[New York] Anti-poverty protesters blast state budget priorities

from The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Nick Reisman
Albany bureau

(March 1, 2006) — ALBANY — The state Legislature should spend more on social programs and less on corporate tax breaks, anti-poverty groups said Tuesday at a rally near the state Capitol.

"If you take out New York City, New York state's economy is right down there with Mississippi and Louisiana," said Greg LeRoy, director of Good Jobs First, a think tank in Washington, D.C. "We need more reinvestment in people, not corporate investment disguised as redevelopment."

Advocates said they want $170 million more for the Home Energy Assistance Program on top of the $100 million that the Legislature approved in January. They also called for a $1billion bond issue to finance affordable housing.

LeRoy said Gov. George Pataki's $110.7 billion budget ignores people who rely on government for affordable housing, assistance with heating bills and health care benefits.

A Pataki spokesman called the charges "scare tactics" and noted that state health-care spending is at an all-time high.

"The facts are clear," said Pataki spokesman John Sweeney. "More funding goes to health care than any other part of the state's budget, and it is sad that the special interests would either ask taxpayers to pay higher taxes or that they would ask our education system or transportation system to receive less."

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, Westchester County, alleged that the taxpayer-funded Empire Zone program, which provides money and tax incentives for businesses to create jobs, is a "corporate handout" with little accountability and few results.

A 2004 report found the program had created just 50,000 jobs since 1986.

But a spokeswoman for the Empire Development Corp., the state authority that oversees the Empire Zones, said the program has been beneficial for both businesses and people seeking jobs.

"The Empire Zone program provides benefits that are widely available and reach businesses employing more than 300,000 workers," said Jessica Copen.