According to the budget, spending on public schools will barely decline at all, even with pensions tabulated separately. Including pensions public school spending will almost certainly increase. Remember that, and the fact that the city’s non-teacher school expenditures are exceptionally low, when evaluating the education the United Federation of Teachers decides to provide in exchange for your taxes next year. Overall pension contributions will rise by $851 million dollars, taking into account past investment losses and retroactive pension enhancements, according to the budget. “In 2010, however, the pension funds are experiencing positive investment returns which are expected to lower required contributions commencing in 2012.” Those positive investment returns are based on financial assets becoming overpriced. See today’s financial news for a possible market response. The Chief Actuary is reviewing actual pension trends, and the city has set aside $600 million extra to cover the possible findings. It will not be enough, if the pensions are to be actually funded.

As public services are gutted in FY 2011, remember that its debt service will rise by just $340 million (assuming the text is right and not the table on p. 224), followed by an increase of nearly $2.5 billion a year later in FY 2012. That’s also when the federal stimulus spending runs out. And even more pension contributions are required, particularly for teachers, thanks to the 2008 deal that allowed them to retire years earlier. For the possibility of additional federal stimulus spending despite a large deficit, see the market response to conditions in Greece. Reality may wait for FY 2012, but it may also come sooner – after the state elections in November. Even before reality hits, the city will cut spending on libraries by well more than half. In this moment of need, moreover, help for the poor will also be cut. Excluding Medicaid, which is taken advantage of by the health care industry and the middle class and will rise a projected $243 million, not enough for the health care industry to stop objecting to cuts and threatening to let our babies die if they don’t get more. All this despite a series of city and state tax increases already enacted.

Harlem State Senator Bill Perkins is running for re-election this fall, and he could be in serious trouble.

Why?

This situation is a nightmare for any incumbent. There apparently won’t be any split of the opposition vote after Larry Blackmon-a deputy city parks commissioner has backed out of the race, and there’s the question of the role Mayor Bloomberg will play. Directly or indirectly.

Political consultant Basil Smikle –generally a well liked guy known for keeping the pulse of the community- will run against Perkins in the Democratic primary this fall – mainly challenging Perkins opposition to charter schools.

Look, I wasn’t born on the island of Puerto Rico, or on one of those little islands situated nearby (like Vieques for example); so one can say I have no standing on this matter of PR’s relationship with the USA: and that’s fine with me. However, like most things political in nature, I do have a healthy opinion; and the last time I looked, I have a constitutional right to express that opinion: so afford me that luxury here folks. 

I was born in the Caribbean. On an arrogant island -of a little less than two thousand square miles- called Trinidad. It is part of a Republic named Trinidad and Tobago; since it has been historically coupled with the tiny Tobago (116 square miles) situated a dozen miles north. This coupling -like so many things Caribbean and Latin American- was imposed by European colonizers (the British in particular in 1889). It is undisputable that Europeans made the Caribbean islands, plus North, South and Central America their playground of sorts, from the fifteenth century onwards. In fact, as I write this, many of the European nations still attempt to maintain their antics through economics, religion, politics, militarism, one-sided diplomacy, duress, unfair trading arrangements, monetary policy and the like.

If you want to get a pulse beat on what’s really going on in Trinidad and Tobago society, then all you have to do get down there during the carnival season and go to the calypso tents. Calypso usually reflects the harsh realities of life in these twin islands; and sometimes they can be brutally harsh with their truths. During the past three carnival seasons, many a calypso singer has recorded his/her disgust with the leadership of Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the ruling political party (PNM). 

As I write this column, the naked truth is this: on any given day, you are about ten times more likely to be murdered in Trinidad than in New York. And if you compare crime stats coming out from the island(s) with those from England, then London is over 50 times safer than TNT; similarly situated (though lower) is Canada, Cuba and near every other state in the USA.

Last August, the New York Times published a story that pointed out that little noticed proposal then being considered could force New York to change the date of our Primary Elections.

Our 1997 Saturn station wagon has reached 13 years old, the average age at which a private motor vehicle in the U.S. is scrapped. On that basis, and with some pretty comprehensive (exceptions below) records on spending, I can tell you what it cost my family in today’s dollars: $67,658 in total, or $5,200 per year, or $434 per month, or 80 cents per mile. That isn’t the typical cost of having a car in Brooklyn; it may be fairly described as the minimum average cost. We don’t use the car to go to work or school, and only average around 6,500 miles driven per year, which not only reduces variable costs such as gasoline and tolls, which in any event are merely 19.1% of the total, but also cuts the cost of insurance. We also have a clean driving record, qualify for every insurance discount out there, and went with liability coverage only after four years. We don’t pay to park, although we have gotten parking tickets despite doing our best to avoid them. And the car itself is small, fuel thrifty and bought stripped with a manual transmission and no AC. Even so, the cost of having our own car has been a significant part of our total budget. Was it worth it, and what are the alternatives?

City Outsourcing Jobs

By Michael Boyajian

Reports by city workers have surfaced stating that not only has the Bloomberg Administration refused to hire qualified workers from nearby Long Island and Westchester not to mention Dutchess, Orange, Putnam and Rockland, but are unable to fill positions from the pool of people living in the city.

Real Politicians Don’t Eat Quiche

By Michael Boyajian

There was a popular book in the 1980s titled Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche and it was meant to bolster the macho strength of Republicans.  My how things have changed and nowhere is this more apparent then when comparing Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Those of you who have been following my columns and posts for the past five years must be aware that I have written many columns directly relating to Senator Kevin Parker’s explosive temper. Initially there were those detractors who would come up on the blogs to attack me for highlighting his lack of decorum and his uneven (sometimes volatile) temperament. And then there were those who suggested I was angry for not being the senator, since I did initially consider running for his seat (when newly created in 2002). I also demonstrated that he lacked integrity, for going back on his word during the early 2002 campaign for the 21st senatorial district. It was one of the reasons why I withdrew from the race back then. 

With all due respect to the United Federation of Teachers, what wrong with parents having a choice on Charter Schools?

It breaks my heart with the percentage of children that are not graduating from High School. Pick a city—select any state, and it is mostly children of color that are dropping out in record numbers.

Charter schools are one of the big debates in Harlem these days with State Senator Bill Perkins being adamantly against them yet parents in the district are deciding in droves to support such schools “with their feet.”