Gov. Andrew Cuomo brought his agenda to Queens in January when he reviewed a previous speech in Albany pushing his $25 billion economic development package including the Ozone Park convention center.
He spoke to a packed house at Queens College on Thursday, Jan.19, but not everyone was happy to hear it. One protester stood up in the middle of Cuomo’s speech and started yelling.
She identified herself as a teacher aligned with the Occupy movement and shouted “Mic Check” as a round of applause for Cuomo ended.
“I will be very brief; I promise you I’ll be very brief,” she said.
“So will I,” the governor replied.
“I want the governor to do even more for the 99 percent,” The protester said. “We need to rebuild a new New York with
the 99 percent. I ask Governor Cuomo to redouble his commitment to public education, to create even more jobs and protect our environment.”
Once she finished and sat back down, security allowed her to remain in the speech, and the governor continued.
“We led the nation when we passed marriage equality for all New Yorkers,” he said immediately after to more applause.
Cuomo’s executive budget does include upped aid to schools—an $805 million increase. It is contingent, however, on individual school districts implementing teacher evaluation systems by next year.
About $700 million of the increase is federal funding that will be lost if there’s no system implemented.
Cuomo has chosen to make the entire increase conditional—no evaluation system, no new funding.
“My point this year is—758 school districts, no evaluation system—that this is a crisis and we must act,” Cuomo said.
New York City is in the midst of contentious negotiations to implement its own evaluation program.
The Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers have not been able to agree on a process they both see as fair. Both sides most recently left the table because teachers were unhappy there was no appeals process past a school’s principal.
Cuomo also stumped for what he’s selling as an opportunity for tens of thousands of jobs—the proposed 3.8-million-square-foot convention center at Aqueduct Racetrack.
“We need jobs; the economy is slow. We need to keep New York competitive. We need to keep New York safe,” Cuomo said. “When you look at what we actually need to get done in this state, you’ll see how easy it is to put all our pieces together and actually rebuild the state infrastructure.”
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said after the speech that she’s very much in favor of Cuomo’s proposed convention center, which would be the biggest in the nation.
“I love what he’s doing,” Marshall said. “He’s cutting through a lot of red tape and just getting the job done.”
After the speech, Cuomo—who grew up in Queens—reacted to being interrupted by a protester. “It happens,” he said with a shrug, “probably one out of every three times I would say.”
By Jeremiah Dobruck
Forum Newsgroup Photo by Jeremiah Dobruck
j.dobruck@theforumnewsgroup.com
