Money for a Wall Street bailout, but not for the poor

Money for a Wall Street bailout, but not for the poor
Friday, September 26th 2008, 8:20 PM
The mad rush in Washington to approve a $700 billion bailout of the Wall Street firms largely responsible for the nation's economic crisis in the first place may sound like a very bad joke.
Of course it isn't, and by now we all know that it is no laughing matter. And as City Hall has already made clear, New Yorkers will have to pay a very high price.
"We're going to have some tough times," Mayor Bloomberg said on Tuesday. He was referring to the $516 million budget reduction he ordered for this fiscal year to be followed by a $1 billion reduction for the next one. The Wall Street crisis made these cuts unavoidable, the mayor explained.
Bloomberg is a billionaire and should have no problem personally sailing through the troubled financial waters ahead. For his constituents, however, that voyage is bound to be anything but smooth.
Most are working men and women (and increasingly the unemployed) who struggle daily to make ends meet in one of the most expensive cities in the country.
Not surprisingly, the most vulnerable New Yorkers - low-income families, senior citizens, the poor - will bear the brunt of the cuts. The homeless - including 7,822 families with children - will be among the hardest hit.
Advocates and homeless activists are not taking this well, and are asking some tough questions.
"When poor and homeless people ask the government for help, they're told that low-income housing and living wage jobs are not a government priority because this country is built on 'personal responsibility' and people need to 'make better decisions,'" said a written statement by Picture the Homeless, a nonprofit organization founded and led by homeless people in New York.
"[But] when giant banking corporations are on the brink of total collapse because they have made a systematic series of bad business decisions the government gives them a trillion dollars," the statement continued. "Where is the 'personal responsibility' for the rich?"
That is a question that begs for an honest answer, especially after the Wall Street debacle.
It should be noted that Mayor Bloomberg has not closed his eyes to the plight of the thousands of New Yorkers who do not have a place to live. City Councilman Bill de Blasio (D-Brooklyn), who chairs the Council's General Welfare committee, gives him credit for being "gutsy" in setting the goal of reducing the homeless population 66% by 2009, as part of his five-year plan to combat homelessness announced in 2004.
"It was a bold move," he said.
But the plan has not been a success, and last Tuesday De Blasio held a General Welfare committee hearing to review its progress. Robert Hess, the city Commissioner of Homeless Services, was one of those who testified.
"I found a fair amount of denial from Commissioner Hess," De Blasio said after the hearing. "I would've appreciated if he had been more forthcoming. But there was a lot of 'happy talk' even though there is almost no change in the number of homeless people."
At the hearing, De Blasio presented an innovative five-step plan (in which homelessness prevention plays a big part) to help achieve the mayor's goals. Yet, for all its merits, the future of de Blasio's plan is in doubt due to the crisis.
"I am worried about the budget cuts," he said. "Once you have a fiscal crisis, pro-active solutions tend to fall by the wayside."
Which brings us back to another one of those pesky questions the members of Picture the Homeless are asking.
They would like to know how it is that there is no money for health care, education, housing and real jobs for poor people, but there are trillions for state-sponsored corporate bailouts and tax breaks for the rich.
How indeed?
aruiz@nydailynews.com