AIDS Issues Update Blog
Dispatches from the fight against homelessness and AIDS
Bloomberg’s Idea of Progress: Parking Spaces, Styrofoam, and Tourism
Posted by Sunny Bjerk , February 14, 2013
Image from nydailynews.com
Today marks a milestone in New York City political history, as the much-despised Mayor Bloomberg gives his 12th—and thankfully his final—State of the City address.
Scheduled to take place at the “you either hate it or love it” Barclays Center, home of the “you either hate them or love them” Brooklyn Nets, many news outlets are forecasting that Bloomberg will address his so-called legacy and accomplishments in New York City during his Mayoral reign.
So while we wait for his actual speech, here are some of his accomplishments to mull over, in no particular order:
- In fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 2012, Bloomberg cut case managers from HASA’s supportive housing programs to the tune of $1.87 million dollars.
- In FY12, Bloomberg supported a cut to supportive housing case management services and additional contract reduction, totaling $5.1 million. (Luckily, this funding was stored thanks to the City Council stepping in)
- Slashing HASA broker fees assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS by half
- Bans food donations to NYC homeless shelters because the city can’t assess the food’s salt, fat, and total nutritional content
- Has presided over the city’s largest increase in the city’s homeless population since The Great Depression
- Cuts Advantage program for the city’s homeless which helps them transition out of shelter and into stabilized housing
- Freezes Section 8 housing in the city
- Responds to the growing homeless population crisis by contracting with greedy landlords and putting the homeless in SROs in buildings with serious fire-safety and infrastructure violations
- Also responds to the growing homeless population crisis by opening more homeless shelters in residential buildings, rather than linking the homeless to care or bothering to understand the socioeconomic factors leading to homelessness
- Calls NYC’s homeless shelters a much more “pleasurable experience“ for homeless people
- Cuts $7 million from the city’s Runaway and Homeless Youth Services program, effectively eliminating 160 youth beds and crippling the Ali Forney Center
- Continues to stridently defend the NYPD’s “Stop and Frisk” policy, despite clear data showing the policy is nothing more than racial profiling
So there’s twelve very clear examples of Bloomberg’s legacy.
Have something to add? Great! Help us get to 20 by adding your examples too in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter!
Want to join the fight to end homelessness and AIDS? Sign up to receive posts in your inbox.
Follow the Update blog on Twitter @housingworks.
blog comments powered by DisqusShare
Stay informed
The AIDS Issues Update blog is your insider source for AIDS social justice news. Sign up to receive posts in your inbox.
Donate Today
Help us advocate for the rights of all people living with HIV/AIDS



