Public Advocate's Corner

The Budget and the Next Public Advocate

Uninformed sources have alleged that I did nothing to restrain spending in the wake of a devastating 40% budget cut to my office. This is demonstrably false. 

The day Speaker Quinn approved this cut, I laid out several ways in which we could perform our charter-mandated functions while saving as much money as possible for the next public advocate. It was obvious, to me and to everyone who protested the cut – advocates, elected officials, and good-government groups – that there would be little money left over unless I fired most of my staff. I refused to do that. 

However, I did decide not to replace departing staff members; we have lost almost 25% of staff through attrition. I have also decided to send my mandated annual report electronically, rather than in print. And I have funded all office initiatives, including my Guide to Public Benefits for Immigrants, with privately raised money.

Additionally, with the term ending, city rules require that we pay out $190,000 in unused annual leave to staff members, which has been accrued and carried over throughout their employment. This figure does not include money paid out to staff already departed.

It’s worth noting that $1.7 million is a meager, insufficient, and disproportionately small budget for a citywide office charged with overseeing city agencies and assisting New Yorkers in need. The budget should be increased, and not set at the whims of the Mayor and Speaker. However, in this difficult situation, my office has made significant sacrifices—-for the next public advocate and for the people of New York City.

Mayor Signs Language Access in Pharmacies Act

  This morning, I attended the bill signing where Mayor Bloomberg signed the Language Access in Pharmacies Act, a bill I introduced in 2008.

The Language Access in Pharmacies Act requires New York City chain pharmacies to translate medical instructions into the seven languages most commonly spoken by residents who have limited English proficiency.

For example, as one constituent pointed out to me, by confusing the English word “once” with the Spanish word for eleven – spelled exactly the same – a non-English speaker could easily overdose on their medication.

This will allow the nearly 2 million residents and citizens who speak foreign languages to make safer medical decisions.

Today, with the Mayor’s signature, New York City became the first locality in the United States to require translation services in pharmacies.

This new law sends a message to the rest of the nation – a message that New York embraces the great demographic change occurring in our City and throughout the country. I hope that other localities will follow this example.

Check It Out! Gotbaum Takes Budget Fight to Brian Lehrer Show

Last Friday, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum appeared on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show to defend her crucial role in city government, discuss her accomplishments, and push for an independent budget for the Office of the Public Advocate. Listen to her interview on the audio player below, or visit WNYC's website.

It's anti-democratic, bad government, and politics at its worst

For the past 7 years, I have had to take part in a ridiculous annual budget dance with the two people who control my office’s budget: the Mayor and the Speaker of the City Council.

Historically, the Mayor proposes cuts to the budget, and I negotiate with the Council Speaker to restore it. I have always said this is problematic because this is an independent office that is a check on government.  The office should have an independent budget.

 This year, despite a vigorous attempt to restore our budget, I have been told that we are about to be hit with a 40 percent cut to our funding.  I believe this is political payback from Speaker Quinn for my spirited opposition to extending term limits without a referendum.  Its anti-democratic, bad government, and politics at its worst.

My stand against overturning the will of the voters was based on good conscience, as evidenced by the fact that I am not running for reelection.

HRA Hearing Today

Today, Public Advocate Gotbaum gave remarks at the General Welfare Committee Budget Hearing for the Human Resources Administration (HRA), encouraging HRA to adjust its policies and correct the problems at its Job Centers.

Gotbaum said, "I am concerned about the city’s position on able-bodied adults without dependents, or ABAWDs. President Obama’s stimulus package includes a provision that suspends the limit on how long ABAWDs can receive Food Stamps—while they look for work. But the Bloomberg administration says it is “not obligated” to accept this provision and has spoken in vague terms about expanding the Work Experience Program, ignoring the fact that ABAWDs are still required to look for work while they receive benefits. My office estimates that we could miss out on the opportunity to bring roughly $155 million into the city’s economy if the administration blows this decision." Read the submitted remarks.

State of the City

Today, the Mayor gave his annual State of the City address focusing on job creation in NYC. Read the full text of the State of the City address.

Public Advocate Gotbaum, in attendance, issued the following response to his speech:

“While I commend the Mayor for his proactive planning for new job creation, and the innovative components of his recovery strategy, I had some serious concerns with his new quality-of-life crime proposal. 'Three strikes and you’re out'  has been bad for California. Cutting police officers while taking the sentencing out of the hands of judges and prosecutors and putting it in the hands of politicians is just bad policy. We need to keep the police on the streets. 

From one Blogger to Another

I welcome Speaker Quinn to the blogosphere. I learned over the weekend about the Red Room Blog, and wanted to congratulate everyone involved on the launch.

Transparent government is good government. Blogs not only provide an interesting format for readers to find out more about what's going on in the city, but they have the potential to create a dialogue around important city issues and connect New Yorkers with the electeds that serve them.

In my opinion, it's only a matter of time before elected officials blogging will be the rule, not the exception, and I am glad to see more of my colleagues joining me in the blogosphere. The Public Advocates Corner has already helped me let more people know what I’m working on, and what I care about, and hear more from New Yorkers about issues that concern them.

I hope the Red Room blog also serves to create an online conversation around legislative happenings and other council news (can we expect to see a space for comments?), and I look forward to reading it over the coming months.

Happy New Year

This was another productive and successful year for the Office of the Public Advocate. In the past year, Betsy Gotbaum pushed for the clean-up of environmental hazards at parks and schools; exposed the Department of Education’s failure to meet state requirements for physical education and arts instruction; produced the first of its kind comprehensive guide to city services for immigrants; and introduced legislation to protect residents’ health by forcing landlords to remediate mold and pest infestations in city apartments (among other accomplishments).

The Office of the Public Advocate also initiated, in partnership with the mayor’s office, the largest survey of its kind to assess New Yorkers’ satisfaction with city services, and Betsy convened an independent commission at the request of the state legislature to make recommendations [pdf] on reauthorizing mayoral control of schools.

None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the Public Advocate staff. This year, the Ombudsman unit helped more that 12,000 individuals get access to vital city services like public housing, food stamps and special education services. The community affairs staff, who serve as Betsy’s eyes and ears in all five boroughs, helped to facilitate a series of community discussions on gang activity as well as a citywide Healthy Kids Summer Wellness Tour to make sure that parents take early steps to ensure their children are healthy. To learn more about the work of the Office of the Public click here to read the 2008 annual report [pdf].

Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year from all of us at the Office of the Public Advocate.
 

Running for Public Advocate: What every candidate should know

In a little over a year, my time as Public Advocate will be concluding and the newly-elected Public Advocate will be preparing to take office. The field of candidates for this office continues to grow.

Before they charge ahead in their campaigns, I decided to invite them to my office to share, after seven years as Public Advocate, my perception of this office: the challenges that come with it, and also the opportunities. To me, this is a sensible step, beneficial not just to the next office-holder, but to the New Yorkers they will be serving.

Since one of these candidates is going to be the next Public Advocate, it is essential he or she hear first-hand about this office.

First, they need to understand the structure of the office and its various roles (a watchdog over city agencies with the ability to introduce legislation, next-in-line to the Mayor and a trustee of the city's public employee retirement fund, the New York City Employees' Retirement System, a.k.a. NYCERS).

Second, candidates need to know about the increasing number of calls my Ombuds unit receives. Since coming into office, calls for help with education increased more than 300%; homeless services, public housing and public benefits calls at least doubled; and housing preservation and development calls increased by 150%.

Third, candidates need to know about the challenges my office faces. Most critical, the office lacks an independent budget.  Since part of my office's mandate in the City Charter is to act as a watchdog over city agencies, it makes sense for the office's budget to be independent of those agencies.

Earlier last week I said to the New York Times, "The fact that this office has no independent budget means that there is a constant dance between being cut by the executive branch and trying to get those funds restored by the City Council speaker. It makes things complicated, especially if you're supposed to be the watchdog over city agencies."

The Office of the Public Advocate is essential to the city. Despite the challenges facing this office, it remains an invaluable resource to New Yorkers and a necessary check on the power of the mayor.

the budget today

I met with the Mayor earlier today for a budget briefing. Given our city’s decreased revenues and the uncertainty regarding funds from the state, service cuts and tax increases are, unfortunately, unavoidable.    

While it appears that the majority of cuts will not have a major impact on vulnerable New Yorkers, I am concerned about the elimination of child dental clinics. In terms of the dental clinics, I urge the city to establish a transition plan to help inform the families of the 17,000 kids who use these clinics where they can now go to get dental services.   

One of my main concerns going into today’s meeting was how the proposed cuts would affect education. The mayor assured me that the budget cuts to education will not directly impact the classroom, and instead will be made mostly to the Department of Education's central administration. As I have long stated, DOE central can afford to trim some fat. For instance, there are still nine open positions listed on the DOE website under their accountability initiative, some paying up to $170,000.

Finally, as a trustee of NYCERS, I understand the significant cost of the pension system to this city and the effects on the system of a downturn in the economy. Which is why I believe we should institute a fifth tier for pension contributions. A fifth tier will require that new employees coming into the system give a greater contribution to their pensions. It might not help us today, but down the road it will make a difference.  

Hopefully, the mayor's current conservative projections won't hold, and the economy will rebound. There is cause to be optimistic: yesterday we made history by electing Barack Obama. I believe this will restore confidence in the markets and in the country.