Yesterday - a group of NY'ers demonstrated at City Hall - again, to try to stop the massive budget cuts proposed by Mayor Bloomberg which will have a terrible impact on New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS.
We could use a helping hand - taking action because most of the mainstream media is ignoring this.
When my husband got home from the demo yesterday we checked to see if there had been MSM coverage.
Sadly - there was almost nothing to be found except from progressive sources.
NY 1 did cover the demo:
Protesters March On City Hall Against Cuts To AIDS Care
About 100 HIV-positive people put their pain on display in front of City Hall Tuesday in response to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed cuts to services that they depend upon. "I find that to be devastating," said Doug Collins, an HIV-positive individual present at the rally.
Collins found out he was HIV-positive last year, which was also around the time he lost his job and his home. Now he’s worried about losing his case manager to budget cuts, the point person in a support system he said keeps him alive.
"It makes me feel that the government is no longer recognizing me as a human being," said Collins.
He joined protesters marching to a City Council budget hearing on the subject.
From Housing Works:
Palma, AIDS Activists Attack Bloomberg AIDS Funding Cuts
With a month to go before Mayor Bloomberg must finalize the city budget, AIDS activists sent up a rallying cry outside City Hall this morning, demanding the mayor take more than $5 million in cuts off the table. “In this city, in one of the richest cities in the world, for the mayor to go after services for people with AIDS is just beyond the pale,” said Matt Lesieur, director of public policy at VillageCare.
Council Member Annabel Palma, meanwhile, pledged her support for the programs on the chopping block. “This budget cannot be passed without this funding in place,” she said, standing next to Council Member Daniel Dromm. “It’s a long and hard fight, but not one I’m willing to give up.” More than 150 people gathered for the rally, which was sponsored by Palma, GMHC, Harlem United, Housing Works, VillageCare, SHHNY and VOCAL-NY.
Bloomberg’s proposed budget eliminates more than $5 million for supportive housing services for New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS. This type of housing allows the neediest people living with the virus to live in a place that is connected to health care, substance use programs and counseling. The model has been used effectively across the city for more than two decades.
New York City has openly gay city Council Members, and has one member who is HIV positive.
Despite the efforts of some activist organizations (named above) many of the high-powered progressive NY groups who normally apply pressure around other issues have been noticeably absent.
Marching in Pride parades - whether black, latino or LBGT is great - but we need action now to save lives.
Gay City reports:
AIDS Advocates Battling Bloomberg Again
On May 6, Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a $65.7 billion budget for the 2012 fiscal year that begins on July 1 that cut $10 million from an array of AIDS services, with $5.4 million coming out of supportive housing for people with AIDS.
Another $982,000 cut would eliminate the Momentum Project, a meals program affiliated with VillageCare, a West Village provider that serves people with AIDS and other populations. The Momentum Project serves lunches and hot dinners at four churches in Manhattan and the Bronx four days a week. Last year, the group distributed 400,000 meals to 2,000 people.
The Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) currently runs a program that has staff handling the finances of people with AIDS. The agency’s 311 clients in that program have dementia or other medical conditions that make them incapable of performing tasks like paying bills. The $300,000 contract to provide that service with the city’s HIV/ AIDS Services Administration could be eliminated, while the demand on GMHC for that service is increasing. “It has been going up,” said Lyndel Urbano, GMHC’s manager of government relations and public policy, referring to the number of clients. “The need is much greater than that, but that’s all we can handle.”
Gay City also reported on the demos earlier in May Hundreds Protest AIDS Budget Cuts
In the mayor’s “doomsday plan,” the city would eliminate all city funds for case management at a savings of nearly $19 million and would reduce by 10 percent payments for permanent housing for 4,000 clients, saving about $5 million. Advocates fear that some of the clients in permanent housing will end up on the streets because of the cuts. The doomsday proposal would require a change in Local Law 49, which was created in 1997 and strictly guarantees the rights of HASA clients and mandates specific case manager-to-client ratios. Numerous class action lawsuits waged against HRA by Housing Works have all come down against the city, strengthening and clarifying the law. Changing the law could roll back the protections afforded HASA clients by the Housing Works wins.
In his first ever speech on AIDS, given on March 13, the mayor indicated his desire to amend the law, which he claimed was out of date for today’s needs. Despite the fact that such a change would need to pass the City Council, Christine Quinn, the out lesbian Democrat who is chair of the Council’s health committee says she has never been consulted about the matter. In a telephone interview May 13, Quinn said she has expressed her concern over the proposed changes to Bloomberg officials, informing them that they should consult with her about their plans as soon as possible. “And as far as I can tell, that concern has fallen on deaf ears, because I’ve heard nothing,” she said. Quinn said that the proposed changes to Local Law 49 “really erode the core mission of HASA and begin the deterioration and elimination of HASA. And that’s not something I can support and something that I think will put people living with AIDS in this city in significant jeopardy.” At the rally, Councilmember Philip Reed, the HIV-positive representative from Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx, told the crowd, “You have every right in the world to be upset and probably skeptical,” about the mayor’s proposed changes. Reed echoed the critique made by others that the process was marred by secretiveness.
Charles King, Housing Works’ co-president, was less diplomatic, shouting to the crowd, “I’m not skeptical about what the mayor’s trying to do. I don’t need to discuss this anymore. I know what the mayor is up to. This mayor is out to dismantle and destroy AIDS services in New York City.” King went on to list various hardships of poverty which “our billionaire mayor” doesn’t comprehend: living on the street, waiting for social security checks, being cut off Medicaid.” A Housing Works press release claimed that Bloomberg is essentially trying to do away with the Office of AIDS Policy by moving it from the mayor’s office into the Department of Health, which the group charged would eliminate meaningful oversight of the city’s AIDS services. The release pointed to another example of the apparent campaign of misinformation, noting Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden had previously “vehemently denied to the AIDS community that such a ‘merger’ would take place.”
The release also complained that Bloomberg’s budget failed to include the $5 million City Council initiative in earlier budgets for HIV prevention and care services targeting communities of color.
City Limits reported
AIDS Program Cuts Stir Protest
One potential casualty of the proposed cuts is the Momentum Project, a volunteer-run organization that has been helping people with AIDS and HIV since 1985. Donnell Tillman-Basket, director of client services at Momentum, said that if the organization does wind up closing, the results would be disastrous.
"People would go hungry," she said. "Hospitalization rates would go up, because without food and nutrition, medication won't work. Medicine doesn't work unless people eat. In addition to hot meals, we also provide pantry and produce bags for those who can't afford it. "
Although Momentum has been appealing to the City Council for extra money, the chances of its survival look bleak.
Cutting money to Momentum will mean that many NY'ers who are poz or have AIDS will go hungry.
Please give them your support:
The Momentum Project
Cutting housing and services will throw PWA's out into the streets or into the shelter system - reducing access to doctors, medication and treatment.
Housing Works
VOCAL-NY
Sign this petition:
Demand New York State Officials Provide Housing Assistance to HIV+ Residents!
Contact:
Mayor Bloomberg
NY City Council
Governor Cuomo