By: TJVNews.com
There are four proposals on the New York City ballot in the upcoming election on Tuesday. One proposal will be voted on statewide, and three are specific to New York City. We urge you to vote “No” on each of these proposals. Ballot proposals are approved if they receive a majority of the vote.
Ballot Proposal 1: Clean Water, Clean Air, And Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022
The statewide ‘Clean Air, Clean Water, and Green Jobs Bond Act’ was originally proposed by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2020, and the state legislature voted to put the issue on the ballot for voters to decide. However, the proposal was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Governor Hochul amended the proposal earlier this year, and the legislature once again voted to place it on the ballot this November.
The “Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022” authorizes the sale of state bonds up to $4 billion to fund environmental protection, natural restoration, resiliency, and clean energy projects.
If this proposal passes then New York State could allocate $4,200,000,000 from creating state debt and selling state bonds to protect New York’s natural resources and reduce the impact of climate change. The state Comptroller would be authorized to issue and sell bonds up to $4,200,000,000.
Money would be allocated for specific purposes:
At least $1,100,000,000 for restoration and flood risk reduction.
At least $650,000,000 for open space land conservation and recreation.
Up to $1,500,000,000 for climate change mitigation.
At least $650,000,000 for water quality improvement and resilient infrastructure.
Why You Should Vote NO
The truth is, green energy has proven to be a wasteful scam, as it costs more money in the end and is not sustainable. In 2017 and in 2020 former Governor Cuomo proposed similar proposals that did not pass the state legislature. What is going to happen to state monies that are currently in the budget for these issues? Will those monies be placed elsewhere as has been done in the past? Vote no.
Ballot Proposal 2: Add a Statement of “Values” to Guide Government
This proposal would amend the New York City Charter to add introductory text, known as a preamble, to the New York City Charter. This preamble would serve as a guiding principle for city government.
Why you Should Vote NO
The measure, a parting gift from former New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio who made almost everything in his city worse, would amend the city charter — effectively New York City’s constitution — to embrace “racial justice and equity” as a “stated value” of municipal governance.
New Yorkers have heard this song before in 2019, when a “racial justice and equity” argument supported the state penal-code “reforms” now driving the city’s crime wave. Does anybody think a second chorus would be a good idea?
Indeed, embracing “racial equity” as a municipal “stated value” could sink any realistic hope of rolling those “reforms” back. Beyond that, voter approval would undermine New York’s civil-service system, create discord in city offices and further hobble public education by the continuance of the erosion in objective scholastic testing. At the same time — and maybe this is the real point — approval would mean a bonanza for the city’s activist lawyers, lobbyists and race-mongering advantage-seekers.
We should oppose any legislation that supports equity as equity as it is not equality for all New Yorkers. It just gives some people preferential treatment because of their skin color. Vote NO!
Ballot Proposal 3: Establish a Racial Equity Office, Plan, and Commission
This proposal would create an Office of Racial Equity, require a citywide Racial Equity Plan every two years, and create a Commission on Racial Equity.
This proposal would amend the City Charter to require citywide and agency-specific Racial Equity Plans every two years. The plans would include intended strategies and goals to improve alleged racial equity and to reduce or eliminate alleged racial disparities;
It would establish an Office of Racial Equity and appoint a Chief Equity Officer to advance racial equity and coordinate the City’s racial equity planning process. The office would support City agencies in improving access to City services and programs for those people and communities who have been negatively affected by previous policies or actions, and collect and report data related to equity.
The proposal would also establish a Commission on Racial Equity, appointed by City elected officials. In making appointments to this Commission, elected officials would be required to consider appointees who are representative of or have experience advocating for a diverse range of communities. The Commission would identify and propose priorities to inform the racial equity planning process and review agency and citywide Racial Equity Plans.
Every two years the mayor would create a citywide Racial Equity Plan and city agencies would create their own Racial Equity Plans. These plans would inform the city’s budget planning.
The city would create a Commission on Racial Equity with 15 members appointed by the Mayor and City Council Speaker. The Commission would propose community priorities to inform the racial equity planning process. It would also review citywide Racial Equity Plans and track agency compliance with racial equity planning. It would receive public complaints about city agencies that are creating racial disparities.
Why You Should Vote NO
If this proposal passes it would make it a policy to require the city to only hire people that are the right skin color. It should not matter what race someone is, only what skills they have to offer.
Establish commissions on Racial Equity is redundant and a colossal waste of taxpayer money. We already have the Commission on Human Rights in which all city agencies are mandated to report concerning positions and the ethnic makeup of the employees. Why keep recreating the wheel? Creating agency on top of agency is completely wasteful. We should inquire as to why these other reports and agencies are not satisfactory. If they are not fulfilling their stated functions they should be abolished. Imposing more bureaucratic measures in totally unnecessary.
This commission will have no real authority and cannot really do anything of value. The city should find more practical ways to foster social equity that provide opportunities for good education or trade skills, good jobs, good housing, etc.
We can help the city’s children thrive by encouraging them to study and stay focused. Then the equality will come automatically. Vote NO!
Ballot Proposal 4: Measure the True Cost of Living
This proposal would require the city to measure the actual cost of living for city residents to meet essential needs.
This proposal would amend the City Charter to require the city to create a “true cost of living” measure to track the actual cost in New York City of meeting essential needs, including housing, food, childcare, transportation, and other necessary costs, and without considering public, private, or informal assistance, in order to inform programmatic and policy decisions. It would also require the city government to report annually on the “true cost of living” measure.
If this proposal passes that would mean that beginning in 2024, the city would be required to track the actual cost of living for housing, childcare, child and dependent expenses, food, transportation, healthcare, clothing, and more. The findings would be reported alongside metrics used to measure poverty or set eligibility for public benefits.
Why You Should Vote NO
Why exactly should “true cost” not account for the money the government is already spending to mitigate those costs? This proposal is nothing more than another way for the woke, progressive camp to use taxpayer money without seeing any tangible results
