Is Mayor Bloomberg talking out of both sides of his mouth?

As the NYC budget was unveiled this week, gasps of horror and dismay rippled through the walls of nonprofits and social service organizations across New York City. Social workers and other advocates for the elderly, homeless and mentally challenged residents of the city struggled to make sense of what this would mean to their programs that they had so carefully worked tirelessly to build up over the years.

Mayor Bloomberg has been at the forefront of the immigration debate - indicating his support for immigrants and saying that their skills and vibrancy are a vital part of New York's economy and yet in his budget he eliminated most funding for ESL programming - we all know how frustrating it is to try to communicate with someone who does not share our common language, be that a restaurant server in this country, or when traveling abroad - what is his honor thinking exactly?

Mayor Bloomberg claims to be a catalyst for social change and yet his decisions continue to reflect those of the Republican party and favors the ueber wealthy.

I exhort all who have been or will be impacted by his cuts to clog his switchboard and email box and snail mail box so that he will hear our voices loud and clear: it is not ok to marginalize the already disenfranchised and marginalized in this great state of New York - yes, budgets must be balanced, but we also recall the huge pay raises he has bestowed on his inner circle. Yes, it is long and hard work to be a political appointee - I speak on a personal level as a former political appointee to one of Mayor Bloomberg's associates - the amazing Ross Anderson former Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah - the pay was not great and certainly did not match the hours that I put in during my 5 and one half year tenure. I laud the Mayor for recognizing that too often public servants are over worker and underpaid and not appreciated.

May he not forget the "little people" and certainly not those who live on the fringes of society, barely eking out an existence, working in subsistence jobs - who can live on $7.25 an hour - the prevailing minimum wage in New York, after all?

Please friends - call or write to the Mayor and ask him to restore funds to aging programs, homeless programs and those that serve the disabled - if not from the budget proper, then perhaps his honor can look into his own personal finances in the billions and award monies in the forms of grants to aid in this stop gap measure.

Michael Steele and Governor Patterson - some thoughts on Governors and the head of the Republican party

What do these two men have in common, besides being politicians and African American?

Michael Steele commented in a statement this week that for someone earning one million dollars, after taxes are taken out, there is not much left. Is this man so out of touch with reality that he fails to be aware of the fact that the average salary in the county is a mere 40 thousand dollars - why is he so oblivious to the realities that face Americans - yes, those of us who do the "working and paying, the living and dying" to quote George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life.

Governor Patterson actually had the audacity to pull the proverbial race card - and to add insult to injury - the disability card - this week when questioned about sexual impropriety in the New York Governor's mansion and his alleged numerous illicit affairs - and we thought we were done with that when Spitzer left office.

Frankly speaking I have no respect for either of these men - that they are black and embarass me as a fellow black person is just par for the course and rubs salt in the proverbial wound.

I have maintained on this blog previously, that Spitzer should run again and certainly if Cuomo decides not to run after all. Eliot Spitzer is a brilliant and dedicated man with weaknesses - if he can work it out with his wife - note how this is done, John Edwards - then I say let the man run again and let the people of the great state of New York decide whom they would choose to lead them out of this financial crisis - maybe Mayor Bloomberg will have to run......After all, we cannot have a Republican Governor in the bluest of blue states - that would not be good after all.

Speaking of Governors - while I am sad to see NJ Governor Corzine go, a fiscally responsible Christie is mandating balanced budgets, as well as refusing to give subsidies to the railroad, insisting instead that they become - yes - imagine this - self-sustaining. He is doing well in my book.

And finally - the amazing friend and associate of mine from Utah - Peter Corroon - has put his hat in the ring to run against Governor Herbert who ascended to the Governorship when Obama neutralized Governor Huntsman by appointing him to his cabinet as trade ambassador to China. Peter will go far in politics - not just because he is Howard Dean's cousin and it is in his blood, but because he is fiscally responsible, moderate and could be the first Democrat elected to the Governorship in Utah in some two decades - go Peter!

New York politics - something new every day.

Black cop killed by white officer in Harlem

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/05/28/2009-05-28_black_cop_killed_by_white_officer.html

The story broke overnight and I am listening to reports of it on CBS News' Early Show here in NY. What a sad, sad day for Harlem, Brooklyn, where the officer lived, and New York as a whole. Too often we hear of our brothers being shot while undercover or off duty by their white comrades. Too often we see that an inquest is held and the perpetrator - yes - perpetrator - is exonerated. It is enough that our black men are imprisoned fairly and unfairly by a system that is designed to hold them down or back. In the case of officer Edwards, he was a rookie and had just finished his shift. He walked a few blocks to his car and there it happened. He saw someone breaking into a car and began to try to apprehend the individual. Another police officer happened on the scene and allegedly yelled at Edwards: "Police, Stop, Drop it!" - Shots were fired and one hit Edwards in the arm, the other in the chest, wounding him fatally.

Here is a quote from his father: "If a police officer sees someone with a gun, you don't just fire without asking questions or trying to apprehend the person," said Ricardo Edwards, 72. "If the person was firing at a police officer, I understand."

I have spoken before of the training needed at all levels and in all police departments, based on my work with the Salt Lake City corporation community action teams, where I worked frequently with police officers. Their mentality is to shoot first and ask questions later. A black officer should not have to worry about being mistaken for a perpetrator of a crime whether on or off duty.

Thankfully, the amazing Mayor Bloomberg came out in the wee hours of the morning to make a public statement to the family, as he should in such times as these. This will be of little comfort to Edwards' wife and two small children who will have to struggle to maintain their equilibrium as their father and husband has violently been taken from them, even as he tried to keep the violence in New York City at a minimum.

I pray that the powers that be will hold an inquest and that the truth will come out - this looks at the outset to be a case of racial profiling - yet again - thanks New York's finest. This is a sad day for New York indeed - sad indeed.