How Would You Reduce Poverty in New York?

[erpowers]

Tonight C-SPAN aired the debate for Democratic candidates for New York mayor. It was mentioned that 46 percent of New York residents are at, or near the poverty level. What would you do to reduce that number? If you do not live in New York you could talk about the poverty rate in your city and discuss they thing(s) you would do to reduce the poverty rate in your city.

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Tap in to Bloombergs pals on Wallstreet, instead of feeding them.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. Make it so! :D

[Bluzmann57]

2. More and better jobs

That's universal. I do not live in NYC and never will, but iy seems to me that if people made more $ then they'd spend more $. How do I know? I have lived my life in the real world and have seen and done what I say I have seen and done. In other words, experience.

[rug]

3. Restore rent control across the board.

[hrmjustin]

4. Lower rents. Rents are too damn high here in NYC.

[Cal Carpenter]

6. Tax the hell outta the super-rich, raise wages

That's a starting point. And not just for NY.

[LWolf]

7. I'd work to reduce poverty at the national level:

Last edited Thu Aug 22, 2013, 10:27 AM - Edit history (1)

1. National fully public health care funded by taxes, free at point of service.

2. Universal, fully funded, fully public pre-school through trade and/or university, free at point of service.

3. A WPA-style jobs program, rebuilding infrastructure, updating infrastructure, and providing work for anyone who needs it.

4. Healthy, locally sourced, fresh, prepared on-site breakfast, lunch, and dinner at school on a sliding scale.

Those things are vital.

At the state level?

1. The creation of a multi-layered safety net: child care, affordable housing, adult education, public non-profit utilities, and a fully funded and staffed DHS to protect children and help families develop healthy relationships.

That doesn't really help your mayoral debate, which won't be focused on the national level. This is how I'd reduce poverty, though.

[erpowers]

9. About Discussion

Do not worry about talking about the national level. The point of my post was just to get a discussion. If you want to talk about the national level that is fine.

[LWolf]

14. I think the solutions have to be broad

and have to apply nationally. Making a little progress in localized areas doesn't affect the condition of the whole.

Health care: the poor don't get enough, and what they do get KEEPS them poor because of the cost. Free at point of service, paid by taxes, resolves that. Imagine how much further limited resources would go.

Education: there is a ceiling that keeps the poor back. The boot strap myth doesn't work for the most part, and in the rare cases that it does, there is a very high price to pay. I know, because I'm one of those boot-strap limited successes. For equal opportunity, every student must know that they can get what they need to leave school able to function successfully in the economy and make a living.

The jobs program would make sure that the jobs were there, and that the $$ the jobs cost us improved our communities.

I could add getting rid of "free" trade in favor of fair trade based on environmental and labor standards, and imposing very large tax penalties for corporations outsourcing manufacturing and other jobs, which would increase the jobs available outside the jobs program. That, and workers earning a living wage, protected by unions.

All of the above nationally would leave states to plug any holes and cracks with that safety net.

[hfojvt]

19. you reminded me of Ruskin's awesome answer

but that is an answer that would require huge changes to our society and the society would not be ready for it.

Myself I am not a huge fan of universal pre-school.

And the "public non-profit utilities", my experience with our own water department makes me feel not so impressed with that. It does not seem to function much differently than a for-profit utility. I might say the same thing about the city sewer department as well. The water board as near as I can remember it, increased rates for the small users by 60% over seven years and raised the top rates by about 0% for the same period (before I got elected and fought for the smaller users).

[LWolf]

23. I'm a fan of universal pre-school

because I'm a teacher. Teachers know that the brain creates more neural connections 0-4 years than it will ever do again. Neural connections that are vital for later academic learning. Teachers know that students who enter kindergarten at age 5 aren't on the same starting line. Teachers know about the vast chasm in terms of cognitive development and readiness between children from enriched environments and children from impoverished environments. While we CAN make a difference, and begin to grow those vital neural connections, the others continue to grow them as well. THIS is why some students never catch up. They were left behind before they ever got to school. I'm not talking about an academic pre-school, but one that will ensure that younger students get the stimulation they need for appropriate brain development.

I'm a big fan of public non-profit utilities. I get my electricity from a non-profit co-op. The co-op serves outlying communities that the for-profit companies don't serve. We get our power cheaper than they do in town. The in-town companies have a history of complaining about that, suggesting that my co-op ought to have to raise their rates to match the for profits. We get to decide what kind of power to pay for, as well. And we get, every 2 years, a refund check for anything we paid over actual operating costs.

[hfojvt]

24. I suggested a rebate check for our credit union

the board would not hear of it, so we continue to make and accumulate profit as interest rates suck dogs. They just went down again. I think the rate for a 5 years CD is now about 1.1% or something absurd like that.

The water department does the same thing, has $11 million in accumulated profits that board and management are determined to add to - squeezing extra money out of the small customers usually. They spend $100,000 a year on electronic meters so they can eliminate a job.

My objection to universal pre-school is perhaps captured in that phrase you used "some students never catch up".

That phrase seems to accept the "rat race". That the purpose of "education" is to push everybody to run as fast as they possibly can. And in the metaphor of the rat race, once a large part of the population accepts this idea, then anybody who does not run as fast as they can simply gets trampled.

So universal pre-K is another way, in my view to indoctrinate children when they are too young to resist, into the values of the forward stampede.

"On the one side, I see the people who think we can cope with our threefold crisis by the methods current, only more so; I call them people of the forward stampede. On the other side, there are people in search of a new lifestyle, who seek to return to certain basic truths about man and his world; I call them homecomers." Schumacher p. 155

[LWolf]

25. Universal preschool

is a way to make sure every child gets the stimulation that opens the doors for later success. Currently, they don't. We could say, "You're child has developed in an enriched environment so doesn't need preschool," or "your child has developed in an impoverished environment, so must attend." I'm sure you can see the problems with that, though. As for the "rat race," the current system is high stakes, high pressure, narrow, and destructive. THAT will change when people stop voting for neo-liberals. The purpose of universal pre-school is not to start that race earlier, but to make sure all children get the opportunities for optimum brain development that will help them the rest of their lives, no matter what direction they go in.

I'm sorry your utilities don't serve you as well as mine do. Can a campaign be mounted to vote in a better board? We vote for ours. It sounds like you need better organized, better run utility providers, whether private or public.

[hfojvt]

39. we vote for our board too

but when I ran, there were no public forums about the election. And it was one of the first contested elections for that board in a long time. In fact, at the end of my term, when I decided not to run again, only two people filed for three positions. There was another guy, a chemistry professor who had agreed to serve, but another guy ran a write-in campaign. That guy - one of the richest guys in town. He's very knowledgeable, an engineer who owns a construction company, but I doubt if he cares very much for the masses. Makes me kinda sick, but I quickly tired of giving my time to that board. Really, after I lost the other election, I was not in a generous mood. I felt kinda like I served the public and the voting public gave me a big fuck you as a reward.

I can still raise a fuss if they decide to stick it to the little guys in the next rate decision. But the other fact is this. The bottom rates went up by 15%, the middle rates by 3% and the top rate by 0%. I said that the difference between 3% and 15% was about $100,000 a year that the little guys were subsidizing the big guys. Which is true, but the other truth is that with 11,000 customers the subsidy is only about 75 cents a month. Is that really worth getting excited about?

[liberal_at_heart]

21. hell yeah! Love your ideas LWolf!

[napoleon_in_rags]

8. Easy. Policies that bring in Chinese real estate investors and construction companies.

I was researching China last night, and I discovered a madness they have involving real estate. While an apartment in the US that costs $130,000 rents for $700 a month, the same apartment in China rents for $300 a month (which matches their lower wages) but sells for like $300,000. Its insanity. As a result of these real estate prices, the've actually built ghost cities, empty cities with no people to satisfy real estate demand.

They do this because real estate is one of the only safe places to put money if you're rich.

Anyway, last night I was arguing for a more nationalist stance with China, saying we should collaborate more for our national interest, but no one cares about that. So if no one cares, why not do what we need to in order to reduce poverty in new york? The problem is RENT PRICES IN NYC. A simple way to deal with them is to bring in Chinese developers to bulldoze smaller places, and put in huge, affordable rent high rises, slashing rent prices across the city. It gives a the Chinese a safe and reliable investment, and lowers cost of living in NYC. So why not?

[JaneyVee]

10. The rent is too damn high. So are house prices.

[HooptieWagon]

11. Confiscate Wall St bank buildings...

...turn them into low-cost housing.

[Happyhippychick]

12. Eliminate the tax loopholes so the rich pay their fair share

[cigsandcoffee]

13. By encouraging people to not have babies until they can afford them. n/t

[Iggo]

15. Tax the rich.

[hfojvt]

16. I don't have any easy answers

for either NYC or my own city

first, though, it would be nice if mayors, Governors and Presidents actually cared (instead of just saying they do)

another thing that could help the NYC economy (and poverty rates) would be getting food stamps to everybody who qualifies (if this has not already been done)

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/54

"About 800,000 city residents are eligible for food stamps, but do not receive them. During Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's second term, barriers to access were intentionally created, causing a 42 percent drop in recipients."

Another thing might be, although it is too late, but what if the Federal Government spent $2.4 trillion over the next decade to combat poverty instead of giving that $2.4 trillion in tax cuts to the richest 20%.

[CK_John]

17. By understanding our real situation. We are in a new era, like when the world

changed from an agrarian economy to the industrial age. We are now in the cyber era(robots) where productivity outstrips need for labor, thus less than 1/2 the schools are needed.

Schools need to become glorified daycare centers, wilderness camps, art and craft centers. We also need massive make work projects. There will not be enough jobs for more than 1/2 the population, and those jobs will require only the top 5% of science and engineering.

So solving the problem will be to begin by identifying the actual problem.

[FarCenter]

18. Eliminate zoning rules and other regulations that make it expensive to build apartments and condos

[Dreamer Tatum]

27. So they can finally put all that unused space to work...amen nt

[limpyhobbler]

20. Use eminent domain to seize abandoned factories to produce solar panels.

Government directly hires all unemployed for renewable energy and conservation projects.

Also invest in local food production, and other needed infrastructure upgrades.


These are all investments that should pay for themselves with the returns.

[orpupilofnature57]

22. +1000 !!!!

[CBGLuthier]

26. Make that asshole Bloomberg personally pay 100,000 to everyone

ever stopped by his racist bullshit police state tactics.

[Boom Sound 416]

28. The rent is too high, but most of those living in poverty

Live in income cap apts. ie, if they make too much they can't live in the subsidized housing. I think that's an unintended consequence of subsidized housing

Next is neighborhood integration. It's bad, bad, bad in NYC. You can cross the stree and cross from one racial dominated neighborhood to another. Poverty is consolidated in NYC. It needs to be broken apart so kids have better chances of upward mobility

Then there is heroin. The root of so much misery and completely off the municipal radar.

Another would be de-auotmization. Obama was on to something when he talked about ATM machines. As the MTA goes automatic the jobs go away. Ditto for other public services. The law should be at least that auto machines be made if not in the area, at least in the country.

[HockeyMom]

30. Rent Control

Bring that back which will help everyone; plus raise the state minimum wage.

[Boom Sound 416]

35. Rent control still exists in Pre-war buildings

But those are getting fewer and fewer. Plus it still goes up with every new tenet. In 1999 my rent control apt was 1400, but my neighbor who's been there for decades was a few hundred

Minimum wage only gets you to a new minimum. It's not a even a living wage that helps. It's a saving wage that does it

[KamaAina]

29. Raise the minimum wage

San Francisco's done it. San Jose's done it. Even Albuquerque's done it. And the sky has not fallen.

NY state's minimum wage is depressingly low, because the restaurant lobby wields excessive influence there. Needless to say, they'd scream like stuck pigs if NYC tried to follow suit.

[lpbk2713]

31. The cost of housing is out of reach for many.

Rent control and subsistance allotments would help.

[KamaAina]

32. Make housing more affordable

Developers are always whining about "rent control" (more properly, rent stabilization, except for a very few elderly tenants). Believe it or not, rent stabilization is a legacy of WWII! It was enacted as an emergency state law that applied to counties where the vacancy rate was less than five percent. The five boroughs, and suburban Westchester County, have remained below the threshold ever since. Mayor de Blasio or Thompson (hopefully) could convince developers that they could build their way out of rent control, except perhaps in Manhattan, by aggressively building affordable housing.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

33. I'm no fan of the Cuban government, but after they lost a lot of housing stock in a

hurricane in the early 1960s, they undertook a massive building program and hired away from other jobs to work on it, with the promise that they would get an apartment in addition to their pay.

Something like this would rebuild the ruined areas of the city and would put downward pressure on rents, which have been ridiculous for decades.

[bluestate10]

34. Pass a grandfather law that encodes people who work for the city living in the city.

Enforce that law with every new hire. The rule should be that only qualified candidates who are residents of the city and pays taxes in the city need apply for job openings. The law shouldn't fire people that already have jobs and don't live in the city, but when they retire or find other jobs, they should be replaced by qualified city residents. Controls would need to be in place to eliminate corruption in enforcement of the new law, the new employees should make the city better, not degrade it.

I have no love for people that work for urban cities but live, pay taxes to, shop and vote in the suburbs. They give nothing to the city that finances their lifestyles, that must end, hire people that live in and love their city and want to make it a better place.

The important benefit to the city is that people who earn their living there spend their money there, pay taxes there, vote there and send their children to school in the city. The social and economic impact of that dynamic is powerful.

[bluestate10]

36. New York is a city of stark differences. It is a rich city, but the wealth is concentrated in few

regions of the city. There are parts of the city that are hyper rich and parts that are clearly poor. Outsiders who come into the city don't understand the contrasts until they come face to face with them.

[livingwagenow]

40. Repeal free trade and scrap all trade deals. Reimpose tarriffs. Encourage localization..

and a $15 federal minimum wage.

As other have said above, housing and rents need real regulation and relief. Use eminent domain to build more apartments and build factories.