Amid Heightened Tension, Advocates Push Cuomo to Veto Police Discipline Bill
A day after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric...
A day after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, two of most powerful men in the state, said they are interested in passing major criminal justice reforms during next year's legislative session.
There is no need to wait that long to take significant action, says a coalition of groups operating under the banner "This Stops Today" (after words spoken by Eric Garner shortly before his death), that includes Communities United For Police Reform, Center for Popular Democracy, Make the Road NY and the NYCLU, among others. The coalition and other advocates are calling on Cuomo to veto a bill passed in both houses of the Legislature that would allow the rules for police disciplinary action to be decided in collective bargaining with unions rather than by elected officials.
The bill, S7801/A9853, and Cuomo's veto of it, is a major platform item for those involved in action across New York City in response to the grand jury decision. For a second straight night on Thursday, protesters flooded streets, chanting, shutting down major roadways and staging 'die-ins.' The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and Assembly. The only votes against in the Senate came from Sens. Liz Krueger and James Seward.
On Thursday, Gov. Cuomo told Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom that he wants to look at reforming police training and the grand jury system, and at instituting body cameras for police across the state. "I think long term this is something we have to look at this session," Cuomo said. "I think we need a comprehensive look."
Speaker Silver issued a statement saying he is committed to "working with Governor Cuomo, my colleagues in the Legislature, Mayor de Blasio and with law enforcement to improve the manner in which we police our streets and to restore the people's faith in our legal system."
Neither Cuomo nor Silver discussed the police conduct bill. The governor's office did not return a request for comment for this story.
New York City Council members including Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams have also called on Cuomo to veto the bill. "If signed into law, this bill would severely undermine the City's ability to hold police officers accountable for their actions," said the two in an August statement.
"The Council Member and many of his progressive colleagues are on record calling on the Governor to veto the bill. The need for strong civilian oversight of police discipline is more important now than ever," a representative from Lander's office told Gotham Gazette on Thursday.
The legislation has been pushed through the Legislature with the support of law enforcement unions only to be vetoed by Govs. David Paterson, Eliot Spitzer, George Pataki, and Mario Cuomo.
The Brooklyn NAACP is asking constituents to call and write to Cuomo to urge his veto. "This bill would strip local public officials of disciplinary authority over the police officers they employ, which would have a detrimental impact on the accountability of local police departments, and thus safety and public confidence in the police," reads the form letter offered by the group.
Cuomo did not veto any legislation before Election Day this year, but has used some controversial vetoes since.
The state's Court of Appeals ruled once in 2006 and once in 2012 that police discipline should be left in the hands of public officials and not determined during collective bargaining with unions.
"Police officers – who put themselves in harm's way for the sake of public safety – have the right to fair treatment and due process," reads the August statement from Lander and Williams, who co-authored the controversial NYPD-related Community Safety Act which passed in 2013 over a veto by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "At the same time the authority to investigate police misconduct, and pursue discipline when appropriate, must be held by government officials who are accountable to the public. As we saw just last week in the police union press conference blaming Eric Garner for his own death, the unions' inclination is to protect their members at all costs."
Source: Gotham Gazette
How Bad Are Waste and Fraud at Charter Schools? This Bad.
NEA Today - May 14, 2014, by Tim Walker - Lax oversight and limited accountability has led to a shocking misuse of...
NEA Today - May 14, 2014, by Tim Walker - Lax oversight and limited accountability has led to a shocking misuse of taxpayer funds by charter schools nationwide, according to a new report from the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education.
“We expected to find a fair amount of fraud when we began this project, but we did not expect to find over $100 million in taxpayer dollars lost,” said Kyle Serrette, the Director of Education Justice at the Center for Popular Democracy. “That’s just in 15 states. And that figure fails to capture the real harm to children. Clearly, we should hit the pause button on charter expansion until there is a better oversight system in place to protect our children and our communities.”
The report, “Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse,” examined representative charter school data from 15 states and found instances of charter operators using charter funds for personal use; school revenues being used to illegally support charter operator businesses; mismanagement that put children in potential danger; charter executives illegally inflating enrollment to boost revenues; and charter operators mismanaging their schools.
While many of the instances of fraud and abuse noted in the report resulted from charter school administrators pilfering funds and misrepresenting their successes—a comparatively small number when compared to the national total of charter schools—it should be pointed out that limited oversight has helped foster an atmosphere where these kinds of problems are more commonplace. And much of this hands-off practice stems from the way charter schools have evolved over the ensuing years since their initial conception.
“To understand why there are so many problems in the charter industry, one must understand the original purpose of charter schools,” the report says. “Lawmakers created charter schools to allow educators to explore new methods and models of teaching. To allow this to happen, they exempted the schools from the vast majority of regulations governing the traditional public school system.”
So even as the number of charter schools increases, along with the funding that they receive, accountability measures have been slow to keep pace.
“Despite rapid growth in the charter school industry, no agency, federal or state, has been given the resources to properly oversee it,” the report noted in its introduction. “Given this inadequate oversight, we worry that the fraud and mismanagement that has been uncovered thus far might be just the tip of the iceberg.”
So what are some of the common-sense laws and oversight methods that the report suggests? For starters, establishing an office dedicated to managing and overseeing charters on the state level will help maintain performance standards and temper instances of fraud and abuse. Greater transparency on the part of charters, including independent audits available to the public and easy access to the charter agreements and other pertinent documents, will create a sustainably open atmosphere. And expanding many of the requirements for public schools to charter schools, including non-discrimination and transparency requirements, will narrow the divide in terms of oversight.
“Our school system exists to serve students and enrich communities,” says Sabrina Stevens, Executive Director of Integrity in Education. “We need to have rules in place that can systematically weed out incompetent or unscrupulous charter operators before they pose a risk to students and taxpayers.”
If so-called reformers are so determined to tout charter schools as a panacea for traditional public schools, then at the very least they can be held to the same standards of accountability, oversight, and scrutiny that public schools must take for granted.
“School funding is too scarce as it is; we can hardly afford to waste the resources we do have on people who would prioritize exotic vacations over school supplies or food for children,” Stevens adds. “We also can’t continue to rely on the media or isolated whistleblowers to identify these problems.”
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CPD's Connie Razza Joins Melissa Harris-Perry to Discuss the Federal Reserve
Melissa Harris-Perry - March 7, 2014 - The Center for Popular Democracy released a report on March 3, 2015 detailing...
Melissa Harris-Perry - March 7, 2014 - The Center for Popular Democracy released a report on March 3, 2015 detailing the discrepancy in unemployment between black and brown communities and white communities. CPD is calling on the Federal Reserve to implement policies and institutional reforms that focus on creating a strong recovery for all communities.
How Janet Yellen Is Embracing The Fed’s Role In Racial Justice
How Janet Yellen Is Embracing The Fed’s Role In Racial Justice
Oh, what a difference a year can make. Last July, Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen endured criticism for House...
Oh, what a difference a year can make.
Last July, Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen endured criticism for House testimony in which she seemed to imply that there was little the Fed could do to address the disproportionately high African-American unemployment rate.
Not so on Tuesday. In her semi-annual testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, Yellen emphasized that the failure of the economic recovery to reach communities of color influences the Fed’s decision-making, and made a strong commitment to improving diversity at the central bank.
“Jobless rates have declined for all major demographic groups, including for African Americans and Hispanics,” Yellen said, according to her prepared remarks. “Despite these declines, however, it is troubling that unemployment rates for these minority groups remain higher than for the nation overall, and that the annual income of the median African-American household is still well below the median income of other U.S. households.”
Yellen’s policy argument has not fundamentally changed. It is the Fed’s job to maximize employment in the economy as the whole, she says, and it lacks the tools to target particular communities. And the Fed chief has clarified since last summer that she takes seriously how the Fed’s adjustment of interest rates can have an especially big impact on African Americans and Latinos, who have higher jobless rates.
But Yellen’s remarks and actions on Tuesday represent the Fed’s greatest demonstration yet that it is putting the concerns of communities of color front and center on its agenda.
The Fed Up campaign, a coalition of progressive groups that has led the push to make the Federal Reserve more responsive to workers in general, and communities of color in particular, was pleased with the focus of Yellen’s testimony.
“Each time since Yellen spoke last July, when she got pushback over what she said, she has gotten a little bit better,” said Jordan Haedtler, Fed Up’s campaign manager. “Now she is proactively showing that the Fed is assessing this data and does take this data into account.”
Diversity is an extremely important goal and I will do everything I can to further advance it.
This week’s hearings, held every six months in both chambers of Congress — the House will hold its hearing on Wednesday — are an opportunity for the Fed chair to update lawmakers about the overall state of the economy. As part of the briefing, the Fed releases an accompanying monetary policy report summarizing its economic assessment and research.
For the first time, the Fed chose to devote a section of its report to whether the “gains of the economic expansion [have] been widely shared.” That section focused on how the recovery affected different races and ethnicities differently.
The results are discouraging. Despite years of job growth, the rates of full-time work for African Americans and Latinos are a few percentage points lower than they were before the recession, while the rates among white and Asian-American workers have more or less reached pre-recession levels. And the median income of black households, which took the biggest hit of any group during the recession, has also been slower to recover, reaching only 88 percent of what it was in 2007, compared with about 94 percent for the other three groups.
Responding to a question about the new section from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Yellen insisted that weighing the disparate impact of economic growth on a range of different groups is a key part of the Fed’s mission.
“There are very significant differences in success in the labor market across demographic groups,” she said. “It is important for us to be aware of those differences and to focus on them as we think about monetary policy and the broader work that the Federal Reserve does in the area of community development and trying to make sure that financial services are widely available to those that need it, including low- and moderate-income [households].”
Yellen also recognized the importance of diversity — of race, gender, professional background and ideology — within the Fed’s ranks in ensuring the bank remains sensitive to a broad array of Americans’ economic experiences.
She touted her creation of a task force in the Fed to improve its gender and ethnic diversity, but acknowledged there is more to be done.
“Diversity is an extremely important goal and I will do everything I can to further advance it,” Yellen said.
Progressive groups and their allies in Congress trying to make the Fed more accountable to the public have focused on increasing diversity and reducing Wall Street’s influence at the central bank. Eleven senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and 116 House members sent a letter to Yellen on May 12 urging her to prioritize the diversity of Fed officials, especially at the 12 regional Fed banks, which are privately owned. (Hillary Clinton expressed similar sentiments in a statement later that day.)
The makeup of the regional Fed bank boards is important because they are dominated by the big banks and have free reign to appoint their presidents. The regional Fed bank presidents hold five seats on the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank panel that adjusts the benchmark interest rate. Currently, regional Fed presidents make up half of the FOMC’s influential votes.
As a result, the Fed officials with the power to raise interest rates and effectively increase unemployment are selected by people who are disproportionately white, male and from the finance and business sectors.
In the interests of changing that, the Fed Up campaign on Monday released a slate of 39 candidates for the regional Federal Reserve bank boards of directors. The candidates not only reflect racial and gender diversity, but also come exclusively from academic institutions, community groups and labor organizations.
“On racial and gender diversity there has been modest progress, though it has not taken place at the rate we would like to see,” Haedtler said. Haedtler added that there is even greater room for improvement when it comes to the diversity of professional backgrounds of board members and other top Fed officials, an area where he said there has been “regression” under Yellen’s watch.
By Daniel Marans
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Chicago Mayor Emanuel, Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti, New York City Mayor de Blasio and Citi Launch Cities for Citizenship
MarketWatch - September 17, 2014 - Today, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, New York City...
MarketWatch - September 17, 2014 - Today, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Citi jointly launched Cities for Citizenship – a major initiative aimed at increasing citizenship among eligible U.S. permanent residents to forge more inclusive and economically robust cities.
Cities for Citizenship will enable cities to expand naturalization and financial capability programs, as well as access to legal assistance, microloans and financial counseling, boosting economic opportunity for immigrants and communities nationwide. The effort will be coordinated by two leading non-profit partners, The Center for Popular Democracy and the National Partnership for New Americans, with the aim of encouraging cities across the country to invest in their citizenship programs. In total, Citi Community Development, the founding corporate partner, is contributing more than $1 million to the program.
There are currently 8.8 million legal permanent residents in America who are eligible for citizenship. These are documented residents, who pay taxes and work lawfully, but 52 percent of whom remain low-income. Their naturalization would provide access to better paying jobs (up to an 11 percent increase to their personal earnings), academic scholarships, and a myriad of other benefits. It would also provide an estimated $37 billion to $52 billion lift to the national economy over the next ten years. This would mean up to $1.6 billion for Chicago’s economy, $2.8 billion for the Los Angeles’ economy, and a $4.1 billion boost for New York City’s economy, according to the “Citizenship: A Wise Investment for Cities” study. This report by the Center for Popular Democracy and the National Partnership for New Americans is a preview of a larger study that New York City will release next year with Citi Community Development’s support.
“Immigrants who become naturalized citizens make significant contributions to our communities, our city, and our country, and it’s in our collective interest to promote naturalization in Chicago,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “We are proud to join Mayor Garcetti of Los Angeles and Mayor de Blasio of New York in leading Cities for Citizenship, which will help thousands of immigrants in Chicago and in cities across the country through the naturalization process, leading to economic benefits for our immigrant families and city as a whole.”
“Immigrants are the backbone of our economy,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “It's time we encouraged their successful integration into our social and political tapestry to continue boosting our economy and not stand in the way of it. We are committed to expanding citizenship education and making sure people have the help they need to navigate this complex system.”
“I’m proud to stand today with my fellow mayors Rahm Emanuel and Eric Garcetti as we launch the national Cities for Citizenship initiative,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This win-win effort will help us create more inclusive cities that lift up everyone. From increased economic activity to larger voting and tax bases, the advantages of citizenship will not only expand opportunity to our immigrant families, but to all New Yorkers and residents nationwide.”
“Citi believes that citizenship is an asset that enables low-income immigrants to gain financial capability, and building a national identity must go hand-in-hand with building a financial identity,” said Bob Annibale, Global Director of Citi Community Development. “We are proud to work with Mayors Emanuel, Garcetti and de Blasio to launch this comprehensive initiative, which will lead to direct economic benefits for immigrant families and their communities.”
Cities for Citizenship will connect mayors and municipalities with immigrant organizations and the business, faith and labor communities in public-private partnerships.
“The National Partnership for New Americans believes that Cities for Citizenship will encourage millions of immigrants to take the important step of becoming U.S. citizens and full participants in the economic, cultural, and civic life of this nation,” said Eva Millona, the co-chair of the National Partnership for New Americans and herself a naturalized U.S. citizen. “NPNA will bring immigrant organizations into partnership with Mayors to grow Cities for Citizenship in dozens of cities across the U.S.”
“We applaud the Cities of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles for making a wise investment for all of our communities,” said Ana Maria Archila, Co-Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy. “In addition to infusing local economies and workforces with a new vitality, Cities for Citizenship will strengthen our nation’s commitment to an inclusive democracy. We hope other cities will join us in this ground-breaking initiative, and join the growing number of American cities that are modelling progress for the federal government.”
Follow the initiative on Twitter with #Cities4Citizenship. Learn more at CitiesforCitizenship.org.
Local Impact of Cities for Citizenship:
Chicago
The City has pledged to help about one-third of its immigrants to become U.S. citizens through the Chicago New Americans initiative, in partnership with the Illinois Coalition of Refugee Rights and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The City of Chicago Office of New Americans will offer financial education and citizenship workshops in Citizenship Corners in public libraries in multiple languages, as well as support organizations that offer these services.
In addition, staff from Chicago public schools and community organizations will visit high schools with a large concentration of immigrant students and parents to create a one-stop shop for information about the naturalization process, free immigration legal assistance, and financial coaching.
The City’s Small Business Center will also provide services to immigrant business-owners through periodic visits. At the same time, the City will target large immigrant employers for citizenship and financial coaching support. The City will also recruit attorneys and legal firms to provide pro-bono services in naturalization workshops.
All of this information and more will be housed on the ‘City of Chicago Citizenship’ website.
Los Angeles
The nation’s largest population of legal permanent residents reside in Los Angeles, with more than 750,000 in the county.
The Office of Immigrant Affairs will work with businesses that have large numbers of eligible citizens, and immigrant populations will be directly targeted for citizenship and financial coaching support.
The City will employ a coalition of librarians to work in Citizenship Corners in public libraries and hold workshops that offer financial coaching and access to responsible products and services to begin building positive financial identities that are essential to long-term asset building.
New York City
The five boroughs are home to 684,000 legal permanent residents.
The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs will expand NYCitizenship, the first large-scale coordinated effort by a municipal government to address the barriers to naturalization, currently supported by Citi Community Development. This expansion will significantly increase immigrant access to financial counseling and microloans, as well as access to immigration legal assistance.
In its first two years, NYCitizenship has already provided support to more than 7,000 participants. The City of New York will build on the existing school-based program and partner with the Human Resources Administration, a municipal agency that serves low-income New Yorkers, to dramatically expand.
The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs will also commission a study on the economic impact of citizenship programs for mayors across the country to demonstrate the importance of new municipal investments in naturalization and fee assistance programs as a poverty-fighting tool.
Citi Community Development is leading Citi’s commitment to achieve economic empowerment and growth for underserved individuals, families and communities by expanding access to financial products and services, and building sustainable business solutions and innovative partnerships. Our focus areas include: commercial and philanthropic funding; innovative financial products and services; and collaborations with institutions that expand access to financial products and services for low-income and underserved communities. For more information, please visit www.citicommunitydevelopment.com.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at http://www.citigroup.com/citi/ | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/citi| Blog: http://blog.citi.com | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/citi
About National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA)
The National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) is a national multiethnic, multiracial partnership. NPNA harnesses the collective power and resources of the country’s 20 largest regional immigrant advocacy organizations to mobilize millions of immigrants to become active and engaged citizens, working for a vibrant, just, and welcoming democracy for all. NPNA sponsors the annual National Immigrant Integration Conference and, in the past two years, NPNA partners have assisted over 50,000 immigrants to become U.S. citizens and pursue legal status. Additional information may be found at www.partnershipfornewamericans.org | NIIC: integrationconference.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/newamericanspartnership | Twitter: @npnewamericans
About The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD)
The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) promotes equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with base-building organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and progressive unions across the country. CPD builds the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda. Visit www.populardemocracy.org and www.twitter.com/popdemoc.
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Allentown immigration rally encourages reform
WFMZ-TV - June 18, 2013, By Rosa Duarte - A big vote on immigration reform is coming up in the U.S. Senate next week...
WFMZ-TV - June 18, 2013, By Rosa Duarte - A big vote on immigration reform is coming up in the U.S. Senate next week and that has local politicians and community leaders sounding off on the issue.
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski took part in an immigration rally Tuesday at City Hall accompanied by City Council President, Julio Guridy.
The event, organized by a local democratic and immigrant support group had just one message and that is to urge Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey to vote in favor of the senate's immigration bill.
“I think it's critical for our American economy, I think it's critical for our city, I think it's critical for the country as a whole to get behind comprehensive immigration reform that has a path to citizenship,” said Pawlowski.
However that may not be easy, the bill would offer a 13-year path to citizenship for the nation's 11-million undocumented immigrants.
Even if the Senate approves the bill, it could face a tough fight in the GOP-controlled House.
"Any immigration reform bill that is going into law ought to have the majority of both parties support, if we are really serious about making that happen. I don't see any way of bringing an immigration bill to the floor that doesn't have a majority support of Republicans," said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday.
A recent poll done by CNN/ORC shows a small majority of Americans in support of the Senate's immigration bill. With 51% in favor and 45% against.
When it comes to a pathway to citizenship only 36% of those polled believe that should be the government's main focus while 62% say there needs to be an increase in border security.
Regardless, those who spoke at Tuesday's rally believe Washington is closer than ever in passing meaningful reform.
"They've been talking about it for some time, they have tried so many times and have failed. and I think in a bipartisan way with this gang of eight I think they're going to be successful," said City Council President, Julio Guridy.
Boehner is scheduled to meet with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Wednesday to discuss immigration reform.
The senate is expected to have its vote on the bill by the end of next week.
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Activist: U.S. Response to Puerto Rico “Lifts the Veil of Colonialism” & 119 Years of Exploitation
Activist: U.S. Response to Puerto Rico “Lifts the Veil of Colonialism” & 119 Years of Exploitation
The U.S. military has sent more than 4,000 soldiers to Puerto Rico as the island continues to grapple with a dire...
The U.S. military has sent more than 4,000 soldiers to Puerto Rico as the island continues to grapple with a dire shortage of clean water, food and electricity nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria. For more on the militarization of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the devastating storm, we speak with Xiomara Caro Diaz, lawyer, activist and director of New Organizing Projects at the Center for Popular Democracy.
Watch the video and read the transcript here.
Piden expandir ID Municipal a otras ciudades
ciudad de Nueva York quiere que otras urbes de la nación copien el ID Municipal que ha sido un éxito en la Gran...
ciudad de Nueva York quiere que otras urbes de la nación copien el ID Municipal que ha sido un éxito en la Gran Manzana, y por ello este jueves el Centro para la Democracia Popular hizo el lanzamiento oficial de una nueva guía para facilitar la implementación de esa identificación en otras ciudades.
El programa, que comenzó a comienzos de este año, ya ha emitido más de 630,000 identificaciones a neoyorquinos, quienes están disfrutando de una variedad de beneficios.
“Nueva York siempre ha estado a la vanguardia de los derechos de los inmigrantes y constantemente ha empujado el desarrollo por la inclusividad y ha reconocido la contribución que han hecho los inmigrantes a este país”, dijo Shena Elrington, directora de Justicia Racial y de los Derechos de los Inmigrantes, del Centro para la Democracia Popular.
El concejal Carlos Menchaca aseguró que este programa “como habíamos anticipado, ha sido particularmente útil para aquellos que tienen una falta de conexión con los gobiernos en todos los niveles. Para esas personas, esta identificación municipal ha cambiado el juego. Es algo que debe ser imitado por otras ciudades”.
La guía explica detalladamente cómo aprobar una ordenanza municipal para poner la identificación en vigencia, los requisitos que se deben pedir a un solicitante y el tipo de sellos de seguridad que deben llevar las tarjetas de identificación, entre otra información
“Esto es algo que todos necesitamos a nivel nacional. Seamos documentados o no. Tenemos que salir de las sombras, si nosotros lo hacemos aquí, se puede hacer en cualquier otra parte”, dijo Patricia Rivera, miembro de la organización se Hace Camino Nueva York.
Otras ciudades donde se están dando identificaciones municipales incluyen Hartford, Connecticut; Newark, Nueva Jersey; Johnson County, Iowa; Los Angeles, California; Oakland, California; Richmond, Virginia; San Francisco, California. Recientemente en Perth Amboy, NJ, las autoridades anunciaron que estudiarán la posibilidad de otorgar el ID.
Las identificaciones municipales permiten a todos los residentes, independientemente de su condición migratoria, identidad de género u otras características, abrir una cuenta bancaria, cambiar un cheque, identificarse en un hospital, registrar a su hijo en la escuela, solicitar para beneficios públicos, presentar una queja ante el departamento de policía, pedir prestado un libro de una biblioteca, o incluso recoger un paquete de la oficina de correos.
Source: El Diario
Former Fed Adviser, Activists Lay Out a Plan for Change at the Fed
Former Fed Adviser, Activists Lay Out a Plan for Change at the Fed
A former Federal Reserve adviser is joining with an activist group to argue for overhauls at the central bank that they...
A former Federal Reserve adviser is joining with an activist group to argue for overhauls at the central bank that they say would distance it from Wall Street and make its activities more transparent and accountable to the public.
Dartmouth College economics professor Andrew Levin—special adviser to Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen between 2010 and 2012 when they were Fed chairman and vice chairwoman—is pressing for the overhaul with Fed Up coalition activists.
Dartmouth College economics professor Andrew Levin, special adviser to then Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke between 2010 to 2012, is pressing for the overhaul with Fed Up coalition activists. Many of the proposed changes target the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, which are quasi-private and technically owned by commercial banks in their respective districts.
“A lot of people would be stunned to know” the extent to which the Federal Reserve is privately owned, Mr. Levin said. The Fed “should be a fully public institution just like every other central bank” in the developed world, he said in a conference call announcing the plan. He described his proposals as “sensible, pragmatic and nonpartisan.”
The former central bank staffer said he sees his ideas as designed to maintain the virtues the central bank already brings to the table. They aren’t targeted at changing how policy is conducted today. “What’s important here is that reform to the Federal Reserve can last for 100 years, not just the near term,” he said.
That said, what is being sought by Mr. Levin and the activists is significant and would require congressional action. Ady Barkan, who leads the Fed Up campaign, said the Fed’s current structure “is an embarrassment to America” and Fed leaders haven’t been “willing or able” to make changes.
A Federal Reserve spokesman declined to address the proposal.
Mr. Levin wants the 12 regional Fed banks to be brought fully into the government. He also wants the process of selecting new bank presidents—they are key regulators and contributors in setting interest-rate policy—opened up more fully to public input, as well as term limits for Fed officials.
Mr. Levin’s proposal was made in conjunction with the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fed Up coalition, a group that has been pressuring the central bank for more accountability for some time. The left-leaning group has been critical of the structure of the regional banks, and has been pressing the Fed to hold off on raising rates in a bid to make sure the recovery is enjoyed not just by the wealthy, in their view.
The proposal was revealed on a conference call that also included a representative from Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, although all campaigns were invited to participate.
Mr. Levin says the members of the regional Fed bank boards of directors, the majority of whom are selected by the private banks with the approval of the Washington-based governors, should be chosen differently. The professor says director slots now reserved for financial professionals regulated by the Fed should be eliminated, and that directors who oversee and advise the regional banks should be selected in a public process involving the Washington governors and local elected officials. These directors also should better represent the diversity of the U.S.
Mr. Levin also wants formal public input into the selection of new bank presidents, with candidates’ names known publicly and a process that allows for public comment in a way that doesn’t now exist. The professor also wants all Fed officials to serve for single seven-year terms, which would give them the needed distance from the political process while eliminating situations where some policy makers stay at the bank for decades. Alan Greenspan, for example, was Fed chairman from 1987 to 2006.
With multiple vacancies in recent years, the selection of regional bank presidents has become a hot-button issue. Currently, the leaders of the New York, Philadelphia, Dallas and Minneapolis Fed banks are helmed by men who formerly worked for or had close connections to investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Mr. Levin called for watchdog agency the Government Accountability Office to annually review and report on Fed operations, including the regional Fed banks. He also wants the regional Fed banks to be covered under the Freedom of Information Act. A regular annual review hopefully would insulate the effort from perceptions of political interference, Mr. Levin said.
By Michael S. Derby
Source
Woman who confronted Jeff Flake on elevator: We connected because he's a father, I'm a mother
Woman who confronted Jeff Flake on elevator: We connected because he's a father, I'm a mother
The woman who confronted Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona in an elevator Friday about his upcoming vote for...
The woman who confronted Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona in an elevator Friday about his upcoming vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said the senator's decision to force a new investigation into the judge's past showed that "people who have the responsibility of making decisions for our country can actually listen to their conscience."
Ana Maria Archila told "CBS This Morning" Monday that in the interaction, which went viral on Friday, she and the senator were able to establish a human connection: "I connected to him because he's a father, I am a mother. This is not just about us today, not just about the politics of this moment; this is about the lives of the people we love so much."
Read the story and watch the video here.
2 months ago
2 months ago