The fight against Mayor Bloomberg’s budget is kicking up a notch.
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is planning a “day of action” on Thursday (read: protest on the City Hall steps supporters at subway stops and schools across the city). His office claims 3,000 people signed his online petition to oppose the mayor’s 4,100 teacher layoffs (whose notices still have not been sent).
De Blasio’s ability to negotiate policy against the backdrop of a loud protest is the sort of thing Bloomberg has managed to avoid for the last few years, in no small part because of help from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Also, Javier Hernandez rounds up a few counter-proposals to the mayor’s budget, including Scott Stringer’s direct shot at the administration.
Stringer is calling for cutbacks in contracts to consultants, and tells the paper: “The solution to the teacher-layoff crisis is somewhere in the this executive budget.”
Bloomberg’s top aide, Howard Wolfson, has noted that many of the people howling about the mayor’s budget weren’t so vocal when Washington and Albany were cutting their aid to the City.
