Here you see Co Chair Jay Kaufman asking Secretary Bigby earlier in the day, “If we give you this much in revenue, how does that correspond in the way of restored services to vital youth human service programs”?
The Youth Education collaborative got up after a parade of public officials, health prevention and access advocates and small business groups had testified and left. The four young people out of a delegation of 18 from Sociedad Latina, Hyde Square Task Force, Boston Student Advisory Council, Boston Area Youth Organizing Project, Chinese Progressive Organization, Youth on Board, Sub/Urban Justice, and the Boston Student Alliance for the Future of Education, told the Committee their story of a 6 month long self imposed civic lesson majoring in budget and tax policies affecting public education. They had gathered student opinion via interviews and polls, held a series of student forums and briefing sessions within their organizations, brought delegations to meet with the Superintendent of Schools, the Mayor and every single member of the Boston School Committee and were now in the midst of adding to the 1000 signatures in a petition supporting the following statement:
In the short term we support a local option meals tax and a local option hotel tax to allow cities and towns to raise much needed revenues and we support long term efficiency measures including “greening” of our buildings and eliminating waste in the school lunch program.
Props to the Youth Education Collaborative for sitting in the gallery for 6 hours after all the press had left and submitting some informed testimony. They promised to follow up with each member of the Revenue committee individually and I bet they will.
I think they've developed an appetite for taxes!
crossposted at ONE Massachusetts
Great story. I applaud these young people.
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p>or edit this right quick. Sure look like a ton of empty seats to me in the background.
these young people and a few observers and the CoChairs. I think we counted 20 in all. Earlier in the day the Auditorium was full — about 650 people
Thanks for post and update, Judy. Wish I could have been there.
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p>–Leo
The Secretary of this, the Commissioner of that, and legislators testify, first. The Gardiner is packed, the journalists and phtographers snap away.
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p>By the time ordinary citizens testify – folk like these plucky kids – the auditorium is almost empty and often, most of the Committee members have left.
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p>I have had to wait to 4:00 PM, or 5:00 PM or later to testify; that was the case when I testified and provided “white papers” to the House Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect.
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p>Good for those kids – it takes patience and tenacity as well as intelligence and hard work to be heard.
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p>By “then” usually even State House News reporters have left, it is not unusual at all.
Way to go teens. Thanks for this post. See what happens when you give young people opportunities to get involved in public issues? All of the negative stereotypes bounce off, and you see that most urban teens are engaged, intelligent, and passionate. More youth programs please.
It’s refreshing.
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p>Don’t fear the reaper.
beautiful, smart, thoughtful, articulate and totally sincere. Nothing like the handsome roughnecks we fell in love with in the 50s.
This is the type of work I have been doing with young people in Boston- even worked at one of the organizations listed above.
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p>I hope John D. sees this: these youth are repping the streets of Boston!!
It always amazes me how quickly those that pay no taxes (kids) embrace the idea of the rest of us paying more.
I was at the State House just yesterday (Wednesday) with the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM) to push legislators to increase funding for our public colleges and universities, and to do so by, yes, increasing taxes.
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p>PHENOM is a coalition of students, staff, faculty, and administrators. All of us pay taxes, and we’re still pushing for an increase, because cutting services doesn’t solve the fact that revenues keep dropping. We should be propping up our revenue stream, not cutting until we hit zero.
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p>Long story short, I’d suggest not accusing supporters of higher taxes of being folks who don’t pay any. We pay our taxes, and we’re still pushing for an increase.
I guess I am thrilled.
I guess you’re a troll.
Impressive!
I attended two of the School Committee community meetings where parents and students were shown Mayor Menino’s school budget numbers, manipulated to terrorize them with proof of a disastrous money shortage that would ruin their lives. They filed up to the microphone and begged for their education. His appointed Committee members then instructed those poor folks that they must go out and lobby for his 2% meals tax (double what he’s been seeking for many years, to fully exploit the “crisis”) to save themselves. I see that the members of the children’s crusade were also taught to mention “greening” (who could oppose greening?) and waste in the school lunch program. Waste in the school lunch program!! His cynicism is shameless.
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p>Not one of the few City Councilors who bothered to attend spoke up to tell them that the budget figures were not accurate, and moreover, that there are tens, hundreds of millions of dollars sloshing around City Hall (not to mention the State House) that could be funding their education, as well as their safety, street cleaning, park maintenance and other public services. This is money diverted from them by back-room land and tax deals, cronyism and hackocracy, salary, pension and disability abuse, and other waste, fraud and abuse condoned, aided and abetted by their elected officials at all levels.
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p>At these meetings, only mayoral candidate Kevin McCrea stood up to expose the budget games and the boondoggles. But how much can be explained in the two minutes allotted for each speaker’s testimony? Most of this information has been in the press, but no one seems to be connecting the dots. I spoke about this at a ONE Massachusetts meeting. No one seems interested.
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p>Have progressives given up on reform? It is not progressive to raise taxes when so much of our public treasure is wasted through corruption and incompetence. Maybe it’s just easier to get politicians to use the economic panic to pile on more taxes than to get them to clean up the way they run the government. The pols, in turn, have figured out that if they go for the jugular right away — public safety and education, the halt and the lame — they can find progressive allies for tax increases while keeping their wheeling/dealing safely below the radar. We need to demand services — but fair and honest services.