cannot be homogenized. A system that has accountability has to take into account the individual duty that each one performs.”

With an Eye on Connecticut, Filmmakers Get a Tax Break in New York

By Lisa W. Foderaro

After watching neighboring states raise their film tax credits to lure film production, New York State has moved to triple its tax incentive — to 30 percent — under the budget approved this week by the State Legislature.

State and county officials, as well as representatives of the film industry, cheered the increase, saying it put New York back in the running with Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and other states that had expanded their film incentives. The proposed tax credit would become law when Gov. David A. Paterson signs the budget, which he is expected to do.

Pulling Apart in New York: An Analysis of Income Trends in New York State.

The gap between New York’s wealthy and poor is still the widest in the nation.

New York has the dubious distinction of having the widest income gap between the rich and the poor of all 50 states, according to this report released by FPI in conjunction with a national study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute. The report also shows that inequality in New York City is even more extreme than in the state as a whole.

Click here to read the press release from the Fiscal Policy Institute. Press Release

Click here to download the full (PDF file) report. Report

Budget built on borrowing, fees

$121.7B spending plan also depends on taxes and one-time revenues

By James M. Odato, Capitol bureau

ALBANY — Lawmakers completed a $121.7 billion state budget Wednesday that includes substantial borrowing and that budget critics say is precariously balanced on one-time revenues and more than $1 billion in increased taxes and fees.

The budget raises spending 4.9 percent from the $116 billion spent last year.

The Legislature and Gov. David Paterson agreed to split $1.28 billion for big-ticket items that will likely be supported through bonds, including $46 million for the proposed Advanced Micro Devices chip fab in Malta.

Fixing state’s antiquated sewers is a $50 billion nightmare

By Fred Lebrun

When the term “crumbling infrastructure” comes up in connection with cities in old Rust Belt states like New York, don’t think of roads, think of sewers. Not a delicate thought perhaps, but on point.

Many of the sewer systems in our state were constructed back when little regard was given to keeping pollution out of rivers. Combined sewer and storm water systems that can overflow and put pure sewage into our rivers are common in our region to this day, and appalling. They are totally out of keeping with our modern sense of good public health and environmentalism, not to mention out of compliance with the federal Clean Water Act. It’s got to change. The feds are onto us.

Sheldon Silver is a hero for standing up to bully Michael Bloomberg

Shelly Silver of Grand St. on the lower East Side is a New York hero.

If you listen to the ravings of Michael Bloomberg and his powerful friends, Assembly Speaker Silver trampled democracy, promoted pollution and crippled the future of our transit system by killing the mayor’s congestion tax.

Don’t swallow such nonsense.

Taxpayers should erect a statue to Silver for standing up – once again – to Bloomberg’s relentless bullying and vote-buying.

Legislators Balk at Tying Teacher Tenure to Student Tests

By Danny Hakim and Jeremy W. Peters

ALBANY — In the latest rebuke to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s agenda, state lawmakers have decided to bar student test scores from being considered when teacher tenure determinations are made.

Legislators said the move was the final detail negotiated as part of the budget, which they expect to complete on Wednesday. It was a setback to efforts by the mayor and former Gov. Eliot Spitzer to hold teachers accountable by using student performance data, and a boon for the teachers’ unions, which hold enormous influence over the political process in the capital.