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NY State Passes Budget—On Time—Amid Protests
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 31, 2011
Modified Mar 31, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 31, 2011
Modified Mar 31, 2011
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Yesterday, the NY State passed a budget before the deadline, the first on-time budget in five years. So Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his fellow lawmakers a round of applause—for freakin' doing their jobs!—"I applaud the State Senate, and the Assembly. They performed admirably and the government worked as it should." Of course, the austere $132 billion budget that includes lots of cuts to Medicaid and education also meant protesters were at the State Capitol building.
The Post says 300 protesters were on the scene, "mustered by tenant advocates and union-backed groups." Besides chanting, "Protect the kids, not millionaires!" the paper explains, "The group was lured with promises of 70 pizzas and 'many S'mores.' They raged when state troopers attempted to block the mass food delivery and launched a chant of 'Pizza busting is disgusting!' One person was arrested, for (maybe accidentally) hitting a staffer with a cymbal.
In spite of some restorations, NYC will end up losing under $500 million in school aid. According to the NY Times, "The budget restores about $230 million of the $1.5 billion reduction in education financing that Mr. Cuomo proposed. A majority of that restoration, $134 million, will go to counties north of New York City. Another $53 million will go to New York City, and $43 million will go to Long Island," which made NYC official Micah Lasher complain, "We are dividing up crumbs, and to make matters worse, the crumbs have been divided unfairly."
Tagged
Albany
cymbal
governor cuomo
ny state
protests
state budget
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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