Emergency Mobilization on the Budget at the Governor’s NYC Office

Emergency Mobilization on the Budget at the Governor’s NYC Office:

Tuesday, December 16, 4:00-5:00 P.M., Third Avenue and 41^st Street

Dear Colleagues,

This Tuesday, December 16, Governor Paterson will release his proposed State budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. All indications are that it will include deep cuts to CUNY and a plan to close part of the State’s budget gap through increased CUNY tuition. In response to the anticipated budget—which may be the most damaging for CUNY in many years—the PSC has called an Emergency Mobilization on Tuesday, December 16 from 4:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. in front of the governor’s New York City office.

At 4:00 that day, representatives of faculty, staff and students from across the University will join me to deliver 55,000 signed postcards to the governor calling for public investment in CUNY. We will meet with the governor’s director of higher education. Our message will be amplified by the thousands of members of the CUNY community who have signed the postcards: In a time of economic distress New York should invest more—not less—in CUNY.

I am writing to ask you to make an exceptional effort to participate in the mobilization on Tuesday. There is an alternative to budget cuts and regressive taxes, and Albany needs to see how strong the support for it is. New York would have $17 billion more in income this year alone if it simply restored the tax cuts enacted between 1994 and 2005. Over the past 30 years, New York has cut the tax rate on the highest income bracket in half. The budget problem would be solved if the State restructured the personal income tax for greater fairness.

It’s not too late to call on Albany to reverse course. We need to be at the governor’s office in numbers to make our point. Please contact caikin@pscmail.org to let us know that we can count on you to be there: Emergency Mobilization on the Budget: Tuesday, December 16, 4:00-5:00 P.M., Third Avenue and 41^st Street.

In solidarity,

Barbara Bowen

President, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY