Tens Of Thousands Rally For Fair Share Tax Reform

Governor Paterson, Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and a few too many other State Senators have not come forward as of yet to support the Fair Share Tax Reform Act. What the proposed bill would do is simple. Instead of punishing the working class for the budget deficits caused by Wall Street's unadulterated greed, we should split that burden with the rich by making the state income tax progressive in nature with a tiered system.

However, with multiple bills presented in the Senate, Majority Leader Smith has not shown the leadership necessary to support his middle class constituents. Instead, he and the governor are listening to the lobbyists of big business at the expense of hard working New Yorkers. So what are those New Yorkers to do? Turn out for a huge rally at City Hall Park.

Having the afternoon off, I had to go down and join the action, though I had no idea how many people would actually show. Here's the first sight I saw:



Don't worry, all the cops were on their best behavior at the event with what looked like a good amount of people, perhaps even a couple thousand. Then I was told I had to walk over a block and then up a few to enter the crowd you see behind the sleepy police officer.



While walking, all sorts of signs were on display, including this sweet guy that still refers to his mother as "Mommy."



Once I went around, I got a better view of the stage and not surprisingly it was full of politicians and union organizers. If you can't tell the man at the podium is City Comptroller and Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson.



While the speeches were great, they were mostly the same, so I decided to venture away from the stage and check out the people who showed up for this. As you can tell, the area around the four-block long park was packed. The park however, was only so big, so the crowd overflow was led up Broadway. Jumbo-trons and sound systems were set up so that people could hear who were nearly a mile up the street. At one point the crowd was checked at 40,000 people....40,000, on a Thursday afternoon! Ahem, Governor Paterson, that translates quite a few votes, if you know what I'm saying, cough, primary race next year, cough, cough.



Then just before I reached the back of the crowd, I ran into City Council candidate Josh Skaller, who came out from Brooklyn to demand that Albany listen to the demands of working New Yorkers. He may look happy and serene in the picture, but he's ready to get tough and defend this barricade and many more if he gets the chance to represent the 39th Council District.

Tens of thousands of dedicated working people, all who can vote and want to not only be heard, but recognized and respected by their Governor and the rest of the politicians up in Albany. I certainly hope they got the message to support this legislation. Of course, it doesn't hurt to keep reminding them. You can do that by contacting your legislator and by getting involved locally.

Betsy Gotbaum's Mediocre One Minute At The Fair Share Rally

I took this video in the afternoon during the Fair Share Tax Rally downtown. The crowd was great and at first Gotbaum sounded pretty decent and enthused about being on stage. The ending however, especially the last twenty seconds and her laughter was not as inspirational as I'd have hoped it to be.



Could you imagine Mark Green, Norman Siegel, John Liu (he just dropped out) or Eric Gioia sounding like that? Yeah, I don't think so either.

Stand Up For The Fair Share Plan This Thursday At City Hall

Fair share tax reform is one of the most important debates within the state budget battle this year. If New York could pass this legislation and raise half amount needed to close the budget gap with a progressive tax scale, the implications going forth are instrumental. For far too long, the income gap has been widening between rich and poor at exponential levels. Something must be done to turn that tide and bring our society back to shared human values and not just pure, unadulterated greed.

The Fair Share Plan is a crucial step for us to not only help us in this fiscal crisis but from here on out so that we can take care of our communities whether it be in good times or bad. Even during the boom years, it was the wealthy that got ahead and the rest of us remained static. To change that we must pass the fair share bill in the State Senate. While we have more than twenty on our side, it is up to the community to push a few more of them to vote the right way. If you are in Manhattan Thursday afternoon, come out to City Hall and have your voice heard.

From Fair Share Reform:

Devastating budget cuts threaten our communities, our jobs, our neighbors and our families. Join union members, community groups, non-profit organizations and concerned citizens to speak out against the dangerous budget proposals now being considered in Albany and City Hall.

Download the rally flyer here to spread the word: http://FairShareReform.com/NYCflyer

Call the Rally Hotline at 718-222-3796 x.248 for more information. Please be sure to dial the extension.

Time:	Thursday, March 5 from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Host:	Shain Anderson
Location:	City Hall (New York, NY) New York, NY 10007

If you know you can make it, sign up here and let the organizers know. It may be a Thursday afternoon, but a strong showing of people, who then call their Senators and tell their friends to do the same can make a huge difference.

See you there!

Gennaro Rallies The Troops Before Saturday GOTV Canvass

This is video from the Gennaro campaign taken yesterday morning, before a successful canvass operation in the 11th State Senate District. More than a hundred people showed up, including State Senators Klein, Minority (for now) Leader Malcolm Smith, Stavisky and Councilman Liu. Plenty of community organizations and unions were in attendance as well and if you look closely at the end of the video, you can see yours truly as well.

Live From New York, It's The WGA East Rally!

There is no Saturday Night Live with the strike going on, and since only 150 people got to see the stage version (mostly SNL insiders) at UCB last weekend, I thought I would bring this to the orange worldwide theater in its place. Today, the Writers Guild of America East held a solidarity rally in Washington Square Park, and oh what a rally it was. Hundreds, if not over a thousand people came to show their support for the writers in Greenwich Village.

Many of course were the writers themselves. I saw a few from the Daily Show hanging in the back, as well as one correspondent, Aasif Mandvi who went up on stage. The event lasted over an hour, but the enthusiasm will last much longer than that, and the passion of the crowd can resonate with the bigwigs at the major studios.



Evan Handler (of Sex in the City fame) started it off a little bit past 12, helping to introduce the majority of the speakers. Most only went up for a minute or two, including Colin Quinn, Danny Glover, Gilbert Gottfried, Randi Weingarten of the United Federation of Teachers, Gary Le Barbera and Ed Ott from the Central Labor Council, Denis M. Hughes who leads the New York State AFL-CIO and Sam Freed who is the Screen Actors Guild President for New York.

Senator John Edwards came up for a little while to speak to the crowd. His speech was also short, but very, very sweet. He mentioned that he stands with the WGA-E, the WGA in Los Angeles and has not and will not cross their picket lines. Whether it is declining to go on "Ellen" or "The View," to potential canceling his appearance at a CBS-sponsored debate if their writers go on strike as well.



One of the most passionate of speakers is a man who is passionate about many causes, whether it is for human rights or for a fair wage for writers. That man, Tim Robbins, blew the crowd away. Clearly, he is experienced at speaking at these types of events.

I should also mention, many unions were in attendance, including parking attendants, the SEIU among others. The crowd was peppered with actors (many I that were recognizable, but sadly for me I can not place their names. If this sounds like a good time to you, being that there's an activist or two that might read this, be sure to check out their next rally here in the city, tomorrow at Columbus Circle from 10am to 2pm.

From The WGA East website:

Wednesday, November 28 Time Warner Center Columbus Circle 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Today's picket is part of the International Day of Solidarity, declared by The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds. They will be holding demonstrations in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, and France. If you can get ahold of a flag from any of these countries, you might bring it along to the picket line. We will continue to hold rallies, informational leaflets, and pickets at various locations around New York City. Wear your WGAE t-shirt to the event and bring your WGAE whistle. Other union members -- wear your union gear proudly! Check the website for updated location information. [If you are a Writers Guild member living outside of NYC or LA and would like to organize an action in your city, please email picket@wgaeast.org. Actions are currently being organized in certain cities.]

Here's a couple more shots for your viewing pleasure: