ALIGN

Getting Our Money’s Worth Coalition Responds to State of the State Address

Statement by Matt Ryan, Executive Director, ALIGN

In the current climate, public investment should be focused on job creation, particularly in communities still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and those impacted by long-term unemployment and disinvestment. For too long, economic development policies have overlooked and undervalued low-income and working New Yorkers. The plans to repair and rebuild from Hurricane Sandy could be an opportunity to tackle the jobs crisis in New York‘s struggling communities, but only if we prioritize policies that are equitable, transparent and accountable, and include those most impacted in decision-making.

Statement by Jennifer Diagostino, Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Justice

Governor Cuomo’s “New York Comeback” and “performance culture” still have a long way to go. Regional Economic Development Councils, at a cost of $738 million a year, and the Empire State Development Corporation, which costs taxpayers over $1 billion a year, are long on promises, but short on outcomes. Before creating new corporate giveaway programs, New York’s elected leaders should restructure the state’s bloated economic development apparatus, so that it creates quality jobs that lift New Yorkers above the poverty line, and so the public knows exactly how our money is being spent.

Each year, New York spends $7 billion on corporate subsidies in the name of job creation, and too much of this money is wasted on corporations that fail to create good jobs and community benefits. That’s billions taken out our communities, schools, roads, public transit and the services that we all rely on.