New York Post - USA (2020-12-01)

New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020

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America’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper

I

n a fresh sign that Gov. Cuomo and Mayor

de Blasio won’t be getting the vast federal

bailouts they’ve been hoping for, Presi-

dent-to-be Joe Biden is reportedly push-

ing congressional Democrats to settle for a

smaller relief bill.

“Smaller” is still huge: Senate Majority

Leader Mitch McConnell supports a $500

billion bill that focuses on small-business re-

lief and public-health funding. But Speaker

Nancy Pelosi has held out for months, de-

manding $2.2 trillion, including more than

$400 billion for state and local governments.

Congress is back in session — and both

President Trump and Biden want a relief bill

passed fast: Parts of the CARES Act expire

by year’s end, ending many unemployment

payments (including $300-a-week “bonus”

benefits) and eviction protections.

Trump has wanted a deal, while Biden’s

team fears a double-dip recession hitting

just as the new president takes office. One

Biden-allied economist sees 3 million jobs

lost in the first half of 2021.

A Biden spokesman denied it, but The New

York Times reports that he’s pushing Pelosi to

cut a deal that gets Americans relief quickly.

Notably, Biden ally Sen. Chris Murphy

(D-Conn.) wrote in the Hartford Courant: “I’m

realistic about the fact that we will need to

compromise to get another stimulus passed.”

And that $400 billion bailout for state and

local governments has been the No. 1 no-no

for the GOP. It’s unlikely next year, too,

since Pelosi will have one of the smallest

House majorities in a century — leaving her

even less able to work her will.

All of which means that Cuomo and de

Blasio, who’ve both been kicking the can on

dealing with gaping multibillion-dollar defi-

cits, are staring at grim reckonings.

De Blasio’s done almost nothing to pre-

pare. Cuomo’s been a bit more frugal — ex-

cept when it comes to his own ambitions.

State Budget Director Robert Mujica re-

quired any new hiring get his department’s

OK, with only workers “essential to protect

health and safety” eligible. Yet the Times

Union found that Cuomo’s office has hired

four Democratic presidential-campaign

vets, at $567,000 in total salaries.

So Cuomo is putting future workers for his

own White House run on the public payroll

even as he’s putting all other government in

the state, including school districts, on a

strict diet. Nice “leadership,” sir.

M

ayor de Blasio’s latest turnaround on

school closures seems a plus — but the

chaos has left many parents frustrated,

furious and downright dizzy.

After abruptly closing schools Nov. 19

because the citywide positivity rate hit 3

percent, de Blasio is abandoning that met-

ric. Now, he aims to keep schools open re-

gardless of what happens citywide. He’ll

test 20 percent of in-school students

weekly and close buildings on a school-by-

school basis.

His plan for reopening now looks much

like what Public Advocate Jumaane Willi-

ams and City Council Education Committee

Chairman Mark Treyger proposed weeks

ago. It starts next Monday, Dec. 7, as pre-

schoolers and K-5 students go back. Three

days later, special-ed kids at all grade levels

attending District 75 schools return.

De Blasio has no timeline yet for bringing

back middle and high schoolers, but he told

CNN’s Alisyn Camerota it’s unlikely before

January. At least those older kids are better

suited to remote learning.

Better: He says he sees lower grades re-

turning to the classroom full time, five-days-

a-week, soon. And he’s talking about offer-

ing parents another chance to switch from

full remote to in-person learning.

Williams is (quite rightly) not satisfied,

saying the city can’t wait for the mayor “to

come to the right conclusions at the wrong

moments in time.”

Students, parents, teachers and principals

all deserve city leadership better than this.

E

ven as New York restaurants, gyms, bar-

bershops and bowling alleys got to re-

open with various restrictions, amuse-

ment parks have been left out in the cold.

They’ve given up hope for the year, since the

season ends in October — but they’re beg-

ging for action in advance of March, when

the new season begins.

Gov. Cuomo didn’t include outdoor

amusement parks in his reopening scheme,

though several owners submitted plans for

social distancing and added sanitization.

Long Island’s Adventureland had updated

its protocols and was prepared to welcome

guests again by July, when most other states

had already reopened parks. But rules for re-

opening even iconic New York sites like Co-

ney Island’s Wonder Wheel and Luna Park

never came, and owners now fear they’ll be

sidelined for a second straight year.

At best, a March reopening will make it

over 18 months since these businesses —

many small and family-owned — have had

any income. Luna Park alone employs 1,200

workers, some of whom have already moved

out to find work.

Families like the Zamperlas, who own

Luna Park, have watched museums, ski re-

sorts and movie theaters reopen. Why can’t

their open-air attractions?

In September, six park owners wrote an

open letter to Cuomo asking for answers.

Three months later: silence.

This rank injustice again shows the arbi-

trariness of the state’s pandemic rules. Why

can New Yorkers sit in a movie theater but

not on the Wonder Wheel? At the least, the

gov owes these people an explanation.

No Bailout in Sight

Blas Finds Some School Sense

Amusement-Park Tears

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Mark Cunningham, Editorial Page Editor

The UFT Plan for Schools:

Ending Mayoral Control

The Issue: The United Federation of Teachers’

support for limiting mayoral power over schools.

Once again, the United

Federation of Teachers

wants to gain more con-

trol of our schools (“A

New UFT Power Play,”

Editorial, Nov. 29).

This organization has

sold out our children at

every turn for years.

They are only interested

in protecting bad teach-

ers and allowing teachers

to work less and be com-

pensated more.

Now they want to end

mayoral control, so they

can make themselves

even more powerful.

We all know our

schools are in bad shape,

and the UFT is a big part

of the problem. We don’t

need it making manage-

ment decisions. It’s never

a good idea to let your

employees run the show.

The track record of the

UFT is clear: Make life

better and easier for

teachers at the expense

of our children’s educa-

tion. Gene Lindsay

Mastic

The Post once again

blames the UFT, suggest-

ing the union favoring

the end of total mayoral

control of the schools is

yet another power grab.

The accusation contra-

dicts and clashes with

The Post’s oft-expressed

view that Mayor de

Blasio and the UFT have

an insidious and too-

cozy relationship.

The union is a a strong

and influential force for

quality education for all

children and will never

repent that.

The Post detailed the

UFT’s proposed replace-

ment for mayoral con-

trol. It would include 13

people, five of whom

would be appointed by

the borough presidents

and others selected by

holders of major city-

wide elective office who

are answerable to all

New Yorkers.

This configuration of

independents would en-

sure power sharing and

allow contributing deci-

sion-makers to be out of

reach of mayoral wrath

and intimidation.

Ron Isaac

Fresh Meadows

Now that the vaccine is

almost here, teachers

should get it right after

health-care workers,

first responders and

nursing homes. Then

teachers will have no

more excuses.

The students them-

selves have virtually zero

risk of death from

COVID. Tell teachers to

either get the vaccine

and go back to work full-

time in-person or they’re

fired. No more pay-

checks.

Let’s see what their

new excuses will be. It’s

outrageous that school

isn’t considered an es-

sential service.

Carol Meltzer

Manhattan

Having a teachers’ union

so powerful that grown

men cower and quiver at

any attempt of a strike is

beyond ridiculous.

The UFT has made it

quite clear that the edu-

cation of children and

their emotional/social

well-being is the lowest

rung on the ladder of

priorities.

Where is the oversight

and accountability of

teachers who are teach-

ing their students re-

motely? Theresa O’Brien

Melville

A sign at a UFT protest.

Why hasn’t the Lincoln

Project’s Twitter account

been blocked?

Tom Vespo

Bethpage

Now it’s come to light

that those back-stabbers

at the ill-named Lincoln

Project have been pad-

ding their pockets while

spewing out morally pre-

tentious lectures about

how morally bankrupt

the 45th president is.

A more apt name for

that slimy organization

would be the “Pecuniary

Project.” James Hyland

Beechhurst

Lincoln Project’s Dirty Tactics

The Issue: The Lincoln Project’s attacks on law firms

handling President Trump’s post-election challenges.

The Post reported that

the Lincoln Project has

instructed its followers to

harass anyone involved

in President Trump’s

post-election litigation

(“ ‘Anti-Trump’ Grifters,”

Editorial, Nov. 30).

That includes posting

their personal informa-

tion on social media. The

vehicle of choice to get

out the threatening mes-

sage was Twitter.