Local 371 Rallies Against Housing Authority Job Cuts; 'Can't Destroy Our City'

District Council 37 Social Service Employees Union Local 371 members rallied Nov. 24 outside City Hall to protest the recently announced Housing Authority budget that requires the closing of HA community centers and the loss of 236 jobs, 165 of them within the local.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow 'MAYOR'S OUT OF TOUCH': District Council 37 Local 371 President Faye Moore calls on Mayor Bloomberg to relieve the Housing Authority of its obligation to pay for city services including police protection, saying that burden has helped create a budget deficit that could force the elimination of 236 jobs.

"These cuts must not happen. We can't destroy our city in the name of some fiscal monster that may come along the way at some other time," said Local 371 President Faye Moore, who went in to testify at City Council budget hearings after the protest. "It is wrong to try and balance a budget on the back of poor children."

A Big Hole to Fill

The Housing Authority a week earlier announced that it would close 18 community centers in all five boroughs, cutting off after-school programs that many working families who live in public housing rely on. The cuts are the key part of what HA Chairman Tino Hernandez calls "tough short-term decisions" to close the agency's $170-million budget gap.

ED OTT: 'Lost services will lead to tragedy.'

"We are here to register our objection to the Mayor's announcement of 200 workers being laid off at NYCHA," said Ms. Moore. "New York City Housing Authority workers are not city employees. We're being told that social services will now be provided by the City of New York. There is no plan. There is no written document. There is no description on how this is going to happen.

"What we do know, is on Jan. 2, when kids go back to school, there will be no after-school programs in 18 centers," she continued. "There will be no arts programs in 18 centers. There will be no after-school meals in 18 centers. Our communities are at risk if these centers close down."

In her testimony to the Council after the rally, Ms. Moore said that the reductions were "cynical attacks on minority communities by a Mayor who is out of touch with the daily lives of poor and working people in this city." Her proposed solution to the budget gap was that the HA should stop having to pay for city services such as police. Councilwoman Rosie Mendez of Manhattan is drafting a resolution to rescind these obligations in order to keep the community centers open.

OLIVER GRAY: Decries gutting of services.

'Can't Be a Cash Cow'

"NYCHA can no longer serve as a cash cow to fund the police and [the Department for the Aging] and other agencies," said Ms. Moore. "Those days are over."

"There's very difficult decisions that we don't want to have to be making, that we've been forced to make due to a $4 billion deficit we're facing, caused by financial crisis," mayoral spokesman Marc Lavorgna responded. "We sought 2.5-percent cuts this year and 5-percent cuts across the board to all agencies, and our goal is to have as little impact on city services as possible, and to continue to deliver the services that New Yorkers want. We're asking all our agencies to economize and do more with less."

Other speakers at the rally included AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council Executive Director Ed Ott, who said, "These cuts actually reflect exactly what should not be done in a recession; excuse me, a depression. The loss of these services to the community will build into a tragedy, I guarantee it." He contended that "it was the cutting of these services, which in a recession economy are needed more, not less, that led to the city going through one of the worst periods during the '80s and early '90s that we have ever seen."

Mr. Ott predicted that this would be the first fight of a long battle for labor unions, saying "the loss of an income is more than just the loss of a job. You lose everything: you lose your self-respect, you lose your focus, you lose your confidence. It's 200 jobs now. If we make it easy for them to take 200 jobs, they'll take more. We have to fight for every job."

DC 37 Associate Director Oliver Gray spoke of his childhood in public housing, saying, "I was fortunate. We had a recreation center, we had places to go. And today, when I hear about buildings that don't have elevators that work, and other basic amenities, it makes your blood boil."

Angry Words for Mayor

Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez fired up the protesters by charging that the HA cuts amounted to the city trying to evict children. "The executive board of Local 1549 made a pledge, Faye. We'll give you the phone banks. Whatever you need, Faye, we will do it."

DC 1707 Executive Director Raglan George Jr. added that the Mayor was "failing in his job" by cutting "the weakest link ... children, working families, those in public housing." Mr. George's union could also face job losses in 2009 under cuts being proposed by the Administration for Children's Services.

Ms. Moore's best hope of salvaging the jobs lies with the City Council, where members like Ms. Mendez, Melissa Mark-Viverito of Manhattan, James Vacca of The Bronx and Letitia James of Brooklyn have been particularly vocal on the issue of public housing.

'Poor Need the Safety Net'

At the rally, Ms. Mark-Viverito called HA housing "the most vital, the most crucial affordable housing stock in New York City," while reminding that its developments "provide vital services, including the community centers, to the communities at large. And it is as a result of these opportunities being available to our community members that crime has been reduced."

An outgoing Council Member who is headed to the New York State Senate, Hiram Monserrate of Queens, said that he knew first-hand how helpful the community centers could be. "Communities of color across this city need this safety net desperately," he said. "I understand, as a former NYPD officer ... [that] when you eliminate recreation activities for young people in our communities, you are enticing them to do other things."