The American Federation of Teachers is touting in a digital and print advertising campaign the pension fund investment in the plan overhaul of LaGuardia Airport — a pet project of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the entity formed as one of the main vehicles for the project to renovate the sagging airport, includes the California State Teachers’ Retirement System as an investory.
The overhaul, as announced by Cuomo and Vice President Joe Biden this summer, is expected to cost $3.6 billion at Terminal B at the airport. The partners consortium is expected to finance $2 billion of the project, with $1 billion coming from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
“We wanted America to know that nurses, teachers and public workers across the country are investing in America—they are creating tens of thousands of good jobs by leveraging their pension assets and rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure—in addition to treating patients, teaching our kids and protecting our communities,” said AFT President Randi Weigarten. “This is solution-driven unionism. It proves what can happen when creative and innovative thinking is applied to America’s most pressing challenges, such as our crumbling infrastructure.”The ad campaign will be conducted through terminals A, B, C and D at the airport.
Cuomo's pet project getting jump-started with pension money from teachers after Cuomo promised to "break" public schools.
You just can't make this up.
The next time you see some jive from the AFT, NYSUT or UFT about fighting Cuomo, remember how they're helping him out with the pension fund.
I am speechless; a rare condition for me.
ReplyDeleteAbigail Shure
Crony capitalism and betrayal of teachers financial security so that Randi can curry personal favor with Cuomo. Preet Bharara, you are a stooge servicing crony capitalists.
ReplyDeleteSilence, passivity and justice delayed is tantamount to sustaining the Crony Capitalistic culture of Albany. Bharara' sin effectiveness is the real issue here. The question that we should all be asking is why Bharara has not indicted Cuomo using wiretaps and credible witnesses to support his indictment?
ReplyDeleteWave goodbye to those pension funds:
ReplyDeleteUndernews
NYC area sea levels could rise as much as six feet over next 75 years - *Climate Central - *LaGuardia Airport is about to be rebuilt in New York City, but by the end of the century, fish could be swimming where airplanes once p ... http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2015/11/nyc-area-sea-levels-could-rise-as-much.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+prorevfeed+%28UNDERNEWS%29
I'm not nearly as upset by this deal as others are, presuming it's appropriately structured to ensure the security of the investment and includes a reasonable rate of return.
ReplyDeleteOK, it's a project promoted by Cuomo. But anyone who has used LaGuardia during the last few years knows that it is a third-world airport and desperately needs to be rebuilt. I see no reason why the AFT should not invest in a project that will provide building trades unions with good jobs for their members for many years to come.
As to climate change and fishes on the runways, everything in the NYC flood zone will be affected by rising sea levels. One hopes that the planning and financing for the rebuilding of LaGuardia will include sufficient resources to keep the fishes out. Plus, Norm, you got any other suggestions about where to put a new airport in the NYC metropolitan area?
I would prefer if the AFT would invest in providing good jobs for teachers. Rahm is planning to lay off 5,000 teachers in Chicago. Has anyone heard anything from Randi about that? She used the same excuse of providing jobs for builders to invest in the Teacher Viilage in Newark comprised of charter schools and housing for TFA. Is Madoff around?
DeleteAbigail Shure
I doubt that there will be any charter schools popping up in Terminal B.
DeleteRandi,
ReplyDeleteYou can call Santa, Hillary Clinton's Chappaqua hair dresser to book an appointment ahead of th Democratic National Convention.
Thanks and Best Wishes,
Andrew C.
Solution driven unionism Weingarten likes to call it. How about Unions Driven into Dissolution by Vichy-Quisling "leadership" instead? She just can't do enou gh to support the enemies of public education.
ReplyDeleteAt some point we will need to realize that the disconnect between our unions' leadership and us, the membership, is OUR fault.
ReplyDelete"Oh but the next election is X months/years away..."
If we think our only recourse is via the established structures of voting etc, then we are doomed.
Doomed.
NYSUT, AFT, etc etc....their leadership....are our enemies.
Until we get that fight started, played out, and won, we will have no hope into the future.
It takes a village of apathetic, sheepish teachers to raise and keep Mulgrew and Weingarten as the leaders of the UFT and AFT,.
DeleteFor a history of the AFT using its pension fund to invest in infrastructure projects, see http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/aft-pension-fund-investing/
ReplyDelete