Cuomo, Legislature Destroy State Pension Funds

New Jersey here we come:

ALBANY—State lawmakers are moving ahead with a plan to defer more than $1 billion in pension payments over the next five years, arguing it will help them hold the line on spending increases even as critics warn of long-term risks.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, proposed another five years of “pension amortization” in his proposed $141.6 billion budget, the state's most recent financial plan shows. He's continuing to utilize a program first enacted in 2010, when the state government and municipalities were socked with a spike in required pension obligations to make up for stock market losses related to the 2008 stock market crash.

In New York, public employee pensions are paid from a handful of funds managed by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. (A separate fund handles teacher pensions.) Employers—a village, county, or the state itself—are required to pay a contribution that is inversely related with the fund's performance, rising after years when the $181.7 billion fund posts a piddling return.

The amortization program lets them defer a portion of their bills and pay them back over 10 years, at interest rates between 3 percent and 5 percent, a move critics say is akin to borrowing. Dozens of municipalities have used the program, holding their short-term costs down to prevent tax hikes or reductions in other services.

The state has deferred $3.2 billion in payments since 2011, and was set to stop borrowing this year. The budget division reversed course in October, after DiNapoli's office announced it was adjusting the way contributions are calculated to reflect longer lifespans.

Cuomo's spending proposal includes another five years of amortization, including $395.1 million in the upcoming fiscal year. Members of both the State Senate and Assembly accepted the idea in their one-house budget resolutions.

So what's the problem with this plan?

This:

Critics said there was no reason to borrow the money this year because the state has gathered a $5.4 billion cash surplus from one-time settlements with major financial institutions.

Elizabeth Lynam, director of state studies for the Citizens Budget Commission, said use of the program was no longer warranted.

“It's a bad idea,” she said. “Anything we do to postpone payment, to defer payment, puts those funds in jeopardy. New York is a bright spot—we're pretty well funded—and we don't want to start down the slippery slope to a situation like New Jersey or Illinois where we don't have the funds to meet our obligations.”

And this:

The C.B.C., a business-backed group, estimated that the state's deferrals have already resulted in $144 million in interest costs. That figure will run to $780 million if the borrowing continues.

They're setting up where pensions are going to cost a lot more than they would if they just made the pension payments rather than deferring them and paying nearly a billion dollars in interest.

You can bet we'll hear in about five to ten years how pension costs have skyrocketed, funding ratios have plummeted and cuts will need to be made to existing and future pensions in order to handle the shortfalls.

That's the goal behind this plan from Cuomo - to manufacture a "pension crisis" and force drastic cuts to the pension system in future years.

And our "friends" in the legislature are happily going along with it.

Vallone Scholarship Back For CUNY Students

This is great news:

Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and a slew of elected officials announced today the restoration of the CUNY Merit-Based Scholarship Program, formerly known as the Peter Vallone scholarship.

In the new city budget, the City Council allocated $11.1 million into the program that will provide merit-based scholarships to New York City high school student graduates who are able to maintain a B average and above at City University of New York schools. The program will start in the fall of 2014 and will grant first-year students $400 dollars per semester for supplies, textbooks and other expenses.

The scholarship was named after the former longtime speaker of the City Council, Peter Vallone, father of current Councilman Paul Vallone. Ms. Mark-Viverito, an alumnus of a Baruch College graduate program, celebrated the restoration of the scholarship after her predecessor, Christine Quinn, cut funding to it.

“The CUNY Merit Scholarship represents our commitment today to our city’s tomorrow by providing $11.1 million to reward graduates for their hard work and academic achievement and to connect them with the support and resources they need to succeed,” she said.

Christine Quinn cut the scholarship completely in retaliation against Vallone because he had pissed her off.

She also cut funding for senior citizen centers because a council member didn't thank her in a P.R. release.

There is just not enough bad stuff that can happen to Christine Quinn.

That the current council speak and council has brought the Vallone Scholarship back is very, very good news for CUNY students.

It's also very, very good news that Christine Quinn got hammered in the 2013 election and is no longer in power.

Cutting the Vallone Scholarship to retaliate against Peter Vallone Jr. was a shitty thing to do and something I will never forget or let Quinn live down so long as I can type.

Cuomo: No Raises For Human Services Workers For Sixth Straight Year So That Rich People Can Get A Tax Cut

There's a special level in hell for a governor who operates this way:

ALBANY, N.Y. — The Cuomo administration has proposed keeping pay flat for the sixth straight year for caretakers of the disabled and others at state-funded nonprofits.

Most Assembly members, in response, have signed a letter calling for the 2 percent cost-of-living increase in the final negotiated budget for the next fiscal year. They say that continuing the already low pay forces many staff to work unsafe amounts of overtime or take second jobs.

Advocates say that also erodes care for the vulnerable people in the nonprofits' group homes and programs because of attrition and turnover.

"In a perfect world people should get a raise when they deserve a raise. It's not a perfect world. It's not a perfect economy," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. "We're trying to reduce costs for the state. We're trying to spur the economy. Would it be nice if everybody got a raise every year? Yes."

The administration estimates saving $76 million by deferring the 2 percent increase for human services workers, part of its effort to keep overall state spending increases annually below 2 percent. It will affect about 5,200 community-based programs operated by nonprofits in the statewide service system for mental hygiene, according to the Budget Division.

The administration's longer-term financial plan currently assumes adding raises the following three years.

Oh, but I'm sure there will be an issue next year too and the raises Cuomo planned for in next year's budget will have to be cancelled as well.

How bad is it for these workers?

This bad:

Allison Sesso, deputy executive director of the Human Services Council, said they don't know how many workers are affected statewide, but it's in the thousands and ranges from cooks to social workers in a profession where few people make more than $40,000 a year.

Tiffany Williams, 34, a housing specialist for Barrier Free Living, which finds housing for disabled clients in New York City, said she's been working there 10 years, had one raise in the last five years and makes $39,000 before taxes. Between helping clients, paperwork and limited staffing, she said work weeks can go 80 hours. "I'm in a rented room. I cannot afford an apartment. ConEd went up 20 percent. I try to let my clients know I'm going through the same thing."

The truth is, Cuomo cares nothing for these people - either the disabled and elderly getting the care or the human services workers taking care of them.

All he cares about is making sure his rich friends and donors get tax cuts so that he can run on that platform in 2016.

NYCDOE Chancellor Announcement Not Coming This Week - But De Blasio Did Appoint Former Goldman Sachs Employee To Administration Post

De Blasio: "Very likely" to announce Chancellor next week. "There will be some interim leadership... until new chancellor fully on board"
— Beth Fertig (@bethfertig) December 23, 2013

No chancellor announcement, but de Blasio did appoint a former employee of Goldman Sachs, the Vampire Squid of Wall Street, as a deputy mayor for urban affairs:

For all his campaign bluster against the two cities New York has become, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio isn't exactly shying away from some of the people who helped make it that way. This morning, the mayor-elect announced that Alicia Glen will serve as Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, a newly created position that will aim to make housing more affordable, as well create living-wage jobs for New Yorkers.

"We need to invest in key emerging industries and affordable housing so New Yorkers have a better shot at working their way into the middle class. Alicia has the record, fresh ideas and bold outlook to make that vision a reality,” said de Blasio at this morning's press conference.

De Blasio discussed Glen's vast experience, but mostly skirted the topic of Glen's last position, as the head of Goldman Sachs's Urban Investment Group.

While at Goldman, Glen worked with the Bloomberg administration on the public-private partnerships that Bloomberg championed throughout his reign. In her speech this morning, Glen told the crowd that "we can’t remain the greatest city in the world when half of New Yorkers are living in or near poverty. We can do so much more to lift people up by investing in our neighborhoods—especially in the outer boroughs."

Here is a description of one high profile piece of Alicia Glen's previous work at Goldman:

Goldman Sachs is making its second foray into an experimental method of financing social services, lending up to $4.6 million for a childhood education program in Salt Lake City.

This “social impact bond,” in which Goldman stands to make money if the program is successful but will lose its investment if it fails, will support a preschool program intended to reduce the need for special education and remedial services. The upshot, in theory, is that taxpayers will not have to bear the upfront cost of the program.

Goldman is being joined in this effort by the Chicago investor J.B. Pritzker, who is providing a subordinate loan of up to $2.4 million, bringing the total financing to $7 million. The loans will be announced at an event in Chicago on Thursday.

“Social impact bonds are an entirely new way of financing things that have traditionally been paid for either through philanthropy or by taxpayer dollars,” said Alicia Glen, head of Goldman’s urban investment group.

Though the effectiveness of this type of financing remains unproved, it has gained a prominent adherent in New York City, which allowed Goldman to invest nearly $10 million in a jail program last year. The city was the first in the United States to test social impact bonds.

For Goldman, which could gain a public-relations benefit from the investment, Salt Lake City has become an important business center. The city is home to Goldman’s second-largest office in the United States, and the Wall Street firm held its annual meeting there in May.

The loans are going to the United Way of Salt Lake, which oversees the Utah High Quality Preschool Program. The investment’s success will be measured by the level of cost savings when children do not need to use special education services, which are financed by the state.

The loans carry an interest rate of 5 percent, which is paid along with the principal if the program is successful. In the best case, Goldman and Mr. Pritzker would make additional “success fees.”

“We’re creating something sustainable that has a focus on returns,” Mr. Pritzker said. “This titillates my interest in business and engages me.”

This type of financing, which was first used in Britain in 2010, has raised eyebrows. Data on the New York investment, focused on men incarcerated at Rikers Island, is not yet available.

“I think it’s distressing the degree to which a new industry has been built around social impact bonds before it’s ever been proven viable,” said Mark Rosenman, a professor emeritus at Union Institute and University in Cincinnati. “We ought to work it to fruition in a couple places before we start promoting it.”

Ah yes - creating financial instruments so that Goldman can makes bets on students who need support services, giving the program the incentive to find ways to "demonstrate" the children do not need these services.

Boy, that sounds like there could be no down side there.

And who helped come up with this new scheme but Alicia Glen, Bill de Blasio's new Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development.

Maybe I'm just cynical, but it sounds to me like de Blasio just appointed the scum of the earth to be a deputy mayor.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Bloomberg Leaves Homeless Families Out In The Cold

This is indefensible:

Families seeking refuge on frigid winter nights were once guaranteed a place in the city’s shelters.

Not anymore.

Homeless advocates and elected officials are accusing the Bloomberg administration of turning families away from shelter when the temperature plunges below freezing.

Take Junior Clarke, 23, and his family. The dad said city workers told him to leave the Bronx PATH Center — an intake hub for families — during a cold snap last month.

“They tried to send us outside into the cold,” said Clarke, 23, who was with his his wife, Kaneesha, 23, and 4-year-old daughter, Janiah. “They threatened to have us thrown out by police.”

The city historically invoked “code blue” status when the temperature dipped below freezing, easing shelter restrictions to get people indoors.

It’s not clear when, exactly, the city altered its policy and started enforcing rules requiring some shelter residents to prove they have nowhere else to go — even on cold winter nights.

Homeless advocates first noticed the policy change this winter due to the long stretch of bitter cold.

Department of Homeless Services spokeswoman Barbara Brancaccio refused to answer questions about when the policy changed — or why. She failed to return multiple phone calls made over a week and refused to grant an interview with Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond, who did not respond to emailed questions.

Instead, Brancaccio sent a vague statement that said all families applying for shelter for the first time are given a bed — but returning families have to meet city criteria. “For reapplications, we take into account weather conditions, and we work to ensure that applicants who have alternate living situations do not take up beds that are needed by those who truly have no recourse,” Brancaccio’s statement said.

Asked for clarification, she sent the statement again.

The Clarkes were considered reapplicants when they showed up at the center Jan. 22. They stayed in shelter for 10 days in 2008 after being thrown out of his mother-in-law’s Suffolk County home, Junior Clarke said. The family had returned to the center because they were kicked out of a rented room after falling behind on rent, Clarke said. He lost his job as an EMT in December.

At PATH, shelter workers told him to go back to his mother-in-law’s house. Clarke told them the family wasn’t welcome.

“They tried to make us leave and we refused,” Clarke said. “You know some people leave, walk away and go sleep on the train with their families.”

The temperature dropped to a low of 13 degrees that day, according to AccuWeather.com.

Clarke, who grew up in Queens, reached out to The Legal Aid Society and paralegal Christina Schrum-Herrera convinced intake workers to give the family a place to stay for the night.

“How many families did we not intervene for?” Schrum-Herrera asked. “There are a lot more families who weren’t placed because the city no longer has the code blue policy.”

The change also got the attention of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilwoman Annabel Palma (D-Bronx) who sent a letter to Diamond last month. “We are deeply concerned about DHS’ current practice of denying some families overnight placement during extreme weather,” they wrote.

Patrick Markee, senior policy analyst with the Coalition for the Homeless, said his agency began noticing that families were being turned away this year. He said the city was evasive with his agency but eventually acknowledged the code blue policy was changed last winter. “The fact that city officials refuse to admit they changed their ‘code blue’ policy for families seeking shelter only underlines how misguided and dangerous it is to turn children and parents into the streets on freezing cold nights,” Markee said.

Jacqueline Barnett, 45, said she was also turned away on Jan. 22 when she and her 3-year-old daughter, Jeanai, showed up at the Bronx center.

Barnett, who said it was too cold to leave with her daughter, called the coalition for help and was placed in a Sheepshead Bay shelter. “It is really, really shameful that they would turn people away,” she said. “Even a dog is due respect.”

Actually in Bloomberg's New York, the respect you are due is in direct proportion to the money you have.

No money, no respect.

No money, no home.

And if you don't like it, you can go live in some Socialistic country where they actually take care of people and give families with children a warm place to stay when it's 13 degrees outside.

 

Michael Bloomberg is an evil, evil man.

Where Did Bloomberg Get The Layoff Number?

Moneybags announced 4,666 layoffs of NYC public school teachers despite a billion dollar increase in tax revenue beyond what was expected for 2011.

Many people want to know where Bloomberg got that number from?

It is an odd one, after all - it's not 4,600 or even 4,660.

Uh, uh - it's 4,666.

Well, we here at Perdido Street School have figured out why he chose that EXACT figure.

Apparently when he looks in the mirror in the morning, Bloomberg sees the number 666 branded into his head with brimstone.

So that's where that number came from.

And the 4,000 figure?

That one he pulled out of his ass.

Along with is choice of Cathie Black as schools chancellor and his handling of the Bloomberg Blizzard of 2010.

Here is video of Bloomberg announcing the 4,666 layoffs:



I didn't realize Bloomberg wore so much leather.