By Ryan Burgess
June 21, 2011
A coalition called "Getting Our Money's Worth" is calling on lawmakers to find better ways to create more local jobs. YNN's Ryan Burgess tells us about the coalition's message to elected leaders for getting the job market back on track.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The "Getting Our Money's Worth" coalition had a message Tuesday for local and statewide lawmakers.
"We've got to continue to say to them, 'you've got to do a heck of a better job than you are doing,' " said the Reverend Jeff Carter of Ephesus Ministries.
The coalition released a new report Tuesday, urging lawmakers to stop corporate tax breaks and form better job creation programs on a community level.
"New York State gave out $8 billion in tax breaks last year. What do we have for it? We have a nine percent unemployment rate. I don't see how that $8 billion has helped the local economy," said Mike Hoffert, president of the Buffalo AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.
Citing the failed subsidy offered to One Sunset Nightclub in Buffalo as a prime example, the coalition members said many government subsidies turn out to be a waste of taxpayer dollars.
"Tax giveaways to corporations and the super wealthy, cutting school budgets and cutting vital public services, and laying the public sector off will not put our economy back on track," said Danielle Judge-Johnson, the lead organizer with Citizen Action of WNY.
According to the Coalition for Economic Justice, 10 soon-to-be created Regional Economic Development Councils are billed by lawmakers as a flagship job creation program. But to date, the coalition has more questions than answers.
"Will they be our missing jobs plan? Or will they add yet another layer to our fractured economic development system that's too often wasteful and ineffective?" asked Andy Reynolds of the Coalition for Economic Justice.
Click here to read the coalition's full report, called "Seizing the Moment."
To watch the video, visit YNN.