VTMBH Article: Body
Local housing, day care and school programs will be hit hard if Mayor Michael Bloomberg's budget is adopted. Bloomberg's proposal for 2003 includes huge cuts at most city agencies, leaving local organizations worried about their own funding and bracing for an even bigger workload. The cuts are designed to close a budget gap caused by the failing economy and exacerbated by the September 11th attacks. The mayor predicts the gap will be $4.8 billion, though several fiscal watchdogs claim the shortfall will be considerably lower.
<b>Housing takes biggest hit</b>
Under the proposal, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) would take the biggest hit of all city agencies, losing 26 percent of its funding.
West Bronx Housing, a local advocacy group that works with tenants and landlords, worries it could lose funding, since it gets about $25,000 directly from the city and an additional $40,000 from the federal government, administered through the city. "We're very vulnerable because we don't have private funding," said Sally Dunford, the agency's director. "They might decide to use the [federal] money for other uses. We're not sure if they're allowed to transfer that money. Right now, we just don't know."
Part of the agency?s cost-cutting would include scaling back legal aid to low-income tenants. "Those programs are critical for those folks," Dunford said. "The playing field for tenants is already very uneven and this will just make it worse."Dunford noted that the waiting list for housing-related legal services in the Bronx is already two to three months long. West Bronx Housing alone received 4,500 visits last year.
Housing activists, who dealt with heavy cuts during the Giuliani administration, were surprised by Bloomberg?s plan. "Ironically, this happened after Bloomberg spoke about housing and said that he supported more housing inspections," said John Reilly, of the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC), a nonprofit housing group that owns and manages about 70 buildings in the area.
Activists are concerned that cuts in rent assistance and tenant legal aid will lead to more evictions. "In a borough with so many people living so close to the poverty line, these cuts are a recipe for homelessness," Dunford said.
<b>Youth services at risk</b>
Day care seats and after-school programs are also not spared, as the budget proposal cuts 17 percent from the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) and 19 percent from the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD).
FBHC is worried about a component of the budget that would eliminate expansion of day care slots. The city had agreed to provide a total of 66 new slots to two of the organization's day care programs, but neither contract was finalized. "We don?t know if we fall into what would be proposed for the next fiscal year, whether the cuts are intended for future seats or are already approved seats," Reilly said. The move would affect local working parents who rely on these subsidized programs for affordable day care.
Working parents would also suffer from cuts to after-school programs, often used as a form of day care in addition to their educational opportunities. Due to cutbacks at DYCD, between 100 and 125 after school programs would be eliminated, estimated Michelle Yanche, staff director at the nonprofit Neighborhood Family Services Coalition. The city would save $11 million by dropping the After Three and Virtual Y after-school programs, but lose thousands of after-school seats, which were already scaled back last year due to Board of Education cuts.
About $2.1 million in city funding would be cut from the Summer Youth Employment Program, which provides jobs to low-income teens. The move would affect about 2,000 jobs, out of a total of 50,000. "It's not statistically significant, but in terms of the cost to their families and their community, that's very significant," Yanche said. The budget cuts come at a time when Governor Pataki is proposing a $10 million cut in state funding for the same program for 2003.
<b>No stone unturned</b>
Other cuts in the Bloomberg budget include: sanitation by 13 percent; aging by 16 percent; libraries by 15 percent; and homeless services by 19 percent. Police and schools suffered smaller cuts of seven percent each.
But education activists say the seven percent is too much, considering the huge cuts last year after a decrease in state funding and cost overruns by the Board of Education. Last year?s budget problems forced the Board of Education to slash construction and repair projects as well as after-school programs.
"I'm particularly concerned about education because we already don?t have enough money for our schools," said City Councilmen Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx). "It will be a disaster for our children."
Ronn Jordan, a local education activist, wants the city to find alternatives. "I don't think it's an appropriate cut," he said. "Education is always the sacrificial lamb when we start talking about budget."
Jordan thinks the city should look to the federal government for school construction funds, or find other ways to bring money to schools, such as bringing back the commuter tax. "If you really believe that education is important, then you have to start creating things."
<b>Future uncertain</b>
For now, non-profit groups and city agencies are waiting for the City Council to review the budget and for a final breakdown of which programs will be affected.
Local leaders suspect the poor will feel the burden of the cuts more than any other group. "There will be more hungry people and more people that can't pay the rent," said Larry Gadson, an organizer with the advocacy group People Are Not Satisfied. In turn, services at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, housing groups and other assistance centers will be in even greater demand, Gadson said.
All the groups expressed some optimism that the city council would restore some of the cuts. Koppell said the picture is not as grim as it seems. "The mayor is more pessimistic than warranted," he said. "I think he's being very conservative in his spending plan. Also, he is not focusing on efficiently getting more money from federal and state sources."
The City Council, which must approve the final plan and come to an agreement with the mayor by June, began holding budget hearings this week.
<b>Housing takes biggest hit</b>
Under the proposal, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) would take the biggest hit of all city agencies, losing 26 percent of its funding.
West Bronx Housing, a local advocacy group that works with tenants and landlords, worries it could lose funding, since it gets about $25,000 directly from the city and an additional $40,000 from the federal government, administered through the city. "We're very vulnerable because we don't have private funding," said Sally Dunford, the agency's director. "They might decide to use the [federal] money for other uses. We're not sure if they're allowed to transfer that money. Right now, we just don't know."
Part of the agency?s cost-cutting would include scaling back legal aid to low-income tenants. "Those programs are critical for those folks," Dunford said. "The playing field for tenants is already very uneven and this will just make it worse."Dunford noted that the waiting list for housing-related legal services in the Bronx is already two to three months long. West Bronx Housing alone received 4,500 visits last year.
Housing activists, who dealt with heavy cuts during the Giuliani administration, were surprised by Bloomberg?s plan. "Ironically, this happened after Bloomberg spoke about housing and said that he supported more housing inspections," said John Reilly, of the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC), a nonprofit housing group that owns and manages about 70 buildings in the area.
Activists are concerned that cuts in rent assistance and tenant legal aid will lead to more evictions. "In a borough with so many people living so close to the poverty line, these cuts are a recipe for homelessness," Dunford said.
<b>Youth services at risk</b>
Day care seats and after-school programs are also not spared, as the budget proposal cuts 17 percent from the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) and 19 percent from the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD).
FBHC is worried about a component of the budget that would eliminate expansion of day care slots. The city had agreed to provide a total of 66 new slots to two of the organization's day care programs, but neither contract was finalized. "We don?t know if we fall into what would be proposed for the next fiscal year, whether the cuts are intended for future seats or are already approved seats," Reilly said. The move would affect local working parents who rely on these subsidized programs for affordable day care.
Working parents would also suffer from cuts to after-school programs, often used as a form of day care in addition to their educational opportunities. Due to cutbacks at DYCD, between 100 and 125 after school programs would be eliminated, estimated Michelle Yanche, staff director at the nonprofit Neighborhood Family Services Coalition. The city would save $11 million by dropping the After Three and Virtual Y after-school programs, but lose thousands of after-school seats, which were already scaled back last year due to Board of Education cuts.
About $2.1 million in city funding would be cut from the Summer Youth Employment Program, which provides jobs to low-income teens. The move would affect about 2,000 jobs, out of a total of 50,000. "It's not statistically significant, but in terms of the cost to their families and their community, that's very significant," Yanche said. The budget cuts come at a time when Governor Pataki is proposing a $10 million cut in state funding for the same program for 2003.
<b>No stone unturned</b>
Other cuts in the Bloomberg budget include: sanitation by 13 percent; aging by 16 percent; libraries by 15 percent; and homeless services by 19 percent. Police and schools suffered smaller cuts of seven percent each.
But education activists say the seven percent is too much, considering the huge cuts last year after a decrease in state funding and cost overruns by the Board of Education. Last year?s budget problems forced the Board of Education to slash construction and repair projects as well as after-school programs.
"I'm particularly concerned about education because we already don?t have enough money for our schools," said City Councilmen Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx). "It will be a disaster for our children."
Ronn Jordan, a local education activist, wants the city to find alternatives. "I don't think it's an appropriate cut," he said. "Education is always the sacrificial lamb when we start talking about budget."
Jordan thinks the city should look to the federal government for school construction funds, or find other ways to bring money to schools, such as bringing back the commuter tax. "If you really believe that education is important, then you have to start creating things."
<b>Future uncertain</b>
For now, non-profit groups and city agencies are waiting for the City Council to review the budget and for a final breakdown of which programs will be affected.
Local leaders suspect the poor will feel the burden of the cuts more than any other group. "There will be more hungry people and more people that can't pay the rent," said Larry Gadson, an organizer with the advocacy group People Are Not Satisfied. In turn, services at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, housing groups and other assistance centers will be in even greater demand, Gadson said.
All the groups expressed some optimism that the city council would restore some of the cuts. Koppell said the picture is not as grim as it seems. "The mayor is more pessimistic than warranted," he said. "I think he's being very conservative in his spending plan. Also, he is not focusing on efficiently getting more money from federal and state sources."
The City Council, which must approve the final plan and come to an agreement with the mayor by June, began holding budget hearings this week.