By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Associated Press Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - So, where's your bailout?
Wall Street is in line for up to $700 billion in a government
rescue. The same can't be said for low- and moderate-income New
Yorkers who may have to choose between heat and food this winter,
middle-class home owners paying the nation's highest property
taxes, and the women and children dependent on a welfare grant that
hasn't increased since 1990.
If the door was still open just a crack on these most vexing
issues back home, it was slammed shut Friday by Gov. David
Paterson. He warned of a potential "economic blood bath" in the
making as Wall Street's crisis becomes a crisis for Albany, which
has become addicted to revenues from the financial sector.
"It's frustrating," said Assemblyman John McEneny, an Albany
Democrat. "When Wall Street screams, everything comes to a halt."
Most, however, agree that saving Wall Street with a federal
bailout will save New York jobs and millions in state tax revenues.
A reasonable, cogent argument. But it doesn't pay the rent, keep an
apartment warm, or put food on the table.
Consider the typical family of a mother and two children living
in Brooklyn on a temporary welfare grant of $691 a month. A recent
increase in the federal portion of food stamps helps, but it's a
hard existence for many.
How hard? Hunger Action Network of New York took a typical
household weekly grocery list including milk, eggs, lettuce, tuna,
shampoo, cough syrup, detergent, toilet paper and more. That
grocery store run for two dozen common items cost $37.91. When they
updated, that bill was $68.52. And that was in 2006, before food
prices soared nationally by more than 6 percent and are still on
the rise.
So how does Dolly Vargas, a 44-year-old mother in Manhattan on
welfare most of her life, get by on $120 check a month, excluding
her housing allowance?
"You can't," she said. The $300 a month or so she also
collected in food stamps helped, but it was never easy to stretch
the monthly welfare check to pay for groceries, rent and household
needs.
"It would last, practically, a day and a half," she said.
Assembly Democratic Majority Leader Ronald Canestrari said
there's a lot of sympathy and support for welfare families, long a
top priority for the chamber, "but in this economic climate, you
have to look at what you can afford."
The working poor, many of whom scraped to leave those welfare
rolls, are in for a rough winter, too.
In June, when there should have been time to act before winter's
cold, Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said $800 million
more was needed so low- and moderate-income New Yorkers wouldn't
have to choose between food and heat. To pay for it, oil companies'
profits would be taxed. The measure never passed.
In the fall, a federal farm bill provided $476 million more for
heating assistance and Paterson found another $49 million in
September. But advocates say that's still far short of the need
this winter.
And all property taxpayers regardless of income lose out, too.
This year's proposal to cap local property tax growth at 4
percent was a modest restraint and had the support of 70 percent of
New Yorkers in polls, the Senate's Republican majority and the
Democratic governor. It's as good as dead.
The New York State United Teachers union wounded Paterson's idea
fatally, and Wall Street's meltdown - which will likely force
higher local taxes just to keep schools on track - delivered the
knockout.
"The tax cap is more important than ever in this fiscal
crisis," said Paterson's point man on the issue, Nassau County
Executive Thomas Suozzi. "They can't take any more. Six months
ago, this was important. That was before the financial structure of
our state collapsed."
Paterson, himself a 20-year veteran of the Legislature, knows
why those in line for help this year will be left out again. Yes,
the state figures it could lose $3.5 billion in revenues just from
Wall Street jobs, but it's not just about the need to preserve
brokerages filled with six-figure executives. It's about
overspending in Albany for years, which left the cupboards bare
when Wall Street tanked.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Long Island Republican who
talks to recently jobless constituents every day at the train
station, made the point Friday: If Albany spent at the inflation
rate instead of two or three times that level over the last several
years, Albany would have a surplus.
"It's just a tragic example of when they want to help the rich,
they can find some way to do it," said Mark Dunlea of Hunger
Action Network. "But when it comes to helping out the poor, it's
somehow fiscally irresponsible."
Politicians note that Wall Street, with its jobs and revenues,
is different.
That's true. Because while at least some blame for Wall Street's
meltdown can be placed on bad decisions and greed, the same can't
be said of New Yorkers left in the cold.
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Michael Gormley is the Albany, N.Y., Capitol editor for The
Associated Press. He can be reached by e-mail at
mgormley(at)ap.org.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)