East Greenbush, Central Islip, Buffalo, Rochester, Queens, NY—Community, faith and labor leaders held rallies and press conferences in five cities around the state to protest the use of taxpayer dollars to subsidize projects that do not create good jobs or broader community benefits. As part of the statewide Getting Our Money’s Worth campaign, advocates gathered at wasteful development projects in their local communities, highlighted a new report, Seizing the Moment: How Regional Economic Development Councils Can Build a Good Jobs Economy, and called on state leaders to create a good jobs plan that improves upon current economic development outcomes.
The Real Deal, By Adam Fusfeld, June 21, 2011. Community activists rallied outside the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst today to oppose the use of taxpayer money to fund projects that don't provide jobs beyond part-time, minimum wage ones. The mall was a chief target of the protesters, as it has received $48 million of property tax subsidies in return for jobs that primarily pay around $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum wage.
Public News Service, by Mark Scheerer, June 21, 2001. The State of New York shouldn't go looking for jobs in all the wrong places, according to workers' rights and immigration activists. They're wary about plans in Albany to create regional economic development councils, and they're holding a news conference in Central Islip, outside a plant operated by the firm Cintas, charging it with exploiting workers and committing environmental violations.
Syracuse Post-Standard, By Tim Knauss, June 21, 2011. Saying state and local leaders must do more to create jobs in low-income areas, Syracuse United Neighbors sponsored a protest today on the city’s South Side, one of several across the state designed to draw attention to the problem.
YNN, By Mike Hedeen, June 21, 2011. A rally in Irondequoit brought to the forefront the lack of decent paying jobs in the Rochester area and across New York State. Labor leaders and the unemployed are calling on state government to create what they call "a good jobs plan.”
