Who are my Congressman, state Assembly, Senators and City Council members? You probably have no idea, yet they impact life every single day.
Click here for contact info for all electeds NYC PBA – Find Your Representatives
A few days ago the CCNY Alumni Association sent testimony to key members of the state legislature demanding adequate funding, next week we’re sending a message to all our members with a “click and send” letter link to state legislators.
Will it matter? Hopefully
The Alumni leadership are citizen lobbyists, we believe CUNY, the 27 community and four-year colleges impact the lives of a generation of our students.
And it’s all about that perceived dirty word, “politics,” we can’t afford to opt out, too much is at stake, bitching on Facebook is a waste of time, enough boots on the ground makes a difference.
The Governor’s State of the State message the first week in January laid out her priorities, in the last week of January the 150-page preliminary budget, Next week the “one house” budgets and lobbyists and advocates will descend on Albany. On March 10th, Lobby Day, hundreds of UFTers will be released from school to trek to Albany, and usually the governor and the legislature agree on a budget by April 1.( Check UFT.org Lobby Day for details)
The chaos in Washington over unheard of drastic budget cuts could impact states, the state budget process, and especially school funding; instead of a process to distribute state aid in a more equitable manner we may be groveling for crumbs.
Alongside the fight for funding the mayoral primary clock is ticking, with more candidates by the week. Remember, a Ranked Choice Voting system and the most highly rated candidate in the polls, Andrew Cuomo, hasn’t entered the race, let me add, yet
Mulgrew and his team are experienced, they understand the complexities, the “behind the scenes” wheeling and dealing. The old adage, the two things you don’t want to see made in person are sausages and laws.
The city, in its wisdom, decided to demolish a large structure and build a sanitation garage a block from my apartment. We formed a neighborhood coalition, should we collect signatures on a petition? Picket the mayor’s office? Instead I purchased e-addresses for every registered voter in the area, sent out well written, well designed e-blasts and lo and behold, the Sanitation Commissioner met with us, the Community Planning Board established a working group and instead of the Sanitation Garage the Economic Development Corporation is building a state-of-the art Science Research Center that includes a public high school.
Organize your staff, your parent association, other community groups, meet with your elected in their local office, be polite and firm, invite them to your school, make them care as much as you care.
When the closed “members only” meetings are held before the sessions in Albany your elected can tell the Speaker, “My constituents are riled up, we need more education funding,” all politics is local, enough boots changes laws.
As Joe Hill said, “Don’t Mourn, Organize” Click to listen: Bing Videos
Ed in the Apple: Blogging on the Intersection of Education and Politics Title 