Picture By Edithe Norgaisse March 2009
Thousands of New Yorkers rallied in City Hall to protest proposed budget cuts in Education and Medical funding on Thursday March 5, 2009. Labor unions, students, CUNY professors, and medical professionals were among the crowd.
“Education is under attack, what do we do?” the crowd chanted. “Stand up, fight back!”
Picture By Edithe Norgaisse March 2009
Some feel that the “attack” that they must fight is the loss of school faculty and staff due to layoffs. Alejandra Martinez, a sixteen year old student, feels that the changes affect her directly, stating that “teachers are our foundation.”
Picture By Edithe Norgaisse March 2009
Seventeen year old high school student Ilana Gross can see the difference, stating that “classes are getting fuller and fuller.”
Adjunct Professor Howard Pflanzer is concerned about professors and adjuncts being layed-off. According to the New York Times, the amount of employees in the field of education could be cut by 14,000.
Others are fighting back against the proposed cuts that affect medical professionals as well as patients. “Poor people cannot get adequate health care as is,” stated union health care worker Jimmy Williams. “I have not directly been affected, but I am concerned about patients who will be affected.”
More details about budget cut proposals for FY 2010 can be found at the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/nyregion/31bloomberg.html?_r=1.
Protesters do not want to see budget cuts that they believe could be avoided, and expect elected officials to explore other options, such as taxing those who earn the most money.
Protesters are so upset that some of them are distributing flyers for a rally on March 12, 2009. The destination? Bloomberg’s residence. “Why should education suffer, when rich people continue to receive tax breaks?” asks Socialist Party representative Charmaine Robinson. “Why not tax the rich? They say that if we raise the taxes for the rich, they’ll leave New York. This is New York City! Where are they gonna go? To Iowa?” she fumes.
Photo By Edithe Norgaisse March 2009