Union responds to editorial

By CATHY SCOTT

AFSCME District Council 47, the city's "white-collar union," cedes ground on the subject of democracy to no one. Or on the subjects of honesty, transparency and independence.
The recent Daily News editorial "Wanted: A More Perfect Union" wrongly attacks our desire to fully open public debate on the "budget crisis," and cites statements made at a press conference the Daily News didn't cover.

The editorial was a mischaracterization of my comments. We said the community budget forums were flawed. Information comes only from one side. The examiners of that information have biases and are tied to the outcome of the supposed independent public involvement.

The host of the forums, the University of Pennsylvania, stands to benefit if budget cuts are enacted instead of Penn's making payments for city services. Penn gets city lighting, trash, fire and police protection for which they pay nothing. That's not a perfect union.

The title of the forums, as explained in the Penn and WHYY materials, is "Community Forums to Explore Budget Cuts." As we stated at the press event, "The title announces that the forum results are already determined - more cuts on top of more service cuts." DC 47 stated that, by design, the forums would offer citizens a choice between "more rats or fewer libraries."

We sought to expand the public debate. We proposed that, instead of holding four forums on the same subject whose results were predictable, the topics be expanded to include "increasing revenues, potential budget savings and discussion of . . . a comprehensive program under which the city actually collects what it is owed."

We challenged citizens to ask meaningful questions, "The question shouldn't be, 'What cuts do we make to address the budget crunch?'

"The questions should be, 'How do we run the best possible city with the current level of services? How much will it cost? And, where do we find the revenue?' "

Since our press conference, those exact questions about cuts versus revenues are now espoused by city budget documents and the Daily News editorial page.

IATTENDED THE MAYOR'S briefing. We read his "thick document on the budget."

The mayor's materials, presented after our press conference, now ask the DC 47 questions. Now, after our revenue-versus-services challenge, the mayor's documents ask, for the first time, "What city services should we provide, and at what level? What is the best way to pay for these services?"

In an article in the Daily News on the same day as your editorial attacking DC 47, Ben Waxman, in an op-ed titled "Our Taxing Problem," wrote, "Currently, the city looks at tax revenue and decides what to pay for. Instead, we ought to figure out what programs are needed and design the tax system to raise enough money for these goals."

DC 47 has changed the public debate. We did it democratically, openly and honestly. We have reoriented the citizens' priorities. The mayor saw the strength of our argument. So did the news side of the Daily News. The editorial page is out of step, and out of touch. *

Cathy Scott is president of AFSCME District Council 47.