Friday, January 13, 2012

On Thursday January 12th Mayor Mike Bloomberg Gave His "State of The City" Address.
Below are sime comments from some of our elected officials.
Many others wanted to know why the speech was mainly teacher bashing
Check next weeks Bronx News for my take on the mayor's speech. 

STATEMENT FROM BOROUGH PRESIDENT DIAZ
 
“I applaud Mayor Bloomberg for articulating an expansive and progressive vision for New York City in today’s speech. Mayor Bloomberg focused on education, job growth, public safety, and other issues that have been high priorities for my administration. 

“The mayor presented several interesting ideas and initiatives that will improve the lives of all New Yorkers; including the highly anticipated release of a new request for proposals (RFP) for the Kingsbridge Armory, improving services to NYCHA’s residents and preserving public housing, and the redevelopment of the Hunts Point Produce Market. I thank Mayor Bloomberg and the city council for adding another $25 million to what will now be the city’s $87 million commitment to re-building the Hunts Points Produce Market and making sure those jobs stay right here in the Bronx.

“I also believe the state must do its part in passing the Dream Act. Investing in the dreams of our immigrant youth is not only the moral thing to do, it is a social, academic and economic imperative. I believe that all of our students, who are the leaders of tomorrow, should be eligible for the financial aid they need to succeed.

“Mayor Bloomberg also highlighted the need of a statewide minimum wage raise. This is a step forward in the right direction, and if enacted correctly, can be complimentary to The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, once it becomes law. 

“As Mayor Bloomberg noted, our administrations have worked together on an impressive list of projects and we have much more planned for the Bronx in 2012,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
 
Comments From City Comptroller John Liu 
  
  Comptroller John C. Liu’s statement on the Mayor’s State of the City address:

“It was great to hear the Mayor support the Dream Act in New York. It would help unlock the potential that so many New Yorkers possess but can’t realize because of their difficulties gaining access to higher education.

“It was also great to hear that the Mayor supports an increase in the minimum wage, which would be in line with the enactment of living wage legislation for publicly subsidized projects. Both of these measures would help eliminate the increasing income gap that New York has experienced in recent years.

“We are disappointed, however, at the mere half-line mention of increasing opportunities for minority and women entrepreneurs at a time when only two percent of the City’s business is actually going to minority and women entrepreneurs. Clearly, more work needs to be done to level the playing field.

“It was also disappointing that the Mayor used the reduction in employee workforce headcount as a metric of success without acknowledging the ballooning costs of outside contracting.

“The Mayor devoted much of his speech to addressing some of the continuing shortcomings in our public schools, but his harsh criticism of teachers was surprising and unwarranted. They have faced years of demoralizing anti-teacher rhetoric.  At the end of the day, the Mayor and all of us rely on teachers to do the hard work of educating our kids.”
 
 

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