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Facing Change Documenting America

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Facing Change Documenting America

 

By Michael Boyajian

 

It is an old biblical saying that says blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.  Well a modern play on this might be that blessed are the photographers for they may save the planet.  Ten superstar photographers, representing the likes of the New York Times, national magazines and Pulitzer Prize ranks, have joined together to form an organization that picks up where FDR’s Farm Security Administration or FSA left off documenting America with their cameras as a nonprofit group called Facing Change as a means to improving the lives of the country’s forgotten populations.

Paladino and Justification of Party

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Paladino and Justification of Party

 

By Michael Boyajian

 

One of the original rationales for political parties was that they would serve to screen out undesirable candidates putting forward the best and brightest of their ranks for the coming election.  This axiom no longer seems to apply to the Republican Party and nowhere is it more apparent than in New York where Republican Gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino has seemingly threatened the life of Albany super reporter, Fred Dicker of the New York Post.  Though some would argue that Paladino’s threat, “I am going to take you out,” was not a death threat it must be recalled that John Gotti went to prison for saying nothing less than that.

I Sing The Body Electric

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I Sing The Body Electric

 

By Michael Boyajian

 

I sing a song for humanity and take great solace in places where a multitude of languages can be heard as you walk far away streets.  I embrace the Turk so that Jew and Arab can embrace themselves as well.  I reach for new highs of belief when I see a majority in favor of same sex marriage yet feel low when the same majority projects anger at Muslims.  I have been to the Alhambra a Moorish palace of vast beauty, a world heritage site and know that no work of art like this could be built out of hate.

Does NYC Schools need someone like hard charging DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee? I’m just asking.

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She raised hell in Washington. Might D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee be ideal for New York City. 

A few questions here: 

Much has been made about D.C. voters recently rejecting incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty over City Council Chair Vincent Gray – with the speculation that the Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, cost Fenty the primary. Fenty gave Rhee free rein three years ago to overhaul the city’s dismal schools.

Local Government Expenditures: What Changed from 1972 to 1987, 2000 and 2007?

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As noted in the spreadsheet attached to this post, direct expenditures by the City of New York fell from $210.97 per $1,000 of city residents’ personal income in FY 1972 to $164.77 per $1,000 of income in FY 1987, a decrease explained by having the Medicaid program shifted to the state’s books and the end of massive public school expenditures on the Baby Boom generation. A similar decrease was recorded for local governments in the rest of New York State. Since then, total direct expenditures by the City of New York have been essentially unchanged as a share of residents’ personal income in peak economic years, based on FY2000 and FY 2007 data, while local government expenditures increased in the rest of New York State, the United States and New Jersey.

The total salaries and wages paid to employees of the City of New York, however, fell as a share of the income of all New York City residents from FY1987 to FY 2000 and from FY 2000 to FY 2007. So did the city’s direct expenditures on Libraries, Corrections, the Fire Department, the Department of Sanitation, and Judicial and Legal. Police Department expenditures increased as a share of city residents’ income from FY 1987 to FY 2000 and fell from that year to FY 2007, while Parks, Recreation and Culture and Housing and Community Development expenditures fell and then rose, but all were lower as a share of city residents’ income in FY 2007 than they had been 20 years earlier in FY 1987. Mass transit operating expenditures plunged as a share of city residents’ personal income over the period. Where is all the money going? Download the spreadsheet attached to the post linked above, print out the worksheet marked “output,” and read on.

Will Paladino apologize for his outrageous thuggish behavior last night

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Carl Paladino needs some political maturity, and it can’t come fast enough.

Will he apologize for his outrageous behavior last night.

Did he really think he would get a heartbeat away from becoming governor without scrutiny he doesn’t like.

Aides had to separate Paladino from New York Post State Editor Fred Dicker at an upstate hotel.


What could Dicker possibly do to push Paladino so far “over the edge?”
Dicker did his job.

Could New York City Taxpayers Be Paying for Suburban and Upstate Public Employee Pensions?

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That is one of several possible explanations for a data anomaly I have discovered in the state and local finance data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The State of New York has a pension system that covers both state employees and the employees of local governments outside New York City. New York City has its own pension system. State taxpayers, including New York City taxpayers, contribute to the state pension system, presumably in an amount sufficient to provide for state workers. Local governments outside New York City, using taxes collected outside New York City, also contribute to the state pension system, presumably in amounts sufficient to provide for their own workers. New York City taxpayers have to pay into the New York City pension system to cover the pensions of local government employees in New York City.

The Census Bureau provides pension data for pension systems, not the state and local governments that contribute to them. So I only had one number for all pension benefits paid by the state system, both to former employees of the state and former employees of local governments outside of New York City. To provide a separate number for each, I decided to make an assumption that the share of the total benefit payments that went to the former state workers must be in proportion to the share of the total pension contributions made by the State of New York. But the results were bizarre – the presumed state pension benefits soared from FY 2000 to FY2007 as a proportion of state residents’ personal income, while the presumed local government pension benefits fell. So I decided to look more carefully at the state versus local taxpayer contributions to the New York State pension fund. What the hell is going on up there?

Medicaid: The View From Buffalo

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If the people of Western New York don't understand the issues with New York's Medicaid program they can't blame the press, as this article is one of the fairest and most factually accurate accounts I have read. It doesn't contain a lot of numbers, but it is consistent with the numbers I have reported, so if one wants an overview written by an actual journalist, they could do worse than to follow the link and read the article.

A NOTE TO GOVERNOR DAVID PATERSON: PLEASE PARDON MR. JOHN O’HARA.

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I am told that one has to officially get in a pardon request before October 1st, 2010; so let me write this column as a formal request to our present governor David Paterson. I want to go on record as another who joined the chorus: PARDON JOHN O'HARA; PLEASE.

By now most readers to these blogs know the story of John O'Hara, but let me do a synopsis for the edification of those who don't know too much about him. John is an attorney and a political activist. There was a time when he was a perennial challenger to the Brooklyn political establishment and status quo: back then he ran hard and often. Some detractors thought he ran too much. Sometimes he ran others as challengers; near all the time he would be challenging some lackluster incumbent representing  the powers that be. As a democrat (and insurgent) he stepped on many toes; sometimes he “mashed corns” without apologizing. He even supported challengers for offices as high as Brooklyn District Attorney -despite warnings from some concerned folks, that vendettas and reprisals are likely. What happened to him smells of  a reprisal, or a vendetta, or just plain old-fashioned human revenge for something or the other. 

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